Canadian GP 2013: McLaren review

The 2013 Canadian GP saw the end of a dream run for McLaren, with the team failing to score a point for the first time in 64 races since the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP. They are currently placed 6th in the Constructor’s championship with 37 points.

The McLaren’s had a poor qualifying session at Montreal, with both the drivers failing to reach Q3. The MP4-28 clearly lacked the fire-power to push it to the final qualifying session. The tyre strategy backfired for McLaren with the option tyre struggling to find enough grip.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh gave credit to both the drivers and believes that the usage of prime tyre could have been exploited more.

“This was a difficult afternoon. Credit goes out to Jenson and Checo – both drivers performed brilliantly, attacking when necessary, and driving with the foresight and caution needed to look after their tyres across long stints. They deserved to score points,” Whitmarsh said.

“Unfortunately, with the benefit of hindsight, we were a touch too conservative with our tyre management this afternoon. The Prime turned out to be a stronger tyre than we’d anticipated, and we could have exploited it for longer and further in the race than we did,” he added further.

Jenson Button, who finished in 12th position, already has doubts creeping into his mind regarding the credibility of the car and he fears that McLaren may end this season without a win under their belt. If it happens, it will be the first such instance since 2006 for McLaren.

“The car is very different to the last three years. The geometry is new for us but our ride quality is poor.”

“In previous years, a McLaren has always looked stiff on the bumps but this years it is different and given how bumpy it was, it was terrible for us.” Button said.

“I don’t know if we’re going to win a race this year. All we can do is keep trying to improve it.”

“The new parts we put on didn’t work in Canada but hopefully it will work around Silverstone,” he added further.

Button was realistic about his chances of claiming the Championship title this season .

“When it comes to the Championship you have to think further ahead because we’re so far behind we’re not going to win the championship this year,” the Brit said.

Currently, Button is placed 107 points behind Sebastian Vettel and is 10th in the Drivers’ championship. However, he is very well determined to win the Grand Prix for his team.

Meanwhile, his teammate Sergio Perez ended up in 11th position after starting from 12th. Perez, known for his rash driving, fortunately did not get into any controversy at Montreal.

Perez was of the opinion that the option tyre failed to find enough grip and hoped for a better performance at Silverstone.

“The car didn’t work that well on the Option tyre, and we struggled to find enough grip.”

“At Silverstone, I hope we can make a step forward. We brought some upgrades to this race, but didn’t really get the running we needed to verify them. Hopefully, they’ll work better at Silverstone,” said Perez.

The Mexican is currently placed 13th in the Drivers’ championship with 12 points.

Sebastian Vettel dominated Montreal emerging as the winner, 14.4 seconds ahead of the second placed Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton secured the third place, whereas Red Bull’s Mark Webber finished one spot ahead of fifth placed Mercedes driver Nico Roseburg, who won the Monaco GP. Torro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne pulled off a career-best performance with a sixth place finish, one ahead of Force India’s Paul Di Resta. Adrian Sutil, with a drive-through penalty, ended up in 10th position behind Ferrari‘s Felipe Massa and Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen.