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Second in the list of the number of victories of all time. Third in the list of the number of championships of all time. That's some stat, isn't it? Now here are some other stats. Haven't finished on the podium since the first race of 2014 season. Haven't won a race since the last race of the 2012 season. And in the last race in Mexico, they finished not one but two laps down a car that had the same engine at the back.of their car. To add to it they are losing one of the best drivers on the grid next year and they'll field a line-up which is basically a 19 yr old rookie who just lost the title in F2 and a driver who got rejected by both Red Bull and Renault. How can a team go from fielding two world champions in 2012 to this? It has been a steady fall from grace for a team which seems to have really lost its way and doesn't even seem to have a set plan forward as to how they're going to get back to those glory days of the past. They haven't fielded a competitive chassis since 2013, blamed Honda for their misery during their partnership together, moved to Renault with hopes and claims of getting back to the podium and wins and championship challenges. Last 5 years have been nothing but a highlight reel of tall claims of Championship Challenges, Legacy building, Greatness and what not. But all of them have fallen short and made Mclaren bite their own words and finally led them to acknowledge that they need to get their house in order. The team is nothing but a pale shadow of what it was, the swagger, the pomp, the confidence, all of it is gone and the team looks in its worst shape ever and worse, directionless with what needs to be done. Here is a look at the timeline of how the
1. Lewis moves to Mercedes
No one saw this coming, Not many expected it to happen. But in so many ways this move has made Lewis a Legend. 4 championships and so many poles and wins later you could say this move made Lewis' career. Reasons to this day are still not entirely clear as to why Lewis did this. Was it because, as he said, he wanted a new challenge and looked at it as the opportunity to emulate Michael Schumacher? or was it the alternate theory that Lewis was tired of Button, his teammate getting the equal treatment and he just wanted to be in the environment where the team was all to himself and he could be "The Guy" in the team. Even from Mclaren's perspective letting someone like Lewis go was not the most ideal thing considering he was and still is one of the brightest stars on the grid. Many believed that maybe not that much effort was put in to keep Lewis at Mclaren which ultimately led to him leaving
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2. Mclaren ditch Mercedes and sign up with Honda
With the premise that "you can't win championships in this era unless you're a works team" and their engine supplier already having their own, Ron Dennis lured Honda back into Formula one in what was supposed to be the beginning of their path to glory. "Mclaren-Honda" is one of the most iconic names in Formula One and this seemed to be a marriage made in heaven. Honda for their part brought in huge capital to support their venture and looked all but ready to succeed in the highly competitive world of Formula One. Mclaren on their part buried the past differences it had with Fernando Alonso as he was signed up as the driver and Mclaren boasted of a lineup of two world champions in Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. With good backing, good facilities and a great combination of drivers Mclaren seemed destined for greatness.
3. Making Honda the scapegoat
This was a marriage that was supposed to work. This was a marriage that was supposed to lead them to greatness. This was a marriage that was supposed to give them the titles. But the Mclaren Honda partnership, in essence, never really took off. The engine in the first year was plagued with reliability issues to such an extent that the running on track was almost non-existential. Blamed on the demands of an ultra tight packaging by Mclaren the Honda product failed comprehensively in the first year. The situation was so bad that it led to Alonso shout "Gp2 Engine, Gp2 Engine" in Honda's home race at Suzuka. Bit by bit there were some improvements in the Honda engine but it just didn't seem enough. Mclaren created the narrative as such that the chassis part of the Mclaren Honda was good and they were plagued by the engine side. Different figures from different tracks were cited as reasons to show how it was not the chassis but the engine which had failed to deliver. Honda was humiliated throughout this partnership and ultimately the partnership ended.
4. Partnership with Renault
With Honda now out of the way. Mclaren signed up with Renault as the engine supplier and the "Rebuilding Phase" was supposed to be set in motion. Fighting for the podiums and wins by the year-end were the targets that the team set for itself and the confidence was so high that when Alonso finished P5 in the First race he proclaimed "Now we can fight" on the team radio. But bit by bit things started becoming clear. The Mclaren Renault was no match to the works team Renault or to the other Renault Customer Red Bull Racing. For once Mclaren didn't have an engine to hide behind and they got shown up pretty badly. The season is almost done and Mclaren has almost half the points of Renault and just one-sixth of the points of Red Bull. All the talks of having one of the best chassis on the grid have been thrown down the gutter and finally they have admitted that the car is actually lagging in certain fundamental areas.
5. Alonso's Departure
Perhaps the final nail in the coffin to add to the misery was the departure of Fernando Alonso. After enduring and enduring for these many long years Alonso's Patience itself finally gave way and he has decided to take a sabbatical from the sport. If one really needs to understand how important Fernando was then all they have to do is look at the standings. Mclaren has accumulated 62 points this season out of which Alonso has accrued 50. The fact that there's no big name willing to sign up for McLaren when Alonso announced his departure is a clear indication of the rut Mclaren is in right now. Mclaren will field a line up of Lando Norris a highly rated albeit an inexperienced rookie and Carlos Sainz, a driver who was deemed not fit enough for the seats at Red Bull and Renault. For a year or two at least it does seem Mclaren won't be making the jump to the front. Let's hope they're not another Williams in the making.
