Spain 2013: McLaren plays it safe

McLaren is cutting a dispirited figure in Sepang. Melbourne was a disaster, there’s no two-ways about it.

A measly two-point hall, a deeply uncompetitive car and, worst of all, the revelation its pre-season form was the result of its suspension being fitted upside-down.

How the mighty had fallen – fewer than four months earlier McLaren was the force of the paddock, now it was well and truly on the back foot.

It’s response, once it batted away rumours it was considering reviving its 2012 challenger for an extended encore, was to throw everything at this car.

Sam Michael, speaking ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, said the engineers would be bringing two streams of updates to the car – one planned, another of ‘experimental stuff’. McLaren wouldn’t let the MP4-28 flounder without a fight.

Fast forward to the Spanish Grand Prix, earmarked each season as the race to which teams bring their first significant upgrade packages, putting together all the information gleaned from the first four rounds.

Here was a chance to take that step forward. To get its year back on track. To shake off this off-season hangover. To be McLaren again.

But it didn’t happen. The upgrades simply didn’t work. McLaren continued to languish in the midfield.

Jenson Button qualified a lowly fourteenth, while Sergio Perez – by way of a conveniently timed perfect lap – found himself in Q3, and qualified ninth. What was happening to McLaren?

Embarrassing was how Button described his team after the race. Even the ever-cool 2009 Champion was showing signs of tension.

This was supposed to be his year. Hamilton had flown the coop, leaving him one of the sport’s legendary teams all to himself. He would be the undisputed team number one. The fight for the title should have been straightforward.

Perez, the new boy, after finally firing up in Bahrain with a feisty race, was similarly disappointed with McLaren’s execution. Ironically, despite moving up the grid, he was a more regular frontrunner in the 2012 Sauber.

But at least he could, for now, rest easy knowing he was as competitive as his more decorated teammate.

But Spain demonstrated more than just a growing malaise inside McLaren. The relentless pressure being piled on the team by the media is starting to show.

It’s scaled down that cavalier racing attitude the top teams normally carry with each step.

Its confidence is shot. It’s doubting itself. It’s become conservative.

Conservativeness, the stifler of progress, of action. McLaren had a chance to bring a truly ‘experimental’ front wing to Barcelona. It tested it in the shop, and originally thought it complied with the regulations.

But in the moment it doubted itself and played it safe. It kept the wing in the box, packed away, and decided it wasn’t sure any more, and wouldn’t give it a shot.

The same thing happened during the race.

McLaren started somewhat ambitiously. It split its strategies, and tried both options. But that’s where the experiment ended.

The team raced its cars reservedly – so much so that when Sergio, on a four-stop strategy (which was ultimately the fastest way forward) met Jenson (on the slower three-stop strategy) on track, McLaren decided that would do for the day, that eighth and ninth was good enough.

But there could’ve been an extra chapter to the race. Perez wasn’t as slow as Button. He had a little extra life in his tyres and what’s more, Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkneberg were only three seconds up the road.

Di Resta was on a similar strategy, but Rosberg was on a three-stopper in a car that chews its tyre. Two, maybe four, extra points were still in play. Why not?

Because McLaren lacked the fire in its belly. It opted to be safe, rather than take a risk. After the race, Martin Whitmarsh said he told his drivers to hold position to ensure they didn’t destroy the tyres.

It’s a reasonable excuse, but with Perez generally lapping faster than Button at comparable stage of the race, and with a slower Toro Rosso behind in tenth, the case practically made itself to take a gamble.

Maybe it would’ve blown up in the team’s face – but is two points really a consolation, is that enough incentive to not give it a shot?

In Formula One, there’s a time to play it safe and a time to risk it all. When times are bad, it’s all too easy to revert to an overly-conservative state and save face. In 2013, McLaren must guard against this.

It must put faith in its drivers, in its engineers, and take its chances at every opportunity. To do otherwise is to abandon its season by way of only half-trying – and that’s just not McLaren.