Problems for Mclaren with development

[vall]

According to McLaren in 2007 Hamilton was doing most of the donkey work in setting up the car, with Alonso taking that base setup and then tweaking it to his liking. If this was genuinely the case then he can't be all that bad.

This sounds like a ridiculous statement? What do you expect them to say? That their golden boy used Alonso's?

[vall]

if it really happens that Macca do not improve and he is driving toward the back of the field, I am curious to see his comments about those driving at the back

Also his comments that Kimmi doesn't "have the guts" to brake late and that he started "to hunt them down" (other drivers) (after Spa)

[myurr]

According to McLaren in 2007 Hamilton was doing most of the donkey work in setting up the car, with Alonso taking that base setup and then tweaking it to his liking. If this was genuinely the case then he can't be all that bad.

This sounds like a ridiculous statement? What do you expect them to say? That their golden boy used Alonso's?

Why is it so ridiculous - Hamilton was doing more testing than Alonso, at least in the first half of the year. Pedro DLR and Hamilton were responsible for a lot of the work on the base setup, which Hamilton and Alonso then took and fine tuned to suit their driving styles.

if it really happens that Macca do not improve and he is driving toward the back of the field, I am curious to see his comments about those driving at the back

Also his comments that Kimmi doesn't "have the guts" to brake late and that he started "to hunt them down" (other drivers) (after Spa)

All drivers have done or said stupid things near the beginning of their career. When taken out of context on the printed page a lot of what Hamilton says does look arogant, especially as you can't see when he was or was not joking. There is some arogance in there, but hell its the same with the majority of WDC, Alonso included. Give him time to temper.

Do I need to remind you of some of Alonso's exploits when he was a rookie, like driving into a waved yellow zone in the rain at Interlagos, colliding with crash debris, and being lucky to get out the car in one piece. Incredibly stupid and dangeous thing to do.

And it's all the more ironic that already in todays test the McLaren is looking in better shape. Not back to the front, but much closer to the pace than they were, and certainly within reach of Renault.

[mcdenife]

This sounds like a ridiculous statement? What do you expect them to say? That their golden boy used Alonso's?

And yet you cannot come up anything (facts wise) why this statement cannot be true (most likely because you dont want it to be true). It is no more ridiculous than anything else that has has said so far (ie assertions, rumous with no basis but stated as fact). What makes Mclaren statements/comments a lie but not Alonso or his fans/team. Or Alonso or his fans/team etc, comments a lie and anyone else, Mclaren and LH included, not? What is ridiculous is to say what someone else says is ridiculous despite being ignorant of what the true facts are. The fact is you simply dont know.

[meves]

Just to change the topic slightly, McLaren have revised parts on the car and although faster are still not what I'd call competitive with the Brawn and the it appears the Renault (see below for todays test times). The changes are obviously a step in the right direction but will the McLaren engineers back in Woking be redesigning the back end (aero at least) completely or will they continue to make minor tweaks to try get the results they were expecting from the package in the first place?

.1º Fernando Alonso Renault 00:01'18''343
.2º Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 00:01'18''398
.3º Jenson Button Brawn GP 00:01'18''892
.4º Lewis Hamilton McLaren 00:01'19''513
.5º Nico Rosberg Williams 00:01'19''783

[vall]

well, the teams know the track and they can very well guess the basic set-up even without having done a lap on them. It is the fine tuning that matters and that can make a difference. And Alonso is good in that.

mcdenife: I didn't say that anyone in the forum says ridiculous things, did I. I says the statement by McLaren was ridiculous.

[meves]

Yup but the McLarens issue isn't setup its diffuser by the looks of things which requires new parts...

[vall]

I've been following the test today. Hamilton did the fast lap early, but then was slower them the other in long stints, both from BGP and Renauls. Alonso did his fast lap in the last minutes, probably a quali lap. And he was able to match BGP time

[mcdenife]

mcdenife: I didn't say that anyone in the forum says ridiculous things, did I. I says the statement by McLaren was ridiculous.

I Never said you said anyone on this forum said ridiculous things, I think it was clear I said and meant the comment that the statement from Mcl was ridiculous was in itself ridiculous. Thats why I said:

What makes Mclaren statements/comments a lie but not Alonso or his fans/team. Or Alonso or his fans/team etc, comments a lie and anyone else, Mclaren and LH included, not? What is ridiculous is to say what someone else says is ridiculous despite being ignorant of what the true facts are. The fact is you simply dont know.

[myurr]

I have no proof but I can't help but wonder if they've deliberately run the Renault underweight to see if they can replicate Brawns performance. Throughout all the longer runs they've been a second off Brawns pace, and the 1:18:03 that barichello did was unbelieveably quick at the time. Now Alonso's suddenly found an extra second and gone quickest of all?

[vall]

indeed, all the long runs they were a second off BGP's pace. However, to run underweight would mean they took KERS off (have no idea if this can be done that fast/easily though). Or perhaps they were working on long run set-ups and did the quili run last? By any measures, Alonso's fast lap in impressive

[kilcoo316]

According to McLaren in 2007 Hamilton was doing most of the donkey work in setting up the car, with Alonso taking that base setup and then tweaking it to his liking. If this was genuinely the case then he can't be all that bad.

First time I've ever heard anything like that.


It wouldn't exactly explain why Hamilton took Alonso's setups come the race weekends (as everyone and their dog knew mid-2007).

[Moanlower]

Edit: wrong topic

[myurr]

indeed, all the long runs they were a second off BGP's pace. However, to run underweight would mean they took KERS off (have no idea if this can be done that fast/easily though). Or perhaps they were working on long run set-ups and did the quili run last? By any measures, Alonso's fast lap in impressive

It's quite possible either way, and they have run at several times without KERS so it is again possible. Will be interesting to see in that first quali session.

[ISLAMATRON]

Thanks for posting this longer video. I have seen the other one where Alonos says something when wrong with the car:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAtn-0KpWvs[/youtube]

From the long video you posted, I see no error from Alsono. It looks like the car gets a kick from the back! This kind of spinning of the rare of the car happens when you loose is in the middle of a turn or so. He was driving almost straight at that moment ....

It was actually pretty clear when I saw it that he was searching off the racing line for more grip as we have seen Alonso do many times and he wet into a puddle and lost it into the wall... there was no problem with the car, other than the driver, he was losing time to Hamilton and was searching for some speed off line and it came back to bite him. If you ever drive on throttle into a puddle you know the feeling Fa had when that happened.