McLaren Mercedes

Next round May 9th, circuit de Catalunya, Spain

2010-04-20T22:03:00.003+03:00

Standings.

2010-04-20T21:44:00.000+03:00

Here we have the results after 4th round.
Constructors and drivers.

2010-04-20T21:38:00.000+03:00

'Jenson's taken the right decisions' - Hamilton
ESPNF1 Staff
April 20, 2010

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton celebrate after McLaren's 1-2 in China © Sutton Images Related LinksProfiles:Jenson Button | Lewis Hamilton Teams:McLaren Lewis Hamilton has said that he has made things hard for himself so far this season while team-mate Jenson Button has taken "the easier route".

Speaking after he finished second behind Button in Shanghai, Hamilton told the Daily Telegraph he felt he had only been let down by his qualifying pace and team mistakes.

"I feel I have had great races but Jenson has taken the right decisions and taken the easier route," he said. "I have had the harder route and got good results but hopefully soon I will take the easier route and it will be a lot easier.

"The good thing with me and Jenson is that we clearly want to beat each other but Jenson is very smart and does not have that too aggressive flair in him and neither have I. I am really happy for him. He did a better job and I am sure that when the tables turn, as they will, it will the same for me."

Hamilton told the newspaper he was not surprised how quickly Button had settled at McLaren. "The team just embrace the drivers, they want us both to win. They did absolutely everything to get him up to speed and feel comfortable. They did the same for me in 2007."

The Great Circus is back

2010-04-20T21:37:00.000+03:00

More news on http://en.espnf1.com/

Another great sounds

2009-05-31T23:08:00.000+03:00

Incredible sound

2009-05-31T22:53:00.000+03:00

Whitmarsh expecting a tough Turkish weekend

2009-05-31T22:46:00.000+03:00

Due to a bad position on the grid for Lewis Hamilton and a shunt during the race for Heikki Kovalainen, the McLaren Mercedes team left the Monaco Grand Prix without garnering any points in the Principality.

The Formula One circus now moves on towards next weekend's Turkish Grand Prix at the much-praised Istanbul Park circuit, a proper race track with characteristics much different from those found at Monaco's classic urban venue.Although the MP4-24 did not fare badly in terms of performance in Monte Carlo, the car's abilities might be put to the test in Istanbul, team management reveals.

Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh already knows next weekend will be a tough one, with much work on the table for everyone involved: "The Istanbul Park circuit is one of the most challenging modern circuits – for both teams and drivers."

"Firstly, it's a real set-up challenge," Whitmarsh explains. "You need to find a handling balance between the high-speed corners, the slower, infield section and the long straights.""In addition, tyre wear – particularly to the heavily loaded front-right through Turn Eight – is a crucial factor in determining overall strategy.

For the drivers, a combination of multi-apex and blind corners adds to the challenge.

Six races into the season, neither McLaren driver has stood on the podium, and the characteristics of the Istanbul Park circuit are not exactly speaking the language that the MP4-24 likes to hear.However, if the team is not truly expecting a great leap forward, each race brings knowledge and therefore brings it closer to the front."We go to Turkey in the knowledge that the track characteristics are a bit less likely to suit our package than Monaco," Whitmarsh admits. "But we are improving all the time, have several minor upgrades for MP4-24 and look forward to assessing our competitiveness against our rivals."Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Vice-President Norbert Haug shares the same opinion: "KERS should again be a good support to improve our lap times, but nevertheless the Turkish Grand Prix will be a demanding challenge for us."

Text reproduced from F1live.com

2008-11-07T18:44:00.000+02:00

Last battle: Interlagos 2008. Copyright http://www.f1-live.com/

And the winner is....

2008-11-07T18:21:00.000+02:00

The 2008 F1 drivers standings:

The 2008 F1 Team standings:

McLaren had pace despite defeat (Silverstone)

2007-07-09T08:43:00.000+03:00

Team boss Ron Dennis on Sunday denied that McLaren pole sitter Lewis Hamilton was 40 seconds slower than his British Grand Prix rivals as he finished a distant third at Silverstone.

