And jet the chasis of this year managed more than twice as much points than the previous one
Point of the matter is that this year they made it wrong and the car failed, but the platform is stable enough to gain positions during the race. Tyre managment is very good as far as i see it.
They managed much better qualifying performances in 2017, but at the other hand they were losing those positions at practically every race due to the fuel saving. Not to mention, the car was able even to break down before the start.
This year, they were lucky with some of their rivals infront getting retirements but this is how this sport works, u dont stop because someone infront of u stopped. U take what u can. In Mexico, after quite some time, Vandoorne as well finally prooved that overtaking is possible with this car, especially against better powered Haas and Williams cars which are fast on the straights.
Honda has better packaging than Renault, which also explains why STR was so much more confortable with marrying their chasis with the engine. For long we were all talking and listening about how the next year its going to be better and so on, but now the 2019 is the crunch time for Mclaren. The car will be fully developed for the Renault engine and we shall see if they can walk the walk, or just talk the talk.
I believe they will lose the 6th in the standings against Racing point by the end of this season, and i say 5th should be their objective for next season. They need to learn how to walk again, before running.