McLaren 2007 - THE DRIVERS REVIEW.

2007 was a turbulent year for Mclaren for the first time since 1998, 1999 when they won the drivers title they had almost the perfect package, fast drivers a quick car and reliability from the Mercedes engine. By the end of it they’d lost both titles and there double world champion had decided to look elsewhere. Out of all the gloom they still have a star driver in Lewis Hamilton, but how has 2007 damaged the reputation of the double world champion and team he left? Here is a look at their 2007 season.

Alonso - End of the road.

Last week Alonso and Mclaren announced that after only 17 races and two years earlier than the contract stated they were to part ways the team statement read,

“Following a meeting between Fernando Alonso and McLaren, it was agreed that it would be in the best interests of both parties to bring the relationship to an end.

The mutual parting of ways has not been discussed until now, since it was felt that any such discussion could have seriously disrupted the team’s and Fernando’s 2007 Formula 1 World Championship challenge. Both parties believe that this was the right decision.”

Alonso was also complimentary of the team he was leaving, in fact you can’t help thinking if he had done the same throughout the season that the outcome would have been different.

“Since I was a boy I had always wanted to drive for McLaren, but sometimes in life things do not work out. I continue to believe that McLaren is a great team. Yes, we have had our ups and downs during the season, which has made it extra-challenging for all of us, and it is not a secret that I never really felt at home. I know there have been suggestions of favouritism within the team and people say a lot of things in the heat of battle, but in the end I was always provided with an equal opportunity to win. Today’s decision allows all of us to focus on 2008, and I wish the team, Vodafone, Banco Santander, Mutua Madrileña and all the other team Partners who I have worked closely with during the year, the best for the future.”

“yes, we have had our ups and downs during the season”, I’d say that was an understatement, the ups were probably at the start of the season, a strong race at Melbourne and a win at Malaysia were a great start, then it all seemed to go wrong after then.

The troubles with Lewis.

Unhappy with Bridgestone tyres and Carbone industrie brakes that he didn’t like (he later reverted to Hitcos that he used at Renault) saw Hamilton struggle to 5th at Bahrain after being passed by Heidfeld on the outside. It was at this stage the cracks in the Mclaren Alonso relationship began to show. Ron Dennis had said he and Alonso had sat and Dennis had ensured Alonso he was an important part of the team and his expertise was highly valued. Alonso denied this conversation ever took place when asked, and then came Monaco.

Alonso won and seemed to have the measure of Hamilton, that illusion was shattered when Hamilton claimed he was told not to race Alonso by the team, “I’ve got number two on my car. I am the number two driver.” Hamilton commented which intern sparked off an FIA inquiry the first of many that season. Although the investigation showed that Mclaren had broken no rules and merely used “team tactics” to keep a 1-2 to the finish, Alonso however was annoyed that his win had been undermined by the whole affair. After that saw the Canadian race where Hamilton won with ease whilst Alonso went off at the first corner 3 times had a 10 second stop-go penalty and then got passed by Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri, what was worse for Alonso it was a good strong pass and there were no real excuses, no mechanical problems it was that he had been upstaged and his rookie team-mate took his first win effortlessly. Alonso’s pride and reputation had been hurt. It got worse at Indianapolis a one on one fight no team strategies this time. Alonso was right on the rear wing of Hamilton on the start / finish straight he got the tow and was almost alongside the sister Mclaren, now was Alonso’s chance to pass, Lewis held his line though and forced Alonso to take the wide line into turn 1 Alonso had to back out. The pass failed. The following lap there was no attempt to pass again but instead Alonso swerved across the track towards the pit wall, the Mclaren pitwall. His frustrations were now coming to boiling point. Later the team tried to play the incident down and Alonso said it was to keep the car cool but not before Martin Whitmarsh had said that he thought it was a frustrated Alonso that was the real reason for the manoeuvre. Between the races came the first of the criticisms of the team, on Spanish radio “Well, right from the start I’ve never felt totally comfortable…”

“I have a British team-mate in a British team and he’s doing a great job and we know that all the support and help is going to him and I understood that from the beginning. But I’m not complaining. I’ve won two races out of six and I’ve finished on the podium four times and I have those 40 points that will allow me to fight for the title in the end.”

