Motorsport Week continues its annual team-by-team review and ratings. This week we look at fifth to tenth, starting with McLaren, the retiring Fernando Alonso and now axed Stoffel Vandoorne.
This season was a chastening, but necessary, humbling for McLaren. It had talked up its chassis and denigrated Honda, and while a switch to Renault yielded more points and a higher finishing position year-on-year, it was not the campaign it wanted. It was worse than 2016 (ie, Honda Year 2). The MCL33 had a fundamental aerodynamic flaw that robbed it of straight-line speed without the advantage of high downforce. It was a poor car. Much work was then focused on 2019, while off-track changes were made in order to better streamline the organisation. Senior figures accepted humble pie and spoke of a recovery that will take years. On occasion it was the de facto slowest team, an utter humiliation for an operation of its size and stature. It surely cannot be this bad in 2019.
If they were a football team they’d be: Newcastle. Great history with a passionate fanbase but meandering for too many years amid questionable decisions. Overly reliant on a legendary Spaniard.
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Best Race: Australia ultimately proved to be a false dawn. |  |
Worst Race: Sadly, there were several. Japan was a particular nadir. |
Ignoring the World According To Fernando Alonso moments (ie, some bizarre comments and behaviour) and this was another season in which his ability was not matched by the lacklustre machinery at his disposal. Optimism that Australia signalled a new and bold papaya and blue start was unfounded and it proved the high point of a campaign that fizzled out in miserable fashion. He scored points just once after the summer break and even that was in a Grand Prix where McLaren had no right being in the top 10. Given a top car he could probably still do the job, but whose fault is it that he headed out the exit door?
Where to improve: Does he need to? Really? Probably not.
Surprising Stat: Alonso led the intra-team qualifying battle at his final 26 Grands Prix.
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Best Race: France was pretty bad. | |
Worst Race: Singapore. He should never have been seventh. |
In the words of the Chuckle Brothers: Oh dear. Vandoorne showed flashes of promise in 2017 but lumbered with an awful package this year he was unable to wrestle the best out of it, as Alonso’s knack of mastering a bad car came to the fore. There were some decent moments, and he’s right to suggest that the MCL33’s limitations meant his stronger performances were not widely acknowledged. But there was a passivity over his plight for too long and a 21-0 qualifying defeat is embarrassing. He was unfortunate that his F1 spell coincided with McLaren’s misery but a separation is undoubtedly healthy for both parties.
Where to improve: Vandoorne started to be more engaging once he stopped being more corporate – unleash the personality within. And find those extra two-tenths. They are there.
Surprising Stat: He was actually racing all season.
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Best Race: Mexico. Appeared from nowhere to finish ninth. | |
Worst Race: The mysterious downforce loss made Britain and Germany awful. |
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