2011 end of term report – McLaren Mercedes

Runner-up to Red Bull Renault for the second consecutive year, the Woking-based team still has not found a way to beat the Austrian outfit. However, considering McLaren’s form during the pre-season, it had an excellent campaign in 2011.

Season review

McLaren unveiled the MP4-26 in early February, at Berlin. The new car bore high expectations and featured some highly innovative concepts. However, this audacious approach backfired on the team in winter testing. They struggled with the set-up of the car and couldn’t optimize the innovative exhaust system. As a result, the car was nowhere near as competitive as its rivals.

The team management made an important decision before flying to Melbourne. A traditional exhaust system was fitted into the car and tested for the very first time in free practice. The risk paid off and the McLaren was quick and reliable.

Although slower than the Red Bull RB7, the MP4-26 was faster than the Ferrari F150° Italia. McLaren emerged as the main challenger to Red Bull and Vettel. In Australia, Hamilton qualified 0.8s behind Vettel and crossed the finish line 22 secondes behind the German. The huge gap was a big disappointment for McLaren.

The team led by Martin Whitmarsh then upped the pace and managed to close the gap on Red Bull. Hamilton took the team’s first win of the season in China. The Briton also won in Germany and Abu Dhabi, while his teammate Button scored victories in Canada, Hungary and Japan. Despite McLaren’s efforts, Red Bull kept the upper hand until the end of the season.

Conclusion

McLaren finished the year 153 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. Nonetheless, the balance is more than satisfying for the British team which was the only one capable of challenging Red Bull. It scored 6 wins and 1 pole position.

On the driver-side, Jenson Button created the surprise. He had a strong season and took the runner-up spot, while his teammate had a ragged time.

Expectations

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will still spearhead McLaren’s assault for the World Championship in 2012. The latter appears more and more as the team leader but might face some strong opposition from a resurgent Hamilton.

Williams’ former technical director Sam Michael joined the team at the end of the season and will be expected to reduce the strategic mistakes.

Highs
—  6 wins, 1 pole position
—  Massive improvement between the pre-season testing and the opening Grand Prix
—  Best driver line-up

Lows
—  Disastrous winter testing
—  Big gap to Red Bull
—  Lacked consistency, made some strategy mistakes

Nextgen-Auto.com marks :
— Olivier Ferret : 16/20
— D.Thys : 17/20
— Sandrine Bouchard : 17/20
— Jean-Michel Setbon : 16/20
— Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 16/20
—  Total : 82/100