A detailed look at career of McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh – Formula 1
Martin Whitmarsh, the current team principal of McLaren and president of Formula One Teams Association became a part of the sport way back in 1989 when he joined the Woking-based team and since 2004, has been working as the chief operating officer of the
team.
Whitmarsh has been criticised and praised as a team principal as he took on a team left by Ron Dennis, arguably the most legendary team boss the sport has ever witnessed. Ron Dennis enabled the team to secure championships and good consistent season performances
starting from the 1980s after which the team secured 7 titles and signed drivers like Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Prost, Lewis Hamilton and Mika Hakkinen to name a few.
The team kept emerging and one has to admit that it was not just Ron who made the team what it is today. People like Martin Whitmarsh and some others played a major role in this whole journey as well to make the team one of the most established and legendary
teams of the sport to date alongside Ferrari.
The rest of the teams including Williams and Lotus did not maintain their teams as a result of which they left the sport as well and then when they rejoined, the level of performance changed massively.
Whitmarsh however, became the boss of McLaren in 2009 but unfortunately, the team had one of its most disappointing Formula 1 seasons while two new teams by the names of BrawnGP and Red Bull Racing emerged. The two new teams fought for the championship quite
actively throughout the season while both McLaren and Ferrari were unable to cope up with their pace.
By the end of the 2009 Formula 1 season, McLaren finished in 3rd place in the constructors’ standings just a single point ahead of Ferrari while the championship winners BrawnGP finished 101 points ahead of McLaren which was quite disappointing
for them.
In 2010 nevertheless, it was a completely different story as the team took a very good start mainly because of the new and innovative device, the F-duct which was created by McLaren. The team led the championship at various points of the 2010 Formula 1 season
and Lewis Hamilton challenged for the drivers’ title until the very last race of the season while Jenson Button, who joined the team after securing the titles with BrawnGP, also challenged for the title until the second last race of the season.
By the end of the season, the team was unable to secure either of the championships as Red Bull Racing won the constructors’ championship a couple of races before the final race of the season while the drivers’ title was won by Sebastian Vettel who scored
the win at the last race in Abu Dhabi.
After a very frustrating end to a good season, Whitmarsh moved on to the 2011 Formula 1 season with the team and again, it has been a very disappointing start for the team as both of the team’s drivers have not secured a single pole up until now. However,
the team should be satisfied that they have secured two race wins and are the only team to beat Red Bull Racing up until the 2011 British Grand Prix.
The 2011 Formula 1 season is far from over yet but it seems that bouncing back is not going to be very easy for McLaren this year as the points difference in the constructors’ standings between Red Bull and McLaren is currently 89.
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