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Against All The Odds McLaren Still Look Good
By Emma Aitken May 8 2008
The form hasn't been perfect but there is still a long way to go this season. We hardly need to be all doom and gloom just yet. They might have only had one win but the boys have still been picking up points along the way, which is exactly what Raikkonen did last year and look where he ended up!
If you read any articles about Vodafone McLaren Mercedes recently you kind of get the impression that they are convincing themselves as well as all of us that everything is just peachy; and the 0.3s that they are adrift from Italian supremo team Ferrari? Not a problem! Or is it? Can McLaren pull things around and get back to beating those Ferrari’s? Let’s face it, after Australia everyone thought McLaren were on blistering form and would definitely be the team to beat. Lewis couldn’t have had a better start to his season. Apart from having to hang cool behind being several safety cars throughout the race, nothing was a bother to him. While all around him were losing their heads, he was keeping his and made victory looked easy. Kovalainen did really well to climb back to fifth after falling foul to the safety car which he ended up getting caught behind. Yes sir-ee, those MP4-23’s were looking good. Ferrari, on the other hand, had the race from Hell. Kimi seemed to be struggling to keep his car on the track and Massa, to be fair was a complete mess. Until his car finally suffered one knock too many and gave up the ghost. Every odd was stacked in McLaren’s favour. But we all know how fortunes can turn in this game so, although gleefully happy with the team’s future prospects, I still waited with baited breath to see what would happen next.  Sepang happened next. Heikki kept the flag flying for McLaren by making his first appearance on the podium for the team when he finished third. Lewis, on the other hand had wheel gun issues that he could only lament about afterwards as the reason behind him not getting his own podium finish. “…..we had a good shot at third place, but had the wheel gun problem at the pit stop. So I did the best job I could do with it.” And he did really. He fought and fought for that fifth place. Wheel guns aside, the McLarens were looking pacy and were certainly capable of finishing races (Massa take note!). And take note he did. Bahrain brought a flawless win from the Brazilian. His team mate was right behind him to take second. It was McLaren’s turn on the other hand, to have the race from Hell. Lewis selected the wrong engine map on the grid and went precisely nowhere. Follow that up with running in to the back of Fernando Alonso and you have one disaster of a race. Yet again, Lewis found himself on the negative end of the press and had to justify his own ability! “A few people have questioned my commitment, my ability to drive. I’m not Superman but I believe I have the ability to win a world championship. Everybody makes mistakes.” OK, the timing of his mistake was rather poor but let’s not write him off just yet shall we? The driver we saw last season was phenomenal and still is. His ability as a driver will never be under debate while I’m writing about him. Everyone trotted off to Barcelona to put in some more testing and here was the chance to sort out the men from the boys. Now we could really see what sort of an impact the new modifications to this season’s cars were going to have. But the form was incredibly topsy-turvey; while some of the teams spent time on the set up of the cars for next season with the new tyres among other things, other teams were running according to this season’s set ups and vice versa. Nothing conclusive could be taken from what happened there. The time sheets were all over the place. The Barcelona Grand Prix seemed to be discouraging for McLaren’s form if qualifying was anything to go by. Lewis and Heikki’s form there was nothing if not lack lustre. They could only manage fifth and sixth respectively and were going to have to pull something pretty special out of the bag if they were going to beat the Ferrari’s in Spain. It wasn’t to be though for Heikki. His horrible crash meant he did not complete the race. He was unhurt though and has been deemed fit and well to race again in Turkey which is great news. Lewis did do a cracking job though and found himself back on that podium again, if only in third. Still, it has to be said, I wasn’t feeling optimistic about him being on there at all judging by the car’s performance in free practise and qualifying so it was great to see him do so well. And pulling it together for the race is what really counts. I am left again sitting on the fence until I see what happens in the next race. The McLaren boys really do need to pull it out of the bag in qualifying. The fact of the matter is, they need to be in front of the Ferrari’s if they want to win. Kimi can not be allowed to take another victory and start to run away in the driver championship points’ standings.  One thing’s for sure though, McLaren had the mother and father of all seasons last year. Talk about your highs and lows! Lewis hit the headlines with a storm. The record breaking rookie was a serious contender for World Champion and who would have seen that coming? But that came at a price. The relationship between the young Brit and the Spanish world champion quickly disintegrated which was a great shame in my opinion. Fernando could have been a great mentor for Lewis had he have wanted to be and Lewis allowed him to be! Heikki is a great driver but if Alonso was still part of the team then everyone would still be benefitting from his expertise in getting the set up of the car just right. Renault certainly appears to be pulling it back together again and that can be no coincidence. In the midst of all of that there came the spy gate scandal. God knows we don’t need to drag of all that up again but the ramifications were never going to be good for McLaren. The team have had a lot of deal with other than getting the perfect car together for this season. All things considered, the guys are doing well. If anything, with all they have had to put up with, it’s a small miracle that they are only 0.3s adrift of their main rivals. The terrible engine reliability problems of a few seasons ago are dim and distant memories. It is only because we were so spoilt with such a tremendously successful season last year that there is some doubt about the performance so far this year. Lewis won the opening race by a country mile lets not forget. Just because it hasn’t been a total McLaren dominance since, like 2007 doesn’t mean it’s all over for them. At this stage last year Kimi was not looking like the man to beat. But he became world champion. I guess what I am trying to say is it isn’t over ‘til it’s over!

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