Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 team was on top of the world after the first race in Melbourne. But since then, the Woking based team hasn't really lived up to their world championship standards. Other than Heikki Kovalainen's third place podium finish in the Malaysian GP, McLaren's results weren't at all impressive.
Since Hamilton's season opening victory in Australia, the Briton managed only fifth in Malaysia and a woeful 13th place finish in Bahrain.
Kovalainen's fifth place in the Bahrain GP wasn't all that great either. The Finn was after all roughly a staggering 30 seconds down from race winner Felipe Massa.
Main rivals Ferrari, despite their lackluster start to the season, are clearly the team to beat this year. But what should concern Mclaren even more was the fact that it was even outpaced by BMW-Sauber the last two races. Robert Kubica scored a spectacular second place finish in Malaysia and followed it up with a third place finish in Bahrain. Nick Heidfeld, barring his low-key sixth place finish in Malaysia, was fourth in Bahrain, 18.3 seconds ahead of fifth placed Kovalainen.
What has gone wrong the past two races?
It's hard to say really. The McLaren-Mercedes is a proven fast car. After all, Heikki Kovalainen did record the fastest lap of the race in the Bahrain GP.
But despite the car's inherent speed, both Mclaren cars couldn't compete for pole position. The team settled for a second row start (third and fourth) in Sepang Malaysia. Bahrain qualifying results were slightly worse when the team qualified third and fifth.
Come raceday, the team wasn't able to do anything significant to improve their positions. Kovalainen's fastest lap in the closing stages of the Bahrain GP was more like a case of too little too late. The average pace of the car was much slower than that 'fastest lap'.
McLaren is a team that is suffering from compounding effects of a series of unfortunate events. For the past two races, the team couldn't seem to find the right balance for their race trim. As a result, they end up settling for the second row (or worse) during qualifying. In adition, a less than ideal race trim usually means a compromised race pace that leads to losing even more ground during the race. Kovalainen, in a relatively trouble free race, still finished almost 30 seconds behind Massa's Ferrari.
But what was worse was the fact that McLaren was also the victim of race incidents. Lewis Hamilton bogged down his start and dropped from third to tenth even before he even reached turn one. Hamilton commited a second error shortly after his poor start by crashing his car in to the rear wing of Alonso's Renault. All Hamilton could do was finish the race in a humbling 13th position.
McLaren's woes, sadly for them, appear to be worse than they should be. They already have the main ingredient for a championship bid: a fast car. They just couldn't use it to produce results.
What they desperately need to work on is figuring out the ideal race trim for the coming races. Judging from the team's reputation, McLaren is certainly capable of doing that.
They also need to hope for better luck for their drivers in the next few races!
Since Hamilton's season opening victory in Australia, the Briton managed only fifth in Malaysia and a woeful 13th place finish in Bahrain.
Kovalainen's fifth place in the Bahrain GP wasn't all that great either. The Finn was after all roughly a staggering 30 seconds down from race winner Felipe Massa.
Main rivals Ferrari, despite their lackluster start to the season, are clearly the team to beat this year. But what should concern Mclaren even more was the fact that it was even outpaced by BMW-Sauber the last two races. Robert Kubica scored a spectacular second place finish in Malaysia and followed it up with a third place finish in Bahrain. Nick Heidfeld, barring his low-key sixth place finish in Malaysia, was fourth in Bahrain, 18.3 seconds ahead of fifth placed Kovalainen.
What has gone wrong the past two races?
It's hard to say really. The McLaren-Mercedes is a proven fast car. After all, Heikki Kovalainen did record the fastest lap of the race in the Bahrain GP.
But despite the car's inherent speed, both Mclaren cars couldn't compete for pole position. The team settled for a second row start (third and fourth) in Sepang Malaysia. Bahrain qualifying results were slightly worse when the team qualified third and fifth.
Come raceday, the team wasn't able to do anything significant to improve their positions. Kovalainen's fastest lap in the closing stages of the Bahrain GP was more like a case of too little too late. The average pace of the car was much slower than that 'fastest lap'.
McLaren is a team that is suffering from compounding effects of a series of unfortunate events. For the past two races, the team couldn't seem to find the right balance for their race trim. As a result, they end up settling for the second row (or worse) during qualifying. In adition, a less than ideal race trim usually means a compromised race pace that leads to losing even more ground during the race. Kovalainen, in a relatively trouble free race, still finished almost 30 seconds behind Massa's Ferrari.
But what was worse was the fact that McLaren was also the victim of race incidents. Lewis Hamilton bogged down his start and dropped from third to tenth even before he even reached turn one. Hamilton commited a second error shortly after his poor start by crashing his car in to the rear wing of Alonso's Renault. All Hamilton could do was finish the race in a humbling 13th position.
McLaren's woes, sadly for them, appear to be worse than they should be. They already have the main ingredient for a championship bid: a fast car. They just couldn't use it to produce results.
What they desperately need to work on is figuring out the ideal race trim for the coming races. Judging from the team's reputation, McLaren is certainly capable of doing that.
They also need to hope for better luck for their drivers in the next few races!
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