A glimpse at McLaren’s performance in 2012 Formula 1 season so far
McLaren had the most successful pre-season testing programme this year and with the pair of talented drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, they have been considered as one of the strongest contenders for 2012 Formula 1 championship.
At present, the Woking based team is standing at second position in the constructors’ championship with 108 points. Moreover, they are 38 points behind the defending champion, Red Bull Racing and 22 points ahead of Ferrari.
Even though, Hamilton has not been able to win any race in the season so far. However, he has emerged as one of the most consistent drivers and currently at fourth place in the drivers’ championship with 63 points. Moreover, he is 10 points behind Mark Webber
of Red Bull and 4 points ahead of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.
He secured an impressive third podium finish in the first three races. Furthermore, he claimed pole positions in the first two races while qualified for 7th grid position in the third races.
Afterwards, although he performed quite convincingly in the qualifying of the fourth race held at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir and qualified for second grid position. However, he could only secure 8th place finish in the race as he lost some crucial
time due to poor pit stop strategy.
Later, in the fifth race at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, he topped the timesheets during the qualifying but failed to meet the requirement of minimum fuel in the car before moving back to the pits. Nevertheless, even after starting the race from the
end of the grid, he secured an incredible 8th place finish.
In the sixth race at Circuit de Monaco he qualified for 3rd grid position but could only secure fifth place finish. Nonetheless, he said that he is not disappointed by his performance in the Monaco GP as he was able to score some reasonable points for his
team.
On the other hand, his teammate, Button who is currently at 7th position in the drivers’ rankings with 45 points, took an amazing victory in the season opener held at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia after setting off from second grid position.
Conversely, he could not score even a single point in the second race as he came 14th even after starting the race from second grid position. Nevertheless, he secured an impressive second place finish in the third race after beginning from 5th place in the
grid.
In the next three races he has only been able to score 2 points which he secured with his 9th place finish in the Spanish GP.
It will be important to mention that despite the ongoing difficulties in the last three races, the team principal of McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh said that they their drivers are capable enough of winning the championship.
“You're never satisfied,” Whitmarsh said. “But I think Lewis is scoring points in every race, he's keeping his head and I think he's doing a very good job. It's still anyone's to play for, so we and Lewis and Jenson can win this year's championship. So after
six races I think that's good for the sport. People now say this sort of randomness is unattractive then that's just a 180 to what people felt a few years ago when it was very predictable.”
Over and above, he said that they are positively looking forward to perform well in the forthcoming season so as to make their position stronger in this year’s championship.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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