Ron Dennis defended Alonso on this occasion claiming the comments had been taken out of context but there were more and more snips and before you knew it came Hungary and “Pit-lanegate” as Alonso sat there for those extra 10 seconds, who knows what he was thinking, but the simmering feud between the two drivers exploded at that point, Hamilton had disobeyed an order to let Fernando past at the start of the fuel burn phase, maybe it was time to show the rookie who was boss, only trouble was Alonso not driving away from his spot exploded the whole thing to media and public, not what Mclaren needed, what could have been discussed behind closed doors was now being played out in front of us all. It got worse after when in the Mclaren media centre where after each session the drivers and Ron Dennis or anther high raking team member would answer any questions from the gathering press. After what had just happened it was the only place to be and what transpired was to be unbelievable. First off it started minus Hamilton who for the first time in the season was late for one of these meetings, Ron Dennis explained how Hamilton had not let Alonso past at the start of the session as agreed by the team, and then why they held him an extra 20 seconds to get track position for his flying lap, Alonso’s reasoning for staying an extra 10 seconds after that whilst Hamilton was behind was that he wasn’t sure he was asking if he was on the right tyres. Dennis was then called into the stewards’ office as Hamilton arrived. Lewis claimed he was watching the GP2 race and that he didn’t realise the meeting was on. From that moment any thoughts of a happy family at Mclaren were diminished. Separated my Mercedes motorsports director Norbert Haug, the two continued to put their side of the story across contradicting each other, Haug said nothing just sitting there looking at his phone, not attempting to break up the drivers. The press were just loving what was unfolding. It took about 10 minutes until Martin Whitmarsh broke it up. It was an example of poor management.

I spy with my little eyes.

Little did we know that this was the weekend where the spy saga would take a new and in terms of Mclarens constructor championship this was the knockout blow. The spy scandal had dragged on all summer and it later immerged that De la Rosa and Alonso had been sharing data, His reported outburst to Ron Dennis of these emails and that it was a case of slow down Lewis or else, this in itself was a shock what didn’t help was that Coughlan had shown these documents to senior management and they had told him to get rid of them but not before they notified the FIA about Ferrari’s flex floor it was using. The texts and e-mails about weight distribution and rear wing info and tyres were enough to convince the World Motor Sport Council to throw Mclaren out the constructor championship. More damage was done to the Mclaren relationship but Dennis gave Alonso the benefit of the doubt saying it was said in the heat of the moment,

"That is the benefit I am giving to Fernando," he said. "My objective is to win races. I believe that if someone says things, and subsequently retracts them and apologises, I move on."

He also said that he had worse moments with drivers

"It's the most extreme thing that you know about, I could tell you some things…I would like you to understand the nature of competitive animals. They know no limit."

With Dennis’s past drivers like Senna and Prost there is no doubt he has had tough moments before, trouble is in today’s F1, there is no stone that won’t be turned in order to get an advantage like Dennis said “they know no limit.” Maybe at this point with over 2 years still to go on his contract, Alonso would be best to keep quiet and focus on racing. But Alonso wanted his story across too and claims that he wanted credit for making the car quicker.

"I remember the car I drove and the results they had in 2006 and now I brought to the team half a second, six-tenths, whatever, and I don't see anything giving me back. That's the only thing."

Also was the rumours of him offering his mechanics financial rewards for beating Hamilton, then ripping off the door at the Mclaren office after only qualifying P4 in China showed a new side of Alonso, one that we had not seen in the past few years, angry and erratic driving on the track also seemed to show. When he was out front like at Monza or Malaysia he was sublime, but if he lost out at the start like in Canada or Spain his driving seemed ether slightly resigned or bad tempered, He ran onto the grass at Indy after failing to pass Hamilton he had plenty of moments at Fuji which ended in him smashing the car into the wall. In Brazil he seemed dejected as if the fight had gone out of him, before the race and even more so after qualifying, he had said he had “no hope” in taking the title being 4 points behind, perhaps forgetting that eventual winner Kimi Raikkonen was 7 points behind.

