2000s: Greatest impacts on F1 part 3

 McLaren (was famously anointed as McLewis)

 a) Form

McLaren was a major contender in the first year of this decade but gradually their form dipped, and they had to wait for Kimi and 2003 before they were any sort of a force again. Despite that, throughout the first half of the decade, they suffered from severe unreliability, but towards the end of the decade, they clearly have become one of the most (if not the most) reliable car on the grid.

This, though, is not what made such a large impact this decade. It was the various scandals that they got involved in.

b) Many Gates

1.       First, was the spy-gate scandal

Action: (as described under Ferrari earlier).

Repercussion: The spy-gate scandal resulted in their exclusion from the 2008 championship.

2.       Then came the lie-gate scandal

Action: Lewis Hamilton lied to the stewards about the incident involving him and Jarno Trulli. Though once again the entire blame was put on their then sporting director Dave Ryan, it is unknown as to how much Ron Dennis and co. were involved.

Overall Repercussion: Ron Dennis decided to remove himself from all F1 involvement, with several quarters saying it was an angry Max Mosley that caused Ron Dennis's departure.

      c)       Equal opportunities??

Action: One thing that is highly debatable is whether McLaren have actually given equal opportunities to both drivers. Many do believe that Hakinnen had been given the upper hand over Coulthard and Hamilton over Alonso/ Kovalainen.

Hamilton- Alonso pairing was expected to be the best pairing in F1 in a long time, with some comparing them to Prost- Senna pairing (talent -wise), the similarity actually did not end there.

Repercussions: At the end of the year after many on-track and off-track skirmishes (as talked about earlier), Alonso decided to leave what was his dream team (at the start of that year). One such skirmish resulting in McLaren being pulled up in front of the FIA after Alonso was supposed to have deliberately impeded Lewis during the Hungarian GP qualifying. This resulted in exclusion of constructor points for that event.

All these incidents have brought down the image of one of F1s most historical constructor. Now with the separation of McLaren and Mercedes, McLaren have a rough path ahead with its future not exactly known.

Presently: In spite of all this, the arrival of Jenson Button in the year 2010 has given McLaren a different image, and there is a belief that now there is equal importance given to both drivers, leading to the past perhaps being forgotten.