Brazil preview quotes: McLaren
Friday, October 29th 2010, 09:04 GMT

Jenson Button: "The Brazilian Grand Prix is a special race for me because it's where I won the world championship last year. This will be the first time I've been back since then, so I'm really looking forward to it.
"Interlagos is an incredible racetrack - a place where you can race hard, where all your mistakes are punished and where you're really rewarded for attacking. I think our package will be well suited to this circuit.
"When I was here last year I learnt an important lesson: I qualified 14th while my team-mate put his car on pole – but when I thought it was almost all over, I threw caution to the wind and drove one of the most attacking, best drives of my F1 career. And that's something that I'll be taking with me into this weekend, when I know I'll not only need a strong result, but also to rely on others failing to score to keep me in the hunt for the championship.
"Given the points situation, I know that I face an uphill struggle to hold on to the world title, but I'll be giving it everything I've got this weekend to stay in contention. I fought hard to become the 2009 world champion, and I won't give up my title without a fight."


Lewis Hamilton: "I always seem to have a unique experience at Brazil. In my first year in Formula 1, I battled past a load of cars but could only finish seventh, losing out on the world championship. The following year, I had another tricky race, but managed to take fifth position on the final lap to win the world title. Last year, we got qualifying wrong, I started 17th and used KERS to boost my way up to third in one of the best races of my career. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like a nice, straightforward race this year!
"We go to Brazil knowing that we may not have the fastest car, but we'll have a decent package that should work well. We have a strong engine and good straightline speed, so I think we'll still be quick – crucially, that combination should give us the opportunity to pass into the first corner, which is probably the best overtaking spot on the track.
"I know the world championship is figuring in everybody's thoughts at the moment, but I'm not thinking about it too much: I need to get a good result in Brazil to take the fight to Abu Dhabi, so that's my priority. Whatever happens, it's going to be a very tight battle."


Martin Whitmarsh - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "We're now reaching the critical climax of this year's world championship. With the two final races spread just one week apart, and five drivers still in the hunt for overall honours, it's a fascinating and thrilling prospect for our sport.
"If Formula 1 has taught us competitors one thing over the past couple of years, it's to never give up hope until the odds are no longer possible, and that the most unexpected outcome can become a very real and viable possibility sooner than you can readily imagine.
With that in mind, we go to Brazil, and then on to Abu Dhabi, still determined to wrest both world championships. Lewis is well-placed in the drivers' championship. While Jenson lies 42 points adrift, he has vowed to fight on. As the reigning world champion, and a great driver, he knows better than most that you can't lift the title without being a resolute fighter. That's exactly why we hired him, and we'll be supporting him fully this weekend.
"As for the Constructors' Championship, we're only 27 points off the top spot – a very slender margin, and one that both Jenson and Lewis are convinced we can bridge by the time the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi.

Seems that lewis isn't really believing in it anymore: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2010/10/11449.html
But you can't blame him, the 25 just isn't good enough.

hey I just noticed something

Brazil record

in 2007, Ham finished 7th
in 2008, Ham finished 5th
2009, Ham...3rd
2010, Ham 1st?

When I visited the MTC, that was one of the things that struck me looking at all the generations of cars - how simple even recent cars (Mika, Kimi, David era) used to be, then how complicated they became, last years car started to look a bit simpler.

Andy

Mmm... Well spotted. Fingers crossed!!

Hehe, I thought the same the other day.

I think Mercedes can be surprisingly competitive in Brazil, they with Kubica will mix up the championship contenders. I expect a cautious Ferrari and a beatable Red Bull. The chance is there to reduce the gap further.

What is his biggest chance of victory, here or abu dhabi?

I'd say Brazil, just because there's always a good likehood of rain, and then anything can happen.

hard to tell, but if he can get a win "on merit" in Brazil... he will be smart money in Abu Dhabi. Both are similar tracks... twisty sections n 2 long straights.

