The Story So Far

By Emma Aitken
March 28 2008

McLaren came crashing out of the starting gate to easily win the opening race of the 2008 season. In true Ferrari fashion, the fighting Finn came back at them in Malaysia to take an easy victory there. So, as we head for Bahrain, who has the upper hand?

So it’s two down, sixteen to go and so far the score stands at McLaren 1, Ferrari 1 and, to be honest, from here on in it’s really anyone’s guess as to what will happen next. Australia was won convincingly by Hamilton but then Raikkonen’s performance was a flawless one in Malaysia. It wasn’t due to the downfall of the opposing team that those races were won either. Sheer performance won the day, er, at the end day, at both tracks. Lewis Hamilton ruled the roost in Australia.

He took pole position and he took the race. From the very first lap he took the lead and it was plain sailing from there on in. His new team mate Heikki Kovalainen came in fifth which was a shame for him as he could have done better on his McLaren debut had it not been for a really badly timed safety car that did not play in to his strategy one little bit. All in all though, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes walked away from Albert Park with huge smiles on their faces. Ferrari wore the same kind of smile as they packed their belongings and headed for Bahrain.

If Australia was all about Hamilton then Malaysia was all about Raikkonen. He didn’t have pole though; that went to his team mate Massa. The Finn soon jumped his team mate though after the first pit stop and once he took the lead he was always going to keep the lead. No one else ever looked like they were even going to come close to racing him for the win.   

Even though all things are tied between the Big Two as far as wins are concerned, you have to think that McLaren are still looking slightly better at this stage when you compare the overall performances of the two teams in the first two races. Malaysia was certainly problematic for McLaren. Being penalised for impeding Alonso and Heidfeld in Q3 was hardly part of the plan.

There is no point in speculating over what might have been had Kovalainen and Hamilton started in third and fourth on the grid before they were moved down five places so I’ll say no more about that. Lewis was having problems handling his MP4-23 throughout free practise and qualifying as it was. The team were quick to write this off as climate issues affecting the track and that once Lewis had got settled in and the weather changed to their favour on race day, the handling problems were quickly resolved.

The McLaren of Lewis didn’t look to be able to match that of the BMW of Kubica throughout the opening stages of the race but Ron Dennis was quick to justify the seeming lack of pace. “Once you spend time in traffic your front tyres get a bit more punishment and that makes it difficult.” A dodgy pit stop really put paid to Lewis claiming at least a podium from Sepang.A wheel gun malfunction left him sitting for 19.9s in the pit lane (while Lewis, apparently, sat thinking that he could do with a beer!) and his podium finish was over.

That said, his final stint of the Grand Prix was exceptionally good and he was hot on the heals of Jarno Trulli and fought him to the chequered flag in the hopes of picking up that extra point but unfortunately, he ran out of laps in which to do it. Kovalainen put in a very solid performance to pick up his first podium with McLaren.

Points for the constructor’s championship are always vital and the boys did well to pick up as many as they did in Malaysia. Lewis said afterwards that “I did the best job I could. However, we take away the fact that the car ran very reliably in these extreme conditions”. Couple that with a tremendous start in Australia and they must be feeling pretty confident. 

Ferrari on the other hand, might have done well out of Raikkonen in Malaysia but what of their performance over all since the beginning of the season? Well, it hasn’t been that fantastic. McLaren have had both drivers finish and convincingly so in both Australia and Malaysia.

Raikkonen was the only member of the Ferrari team to pick up a point in Oz and that was through default, due to the disqualification of Barrichello. Had that not been the case then the Scuderia would have headed to Malaysia with a big fat nothing. Massa’a squabbling with the Red Bull of David Coulthard left him with a suspension failure so he never finished the race. Malaysia didn’t fare any better for him with his spin off resulting in his retirement.

The spin off that, by the way, was never really explained away by the team what with Massa claiming he had no idea what caused the car to leave the track and the pit wall crew claiming there seemed to be no problems with his telemetry. Either way, that car either had a reliability issue or the driver made an error. Neither prospect is a good one for the team.

To be fair though Martin Whitmarsh is not getting over confident about the current situation saying “I think Ferrari underperformed in Melbourne but we shouldn’t be writing them off. They have a great depth and we have no illusions about this.” It’s not all about McLaren versus Ferrari though.

BMW have looked very pacey so far this season and it is not incomprehensible that they too could be looking for wins this season. Eddie Jordan feels fairly confident about their chances too. “Last year it was the ‘Big Two – Ferrari and McLaren. In ’08 I’m convinced BMW will make it three tussling for the top”. Heidfeld was second in Australia and finished sixth in Malaysia after putting in the fastest lap of the race.

Kubica took his turn on the second podium in Malaysia and was running really well in Australia until Nakajima knocked him off the track. Solid qualifying performances put them in good stead for race wins too.

Kubica qualified second in Australia, putting himself firmly in the middle of that McLaren/Ferrari mix and Heidfeld was not too far behind him in fifth. It’s not even as if they are hanging around at the front of that mid field pack looking to pick up the spoils. This season, they are much better than that.  

Bahrain beckons and McLaren will go there looking for their first win in amongst the sand dunes. 2004 saw the inaugural race and Ferrari took that one. Alonso led Renault to victory for the following two years and Ferrari won the year after that. Ferrari have also tested there during the winter.

Toyota were the only other team to venture there to test while all the other teams, including McLaren stayed in Europe. Martin Whitmarsh does not see this as a disadvantage though. “We have good data from running at the Bahrain track in previous years so we are confident it will not prove too much of a disadvantage………..We have good pace in the car and need to maintain our momentum so obviously we have continued to develop the car in the wind tunnel. However we are still evaluating whether we will take some of the aerodynamic developments with us to Bahrain.”

So all looks confident in the McLaren pack going into the next race. And so they should. Reliability certainly does not seem to be something they are, or need to be worried about. Ferrari have had to sweat out their reliability problems and Massa’s mistakes must surely be causing them consternation.

The rumour wheels have been turning excessively about his future there too with the name of Vettel being whispered in that camp, although Sebastian himself denies that he will be going anywhere. Even so, McLaren have had no such headlines to deal with.

They know there is still a lot to be done though. Whitmarsh had this to say about the rest of the season. “We’re not perfect and we recognise things that can be improved in the way we operate……….We want to win as many races as we can and, hopefully, that will add up to a world championship.” The cars are looking reliable and the drivers are looking formidable. Will this be their year? You wouldn’t back against them!