Ohh dear, it looks like Mclaren have withered away a bit. With Ralf Schumacher challenging his big brother Micheal for Pole Position in Malaysia it looks like things have turned sour for the silver arrow team!

You may think that I am on the opposing teams side, Ferrari, well I am not. I wish to express my deepest concerns for a team which I have supported for 5 years now, yes I am a Mclaren fan!

Over the first two races of the season Mclaren have failed to achieve both speed and strategy success. Hakkinen was 0.700 off the pace in Malaysia whilst Coulthard was over 1 second a drift of Ferrari. Whilst I have all the confidence in the world that the team will be able to gain more speed for Brazil, their strategy needs some sorting out.

Ferrari were the class of the field in Malaysia because of their quick reactions to fit intermediate tyres on both their cars instead of full wets, although over a minute behind the leaders, they pulled out a dramatic one two finish. Surely Mclaren should have known to fit intermediates as well?

I knew something was going wrong for the team at the end of last year when Mclaren lost both the constructors and drivers championship. At the point when Hakkinen had so many engine failures, penalties and jump starts I began to realise that the worst was perhaps still to come. It seems that I was correct in thinking that.

Looking ahead to future races, I hope that I am correct in saying this but I think Mclaren will make a very big come back, either at Brazil or San Marino in Italy. Mclaren are the top team of the field. They have a multi million pound complex in Woking, Surrey and are building their latest project Paragon which is costing around about £40 million which should be completed by April 2002. A team with so much money and expertise isnt likely to slip behind a team such as Williams and so I would make a guess that Mclaren will be very strong over the next few races.

F
or any other worrying Mclaren fans out there, stick with them, give them all your support and I am almost certain that they will be winning the next few races and many more on the 2001 season calendar!