F1 2018: McLaren's Slow Side into Oblivion

McLaren is going through the longest winless run in its history and 2018 marks 20 years without a constructor's title for the Woking-based manufacturer, something nobody would've seen coming after their golden years in the 1980's and 90's.

McLaren is nothing without its obsession for precision and optimisation, but what's happened in recent times has been nothing short of a disaster. The team will lose Fernando Alonso for 2019, the double world champion finally having enough of the team's shortcomings, is a recovery on the cards, or is this just the beginning of a slide to the bottom of the pecking order?

How has it happened?

As recently as 2008, Lewis Hamilton won the driver's championship in a McLaren and things were looking up for the team after the 2000's had so far been a period of Ferrari dominance. The regulation changes in 2009 shook up the order and McLaren failed to adapt as well as most of the competition, most notably Red Bull and the new Brawn team. True, by the season's end they possessed one of the best cars on the grid after wins in Hungary and Singapore, but the damage was already done years beforehand.

Adrian Newey is one of the most successful designers in Grand Prix racing history, and McLaren had the Englishman on their books back in 2005. Despite assurances that he would remain, Newey joined the new Red Bull Racing team for 2006 for a new challenge and bigger payslip. McLaren believed that it wasn't worth paying over the odds to keep the designer, but they were wrong. Under Newey's design, Sebastian Vettel powered his way to four straight driver's and constructor's championships between 2010 and 2013.

It isn't just Newey's departure, but Lewis Hamilton's as well. For similar reasons to Newey, Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes in 2013 in a move that some perceived as unwise at the time. Even since Lewis left for the Silver Arrows, though, the two teams' performance levels have diverged and never looked like closing.

Merc became the dominant team when the regulations changed once more for 2014 and have won every driver and constructor championship since. Hamilton won three of them, and a fifth overall could be coming the Brit's way in November. Even Alonso struggles in McLaren's 2018 entry, but a Adrian Newey designed MCL33 driven by Lewis Hamilton would surely be challenging for wins rather than getting lost in midfield obscurity.

Has it happened before?

1980 was arguably the worst season in the team's history.

McLaren have been in Formula 1 for over 50 years now, so naturally the team will have been through less successful periods before. Despite winning the constructor's championship as recently as 1977, 1980 produced their lowest finish (9th) before their recent struggles. '80 topped off a hat-trick of win-less campaigns, despite one of the best driver line-ups (Alain Prost and John Watson) on that year's grid.

Looking outside of McLaren, Williams - another British manufacturer in F1 - have also endured a long downward spiral recently. Despite finishing 3rd as recently as 2015, the Grove outfit look destined to finish bottom of this year's constructor's standings. It may seem like an exaggeration to say that teams like this could end up leaving the sport, they appear to be invincible, but that's far from the case. Even championship-winning outfits like Tyrrell, Brabham and Lotus have seen their glory days pass by and end up out of business after funds and results dry up. With costs to compete in Formula 1 higher than ever before, this is a very real concern.

Is there a way out?

With one of the biggest budgets on the grid and two young drivers with plenty of potential in Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris for 2019, things could easily be on the up for McLaren next year. After Fernando Alonso declared "Now we can Fight!" in an excited radio message at this year's Australian GP, McLaren appeared to be the fourth best team in the pecking order, a huge step up from 2017. The team had constantly blamed their engine supplier (Honda) for their lack of pace from 2015-17, stating that their chassis was one of the best on the grid. Now, with Renault power, we know that's not the case, as the papaya-coloured racers have been consistently slower than the Red Bulls and works Renault cars for most of the season.

Niki Lauda's arrival at McLaren dragged the team out of the doldrums like he did with Ferrari in the '70s

The team have been in a much worse position than what they are currently, though. The aforementioned early-80's were another bad period in the team's history, but after that, they were a cut above the rest. Under the stewardship of Ron Dennis, John Barnard designed the all-conquering MP4/2 in 1984 and with Niki Lauda at the wheel, the team won their first title of the 80's. From there, they didn't look back, winning five of the next seven constructor's championships.

It may take until 2021, but McLaren can never be discounted after a regulation shake-up, they've come back emphatically from even worse positions before, and they could easily do once more. If things go even more south, though, there's no telling what will happen to those bright orange cars.