At the end of last season team West McLaren Mercedes managed to have 1 win and 3 podium finishes to their credit. But all that they got from Ferrari's left overs. With that as the ending note, they began the development work on the new car, the MP4-20, which complied to the latest regulations. At the end of the winter testing season, McLaren had a potential championship winner which couldn't prove its capabilites in the first 2 races of the 2005 F1 C'Ship season. But then in Bahrain they showed who's the boss. But still only with a 3rd place. Why? because Mclaren started from way too far behind to finish on the top step of the podium.
But that's it!! Qualifying had to be improved. They did and snatched pole in style on 24th morning for the San Marino Grand Prix (Italy). But, their compromise showed in the Drive-shaft failure of Kimi Raikkonen, nevertheless the only first McLaren retirement of the season against 3 from Renault (current c'ship leaders), 4 from Ferrari (defending champions), 6 from BAR Honda (Last year runners up) and around 3 from Williams BMW. But if the wins would come with just a reliable car, then why is Narain Karthikeyan not winning who has a record of finishes equal to Kimi Raikkonen this season??
McLaren over the years have slipped places. The radically quick and technically sound McLaren Honda which has won the most number of races in a season, 15 of 16 in 1988, (against Ferrari's best of 15 from 17 races, 2002) seems to be just a flash. Being a die-hard McLaren fan, it is a shame to realise that McLaren, which once had this record for itself, now has to share the most number of wins in a season with Ferrari, although the Ferrari is still 2 races behind while McLaren is the only team to have won all but one race in a season. Once McLaren enjoyed a mega 10% success rate over the nearest rivals Ferrari is now lost it and an additional 3-4% in the last 4-5 years.
Now, McLaren is deemed to be the second most richest teams in F1 after Ferrari. What McLaren have is a bunch of famed Engineers and Aero specialists. Still, if Ferrari can bounce back from the far end of the field to the fag-end in just a matter of 6 test-days, what the h**l were McLaren doing in that period. Agreed tyre testing and new mods to help qualifying etc. But ferrari have leapt up the ladder by not just readying there car to finish a race but also developing the bridgestone tyres all alone and in the process, gaining nearly a 1.3s per lap advantage over both McLaren and the Renault.
McLaren, wake up!! This is one season where you've to prove your strengths as you're the only team who's running the twin-keel arrangement in the nose to other's speeds also. Meanwhile Ferrari is still struggling with lesser points than expected and Renault are almost running just 1 car per race with Fisi not quite lucky enough to finish after Australia (Round 1). Being 3rd, you're the only team at the top who've most knowledge of the next few races to come....
Try This: Dhoom Machaale [Dhoom, Sunidhi Chauhan/ Tata Young]
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