Dennis said chiefs on the pit wall ordered him to 'save the engine' for much of the 60 lap race. "From a very early point we knew that third was the best we could do with Lewis,” Dennis told ITV "Unfortunately, this is strategic racing. Fernando turned the engine down pretty much after the final stop of Kimi."

Dennis also said McLaren made mistakes with the tyre strategies, having opted to spend the crucial moments of the race on the harder of the two Bridgestones on offer.

Dennis insisted: "We had good pace most of the race and we're going away with some very valuable points."

Alongside Kimi Raikkonen's victory, Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa told reporters after the race that he also could have challenged for the win if he had not stalled on the grid.

Standings after French Grand Prix

2007-07-02T16:11:00.000+03:00

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

McLaren has not chosen champion - Haug

2007-06-28T16:55:00.000+03:00

Norbert Haug has denied rumours that McLaren-Mercedes chiefs have now decided which of the team's drivers will be backed to win the 2007 title.In the days preceding the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours, speculation suggests that team boss Ron Dennis informed Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton after the US Grand Prix two weeks ago that only one of them will from now on be allowed to charge for the drivers' prize.But Haug, competition chief for McLaren's engine partner Mercedes-Benz, said in an interview with Deutsche-Presse-Agentur: "If that was right, I would know about it."Hamilton leads the drivers' standings over back-to-back world champion Alonso by ten points."The truth is that there is obviously a huge demand for stories about Lewis by the English media and therefore things emerge that say more about the creativity of their author than they do about the facts," he explained.

"We are not so arrogant to think that we can pre-determine who is a world champion. Ron, myself, and every other team member would welcome any world champion as long as his car has a (Mercedes-Benz) star on his nose."Playing down all the speculation about a 'civil war' in the driver line-up, then, Haug concludes: "Nothing is ever eaten as hot as it is cooked."For example, the German tabloid Bild on Thursday published an entire article explaining how Alonso reacted angrily to claims that Dennis' wife Lisa cheered loudly when Hamilton eclipsed the Spaniard's lap time for pole in Montreal.

Hamilton plays down French prospects

2007-06-28T16:53:00.000+03:00

With a ten point cushion, an outright win is not required in FranceChampionship leader Lewis Hamilton has played down his chances of beating Fernando Alonso for a third successive time this weekend at Magny Cours.Indeed, while reigning world champion Alonso won the French Grand Prix in his Renault in 2005 and finished second last year, his McLaren team-mate's record at the circuit is less impressive.Hamilton crashed in GP2's race one at Magny Cours last year, and finished just fifth in the second contest."It is all about consistency, so I don't have to win," the Briton said this week. "A second or a third would be great.
As long as I get points, that is the key."Hamilton also remarked that pole position is not as necessary at Magny Cours as it is at some other venues because both overtaking and creative fuel strategies due to the short pit lane are possible.

A technical and special circuit

2007-06-22T23:28:00.000+03:00

McLaren drivers currently lead the packFollowing the North American fly-aways, McLaren Mercedes has returned to Europe for the 2007 French Grand Prix to be held on Sunday 1st July. The team arrives in France with a 35-point lead in the Formula 1 Constructors' World Championship, with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso lying in first and second positions in the Drivers' standings with 58 and 48 points respectively. The 2006 race marked the 100th anniversary of the first race that was designated a Grand Prix. Staged near Le Mans on 26th June 1906, 32 cars left the start line for a race that lasted two days and covered 1,238km. Two years later, Christian Lautenschlager clinched the first Mercedes victory in the French Grand Prix; the four-cylinder engine of his car had a displacement of 12.8 litres and an output of 135 bhp. Since the start of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, the French Grand Prix has been a permanent fixture on the calendar, with the exception of 1955. Initially held at Reims, the event alternated between Rouen, Clermont Ferrand, Le Castellet, Dijon-Prenois and Le Mans before moving to its current home at Magny Cours in 1991, located some 160 miles/257 kms south of Paris.One of the main features of the Magny Cours circuit is the smooth track surface. There are very few bumps or dips that can affect handling and this allows the teams to run the cars with very low ride heights. For the majority of the track, the kerbs are also fairly low, however at the final chicane, they are higher and can lead to damage to the cars if the exact racing line is not used.

