F1 Preview: What to expect from teams and drivers in 2019  

Mclaren

F1 Winter Testing in Barcelona - Day Two

Ticking with teams that are languishing at the back instead of being at the front competing, we have McLaren.

A reasonable testing for both McLaren and Renault could be a sign of good things to come for the restructuring team, but it’s a position McLaren have found themselves in all too often, before being shown up in the first few weeks and spending the rest of the year at the back trying to work their way slowly through the midfield; before giving up to start work on the next year’s car and starting the whole cycle all over again.

I say first few weeks because oddly Melbourne seems to suit the underperforming team, in fact, their last podium finish, by Kevin Magnussen (of all people!) came on the Australian track.

The trouble for the McLaren team though seems to be they can’t identify the trouble. At the start of their slide the team blamed the Mercedes team for giving them second tier engines, then it was Honda and the now infamous quote of “GP2 engine!” from Fernando Alonso.

Just last year the team was predicting it would be top of the mid-field before it became apparent that the now-Renault powered car was way off the pace of the other teams supplied by Renault.

The one small hope for McLaren and its fans is that they finally seem to have faced reality and are in the process of rebuilding; so, with their heavy financial backing and a big rule change in a couple of seasons, the team may be getting ready to start competing in the next couple of years.