McLaren Versus The Rest Of The Pack

By Emma Aitken
February 16 2008

While McLaren and Ferrari fought it out last season (both on and off the track) the usual mid-field teams quietly fought their own battles, jostling for points and position. Can any of these teams become serious contenders to get involved in the dog fight at the front of the grid this season and more importantly, can McLaren finish on top? Testing has certainly thrown out a varied and interesting set of results. Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard came out second behind Kovalainen last Thursday and who would have seen that coming? The likes of BMW, Renault and Williams may have sat up a little bit in their garages but I am inclined to believe that, although their RB4 will more than likely take them to the podium on occasions in 2008 it will not be enough to make them serious contenders for the Championships. And far be it from me to speculate at all about running lighter fuel loads and ballast in order to grab a few headlines and make the sponsors reach for their cheque books! I wonder at BMW’s problems with the F1.08 and whether they will have done enough to put out a top rate car from the beginning of the season. The F1.07predominately outclassed its predecessor throughout testing. Balancing issues created the problems apparently. Heidfield now claims that the new car has eclipsed the old one. Huge sighs of relief all round at BMW-Sauber then. Well, maybe, but they had better be sure because March 16^th is not far off and their times at testing , whether it be in the new or the old car, were not causing McLaren consternation. Nico Rosberg is a future World Champion, mark my words. But in a Williams? Not likely. The mid field is going to be spectacularly competitive this season and if they want their lion’s share of those points then they are going to be looking at Rosberg to pick them up for them. Nakajima is new to the F1 scene and didn’t exactly set the world on fire in GP2. Time will tell of course, but they will be no match for the strong driver partnership of McLaren. Long Live the King. Yes, Fernando is back at Renault and aren’t they just tickled pink about it. So they should be. Say what you want about the little Spaniard; that man knows how to get the right set up in his cars to claim those precious extra seconds Renault so desperately need to get back in to the fight this season. The team firmly believe it will be back to business as usual. Strangely enough though, I think that if Fernando cannot not deal with his personal demons and his rather fraught temper when things do not go according to plan he may well end up being the team’s Achiles Heel. Testing has gone well for him though in the R28. Renault may just well be back in the middle of the fight with Ferrari and McLaren. And what of Ferrari? So far I have not mentioned the big issue of no traction control this season. This is the best time to bring it up because I am about to mention the best man for the job in this field; one Kimi Raikkonen. He’s a powerhouse; he’s formidable and he’s totally fearless. Who needs traction control when you have the Ice Man behind the wheel? The departure of Jean Todt, you would have thought, would cause ripples of disruption within the team. But this is Ferrari and no team comes tighter then they do. Stefano Domenicali is hardly new to the run of things either. No, its business as usual at the home of the prancing pony, with testing proving the Ferrari to be consistently rapid over single laps and the longer stints. McLaren are going to have their wits about them to keep ahead of them this season. It can be done though. Let’s not forget (how could we?) that for their Kimi we have Lewis. If sheer guts and determination are anything to go by then we have it in the bag. For a start, the drivers appear to get on this season and having someone out on the track who is there to help you keep grid position is, shall we say, advantageous to say the least. But who will be helping who? Heikki Kovalainen came out on top after testing finished on Thursday and is looking rather tasty in the MP4-23. The MP4-22 was a fast, reliable car. So in the age old reasoning of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ the MP4-23 bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor. Martin Whitmarsh claims the car is an acknowledgement of the philosophy of evolution rather than revolution. McLaren worked tirelessly over the winter to have both cars up and running for testing enabling the drivers to have optimum drive time in them before the season begins. Just before the car’s launch Kovalainen said “Having the new car ready so early, pushing to get as much development work done as possible before the first race says a lot about how determined the team is to win in 2008.” Gone are the negative influences that hampered the season of 2007. All I see is a very well prepared team who are actually just that this year; a TEAM! They have a fantastic car that is a marked improvement on last year’s fantastic car and behind the controls they have two fantastic drivers. Lewis, I am sure, will have learnt by his mistakes caused by over exuberance last season which puts him at the top of the field without a shadow of a doubt. You’d be a fool to back against him, although, with the bookies pricing him at 2/1 to win this season, unless you have some serious money to spare it’s hardly worth making the bet! No significant evidence has come to light over the winter testing months that this season will play out much differently to the last (minus off track nonsense of course) as regards to who will be the front runners, racing it out for the two Championships. Ferrari, McLaren – on your marks, get set…………………..