F1 in the blogs 39: Defending McLaren

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This week’s top post is an excellent article by a dedicated McLaren fan as the team goes through tough times.

Also in the blogs a good feature on visiting the European Grand Prix and some more thoughts on the espionage scandal.

F1 Fanatic’s Post of the week

Why I am a McLaren fan

In the wake of the espionage scandal and Hungaroring-qualifying-gate, a McLaren fan writes in defence of his team. It’s a good read.

More F1 in the blogs

Fickleness – People are too quick to turn on Alonso, says this writer.

Fernando’s future – Where will the Spaniard head to next?

Fernando should stay – Alonso can’t do any better than McLaren at the moment, says this blogger.

Trend Of The Week – Ex F1 Drivers Hitting Out At The Current Ones – Mansell slates Button and Irvine slags off the McLaren drivers. The former British drivers are in the press this week.

N??rburgring, 2002 – Visiting the European Grand Prix.

Bad vibes – A telling quote from Fernando Alonso.

Gary Anderson speaks about the F1 spy scandal in the virtual paddock – Former F1 technical director on the other McLaren scandal.

Smoke and Mirrors – Was Hamilton Punished? – Formula 1 Jam de-constructs those vital minutes at the Hungaroring.

Photo: Daimler Chrysler

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “F1 in the blogs 39: Defending McLaren”

  1. The “Bad Vibes” video… You can’t see it there but I was watching this with my girlfriend and we both said that it looked like Alonso was about to start crying. No joke. Maybe someone has a higher res version…

  2. The “Gary Anderson speaks” is great.

  3. Actually, I thought the Gary Anderson one was a load of old tosh. He concentrates on the Bridgestone tyres thing, saying that it was suspicious that McLaren got them so right while Renault blew it, but completely ignores the fact that Bridgestone made new tyres for this season that nobody had tried before. Ferrari would have had a small advantage at the beginning of the season through having worked with the Bridgestone personnel before and knowing how the company worked, but they would have had to get used to the new compounds as much as any other team.

    Renault were a little more disadvantaged in that they had worked so closely with Michelin that there was more of a “culture shock” for them in switching to Bridgestones but, again, Anderson doesn’t mention this. He sounded to me like a man who’d made up his mind and was justifying it.

  4. about that Renault performance – It has been common to accept and blame their performance dip on the tyre switch. That’s why I was quite surprised to read the explanation from Pat Symonds in the F1 Racing mag last month. He blamed it all on their wind tunnel data… If that is the real reason, then Mr Anderson chose wrong teams to compare for his arguments… On the other hand, why would Symonds tell everybody, including the competitors, where Renault’s problems are :-)

  5. Well, Renault do pride themselves on their openness, Milos. And actually, he’s giving nothing away by blaming it on wind tunnel data – it’s the popular excuse of the moment, judging by Honda and Ferrari…

  6. Gary Anderson makes some really good points. And unless I’m mistaken, Coughlan was (maybe still is) employed by McLaren during the whole thing. Meaning, what’s the point of “warning” him to stop communication. He should have been fired/sacked.

    McLaren really left themselves wide-open.

    Cheers.

  7. When the teams tried this year’s tires on last year’s cars at the end of last season McLaren immediately went faster than they were on their 2006 tires. Which kinda puts a huge hole in the tires thing.

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