Without car merit, Brazil can be more of a lottery because of the weather...while we saw last year he goes hard in A. Daby n could make the diff. if the car is close enough. Hard to tell.

I'd say Abu Dhabi by a mile.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/87798

I hope Lewis will shine as he did last year but without the reliability problem!

Fact is, it could all be over after next weekend if alonso takes more than 4 points over lewis.
I'm afraid we'll have to hope that rbr is competitive enough to deny alonso the win in brazil, 'cause our car won't be.

If Lewis is to win he needs two strong results now, two wins best or win and podium at least, anything less and his chances are minute. First thing that Lewis needs to get this is chaotic race in Brazil, MP4-25 simply won't be good for good result in Brazil on merit.

Abu Dhabi has awful lot of slow speed corners. The RB6 is mega in slow speed corners, F10 is great, MP4-25 is mediocre.

Circuit-wise, it's Interlagos, which suits the car more, at least to its current state.

But Lewis can be special in Abu Dhabi, and the Mercedes powered low drag car may be able to compensate the weakness at slow speed corners.

Neither circuit is good for the MP4-25, I believe.
A strange race in Brazil which nets a good result would leave a situation where 'unorthodox' team strategies could come into play in Abu Dhabi.

I wish I could be more confident but slow/traction limited corners have been McLaren's weakness all year and both circuits have those in abundance.

All my hope is in bold .

"For Brazil, we're bringing more updates to the car. That's something that's always impressed me about this team - the pace of development is just incessant, and everybody is so determined to make the car faster. We're always trying out new parts, and making changes. We haven't backed off the development stream just yet, so, once again, we're hopeful of another step forward in perfomance for Brazil."

"It's a track that should suit us, so I'm already looking forward to it."

That surprises me a bit, but if true, the better

You guys know I'm not the optimist, but I believe we will go very well in Brazil and surprise a few people in Abu Dhabi. The slow corners in Yas Marina wont effect the 25 as much as people believe, as these corners open up and are quite flowing.

This season has been a drain on my optimism. I have no optimism left in the tank now.
Therefore, I go in not expecting much.

I can't see the MP2-25's near season long lack of pace suddenly being corrected in the last two races, so Lewis's only hope is chaotic races and/or Alonso/Webber DNF's. To win it without retirements he'd need a McLaren one-two in both races, that's not going to happen.

Frankly he'll be doing very well to finish ahead of Alonso at the next Grand Prix, the car's just not quick enough.

yeah it's been a bit of a drainage. Mclaren always promising working updates but we saw very few who were effective (atleast after the EBD introduction).

Let's hope the last updates prove us wrong

I think Mclaren needs to find new engineers, especially downforce guys, 'cause we're the last few years clearly on the backfoot there.

I'd have to say, I agree... but it's never over till it's over!

Thanks for jinking him Bauss.

That's simply McLaren Optimism.

So what will be the code word or phrase that Mclaren might use to get Jenson to pull over if he's ahead of Lewis? I think Mclaren need to plan this rather than try:

"Lewis is faster than you.... confirm you understand"

I think maybe:

"Lewis preparing the Fernando overtake manouevre.... confirm you understand".....

Appologies in advance for this but if Jenson is ahead then it'll be:

Lewis is lapping you, can you confirm you blame the car...again?

I say that in jest but I don't remember Heikki blaming the car as much as Jenson does?

Edit: the point being that it might cause a little resentment amongst the engineers, or am I being hypersensitive?

I don't think McLaren comes in this situation
usually Lewis will be ahead of Button
but if Button is ahead, as long as he(Button) is not completely out of the WDC, nothing will happen
(MW:....That's exactly why we hired him, and we'll be supporting him fully this weekend.)

I can´t hear "The track suits us" any more. The track was fine in Japan, rain was good for us in Korea and the results do not show that. And now suddenly one of the bumpier tracks of the season suits the MP4-25. Can´t they be honest and say that being able to beat Ferrari and RBR there would be surprising but that they will try.

yea, my mind facepalmed when I read that "the track suits us" line.

