Lehdistötiedotteet - McLaren Racing - Season 15 Review

McLaren Racing - Season 15 Review

Records and records and records.

That's exactly what McLaren Racing broke as they re-wrote the McLaren history books after season 15. More on that later...

Season Review

So what are the thoughts on McLarens best season to date?
Well the season started off a frustrating one as it took until Round 4 and the Bahrain GP before the team brought both cars home in the points and they did this in emphatic style with a 1-3 finish.
In Round 1 (Australia) a mechanical problem for Rocco Rapido robbed him of what could have been a good result.
Round 2 (Malaysia) was one to forget for the team as issues meant Marcis Jr. Freiverts qualified in 25th and couldn't work his way into the points and the inclement weather and a tyre gamble for Rocco only resulted in a solitary point from the weekend.
Round 3 (China) started off with an opening lap incident for Marcis damaging his car and although he kept running he was never going to challenge for a point. Rocco picking up the pieces for the team in 3rd place.
The success in round 4 was then followed by a further 4 consecutive double points scoring results for the team with Rocco starting to show that he was going to be there challenging the Red Bull Vaillante F1 team drivers up at the front.
Round 5 (Spain) was another good finish for Rocco as he was in the leading battle, eventually finishing 2nd place but a good result for Marcis nearly eluded him and although he finished 9th he could have been 5th were it not for a couple of costly driving mistakes, but further points on the board none the less.
Round 6 (Monaco) wins the award for the most boring race of the season with only a handful of overtakes for the duration of the race, the train that set of from the station very much ending as it had started but this meant that McLaren would get a good points haul with a 4th and 6th. It was also in Monaco that the team moved into 3rd place in the constructors table after overhauling the Jordan team courtesy of DNF's and some may feel that round 6 was the stepping stone for the rest of the McLaren season.
Round 7 (Canada) again saw Rocco Rapido taking the lead for the team and he was backed up with more points by Marcis despite Marcis not having the best qualifying session. A 3rd and an 8th was the reward from the race.
Round 8 (Austria) brought win number 2 of the season for the team and Rocco and once again he was backed up by Marcis with a good 5th place finish and more points into the bag.
After round 8 McLaren found themselves secure in 3rd in the table and Rocco was 3rd with Marcis in a scrap for 8th spot and starting to build up his points tally. The next 5 races were hard for the team as it wouldn't be until round 14 they would bring in a double points haul again at the Singapore round of the championship.
Round 9 (UK) was the worst home result that the team could have wished for. Rocco was sidelined by a broken car and Marcis was 4th until he made 2 mistakes in 4 laps to drop himself to 8th place, although he did manage to grab a place back and bring the car home in 7th place. This would be the start of a points drought for Marcis.
In Round 10 (Germany) Marcis would find himself in retirement from p5 as Rocco went onto finish 3rd.
Although unlike in Round 10 Marcis would finish the race in Round 11 (Hungary) he would finish out of the points as a result of a poorly timed safety car completely destroying his pitstop strategy, once again Rocco would take another podium and finish in 3rd place. Round 12 (Belgium) was another race Marcis would see from the side of the circuit as a mechanical failure would drop him out of a competitive position. At the time of retirement he was the lead McLaren, this illustrating what a good job he was doing. Rocco only finished 5th in this one, a disappointing result for the driver but just going to show the high expectations he and the team carry on his performances.
Round 13 (Italy) Was a race to forget for the team. No points for the entire weekend as another mechanical issue sidelined Rocco Rapido and an incident during the 4th place battle he was in for Marcis (through no fault of his own) meant he was sat in a car in the gravel with no chance of rejoining.

This little chapter in the season showed that even with only 1 car finishing with points for 5 races that the team had enough quality to continue building points as the constructors 3rd place that they held was increasingly more secure and despite his run of 0 points Marcis was still in 8th. Rocco after his DNF dropped one place to 4th.
The next race, Round 14 (Singapore) was a good break for the team with both cars returning to points scoring duty, a 2nd and 5th place finish more representative of the McLaren cars and their drivers ability.
Round 15 (Japan) produced win number 3 of the season and the maiden win for Marcis as he tamed the wet conditions well although team mate Rocco could not do the same as a wet weather tyre gamble did not pay off and would see him only finish 15th.
Round 16 (Russia) would be the last round where we would not see 2 McLarens in the points scoring positions at the end of race. Mistakes by Marcis cost him points in this race but Rocco returned to the podium with 3rd but slipped to 4th in the standings.

The final 4 races of the season were all about the 3rd place championship scrap for Rocco Rapido. The team seemed secure in 3rd in the Constructors title and there was a little side game being played out by Marcis Jr. Freiverts in his quest to achieve 6th place in the championship.

The rest of the season run in was to be good for McLaren as they scored good points in the remaining 4 races of the season.
Round 17 (America) yielded a 3rd and a 6th. The 6th place for Marcis giving him 6th overall in the championship table.
Round 18 (Mexico) brought a 2nd and a 4th. Rocco's 2nd place could have been a win was it not for a small driving error, small margins making all the difference. The significance of the Mexican GP was that the result sealed 3rd place in the constructors championship for the team, this meant that it was now down to the drivers to achieve their individual results.
Round 19 (Brasil) achieved Marcis' 6th place finish in what was his final season for the team. A 5th place on the day enough to give him a points gap to 7th too big to be overcome. In Rocco's battle a 3rd place result gave him a 4 point gap to Grosjean Jr. behind him.
Round 20 (Abu Dhabi) the final round of the year and capped off with a double podium for the team as Rocco secured 3rd in the table with a 2nd place in the race and he was joined by his outgoing team mate Marcis as he finished 3rd overall.

Season Views

The season for the team was the best they have ever had in both championship positions for the drivers and team standings and although there should be a feeling of achievement and success for the team there is a small feeling of what if?
If that middle chapter of the championship where only 1 double points finish in 8 races had been different would it have effected the teams positions? Would it have boosted Marcis' finishing position?
All answers would be purely speculative and with the arrival of Guido Di Rado there is hope that more consistent results in season 16 may bring the fight closer to the top for McLaren.
Another interesting watch for next year will be to see how the teams fare with the new engines that are required for season 16.

And so to finish this article we go back to the start, the record books. How do they read?

Well like this...

Position 3 for Rocco Rapido with 250 points.
Position 3 for McLaren Racing with 379 points.

and a personal achievement for Marcis

Position 6 for Marcis Jr. Freiverts with 129 points.

That's all for season 15 folks, to keep up to date with race to race information keep a look out on the McLaren Racing forum thread in the UK Forum.

See you all in season 16