2014 Review – McLaren: A Year of Transition After 20 Years with Mercedes

THE DRIVERS

Jenson Button – 8th in the overall standings (126 pts)

After a thunderous start in Australia with a podium secured on green carpet following the disqualification of Ricciardo’s RB10, the MP4-29 would no longer allow Button to taste champagne again this year. The English world champion struggled with a car delivering inconsistent performances.

However, the veteran Button demonstrated that he had lost none of his speed or tire management skills by largely dominating in the race over his young teammate Magnussen.

He will secure 4 fourth places, notably in Russia where he will never be threatened by his pursuers, achieving the best possible result with his McLaren.

After a long wait, Button’s experience was finally preferred by McLaren, allowing him to continue his F1 career. He will therefore compete in his sixteenth season of Formula 1 in 2015, the sixth with the Woking team. He stated about Alonso: “I am certain we will work extremely well together.”

Kevin Magnussen – 11th in the overall standings (55 pts)

Everything started perfectly in Melbourne for the young Dane’s first season during the inaugural Grand Prix, where he secured a fine second place. But he would soon become disillusioned afterward. Performing almost equally in qualifying with his world champion teammate, it was during the races that he was dominated by a Button in top form.

Furthermore, on multiple occasions, Magnussen will be criticized and penalized for irregular maneuvers, particularly in defense during overtakes. For example, he will be responsible for a collision with Räikkönen in Malaysia. In Belgium, maneuvers forcing Alonso (three times) and then Button (once) off the track will earn him a penalty. In these two races, he will have lost a total of 4 points on his license, which has 12 points.

The report is therefore not favorable for the Danish rookie. His F1 career is currently on hold, although he still retains a role as a test and reserve driver to support his two world champion teammates.

L’EQUIPE

McLaren-Mercedes – 5th in the constructors’ standings (181 pts)

With the return of Ron Dennis and the appointment of a new sporting director, Eric Boullier, who has proven himself at Lotus F1, the F1 world was expecting a revival of McLaren.

Indeed, following its double podium finish at the first Grand Prix of the season in Australia, McLaren will give the illusion of a return to the highest level… only to be quickly disillusioned in the subsequent races.

Behind the untouchable Mercedes and Red Bull, the battle among the others will be dominated by the return of Williams, and even Ferrari, despite losing pace, will remain ahead of the Greys. It is only during the last weekends that McLaren will regain a respectable level of competitiveness.

PERSPECTIVES

For 2015, the challenges will be numerous. With McLaren-Honda’s return to F1 and the revival of the legendary duo that won four driver-constructor doubles from 1988 to 1991 with Ayrton Senna (3 titles) and Alain Prost (1 title), the Japanese engine supplier will face a strong competition with Mercedes, who dominated the season.

The Honda engine will have to demonstrate sufficient reliability. The initial Abu Dhabi tests were reminiscent of the sluggish beginnings of the Renault V6 Turbo engine during the winter tests. McLaren even created new vents in the MP4-29’s sidepods to cool the power unit.

However, there is no need to sound the alarm yet since the future “MP4-30” will be specifically designed around the Honda power unit, which could resolve the initial overheating issues encountered in Abu Dhabi.

Once the reliability issues are resolved, the questions of power and performance remain. Indeed, this season and under normal circumstances, neither Renault nor Ferrari managed to approach Mercedes, which shows that the German engineers have designed a true masterpiece. Honda will therefore have to demonstrate that its engine can compete with and surpass that of Stuttgart if they want to reconnect with their history.

If the Anglo-Japanese synergy works, it remains to be seen if the new recruit Fernando Alonso will manage to integrate at Woking, which he did not succeed in doing in 2007. The Spaniard’s speed seems intact given his season where he dominated a struggling Kimi Räikkönen with his F14-T, but his influence will be less than at Ferrari, so will he be able to win a new title with the Grays?

The choice of Jenson Button as a teammate could put the Spaniard in difficulty, as he will not have participated in the development of the 2015 car, which cost Kimi Räikkönen dearly this year at Ferrari.

But the McLaren-Honda project is a long-term project, so it will probably be from 2016 that we’ll need to keep an eye on the Asturian Bull.

With Alonso, a fan of Ayrton Senna since childhood, and Button inspired by Alain Prost’s driving style, all the ingredients are there to revive the legend of the 80s. It is now up to Ron Dennis, Eric Boullier, and Yasuhisa Arai (director of motorsports at Honda) to make it all come together.

Find all our reviews, team by team, of the season /f1/actualite/19173-bilan-2014-caterham-f1-plus-detincelles-en-coulisses-quen-piste.html:

– Caterham: Plus d’étincelles en coulisses qu’en piste

– Sauber: Une saison vierge de résultats

– Marussia: De la joie aux larmes…

– Lotus: Une saison dans les bas-fonds

– Toro Rosso: Des progrès malgré les défis à relever

– Force India: Une saison en net progrès

– Ferrari: La fin d’une ère

– Williams: La saison du renouveau sportif