I was surprised to hear from Button: "the track suits us"

Lewis words, he is a bit more realistic:
"We saw again in Korea that we've probably only got the third-fastest car, so we're probably not the favourites - but that's okay.

"We're bringing new parts to the car all the time, and I know we'll have some more upgrades in Brazil - whether that will be enough, we need to wait and see. But I'm going to enjoy pushing..."

I'm not entirely convinced that the 25 is as uncompetitive as it looks.

It seems to me that Macca are blowing it by always trying to get a top speed advantage, instead of piling on as much downforce as possible. It's as though, they enjoyed having extra straight-line speed with KERS, and they don't want to let go of it.

Downforce is king in F1. We had the best possible demonstration of that at Monza, where Jenson supposedly had way too much downforce, but still managed to be the 2nd fastest on the track.

Please guys!! Stop outsmarting yourselves. Put on all the downforce you can. If the simulator says you'll be slower, the simulator is wrong.

The MP4-25 doesn't like downforce, if they put on some and go 2 tenths quicker through the corners they might lose 3 tenths on the straights. It's a balancing act.

Without the F-Duct, the straight-line penalty for extra downforce would be greater.

I think that Macca have performed best when they have used the F-Duct to put on more downforce.

At Korea, they thought that the long straights made it a no-brainer to reduce downforce and increase top speed. And what happened? Even in dry quali, Alonso with a much slower car set the best time in sector 1, because extra downforce helped with braking and acceleration.

In the wet, of course, the extra downforce also helped Alonso to look after his tyres.

It's not just this year. In 2008, Macca nearly blew the WDC by giving Lewis a low-downforce setup for Brazil.

Anyways, I dont think the problem is downforce at all. I think the car has plenty of it. But because of the suspension and setup requirements of the car, it can only enjoy the full advantage of their downforce if its a faster corner and the track is nice and smooth.

Perhaps the aero package is too sensitive or has too narrow an operating window to be effective over a range of tracks? Or maybe the car is just limited by poor mechanical grip in general? Little bit of both?

And I think the path of development of the EBD, which was forced on macca (and every other team) has massively exacerbated this characteristic. Take a car where's it's very difficult to find the sweet spot due to the reliance on the extreme diffuser...add a whole route of development based on radically changing the diffuser = a car where updates don't work straight away and a car that's hard to drive.

The car was hitting it's stride after the first few races, good at barcelona, right up there with RB's race pace at Turkey...it just remained to find some qualifying pace. I was really optimistic for lewis at that point but ever since silverstone it's looked difficult. Alonso had a poor race at silverstone and bad luck at valencia that perhaps disguised ferrari were catching and overtaking us..been the 3rd best team ever since I think with the exception of Spa (and RB behind macca and ferrari at monza).

i think its harder to find rear downforce now, all you got is the rear wing, beam wing, and defuser. plus a number of small detail bits (seen lil winglety things on the brake ducts) and then the body. cant chuck winglets and flip ups like in the past

high downforce is normaly easier to drive than low downforce aswell

I think that's been the view since near the start of the season (aero sensitivity), that's why they're running it as stiff as a board. There's so much reliance for downforce on the diffuser that as soon as the car moves out of the ideal height/rake position they suddenly lose a massive amount (hence Button's struggles as he likes a planted rear, and Hamiltons moments of speed as he can live with it a bit more).

Hopefully next year with smaller diffusers all cars will be a bit more reliable, in terms of behavior, to drive.

Well the front wing effects the airflow over the whole car, so can aid in the quest to find more rear downforce as can the rear floor. I haven't seen too many reports suggesting the MP4-25 lacks rear downforce, I believe it simply has less overall downforce compared to the RB & Ferrari.

I don't really think that McLaren have a problem generating enough downforce, it seems to me that they often choose not to, because they think that they will get an advantage from being faster on the straights.

I don't have the patience to go through all the data, but I have a strong impression that the 25 has performed best when they didn't have a top speed advantage. That would be because they used the F-Duct to allow them to use a rear wing which gave more downforce, rather than to get the best top speed.