To me, for all of Alonso’s feelings of the team working against him and from what we know now Alonso didn’t help his own cause ether, and this in my view is what helped his own downfall with the team. The first comments of it being a British team and being behind Hamilton more, I thought were more of a clever tactic to give his team a kick up the backside, make the team wake up possibly but at the same time I felt that it was a bit early to try this. When at Renault last year he did the same thing when at china he said he felt “alone” and that the team were more interested in the constructor championship than the drivers with him going to Mclaren the following season. It did work. But the simple fact is he couldn’t grasp he was being beaten by his team-mate and this probably hurt the most. I always felt that Alonso would throw his toys out of the pram if this happened more often. First time I saw this was Canada 2005, Fisichella was getting the better of Alonso and the car was being driven ragged in his attempts, even when Fisi retired Alonso still drove angrily as if he didn’t accept he was being beaten, he then clipped the wall and retired from the race. Fisichella never put enough pressure on Alonso throughout the season. Lewis did, in Alonso’s head he probably couldn’t understand this, he saw how Lewis was close to Ron and this probably played in his head to get to the stage it has. A normal mistake the team makes probably got blown out of proportion in his head; in essence he became his own worst enemy. All the outburst probably dejected the team more and more. The crunch really came when Alonso asked if he felt the team would deliberately slow his car to help Hamilton in some way his reply,

"Difficult question…I will not answer,"

This got a response from Ron Dennis, who was no longer defending his driver,

"This is a straight fight and I'm obviously disappointed that someone who really has all the knowledge should not be more direct and open with the response,"

For me this is where Alonso was going to leave the team it was just going to be tough to get through the last few races with him. Hamilton however flexed his muscles and played a brilliant tactical game, he spent a lot of the season insisting he was friends with his team-mate, but towards the last 3 races Hamilton became openly vocal of Alonso saying “he wasn’t a team player” and he had tried to make Alonso part of the team but he was fed up of Alonso’s attitude and he’d had enough. Also Hamilton went a shook every team members hand after his DNF in China getting the team on his side, not Alonso’s.

The last two races for Mclaren were a disaster, with Raikkonen closing a 17 point gap in two races and snatching the title at the final hurdle. Hamilton made some mistakes and looked like a rookie for the first time in Brazil pointlessly forcing the issue with Alonso and running wide dropping to 8th. It May have been the gearbox that dropped him to 18th but Lewis’s moves in the first lap of the race showed he does make mistakes.

Looking at it from Alonso perspective, it must have been tough on him to be in a team he didn’t feel comfortable in. Maybe he didn’t understand how Ron Dennis really was. And those finding fault with him pays mechanics to beat Hamilton low. I don’t think it happened in before in the history of F1, even with Fangio. What I found odd was that he felt the need to, the mechanics on his car and in any team do not race to come 2nd and a team of Mclarens calibre expertise and skill only want to win. But a lot of peoples previous perception of him has changed as Niki Lauda was pretty vocal of Alonso’s attitude

“It’s unbelievable. How can he do this? I had my times with Ron, he’s not an easy man, but I always knew the limit – I cannot damage my sponsors and I cannot damage the people who pay my money…

If you are employed by someone who pays your salary you have to behave according to what they expect you to do, which is even written in a contract. I was amazed when he said he tested the car, found six tenths and so why is he not number one?

F$ck, he knew he was never number one. There were two drivers signed up and that was it.

I heard that when Ron walks into the building and says hello, the boss to his employee, he looks away.

This is not normal education. Maybe in Spain they don’t educate themselves in these villages where he comes from, but all these things I do not understand.

In fact, I wonder how he was able to win two world championships with this attitude.”

It is a fair point, how did he win titles like this, simply put, he didn’t have his teammate beating him week in week out. He had no idea that Lewis would be his teammate when he signed up but for someone of Alonso’s natural speed and race craft he let it get to him. Whatever team he goes to now his teammate will know a weakness in Alonso’s armour. For 2008 Alonso needs to calm down and let his driving do the talking. He can’t pull the same stories two years running, especially as most teams that want him have put their negotiations with other drivers on hold (Renault for example) or are prepared to tear apart current contracts with drivers. (Like Red Bull, if the rumours are true.) Alonso is no longer see as the victim as he was in 2006 when it seemed it was him vs. the FIA where he had the paddocks support. Now he has to prove he can keep cool otherwise he will be attractive to no team that wants to keep its reputation. It’s strange to look back now and see how much optimism there was when the deal was announced in December 2005.

“I'm very excited about 2007 and the fantastic opportunity to drive for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes," he said. "It will be a new beginning for me and a tremendous challenge and from what I have heard about this exciting new partnership there is something to look forward to. Obviously I will be sad to leave Renault but sometimes possibilities come along which are just too good to miss. I'm pleased that we are able to make this announcement already now as it will allow my current team and me to focus 100% on defending the World Championships next year.”

