McLaren reveal their who their secret valentine is, and if it’s anything as good as it looks, they are in for a better tomorrow.
The closer to today we got, the more and more I felt that McLaren were going to bottle it. They’ve done anything but. It’d be the typical build you up before letting you down. I remember this time last year, the MCL33 undergoing its shakedown and thinking ‘Christ it’s a bit basic’ but it could quite easily be passed off as just having a dumbed down launch spec just to hide the dirty secrets. Yet, it was not until Spain did we see a MCL33 mark II as it were. Even then they just strapped the ugliest looking nose on the car and hoped it was a second a lap faster. But the struggles still continued, and the only positives to be drawn was the flaws they had were now exposed, and there was a better attempt at a papaya car.
Speaking of better, have you seen their new wheels? Ugh that car is magnificent. They’ve matched papaya with a better blue for a start. After last year’s bland effort, the Woking team spiced it up with a fade, if you can call it a fade, between the two colours with this bleeding of triangles, in a sort of geometric effect. When they had the team members in those snazzy t-shirts (more on this later), I thought they were going to over do it. I thought the scheme for this year was going to be far too busy. It’s actually tame and very effective. The blue front wing stays, but they’ve hidden the snout by not colouring it, which is a blessing. The new numbering is another departure from the Dennis era bland, business look, and is appreciated. It’s great that it’s a tie-in to the rest of the car. Again, I won’t try to pretend I know what I’m talking about, but it’s encouraging to see a developed barge board and sidepod area, which since 2017 has been behind the curve in development. Even the vortex generators, which were a mainstay on last year’s challenger, have been replaced by Red Bull or Ferrari style planes. The point I’m making is that the complexity is a relief. I can’t emphasise enough that I’m not saying it will or will not be effective, it’s just good to see, for McLaren’s sake. Obviously, we’re still yet to see proper 2019 cars elsewhere, but it looks like a step in the right direction.
Back to the car, the removal of papaya towards the floor of the car a la 2018 Williams, certainly tidies up the car and helps it look aggressive. Then to arguably the car’s centrepiece, that geometric fade. It’s not too in your face and is exponentially better than last year’s implementation of blue. I hope teams can follow suit in bringing back exciting livery design. Yes, the classics work because they have simple lines and are not over the top, but there is so much room between simplicity and over the top that I believe this car fits into. I may even, in time put the Mercedes into this bracket, but it’s sort of become a classic in its own right, and not just because of its recent success. It’s ironic that most of the grid has become Dennis-esque in dulling down a bit to favour sponsors, yet his former team are becoming bolder season upon season.
Don’t get me wrong, I respect Ron Dennis for his impact on the sport, and how he developed McLaren into the dominant force it once was, I just feel he’s left a bitter taste in our mouths with dragging Honda back into F1, creating dull liveries and completely misreading the direction of the sport. He is and always will be one of F1’s legends.
Just a quick note about the launch in general, did they pretty much listen to what I said yesterday?! 20 minute launch, and 5 minutes of which didn’t have the car under wraps. I’ll cut them some slack with having the team members at the forefront, which was a unique experience for a launch. It was also nice to have new, nicer romper suits and two drivers in them who already seem to have a good rapport, which is further change from Alonso and Vandoorne where for me the impression was they just didn’t click. Then again, Alonso does love his psychological warfare.
New Blood
All new line up at McLaren. First point of interest is Carlos Sainz Jr. Will he finally settle in and be comfortable leading a team for the first time? At Renault, we learned that once he settles in, he’s got some good pace. He certainly put pressure on Verstappen whilst at Toro Rosso and put in an impressive performance at Abu Dhabi last season. Considering the awkward start to 2018 with Renault, he pulled back and was on level terms with Hülkenberg for most of the season, and actually made more Q3 appearances than his team mate. I think it does show that there is talent there, but it’s whether he can take it all the way, lest he become the new Hülkenberg.
Lando Norris is hotly described as Britain’s next hot thing. McLaren have the faith in him, which is either a blessing or a curse, ask Lewis Hamilton or Stoffel Vandoorne. He had a strong year in F2 last year, he certainly matched George Russell, in a car that worked arguably less effectively in the hands of Carlin. Inexperience is what cost him the title, both on the team’s part and himself. Qualifying was not strong for him, although it is difficult to know where the blame lies for this. Silly stalls is what the main blame will be, but this was soon fixed by the second half. However, he has proven to be a confident passer of cars, see Abu Dhabi for example, and the F2 cars were notoriously difficult to get off the line; he wasn’t the only one to stall the car. Time will tell is he is the next Lewis Hamilton or Stoffel Vandoorne, but he certainly has to push Carlos, and show he’s Britain’s next top dog.
Now where do we place McLaren? They have to show another year on the up. They need to be the next Renault, or it will become increasingly hard to break free of midfield mediocrity. The last remnant of them being a ‘big team’, Fernando Alonso, has left them. Do they still deserve this status of sleeping giant? I have no doubts that 4th place is the ultimate aim for this season, but if Renault have formed their own private club in between the top and midfield, as I have predicted they’ll snatch the 5th place out of your hand. More points and competitiveness is the goal, because they did not have the 6th fastest car last year as the standings may suggest.
George Talks 