McLaren Staring Problems In The Face

McLaren is a historic team to say the least in Formula One. That being said, they have a real problem on their hands, one that anyone could have seen coming.
 
The 2009 World Championship of Jenson Button was pretty shocking. It was probably only surpassed by the fact that he left the then Brawn Team to go to McLaren. The move was actually a natural one as he seems to be the prototypical McLaren driver. He is smooth, fast and very team oriented. There was only one problem – Lewis Hamilton.
 
Hamilton does not play well with others. The Alonso-Hamilton feud is one that none of us need to revisit since it has been hashed over more times than anyone can count. When Alonso was replaced with a weak number two [hello Hekki], Hamilton was fine. That being said, Hamilton is showing his nasty side already and we are not even two races into the 2010 season. He does not do well mentally when his is not the focus of the team. He is very unprofessional and lashes out far and wide as we saw in Australia.
 
The problem was a pit stop. Hamilton is not easy on his tires. He is a very aggressive driver. This is good as it makes for exciting racing. That being said, he is not a smooth driver and he does a number on his tires. When cars started pitting in the latter part of the race, he was called in to get new tires.
 
At this point, he began reeling in the 2nd through 4th place cars that were running together by well over a second a lap. He caught them with 10 laps left, but couldn’t get past Alonso in the Ferrari. He first complained over the radio his tires were shot and then blamed the team for a “frigging bad decision”.



The truth of the matter is the decision was right. There is no way a driver like Hamilton could’ve made it to the end of the race on his tires. He had ten laps to pass three cars going a full second slower than him. He couldn’t do it! His excuse about the tires going off was particularly lame. If his tires were bad after 15 laps, what were the tires of Alonso, Massa and Kubica after twice as long?! Come on, Lewis!
 
The bigger issue here is the placement of Hamilton on the team. McLaren has made a big switch the last few years with Ron Dennis being punted to the side. Mercedes had enough of the shenanigans and left for Brawn. What of Hamilton? Blasting your team of the radio is not a good way to endear yourself to them. This is particularly true after you scapegoated a long time team employee at the Australian race last year! Hamilton seems to think he has it tough at McLaren, but he has no idea because he has always been with a great team. Can you imagine him getting punted off to Renault or Williams?
 
There are two World Champions as McLaren now. Button seems steady and professional. Hamilton seems unsteady and unprofessional. One has to wonder how long McLaren will continue to put up with Hamilton. If Button has a strong season, the end of Hamilton’s time at McLaren may come much sooner than many would think possible.

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