Every time they come top in the speed trap, I get worried.

This reminds me albeit to a lesser degree, of the problems Mercedes had at LeMan in 1999 with their CLR's taking off. Mercedes apparently focused far too intently on developing the aerodynamics of the car reference to a smooth surface. I think they did alot of testing at the Fontana speedway which is supposed to be very smooth, so the track characteristics masked the aerodynamic instabilities the car would feel elsewhere.

and a oval normaly doesnt have a hill in it

the front wing is more a balance device, yes it does alot of conditioning of the air etc, but from a setup point of view, its rear wing led

we need anything for two last races or bye bye WDC and WCC.

Is very important have the luck by our side!!

Keep the faith guys, we have chances!!!


Regards

We do, they are small, but we do .

Article about the hamster:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport...one/9148594.stm

"I'm going into these last two to give it my all and I do believe I can win it," added Hamilton. "If I didn't then I shouldn't be sitting here, I'd be at home sitting with my legs up.

Hamilton thanked his fans for supporting him through thick and thin in a topsy-turvy season.
"The support that I've had is incredible," he said. "They can never know just how much I appreciate it. I'm out there giving it all.

"I know I've had some odd races and not the best results but that's life, we all make mistakes."

Mclaren may thank God for having this awesome driver. Despite not having the fastest car, he's still optimistic and not whining (like ratboy). Give'em hell Hami, godspeed!

I remember one of those Vodafone pr videos when they had 60 sec interviews with Lewis and Jenson where there had to give quick answers to the same questions and one of the most illuminating differences was 'Leading or Chasing?' where Jenson answered 'Leading' and Lewis 'Chasing'. I think he is more comfortable as the hunter- imagine the final stages of Abu Dhabi- Fernando and Lewis 1-2, whoever finishes first wins the championship, Lewis closing in, Fernando being told about the gap closing and saying 'I don't want to know!' One can only hope ;) But you never know- a rain lottery in Brazil may set things up nicely!

Rain set for Interlagos yet again

Good or bad for McLaren? What do you think guys?

Has to be good... they've got the third best car and need miracles... anything that mixes up the order is to be welcomed IMO as "normal" races will not do at this point.

That said, with hindsight ( ) we could have done with a couple of boring races from LH in Monza and Singapore... but that's racing/life - who knew MW would throw it away in Korea and potentially let the other contenders back in the hunt.

Rain gives more influence to the driver, bit currently I think Vettel and Alonso are strong in the rain as well. Strong enough to make second and thrid place behind Lewis - that is. ;D

We need a win or 2nd from Hammy, plus a dns/low score from FA. So far those have happened 7/17 and 5/17 times respectively. That works out at 12% odds.

Worth hoping for, in a not-expecting-it kind of way.

I'll answer it after the race.

In Korea the car had setup for a dry race and was waiting for the track's rubbering.

If in Brazil we have a wet race and the car yet again will have a dry setup and a very stiff suspension with emphasis on being fast on the 'straights', but rivals will have wetish setup, then only huge luck could give McLaren a win.

We can oly imagine what Lewis could do in the wet with a Ferrari/Red Bull suspension and downforce type car, but still he has the best results this year in wet races from all!

Obviously McLaren were not as competetive as expected in the rain in Korea though a lot of that seemed to be related to the setup of the new upgrades, particularly the brakes locking in the rainy conditions. Provided they get time in practice to fine tune, they should be better placed in Brazil.

Have to suspect the brakes got glazed behind the SC as Dunder suggested, though I haven't seen anything from the team about that. Normally Andy would be monitoring the brake temps though, so who knows, but they might be better next time.

Good. As Kubica says, whether you find yourself with a quick car or not on a wet Interlagos track depends to a large extent on luck.

The more the next 2 races are influenced by luck, the better McLaren's chances of getting the results they needm because they simply don't have the car (IMO) to get the results they need on pace alone.