McLaren may struggle even more in 2013 – Formula 1
McLaren have struggled quite a lot because of their reliability issues in the 2012 Formula 1 season so far due to which their driver, Lewis Hamilton lost some crucial points in the championship fight and his hopes for claiming the title faded.
Hamilton has always been deemed as one of the most talented drivers in the sport. Moreover, he has performed convincingly well in the season until now and has scored points with admirable consistency.
He had been considered as one of the strongest title contenders in this year’s championship, but his expectations went down after he failed to score any points in few races because of some reliability problems in his car.
On the other hand, his teammate, Jenson Button has also performed reasonably well and has attained some really good results for the team. However, he has also struggled in few grands prix due to some technical and tyre management issues.
There have been many speculations that the Woking based team has faced technical difficulties because Mercedes have not provided them with the reliable engine.
Contrarily, the team principal of McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh has dismissed all the rumours and said that they have full faith in their engine provider. Furthermore, he asserted that the ongoing problems have nothing to do with their quality control and the
overall system.
It will be important to mention that the 2008 world champion is going to leave his team at the conclusion of this year and he has signed a new contract with Mercedes where he will replace the seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher and will drive as
Nico Rosberg’s teammate in the next season.
Even though, Whitmarsh said that the 27-year-old will regret his decision regarding moving to the Brackley based team in the coming year as they are a more competitive side. Nevertheless, he said that they still wish their star driver best of luck for the
future.
Conversely, the British driver has embraced the new challenge wholeheartedly and is confidently looking forward to perform well with the Silver Arrows in the next season.
In addition, the British squad has also signed a new agreement with Sergio Perez, who is presently in Sauber and will replace Hamilton from the next season onwards.
Although, Perez has performed impressively well in the season so far and has been deemed as one of the most amazing youngsters in the field, but he has not secured any competitive results after his contract time McLaren.
Nonetheless, Whitmarsh has said that they will prepare the Mexican driver for the coming season and expressed that they have full confidence in their next year’s driver line-up.
“You turn up in a McLaren, and if you are not on the front couple of rows then there is a lot of pressure applied on you,” Whitmarsh said.
“There have been drivers who have talent, can live with that pressure and deliver, and others that can't. It would be foolish of me to sit here and say that in taking a very young driver there is not an element of risk. But we wouldn't have done it unless
we felt there was a possibility (of him becoming Champion),” he said.
“Time will tell, and we'll have that inquest next year,” he added.
There are chances that the reliability issues of McLaren may persist in the next season too and they may struggle with a driver who has not attained much experience in the sport. Let’s see how they show up in the coming year.
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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