[Marc Fiorano]

(Original post by Gaara.)
Mclaren always seem to start off bad but end off well which is rather annoying.
I think this might be the year they win it though?
Massa 10th.

This isn't a dig at McLaren, but if you look at their approach I would call them winners, not champions. What they do is they start off the year badly, catch up with their great resources, and then when the front running teams stop/slow development near the end of the season they continue to update to get a few last wins in the season. Ron Dennis has openly admitted to this approach a few years ago. Then because they've spent so long focusing on developing a car just for the last wins, they compromise the development of next year's car.

I mean, I hear from their drivers and even their fans that they're the best team. But are they? 1 championship in the last 11 years...even Renault have achieved more recent championship success than they have. That's a poor rate of winning titles whatever way you like to spin it, Ferrari are on a dry spell now as well but at least they've challenged for the title more often in the last few years.

On top of that they've made things difficult by opting to have two top line drivers, which is purely for a marketing scheme more than anything else because if winning the title was their priority they would keep one top driver and focus on him. Right now their two drivers start taking points away from each other and make winning the title even more difficult. It's no surprise Button recently said he would prefer a 1-2 system if considering maximising the chance to win the title.

[lennard]

Mclaren are good, but it always seems just that little bit too late..

There is that saying, start off how you mean to finish. I think if they have a car half as decent as they did towards the end of this year, and hamilton pulls himself together, then we have a championship on our hands

Really interested to see what mercedes pull out the bag this year. I think for some reason they have something special.

[f1mad]

(Original post by Marc Fiorano)
This isn't a dig at McLaren, but if you look at their approach I would call them winners, not champions. What they do is they start off the year badly, catch up with their great resources, and then when the front running teams stop/slow development near the end of the season they continue to update to get a few last wins in the season. Ron Dennis has openly admitted to this approach a few years ago. Then because they've spent so long focusing on developing a car just for the last wins, they compromise the development of next year's car.

I mean, I hear from their drivers and even their fans that they're the best team. But are they? 1 championship in the last 11 years...even Renault have achieved more recent championship success than they have. That's a poor rate of winning titles whatever way you like to spin it, Ferrari are on a dry spell now as well but at least they've challenged for the title more often in the last few years.

On top of that they've made things difficult by opting to have two top line drivers, which is purely for a marketing scheme more than anything else because if winning the title was their priority they would keep one top driver and focus on him. Right now their two drivers start taking points away from each other and make winning the title even more difficult. It's no surprise Button recently said he would prefer a 1-2 system if considering maximising the chance to win the title.

I agree.

In addition the drivers need to up their game: they had the quickest car towards the end of the season and weren't able to pick up on pole-positions and wins.

[alan_9016]

It also looks like the Mercedes car has not opted for the "platypus" nose, it looks STUNNING!!

[f1mad]

(Original post by alan_9016)
It also looks like the Mercedes car has not opted for the "platypus" nose, it looks STUNNING!!

Since when was the car revealed?

It's revealed on the 21st.

[kaban]

Vettel'll be very fast again. Ferrari seems to make a bad start. In my view is McLaren the strongest opponent of RB. Maybe Renault or Mercedes with their bigger crew manage a surprise.

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by f1mad)
Since when was the car revealed?

It's revealed on the 21st.

Is all we have so far. Not that you can even tell if there's a bump in the nose from that pic so not sure what the other user is on about tbh...

[Like_A_G6]

Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes (probably) are set or look to be set in my opinion for an epic battle for 3rd in constructors championship. Seeing Alonso, Schumacher and Raikkonen battle it out would just be epic! It'll also be quite good to see the battle for supremacy between the two Force India drivers. NH is quick and so to is PDR! McLaren will probably be a clear second and RBR will be top again this year, but this time MW will be a lot closer to SV.

I also can't wait to see the in house battle between JB and LH. McLaren have reportedly tried the Red Bull strategy this season of getting pole and controlling the race from the front. LH must be over the moon if this is true as he could probably get close to the Red Bulls. JB will probably be disappointed as his quali pace is in general a quarter of a second off Hamilton's, unless the car is set up perfectly in which he seems to be at one with the car.

Should be a good season!

[Lib]

(Original post by Like_A_G6)
I also can't wait to see the in house battle between JB and LH. McLaren have reportedly tried the Red Bull strategy this season of getting pole and controlling the race from the front.

I think that's the strategy that pretty much every single team aims for. Just the small matter of having the car to go with it...

[alan_9016]

(Original post by f1mad)
Since when was the car revealed?

It's revealed on the 21st.

Sorry, my mistake, was looking at their older car but for some reason it looked newer and better therefore misleading myself to thinking it was their new one...

[SciFiRory]

McLaren hopefully will be good from the get go this year, be interesting to see how Lotus and Raikonen do too, also how Di Resta does with Force India again

can't wait for the new season, less than a month to go!