A Season in Review - Part 2

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Very much a what if season for McLaren this year. What if the right rear tire had gone on as it should have. What if the pit crew had been as great as they were late in the season at the beginning of the season. What if they hadn't had so many DNFs. Unfortunately whenever something could go wrong it seamed to for McLaren. There were high points, oh how great those were. Button's wins in Australia, Belgium and Brazil. Hami's glorious wins in Canada, Hungary, Italy and one of the drives of the season in Texas. When the car worked it was arguably better than the Red Bull, unfortunately the multiple DNFs really hurt the team as they finished 3rd in the Constructors. They did however also produce Tooned which was, to put it simply, fantastic! 7/10

Jenson Button

What went wrong must be the question running across Jenson's mind. He started the season with a brilliant win in Australia with the McLaren being tipped as the car to watch this season. This was followed by him becoming more and more anonymous amongst the top drivers. Several DNFs didn't help, but Jenson was his won worst enemy with some shocking qualifying performances that meant a title challenge faded away. At Spa he was back to his best with a commanding drive only to be hit with the same problems he had had earlier in the season. It wasn't until Texas that Jenson really looked to be back, even after another dire Qualifying performance. This was followed by a good win in Brazil to bookend the season. He complained the car didn't suit him, maybe next season will be better for the man from Frome. 7/10

Lewis Hamilton

As many of you know I am not a big Lewis fan, or at least I wasn't. This season was, in my opinion, that Lewis came of age. Gone were the tantrums and the crashing with Massa, in was a man that should have gone into the last weekend challenging for the title. DNFs ruined Lewis' season, three of which coming when he was either in the lead or in a position to challenge for it. Imagine if Lewis had got a further 75 points under his belt going into Brazil! However, back to reality I find it hard to fault Lewis this season as when the car worked he was sublime. Texas in-particular was one of the drives of the season from anyone especially watching him mug off the supposedly untouchable Red Bull. Moving forward who knows how next season will go, Lewis is very likely moving to a less competitive car. If he can still compete with McLaren, RBR and Ferrari in that then he might just make me one of his biggest fans! 9/10

McLaren 7 out of 10??????? WTF? They lost Hamilton about 150 points this season and that's no exaggeration seeing as without taking into account the pitstop errors which littered the first half of the season, he lost 25 points at Barcelona, Singapore, Abu Dhabi & Brazil from winning positions. To add to this they also lost Lewis Hamilton for next season, there most valuable asset to a rival. To add further insult they lost second place in the constructors to an inferior team/car with a driver named Massa who was absent for half the year. Embarrasing. 7 out of 10, more like 4 out of 10.

Button will never challenge for the title with qualifying performances like this season. Button will have to raise his game significantly next season. His wins this season apart from Australia were basically gifts. Spa was where Alonso & Hamilton were taken out and in Brazil he was gifted the win through Hulkenberg's actions. I think losing Hamilton's ability to consistantly perform in q3 and challenge Vettel will be a big loss to the team.

I'll give Mclaren a five - but only because they improved their pitstops tenfold. It was a problem and they fixed it - fair play to them. Pity about the rest.

Yes, they eventually fixed the Pit-stop issues but the damage was already done. They then threw in horrific reliability for a top team and at this level is just unnacceptable, especially when you see the consistancy and bulletproof reliability of Ferrari. I'll go 4.5 then @SteveG between us, sounds about right.

How you came up with a rating of 7 is quite remarkable @gregers.

7 was based on them having a car that was arguably the best (minus reliability) some great wins, tooned and fixing the pit stop problem.

Its called an opinion John, not everyone has to have yours!

I'm not having a go at your opinion, I'm just saying that McLaren have been appaling this season in terms of their performance for their drivers and that anything above a rating of five would be wrong. Fixing the pit-stop problem can't be seen in the eyes of McLaren as a positive, it should have never been an issue in the first place for one of the most successful and professional outfits within F1. The pit-stops and woeful reliability without doubt cost them the title, if you have these issues surrounding your team, then it's pointless having the fastest car on the grid. Fact.

I can see where your coming from, maybe I was too kind on them. Tempted to move them down to a 6 or maybe even 5.5.

I think a 5 would be fair. The speed and performance of the car is balanced out by its unreliability and fumbled strategy/pitstops in equal measure.