Now he maybe going back to Renault and there is no doubt Flavio will be quite happy its failed with Mclaren, History will show that we all knew that Alonso would be driving for Mclaren longer than he stayed with the team. As for Mclaren as you read this now the FIA is going over every bit of the car, With the news that now Mclaren believe Renault stole data from them, it seems that Ron Dennis has been the first team to suffer under what may become a familiar thing in years to come, not what he would of wanted.

Conclusion - Alonso.

Not much more can be said after a tough season his main priority must be to re-establish his reputation, whilst he may have had his beliefs he should have had better treatment at Mclaren. He now must get himself back into a winning position again. Ferrari and Mclaren dominated this season winning all the races poles and fastest laps, BMW and Renault didn’t get a look in, Renault seems to be his most likely destination but with the news of another spy scandal now between Mclaren and Renault breaking out you have to wonder how this will affect his decision. Whatever the case maybe, his season depends on his teammate. It will be a real test of character if they start to beat him again. His 3rd title may have to wait, however, maybe it’s more important he can find a team that he feels comfortable and wanted. 2008 maybe a crunch year.

Lewis Hamilton - Rookie of the year.

Hamilton has achieved a lot this season, perhaps too much. Here is just a small part of what he has achieved in his first season.

Most points in a debut season – 109
Most podiums in debut season – 12
Most races led in debut season – 12
Most pole positions in debut season – 6
Most front row starts in debut season – 12
Fastest driver to reach 100 career points (15 races)
Most consecutive podiums from debut race – 9 (Australia-Britain 2007)
Most consecutive points finishes from debut race – 9 (Australia-Britain 2007)
Most consecutive number of races led from debut race – 7
He is also the youngest British driver to take pole position and win.

In his 2nd F1 season he now has to lead his team, but is he ready to? The couple of mistakes he made in the last two races didn’t help. Whilst Mclaren kept Hamilton out too long on those tyres in china, as a team leader Lewis should of said “No I’m coming in now weather its right or not the tyres are shot”, with his pace he could of finished at worst 4th? Those points would have been crucial. It’s also tougher in the 2nd season because the “well he is a rookie” excuse no longer allowed next year.

The endless coverage.

Media also is the backlash against Hamilton, firstly it’s important to see what real criticism is and what isn’t. The UK papers and TV commercial have rammed Hamilton-mania down the publics’ throat. This is annoying. It’s almost forgotten that there is Ferrari, Renault, Williams etc out there, I had a motorsports merchandise catalogue the other day and there were 8, yes 8, books on Hamilton alone, biography’s on him which I find hard as most end just after Canada and you usually shouldn’t bring stuff like this out until he has done at least 3 or 4 seasons, not just half of one. Hamilton has brought out one of his own, which may only be the worth reading, the day after brazil there was a small picture of Kimi Raikkonen and then front back page and 6 more pages dedicated to Hamilton losing. There is such a thing as over exposure. Some people though confuse this with Lewis himself. Being force fed the same thing over and over again. People start to say, “I’m sick of seeing Lewis Hamilton, what happened to the othe 21 drivers?” I personally have tried to not go down that route, when I wrote my first part for the Middlemore Corner. It was called “Hamilton - The real deal”, I was excited to see a super rookie and how he came into Formula 1 and did so well. He has had some amazing drives and is a special talent. His wins in Canada, America, Hungary and Japan were all class drives that showed he kept his head whilst others lost theirs. Former champions have all been in praise of Hamilton’s talent and it would be a surprise if he didn’t win the title. Whilst he has great talent but some of his tactics have been questioned.

Then there is the fact that the media lost their heads and just expected too much of him. I was surprised to find that there was genuine disappointment that Lewis only finished 3rd at his home race, totally forgetting that 3rd in your rookie season is still pretty good, and also that there hadn’t been a Brit on the podium at their home grand prix since David Coulthard won back in 2000. That was something to celebrate, but now with all the frenzy it seemed the goalposts had been moved.

Driving dangerously?

The first complaints about Lewis’s driving came from former champion Jacques Villeneuve about his start line driver,

"When will these chopping moves stop?", "Lewis is not getting penalised and his behaviour off the start has started to look the way Michael (Schumacher) used to."

