McLaren’s failure to win the 2011 championship is more down to the number of mistakes they have made, rather than a lack of outright pace.
Although there is no dispute the RB7 has been the best car over a single lap, there have been a number of events where McLaren have had the quickest car in race trim.
This is down to the fact that on circuits where tyre degradation has been high (such as Barcelona and Suzuka) the MP4-26 has been easier on its tyres.
Operationally McLaren were very strong in 2010 and scored as many points as they could, even on days when they weren’t competitive enough to win. In 2011 they have gone backwards in this area, and it has proved costly.
They have managed to win five races in 2011 but have missed big opportunities for more victories, and squandered a bucket load of points.
Jenson Button says: “When someone [Vettel] is in that form and the car is working like that and the team doesn’t make mistakes, it is very hard to beat them when you don’t have one of those aspects.”
He added: “For us, we have made too many mistakes this year and we haven’t quite got it together on a race weekend, even when we have had the performance. So that is something we have got to work on, and something we are working on.”
The MP4-26 excelled in Monaco but the team had one of its worst weekends in terms of decisions. In Q3 they kept Lewis Hamilton waiting too long in the pits before going out to complete his single flying lap.
Sergio Perez’s heavy shunt then caused a red flag which didn’t leave Hamilton with much time to put in a fast lap. He didn’t warm his tyres up sufficiently and cut the chicane coming out of the tunnel. The result was a poor lap and a grid penalty putting him down in ninth, rather than what should have been a front row or even pole position start.
In the race the team put Button on a three stop strategy, which is always a dangerous approach on a track where the safety car is such a common element.
Button was leading the race but it was his third stop that put him behind Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. Although he was on significantly fresher tyres he couldn’t find a way past the pair. The red flag ended his chances of overtaking, as the battle was neutralised with all the remaining cars switching to new rubber.
Silverstone was another weekend where McLaren made a catalogue of errors. In the top ten shootout Hamilton was sent out on used option tyres, and could only manage tenth position.
The plan was to then use a brand new set of tyres for the final run. This backfired as it started to rain, which meant Hamilton couldn’t improve on his position.
Hamilton was very competitive in the race to the team’s surprise. Unfortunately they under-fuelled him, which meant he had to be cautious in the closing stages, otherwise he wouldn’t have seen the checkered flag.
If that was bad enough, Button dropped out of the race immediately after his pit stop when the front-right mechanic failed to secure his wheel nut.
Belgium and Italy were big chances to usurp Red Bull. However McLaren effectively gifted these two races to the Milton Keynes squad.
In Spa both Hamilton and Button were very quick. Hamilton’s race ended when he collided with Kamui Kobayashi into Les Combes. McLaren reckon he would have been on course to finish in second place.
Button started in 13th place due to a miscommunication in Q2. This meant that he started too far back to make the most of the blistering issues Red Bull were having with their tyres.
His pace on the way to third place demonstrated that had he actually started at the front, this race would likely have been Button’s to lose.
In Monza, Vettel took the gamble of running a short gear ratio. This meant he had good speed in the corners and good acceleration. The big downside was a lack of straight line speed down the long straights.
McLaren were 5-6kph quicker in a straight line so should have been able to capitalise, but they didn’t.
The safety car was deployed on the first lap after Vitantonio Liuzzi lost control of his car, and spun into the first chicane hitting several cars.
This was Hamilton’s chance to put pressure on Vettel at the restart, by sticking as close to him as possible, and making full use of his straight line speed advantage.
However the 26-year-old was asleep at the restart, and not only allowed Vettel to get away, but also lost a position to Michael Schumacher. The chance to win the race had now past.
Button also lost his chance to challenge Vettel when he dropped from third to sixth at the start behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
Reflecting in Singapore on previous races, Button said: “If you look at the last few races, if everything had gone well then we would have had a really good chance of fighting Seb for the win. But we haven’t done a good enough job.”
Looking beyond these races there have been plenty of other errors. In Hungary the decision to put Hamilton onto intermediates completely backfired as the rain eased. Fortunately Button ignored a similar call and went on to win the race.
Had he obeyed the order the Woking squad would have gifted another victory to Red Bull and Vettel.
Then you have to look at all the errors Hamilton has made this year, and when added up they have lost the British team a chunk of points.
Had McLaren made less mistakes, and taken more of their chances, they may have been able to prevent Red Bull getting an unassailable championship lead.
Had that been the case, McLaren could have put Red Bull under much more pressure, and then who knows how the title race may have worked out.
The lack of errors Red Bull have made have been just as important in their championship triumph, as the RB7’s supreme aerodynamic grip.
In 2012, not only do McLaren need to ensure they are fast right from the beginning of the season, they need to ensure they match Red Bull’s error free race performances.
They will be hoping that the arrival of Sam Michael from Williams as Sporting director will be able to help the team in this area.
