A glance at McLaren’s performance in 2012 Formula 1 season so far
McLaren are undoubtedly one of the most favourite contenders in 2012 Formula 1 championship. At present, they are standing at second place in the constructor’s championship with 133 points. Moreover, they are 25 points ahead of Lotus and 31 points behind
the defending champions, Red Bull Racing.
The Woking based team had the most successful pre-season testing programme this year. Furthermore, their driver, Lewis Hamilton is currently leading the drivers’ championship with 88 points. Besides, he is 2 points ahead of the Spaniard, Fernando Alonso
who has a lead of just 1 point over the defending champion, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.
In addition, he has been one of the most consistent drivers in the season so far as he secured striking third podium finishes in the first three grands prix. Furthermore, he claimed back-to-back pole positions in first two races.
In the fourth race held at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, he qualified for second grid position. However, he could only secure 8th place finish as he struggled with the poor pit stop strategy due to which he lost some crucial time and botched to
make any further progress.
Later, in the fifth race at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, although he topped the timesheets in the qualifying but he failed to meet the minimum fuel requirement in the car before moving back to the pit. Nevertheless, he performed quite convincingly
and managed to secure 8th place finish.
Afterwards, in the sixth race at Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, he came 5thafter setting off from 3rd grid position. Additionally, he again faced the problem with the poor pit stop tactic of the team.
The 2008 world champion delivered an incredible performance in the last race held at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal on June 10 and claimed his first victory of the season after starting the race from second place in the grid.
On the other hand, his teammate, Jenson Button is presently at 8th place in the drivers’ championship with 45 points. Furthermore, he is ahead of Sergio Perez of Sauber-Ferrari and behind Romain Grosjean of Lotus with 8 points.
The 2009 world champion showed an impressive performance in the season opener held at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia and won the race after beginning from second place in the grid.
Conversely, in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit, he could not pocket any points as he came 14th even after starting from second grid position.
Nonetheless, he came back well in the Chinese GP at Shanghai International Circuit and secured an amazing second podium finish after qualifying for 5th grid slot.
Later on, in the next four races, he could only score 2 points as he struggled with the car’s setup and tyre management.
Even so, the team principal of McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh expressed support for Button and said that they are ready to provide the Briton with everything which he may need in order to improve his performance in the forthcoming races.
“Jenson is a great racing driver, but we served him badly over the weekend,” Whitmarsh said. “His rear tyres were completely shot because we didn't long-run with his suspension set-up on Friday. That was our fault. We didn't give him a car he could perform
in.”
He added, “Looking at what is happening with the rear tyres I think the car was excessively hard on them. It was killing the tyres. He is a super-smooth driver and we just didn't give him a car he could do it with. We have to get it right.”
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