Assessment: McLaren Collapses in Front of Its Home Crowd

It’s a real ordeal that the McLaren-Mercedes team experienced during its home Grand Prix in Great Britain at the Silverstone circuit. At no point during the weekend was there any hope, and the race result reflects this. Lewis Hamilton finished 16th out of 18 drivers and Heikki Kovalainen retired.

The Briton was never in the rhythm, nor was his former McLaren teammate, Alonso. Both drivers found themselves at the back of the grid for a high-profile battle that fans would have loved to see at the front. Kovalainen got involved in the only accident of this race with the Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais.

Lewis Hamilton – 16th:

I gave my whole heart to this race. We knew it would be difficult, and I enjoyed my battle with Fernando [Alonso], but we didn’t have the pace to get into the points. The best thing about this weekend was the fans: they gave me some consolation with their support throughout the race. I wanted to give them a result worthy of their support and make them happy. We still have a lot of work ahead of us before that happens.

Heikki Kovalainen – Retirement:

« Of course, it’s disappointing not to finish the home race for the team. Until my retirement, the car was working well and my strategy was quite good. Then Bourdais, who was just behind me, damaged my left rear corner of the car. I had to stop because the damage made driving impossible. We decided to retire for safety reasons. »

Martin Whitmarsh – Team Principal:

« This weekend has been very difficult for everyone at McLaren Mercedes. No one on our team likes to lose, and it goes without saying that we are all determined to get back to winning. It will be challenging for this season even though significant improvements are underway. The team has done an enormous amount of work to fully understand its performance issues. We need to develop next year’s car as well as improve this year’s. Sometimes you have to step back before moving forward, and that’s sometimes painful as it was this weekend. »