Tarnished 'silver'

The last tests of McLaren in Barcelona have not reassured Raikkonen on the potential of the Mp4-19. In comparison with the other pretenders of the title, McLaren have systematically occupied the low part in the table of the times.

In an interview rilasciata to Gazzatta of the Sport, Raikkonen has expressed with sincerity his doubts: "In the tests at Valencia and Jerez, the MP4/19 has gone truly well but to Barcelona we have begun having problems. I am not still sure of the potential of our car. For many people we have already the solution to the problems but we must resolve them all in the remaining sessions of testing ".

Yeah they are comparitively slow in low fuel, "qualifying" style laps (if they've even tried any). In full race simulations they are aparently much better. I read somewhere they are trying to bet a new twin clutch system working, and having "integration" troubles with the new engine. If worst comes to worst they will just use the old engine at Melbourne (provided it can last a full weekend). Looks like the team that has been the star so far in testing is Benetton.

I'm not concerned about the apparently slow times, who knows what McLaren are testing. However if Kimi sounds worried that ain't so good...

As for tarnished, McLaren could be dead last and they still wouldn't be tarnished!

The twin clutch system supposedly weighs more, I wonder if it's benefits can overcome that.

The twin clutch system supposedly weighs more, I wonder if it's benefits can overcome that.

Dunno, I guess they must believe so. Was it Prost who tried something similar several years ago?

Looks like the team that has been the star so far in testing is Benetton.

Doh! I meant Renault not Benetton. Old habits die hard - next I'll be calling them Toleman!

I wonder if it's a way to combat the no traction control rule? It might be a limited slip device or something.

Traction control is still in, but launch control and auto shift are out. The twin clutch is so there is no momentary loss in drive as you change gears. It is meant to be worth up to 30 secs over a race.
One clutch is used for 1,3,5,7 and the other for 2,4,6,R. When you drive in first gear, both gears 1 and 2 are actually already engaged. However, the first clutch is engaged and the second is disengaged. As you change from 1 to 2, the first clutch instantly disengages and the second engages.

Sounds like a recipe for unreliability.

Dennis accused of taking 'his eye off the ball'
15/03/04
Ron Dennis is not the most popular person in Woking at the moment with members of the McLaren team claiming he 'has taken his eye of the ball'.

Ferrari woefully outclassed McLaren at the opening round of the season. Although the team managed to get their name on the scoreboard after David Coulthard finished in eighth place it was a disappointed McLaren team that left Australia for London to hold a crisis meeting.

It has emerged that some present at the post-mortem are blaming Dennis for McLaren's slump in form. They believe the problems began when he started devoting his attention to their new state- of-the-art "technology centre" instead of the team.

"There are a lot of disillusioned people in the camp, people who have stood by Ron Dennis for many years. Ron has got a real problem on his hands. They could see what was coming - they knew the car wasn't good enough," an insider told the Sunday Mirror.

"They feel Ron has taken his eye off the ball, that he's too concerned about style and image. He seems to have forgotten the fundamentals and lost sight of the fact that McLaren is supposed to be, first and foremost, a racing team."


There have been several rumours already that Ron might be leaving the lead role at McLaren at the end of the year, btw.

Ugh, man, I mean, I'm not a big fan of McLaren-Mercedes and I made the call before Australia that it'd be a season of upheaval for them, but damn that's a bit more than I like to hear.

First we know the team is trading away a driver at the end of the season. Then we know that Mercedes is unhappy with McLaren and McLaren is unhappy with Mercedes (the argument goes: engine not powerful enough, chassis doesn't give enough room to make the engine feasable). Then we hear that Montoya is the replacement for D.C. (oops). Now we're hearing that they're talking about ousting Ron Dennis.

And Mika's championship was how long ago?

Man, this is one major fall from grace, and I don't like it one bit. I love Ferrari, and Ferrari victories please me in that nice tingly way, but it doesn't mean I don't like to see a good battle every now and again.

I don't think F1 racing is Ron's first love, Newey's either, he wants to design boats. The team may be nearing a crossroad that will bring to light the true level of comittment of the top brass.

Today the German BILD reports the firing of Ilmor top brass Dr. Werner Laurenz, chief engineer engine development.
Mercedes poached him from BMW/Williams 2 years ago but surely they have to make him the scapegoat, knowing the recent history with the 4/18 and this year's misfortunate 4/19.