Whilst his start line moves were aggressive to say that he needs penalised was harsh I think. It also comes to the point of what F1 is; a sport or a friend making contest? I had no problem personally with Schumacher’s starts or Hamilton’s for that matter. In an F1 world where people criticize the lack of on track action, where someone is aggressive on track sets a lot of people complaining. If he drives someone off the track then yes it is out of order, but then that is yet to happen. I wasn’t impressed by his weaving under the safety car at Fuji, not where Webber got taken out by Vettel, but at the first race start, he braked very hard shot off and then braked hard again before the final corner at the point where you would expect them to usually just set off at full throttle, it caused Alonso to jam on the brakes to not overshoot and pass Hamilton before his line, which part of me felt Hamilton was hoping would happen. There is no doubt he is a non forgiving driver out on the track and he has only got 17 races in which to judge him by on this, he has yet to clash or take another driver out, if that happens then it would be appropriate to evaluate.

Hamilton also had his fair share of run ins with the stewards this year, put aside the spy-gate affair, he had to see them in Hungary, (though this was more to do with Alonso) China, and Brazil; his win in china was possibly under threat which also showed that he knew how to play the F1 game…

Stewards and playing the game.

One aspect that has shown straight away is that when he feels unfairly done by or sees a chance to seize an advantage by the media, his “I’m the No.2 driver” comments, at Monaco, he knew it would set off a media frenzy, and the press bought it. This to me was Lewis saying don’t try to pull that ever again, I’m as quick as anyone and will not be walked over. Over the Chinese weekend when there was a chance of a penalty he played the media card again,

"It's just a shame for the sport and if this is the way it's going to keep going then it's probably not somewhere I really want to be."

Once again the media went mad with “Hamilton - I will quit F1” stories which may had helped put pressure on any decision the stewards would make. With a few races left, Lewis also started to take shots at Alonso, after spending most the season insisting he and Alonso was friends and had a lot of respect for him there was a sudden bout of comments like, “Alonso hasn’t been a team player” and that he would rather see Alonso in a Mclaren in 2008 than a Ferrari. He also commented on how Alonso was not speaking to him after pit-lane gate. All this said after he and Alonso had agreed that any problems with each other they would sort out between each other, not the press.

Tripping at the final hurdle.

After Fuji the championship was almost a foregone conclusion, 12 points ahead of Alonso and 17 up on Raikkonen. Then came China, this is where Hamilton’s inexperience showed, a poor team call on tyres. Hamilton’s insistence to push for a win cost the team points that were so crucial, as Hamilton found the only gravel trap next to the track and sunk into the wet gravel. You could see the frustration in Ron Dennis’s face. His hands were in the air, on his head, in panic, then willing the marshals to push Hamilton out or the gravel trap. Whilst Alonso in his Mclaren closed in, Raikkonen also closed in on the weekend where his title hope should have ended. Hamilton simply lost his head in Brazil, he could have happily just stayed behind Alonso at Brazil and took the title, but he went for it and result his car to go wide. Then the gearbox problem hit him, damaged his fight back, and then Mclaren switched Hamilton to a 3-stop strategy putting him on an extra stop when he was already a stop behind. He finished 7th and Ferrari stole a title Hamilton and Mclaren had lead since May. Whereas Schumacher and Alonso knew when to attack and when to get points, it seems Lewis wanted all out glory and ultimately it may of cost him.

Conclusion - Hamilton.

Personally I do not think Hamilton is as bad as some people make out and that he is dangerous behind the wheel, at the same time he is certainty not as innocent as he would like to make out. He will play hard ball like any of the champions before him. This year he didn’t have much to lose; he was expected to be beaten by Alonso most weekends. It didn’t happen; he won races and was consistent. He wasn’t expected to win the title either and missed it by just 1 point. 2008 will be harder for Hamilton and now the pressure will be on. He has said he will win the 2008 title. So it’s up to him to show he has learnt from his mistakes in the final round.


But wait, what if…

One final point I couldn’t help but notice was that with only 1 point deciding the title. Look over the season and you can say that they lost the title at one race, it is over. You either win or lose. Though there is one race you have to think “what if”, for all Mclarens insistence they like their drivers to race, there was one moment they didn’t. Forget China, Brazil, and the qualifying disaster at Nurburgring, but instead look at Monaco, the one race they did run team strategy. Lewis Hamilton firmly believes he could have beaten Alonso if he had been allowed to use his extra fuel rather than pulled into the pits early. So he stayed behind Alonso under there “team strategy”, if Hamilton had beaten him in the pits using the 5 extra laps of fuel he had and got those 2 extra points for the win, maybe Mclaren’s end of season could have been so different!