whitmarsh to be replaced by mclaren

The calamitous afternoon Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button suffered at Silverstone means the British duo may be driving for a new team principal by the time Formula One returns to action after the August break.

Martin Whitmarsh could have just one month to prove he remains the right man to lead McLaren after a series of errors cost both Hamilton and Button the chance of a podium finish at the British Grand Prix.

Button suffered most as a bungled pit-stop saw the 2009 world champion speed away from the McLaren garage without his right front wheel attached, forcing him to retire at the end of lap 40.

And the decision to send Hamilton into battle at Silverstone with one kilo less fuel than his team-mate resulted in him handing third place to Mark Webber after being told to slow down to conserve petrol.

It is inconceivable that Whitmarsh was not involved in that decision and while he was not holding the wheel-gun or manning the lollipop when Button was released from the pits, ultimately it his responsibility to ensure a team with the resources of McLaren are the best drilled in the business.

Sportsmail understands there is growing discontent among engineering and design staff at McLaren about Whitmarsh’s leadership with questions about the team’s focus and direction being raised.

And as the mistakes continue to pile up, such shaky management will do little to help convince Hamilton that his title aspirations are best served by staying with McLaren.

The 26-year-old is also voicing concerns about the amount of promotional work he is forced to do for his team’s sponsors — he was due to fly in and out of India for a Vodafone event on Wednesday, only swerving the commitment after it was cancelled.

As for Button, Whitmarsh’s star signing may be ruing the deal which means he is contractually obliged to remain with his employers should they decide to trigger the one-year extension in his contract.

All-conquering Red Bull have also made mistakes — Vettel’s tardy pit-stop on Sunday
handed Fernando Alonso a lead he would not relinquish, while in China the decision to run the German on a two-stop strategy helped Hamilton reel in the world champion.

But of the frontrunners, McLaren are making more than their fair share of errors, prompting concerns as to whether the Woking-based team made the right choice in selecting Whitmarsh to replace Ron Dennis at the helm.

Unfortunately for Whitmarsh, McLaren have failed to design and build a car that has been competitive from the start of a season since he became team principal in 2009.

Indeed, McLaren have not won the constructors’ championship since 1998, when Adrian Newey — now at Red Bull — was heading up the design team.

But unless Whitmarsh, in the short-term, irons out the mistakes and delivers respectable results at the grands prix in Germany and Hungary, then the search could be on for McLaren’s fifth team principal since they first turned a wheel in Formula One 45 years ago.

martin really needs to sort the team out and quickly the only problem i can see is who would they bring into to replace him?

source: daily mail

link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2013686/Martin-Whitmarsh-sitting-ejector-seat-McLaren-ponder-principal-change.html

I'd like to see Ron Dennis back but I can't see that happening. To be honest I can only see MW staying until the end of the season but that may be too late.

Mclaren should entice Ross Brown from Mercedes

Ross Brawn would be excellent, but so would Ron being back! About tiem they start considering replacing whitmarsh

As always, the million dollar question is: who do you bring in to replace him?

I'm sure there are a few candidates among McLaren's technical staff who might fit the bill, but as always, its a gamble.

A lot of people seem to forget it took Ron Dennis a few years to get McLaren winning titles, after he took over (3-4 I think). Unless the wheels come off completely (right now they're just wobbling quite a bit) Whitmarsh deserves more time to prove himself.

Its a typical kneejerk reaction to a poor race. I do however agree that McLaren HAVE been making more mistakes than in recent years and that Silverstone was just one more symptom of some underlying problems.

Button's pitstop was pretty shoddy, but as has been pointed out, Red Bull and Ferrari have had their moments too, the last couple of seasons.

Under-filling Hamilton's car sounds like a desperate gamble, to make up for the car's aero shortcomings.

My 2 cents' worth are that McLaren are suffering for a number of reasons. First and foremost they're lacking a design guru of Newey's calibre. Secondly, for whatever reasons, they seem more inclined to take risks, to try and make up for their car's performance deficiency (IMO they'd be better off devoting more time and energy trying to figure out how to improve its performance instead of working on risky strategies. Thirdly, I have to concede Whitmarsh doesn't seem to have the charisma and personality that Ron Dennis has and maybe he isn't getting the best out of the team.

If there are serious personality clashes and the rest of the staff are really unhappy with him, then the only option would be to replace him.

On the other hand, if its just poor organisation and lines of communication, then someone needs to step in and change things around. Sounds like a change in philosophy is in order too...start focusing more on the car and less on finding ways to cut corners in races.