Today McLaren revealed the car they hope will lead them to their first World Championship since 2008.
The car, looks neat and tidy with quite a few changes from their previous offering. The biggest change comes in drivers though with Lewis Hamilton having left the team that he has grown up with in order to try and ‘do a Schumacher‘ and mould Mercedes around himself. (A risky business – Schumacher struggled from 1996 to 1999, with 2000 being the first of his early 2000s Championship dominations. It’s going to take time Lewis…)
As I was saying, McLaren without a Driver’s Championship since 2008 nor a Constructor’s Championship since, and this is always a shocker, 1998, have not rested on their laurels and taken their car further than most expected. The rules for 2013 are largely the same as last year, so most teams will be producing an evolution of their 2012 car. As well as this, the rules are altering significantly next year as a new engine formula is being introduced. It seems a little bit of a risk to radically alter a car under these circumstances, but McLaren want to win.
Sergio Perez showed flashes of brilliance last year, he could even have won a race. In the second round at Malaysia, he battled with Fernando Alonso. In the dying laps of the race he was able to close the gap to 0.5 seconds, but was not able to make the pass as he went wide at turn 14 and fell back, finishing 2.2 seconds behind Alonso in second.
Jenson Button, on the other hand, says he is ‘excited’ by the new McLaren. I’m sure he would hope to add to his tally of 15 wins. In fact, one more would place him equal with the great Stirling Moss who has the most career wins without becoming World Champion. Button, for me, is one of the best drivers out there and thoroughly deserves to win another Championship. He was a great ambassador for the sport after his 2009 Championship and he is just what the sport needs. A dominant Sebastian Vettel risks mimicking the 2000-2004 era Schumacher, after all.
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