I guess we should put things in perspective also... Out of the last 4 seasons, the team underperformed in 3 of them due to the lack of performance and reliability from the Honda engine... Not a lot that they could do from a Chassis perspective to cover the clear performance gap from the engine and compounded by the fact that they were also behind other teams since not only in testing, but through the season they had very few “clean weekends” to learn more about the car and improve upon it (their lack of mileage was one of the biggest issues throughout those 3 years).Ground Effect wrote:It's no surprise that the 3 top teams in F1 are the 3 biggest spenders. McLaren over the years have under achieved even if you base it on how much they spend alone. It's unacceptable for many reasons, not least economically to be out performed by people who consistently and considerably spend less than you do. Bringing someone in like James Key, who is highly rated and has always had budget constraints shows the team want to start spending smart, while spending big compared to the RP's and the likes. Hopefully, if the budget cap comes, then maybe his talents will become more evident compared to the top teams. Imagine what Mercedes spent, bringing effectively 2 different cars to preseason, not to mention what they'll spend on development through out the year.
Last year, the problem with the car wasn’t a concept problem, but a manufacturing problem... One that can only be attributed to the team and that they have owned... The decision to not pursue a new chassis that will fix the issue and instead focus on this year’s car was the right one in my opinion.
So, the underperformance from the team compared to the likes of Racing Point (Force India) or Haas and the rest of the field wasn’t related to their budget or amount spend through the season.
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