Vodafone McLaren Team 2012

[myurr]

those three laps are the quickest unfortunatelly ...so thats something around 5 to 10 seconds elapsed time in the race...
As we have learned ,the cars potential is not the limiting factor in the race anymore ,it´s nursing the tyres.
So it depends on your setup if you are able to carry the black stuff the odd lapp longer or not ...
starting from the back usually you have the advantage of lots of unused sticker tyres .
No advantage for Lewis there this weekend ,button seems to have miraculously lost balance as well ...so a track where mclaren has lost the plot on setup ..or they have a freakin chaos with their mechanics messing up tyre pressures or what..

Well it's the first race for the hard tyres, hopefully they'll hold up a bit better and let Lewis attack. His long runs were reportedly really good yesterday, and we can always hope for rain!

[Nando]

Webber sjowed that you can still end up on the podium if you play your cards right.
Sure Hammy don't have new tires but he will have quite a lot of DRS opportunities which is several seconds over a race distance.

But as we have seen, hamilton is not only fighting his competitors but also his own team.

Anyone want to bet something will happen to Hamilton in this race that is caused solely by his own team?

[NoDivergence]

Epic race by Lewis. Even with the team screwing him again with that pit stop

[PlatinumZealot]

He never seems bummed out when this stuff happens either. (Martin)

"atleast we get pace in the cars" what? you just raped your own driver and that is what you have to say?

The word rape can be very harsh to others. (rape victims).

[PlatinumZealot]

Webber sjowed that you can still end up on the podium if you play your cards right.
Sure Hammy don't have new tires but he will have quite a lot of DRS opportunities which is several seconds over a race distance.

But as we have seen, hamilton is not only fighting his competitors but also his own team.

Anyone want to bet something will happen to Hamilton in this race that is caused solely by his own team?

It was inevitable wasn't it? Damn mechanics left the rear tyre in the way!

[Nando]

I just laughed when i saw that... Maybe next race he´ll get normal pit stops, no penalties and hopefully a dominant win at Monaco!

I think he can pull it off here.

[bhall]

I got this in the Mclaren newsletter. I guess they jumped the gun!

Brilliant.

[GrizzleBoy]

A McLaren pit stop costs them points again. Although less points than usual this season means any points are critical.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A2yUFltjgU[/youtube]

Considering he only finished 2 tenths of a second behind Rosberg, I'd say this stop that also released him into the dirty air of Di Resta was pretty pivotal for points.

I dont understand how it's happening though.

Rear jack man doesn't know how to use his jack.

Unable to remove brake duct tape.

Cant change tyres.

Forgot that the "put fuel in" button is not the same as the "take fuel out" button.

Didn't know(or check) Lewis was low on fuel until the session had finished.

Forgot to move old tyre out of the way of the cars wheels.


Its understandable that things happen now and again, but honestly, how does this happen at such a consistent level to a team with who dont lack the funds or experience to know how to do things right?

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

It was a new rear jackman at this race. I think they had too much pressure now, they are afraid to do a mistake and i think they think about it even during the pitstop... and when you think about it generally you made a mistake..

[Nando]

Ate you sure? looked like he ran ocer the wheelgun or the tire that they took off.

Either way Mclaren are looking worse then HRT when it comes pit stops.
Had a news broke out saying they have been drunk non stop since Australia i would not have been surprised.

Im actually thoroughly amazed at how Hamilton is handling the situations.
He's getting tortured but just takes it and says, is that all you got, please...

Mentally he seems to be on top of his game, almost Alonso-like in his determination.

[GrizzleBoy]

If you pause the vid at 1 second (and all other frames that are within the 1 second if you have a steady enough hand), you can see the rear left tyre that was removed has been left sitting in front of his rear left wheel as he is about to pull away.

If you rewatch over and over and over again as I just have while typing this reply, the story gets even worse.

If you pay extremely close attention to the very second Lewis' car moves forward even a few inches, the badly placed tyre immediately flinches, gets rolled over and flips Lewis' rear up at exactly the same moment.

If anything, it suggests the old tyre might even have been left literally resting on his new one.......just look at how far away the removed front left tyre is in comparison to the rear.

You cant even complain about the wheel gun man this time. It just happens to be the case that in this race, the guy who takes off the tyres forgot he's not supposed to drop it in the path of the car as it exits.

As far as his mentality goes, I guess he can only ever come out of this as a stronger person. It probably also helps that the mistakes being made are so blatant and so embarassing that all he has to do is do his job and to be quite honest, he's been quite faultless.

I'm sure he's feeling it inside though. Cameras don't lie, but they never tell the full story either.

[Nando]

Couldn´t watch the video on work but can see now it´s crystal clear it´s the tire.
Another NOOB mistake by the guys at Mclaren. Are they burnt out or something?

[PlatinumZealot]

After the race it was pretty clear that Hamilton somehow managed to glue a crumbling team together. The team's professionalism and reputation under question, Button's faltering in Q3, Mechanics threatening to quit... It was a time bomb waiting to explode. But the man in the centre of this kept calm and collected. His heroic performance on raceday from the back of the grid, alone backed up his wise words: "We win and lose as a team." A touched Whitmarsh was reduced to tears in his eyes after the race.

I think Whitmarsh has only now just understand what type of person Hamilton is. He is not just some glory hunting poster boy but a man that cares about his team and a real racer above all else. I think this GP is a turning point in how operations will be carried out from here on at Mclaren.

[mx_tifoso]

What a touching post. And what a turnaround from last season, it seems that now that he's doing better then Button it's a team spirit. Mclaren better hope Button doesn't re surge otherwise they'll lose Hamilton again.

[simieski]

What a touching post. And what a turnaround from last season, it seems that now that he's doing better then Button it's a team spirit. Mclaren better hope Button doesn't re surge otherwise they'll lose Hamilton again.

I think you're somewhat demeaning the changes Hamilton has clearly made by suggesting it is soley down to him having the upper hand on Button thus far. With the mistakes and misfortunes he has suffered so far this year the guy is yet to have an interview where he isn't smiling. Different character to last year completely, full credit to the guy. I fear for the competition the day Macca can get their act together.