Spanish Grand Prix: 14 May

Gazelle SG

There are always excuses for not winning and Mclaren is a team that is now labeled as the best team that cant win a championship. 1998 was the last time they win the WCC, it has been a good 8 years and still they are playing catchup with the front runner.

And for their leading driver and its managing director to admit that title hopes are over just after 6 races into the season, something has to be terribly wrong or else who will want to make such demotivating statement that will affect the morale of the 400 people working their arse off at MTC and their sponsors?

The biggest problem I see with the team is that Mclaren and Merc are not great partners as both companies are quitely thinking of buying each other out of the partnership. Merc must be thinking that the only way to win the WCC is to be independent team like Ferrari, Renault, Toyota, Honda and BMW. As for Ron, he is the man that will not relinquish his control over Mclaren to the German and most likely they will choose to be like Williams.

I also believe that Ron's billion dollar MTC project has diverted his attention away from motor racing. And along the way, his technical people have decided that they have enough of Ron's sweet talking and managment style to look for more interesting challenges elsewhere.

SBS9828X SG

DC isnt doing great in red bull neither

Gedanken SG

As a racer or as a development driver? He's good at development, but kinda inconsistent as a racer.

SBS9828X SG

hmm... well wats the difference?

Gedanken SG

The difference lies in the feedback that the driver gives the team. A good development driver gives detailed information about the handling of the car to engineers in a form that they can translate directly into the tweaks that they perform on the car.

Senna was known for his ability to describe each testing lap in minute detail, to the extent that Honda's manager Goto trusted Senna's word more than he did the telemetry data. Prima donnas like Villeneuve, on the other hand, positively suck at feedback, explaining BAR's inability to progress while he was there.

Gazelle SG

Heng, I am glad that I am not the only one that say Mclaren's performance this season is deteriorating. Laughing

Expert View: Gary Anderson
Monday, 15 May 14:31 BST

Setanta Sports' Gary Anderson was in awe of Fernando Alonso's win at the Spanish GP on Sunday, when an excellent start and drive to his first pit stop allowed the Renault man to claim his first ever F1 Grand Prix win on home soil.

For the former Jordan technical director, it was performance that showed what the World Champion was all about, rather than reflecting poorly on the rest of the field.

"I thought it was a fascinating race. Alonso's first stint was superb and Michael Schumacher and Ferrari just weren't quick enough," he said.

"Giancarlo Fisichella is a very, very good driver, but the problem is that Alonso is exceptional. When Michael came into the sport he was exceptional too and you could tell that by comparing him to the team-mates he has had down through the years - Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and now Felipe Massa. The two of them are out there on their own at the minute.

"Ferrari will have got a bit of a shock though. I think Alonso drove out of this skin for that first stint and it was always going to be difficult to pull that gap back. Once he went ten seconds ahead, Ferrari knew they were scuppered."

For Anderson, McLaren's weekend was proof that they are still badly missing the presence of designer Adrian Newey, who has moved on to Red Bull, something which could take them quite awhile to get over.

"The team are going backwards to be honest and I do think there are suffering the consequences of Adrian leaving.

"I've said that all along - it will hurt for awhile. The way McLaren is structured, there is a bit of a power struggle inside it, but you'll always get that when a major player leaves because there are a lot of people left fighting for position.

"They need to regroup because there were some long faces after the race ended and after qualifying. It'll be a tough uphill struggle for them though."

The season so far has also left the Ulsterman looking forward to the next event in Monaco before the tyres have even cooled properly after the event in Spain, and Setanta Sports' technical expert believes there is another absorbing race to come in two weeks time.

"Monaco is a track on its own. We'll see the same type of pattern but a few guys will mix it up. Trulli has always gone well there, Button has always been quick there too. Rubens Barrichello and Michael are good there, and it's all about being good at Monaco. Also, with the momentum that Alonso has got there is no reason to think that he won't be on the pace as well.

"There will be a little bit of tyre play between Michelin and Bridgestone of course, so whoever will come out with the best tyre - it'll be difficult to predict - but I think it'll be a great race.

"Honda stuck themselves in a bit of a difficult situation where they weren't realistic about their own performance in testing. Monaco is a bit more of a driver circuit and that's what Button has been saying this weekend - "let's get to Monaco and get a good result out of it".

"At least there he can influence the car, which you can't really do here. This was just a day where Renault were simply better than the rest of them."

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