Are Mclaren on self-distruct?

[Sawtooth-spike]

With all the crap that going on at the moment in F1, Are Mclaren on selfdestruct?

They have 2 drivers who are both Very talented. But with them being so close in the championship and the fact neather of them wanting to lose (which is understandable), surely all the situations on and off track are detramental to there chances of win the WRC and the Constructors?

Are they going to do the natural British thing and pull defeat from the jaws of victory? With all the infighting and politics i could see those red cars catching up and overtaking them.

Also for the Drivers this is really not good PR. I like both drivers alot, but at the moment they just seem to be trying to play nice, but its clearly not sticking.

[DaveKillens]

It has come to pass. After much speculation, we now see a repeat of what happened many years ago between Senna and Prost. A full blown war between teammates has erupted, and the team is presently unable to contain the damage. I expect McLaren will get things under control, but we may see more bloodshed before things stabilize.
What's even more amazing is how Ferrari have failed to capitilize on McLaren's problems.

[doorboot]

Ironic that McLaren has finaly sorted their problems with reliability only have internal and FIA problems.

What's even more amazing is how Ferrari have failed to capitilize on McLaren's problems.

They are only getting what they deserve, live by the sword.....

[dumrick]

McLaren is not self-destructing. On the contrary, they are, as ever since the early 80's assuring their continuous competitiveness by having two strong drivers and offering them the chance to battle each other. This means that the whole team is pulled to put in extra effort to respond to the needs of everybody, resulting in faster development pace, finer organizational structuring and long-time sustainability.

Just look at the past 25 years and think why there has been only one team consistently on the top or near it, while teams like Ferrari have highlights and fade for decades...

On a side note, I love both Fernando and Lewis, I think they are one of the best pairings ever and, even if the team loses a championship this year, this is still the best long-term way to deal with success.

[deluge]

It is clear to me that McLaren have conducted their business this weekend as if the team were rookies. The team had chosen a race strategy based on many factors. Generally, these factors are dependant on a dominant driver and what works best for him.

McLaren have two drivers that are surprisingly close. Surprising in that one is a double world champion, and the other is a phenonomal rookie. This creates a management problem. How to avoid favoritism.

Race strategy is determined after Q2 when the fuel loads are chosen. In the event that both driver/engineer combinations choose the same fuel strategy, then someone gets what they want and someone settles for second best.

The team choose the strategy for both. Hamilton disagreed and choose his own. This compromised Alonso plans, and Alonso unilateraly decided to punish Hamilton by fouling his strategy.

And then Ron tried to cover it all up.

[dumrick]

The team choose the strategy for both. Hamilton disagreed and choose his own. This compromised Alonso plans, and Alonso unilateraly decided to punish Hamilton by fouling his strategy.

And then Ron tried to cover it all up.

That's also my perception, yes, but I can't pretend to know the absolute truth...

[Ciro Pabón]

Sure, but you cannot pretend either to have the "absolute wrong". It seems to me that both deluge and you have said, at least, the "relative truth".... except in the bit about Dennis covering it up: Leweasel spoke in front of everybody and the radio talk was opened for the whole world to hear. The only thing left to know is if Alonso punished Hamilton or if Dennis gave the orders.

[Ian P.]

Am a bit disapointed in R. Denis to say the least.
Imagine if immediately following the fiasco in qualifying, he had jumped up and done three things...
1. told the drivers to ...shut up
2. told the media that ..."It's a team screw-up and both drivers were following instructions"
3. told the FIA/Stewards.... "Mia Culpa. We, The Team, messed up and we will fix our internal problems".
Since he didn't, the drivers are against each other in a non productive way, the press is against Alonso and Lewis is getting a bad reputation. Haven't even mentioned the FIA.
For R.D.s benefit I might suggest some leadership examples.

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.4.3.html
Anything about Alexander The Great
Watch The Untaoucables (the movie) Al Capone's Teamwork Dinner Speach.

Ian P.