The asphalt is also very dark, and this sees it retain heat, which can have an affect on the wear rate of the tyres. The traction required for the exits of the numerous slow corners can also have an affect on tyre wear. The Magny Cours circuit has reasonable grip levels. There are a number of places where you can pass at Magny Cours, for example the run down to the Adelaide hairpin allows drivers to slipstream and pass under braking. Another opportunity is into the penultimate corner, the right-hander before the final chicane. Again it requires slipstreaming and late braking to take position. Fernando Alonso"I have always liked racing at this track, when you hear people talk about circuits that are technical, Magny Cours is definitely one of them. It is important to have good speed in the slow corners as they tend to lead onto long straights. You have to have good mechanical set-up for the corners and the same with traction for the exits. My favourite sections of the track are the two high-speed chicanes at the back of the circuit. We go through them at speeds of up to 200km/h, which is very fast for a chicane; very special to drive through and unique in Formula 1. Since the United States Grand Prix, I joined the test team at Silverstone for a day. We completed some key programmes as everyone in the team pushes hard to develop performance."

De la Rosa fourth fastest for McLaren (Silverstone)

2007-06-21T08:44:00.000+03:00

Pedro de la Rosa continued his Silverstone test today for the McLaren Mercedes team. The Spanish test driver completed 58 laps with a best time of 1:22.018s, good for fourth fastest today and nine-tenths up on his Tuesday best. The development programme for the MP4-22 continued apace, with de la Rosa progressing his work from day one, assessing aerodynamics, race set-up and working on the Bridgestone Potenza tyre evaluation for the British Grand Prix. Running in the afternoon was limited as a result of rain showers.

Fernando Alonso takes over the test programme tomorrow for the third and final day of running. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was not scheduled to test this week.

Standings after 7 rounds

2007-06-18T12:51:00.000+03:00

Hamilton holds off Alonso for Indy victory

2007-06-18T12:47:00.000+03:00

Lewis Hamilton secured his second straight Grand Prix win this afternoon at Indianapolis as he took the chequered flag 1.5 seconds ahead of McLaren Mercedes team-mate Fernando Alonso in what was a tight and tense 73-lap US Grand Prix. Hamilton started the event from Pole Position and resisted a challenge from Alonso into turn one. Alonso shadowed Hamilton until the first round of pit stops aiming to get the jump but the order remained consistent with rarely over a second separating the two. Coming up to lap Tonio Liuzzi at just over half distance, Alonso was able to get a great run on Hamilton down the long straight but Hamilton calmly moved to his right and held his line into turn one. Alonso was on a short middle stint at this time and did seem to have better pace than Hamilton, but simply could not find a way by. "What a dream!" Hamilton said. "To come to these two races and win first time out twice is just amazing. But this is really due to the quality of the team back in Europe and here at the track. Without all the guys, it would be impossible.""I came under a lot of pressure from Fernando today and it was very close at times, but he was so professional. We raced really hard. My tyres went off in the second stint. I think they were graining, probably because I pushed too hard. They came on the radio in the third stint and told me there are 15 laps to go and those laps seemed to last forever...

"Hamilton’s second victory moves him ten points clear of Alonso at the head of the drivers’ championship and to his credit, Alonso was not all doom and gloom on the podium. Felipe Massa started third in his Ferrari and finished in the same position. The Brazilian held on to the back of the McLaren duo until the first round of pitstops, but lost ground in the second stint as he found himself stuck behind Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber who were running a very long first stint. From a six second deficit to Hamilton to just over 12 seconds in a handful of laps, Massa’s charge was halted and he turned his attention to the recovering Kimi Raikkonen closing fast in his mirrors. Raikkonen dropped behind both Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen at the start and having opted to start the race on the hard tyres – the only driver to do so – he was unable to make progress until after his first round of stops. Raikkonen, clearly the faster Ferrari driver in the closing stages, was unable to separate Massa from the final podium position as they took the chequered flag just a few second apart.