Who is going to be Mclaren's No.1?

[MikeH]

Definitely be Alonso - Hamilton obviously has talent but I imagine he'll make a few more mistakes than his team-mate over the year. He's good, no question but he's still got to get some experience.

[Glen]

There really is no such thing as a better debut than that - but it was still a debut and he still has the primary job of gaining experience and scoring points for the team.

Any team will give some thought to where their best chance of the Championship lies, and for McLaren currently this is obviously with Alonso. My guess is that similar close-calls will arise again this year, and that Alonso will win the majority of them.

[Paulc]

Originally Posted by Greenback

On paper it does looks like the 2 time world champion Alonso will be the de facto no. 1 at Mclaren. However if LH would to out pace and out qualify FA like what he did during the Friday practise today, do you think Ron Dennis will favour his British Protégé instead?

This is a good question,cant help but think that Dennis was looking a bit more long term at Hamiltons success,but after Melbourne he must be rubbing his hands together at the prospect of being given a choice.I still think Alonso will have the edge over Hamilton this year though but not by much,theres plenty of time for Hamilton.The prospect of Kimi,Massa,Alonso,Hamilton this year should give us some great racing,but they are still having to go some to catch that rapid Ferrari.

[Glen]

Indeed - for now it must be nice for McLaren to be able to rest without worry about the drivers and therefore be able to put maximum resources into finding that missing speed. Maybe reliability will work in McLaren's favour too (first time for everything).

[Knowlesy]

It was a refreshing McLaren really wasn't it? Invigorated, youthful, and ultimately damn quick driver lineup.

Ron must be very happy after the previous years of stroppy superstars!

It's a lineup that clearly works well together. Added tot hat, the car is solid enough and seems to be reliable.

As for number one status, well, Alonso is going to come out on top. He needs to attune himself and he'll be there. Lewis will press harder than we thought though and will get great points and really stress the champion out!

[chillibowl]

Alonso drove an excellent race, no mistakes and recovered from losing a position to his teammate. when i saw it develop my gut feeling was that they were going to take each other out, but they worked it out and both went on the have stellar races. great teamwork.

but whos number 1...it has to be Alonso.
just to offer perspective, if this was last 10 years at Ferrari and Schumi passed his teammate for position during the last stop we would have one group saying how amazing MS was with his in/out lasps and the other groups screaming about secret drivers orders and how one gets clear number 1 status.

well thats what happened here, and im not saying it was ordered, but clearly Alonso has the experience on how to manage a race and does not make mistakes. he knows exactly what he needs and when he needs it and he took 2nd away from LH.
that makes Alonso number 1 and if LH wants it he is going to have to take it.

[Greenback]

LH was still an unproven F1 driver before sunday hence it make sense for Mclaren to have a race strategy that favour FA. However if we look at the lap time between the 2 during the sunday race, i would say that they are both on par. IMO the reason FA manage to took second place from LH is all down to race strategy and the slight delay from the lollipop man during LH 2nd pit stop. (different is around 1.5sec)

Now that the media are all going crazy over LH, I am sure Mclaren would want LH to "shine" at Sepang. (the more TV coverage Mclaren gets, the happier are their sponsors). My gut feel is telling me that there is just too much emotional attachment between LH, Mclaren and the edia (Ron, british and first black driver factor) hence I think the pressure will be on Mclaren to allow LH to challenge FA for the WDC.

[Glen]

Whether they want to or not, McLaren must mirror the strategy of Ferrari - if Ferrari start to favour one driver then McLaren must do the same thing to remain competitive.

Alonso got ahead on Sunday by using the thing that Lewis lacks; experience. The laps times might have been similar, but Hamilton was hanging his car out and brushing the wall whilst Fernando was holding station and figuring out how to finesse his race to get past him. That contrast is not going to alter enough over the next half-dozen races to make Hamilton a realistic prospect for team No 1 when the title race properly gets underway.

[Notso Swift]

I sorry, but have McLaren ever had a discriminatory driver policy?
IIRC They always let their driver’s races as long as it is not to the detriment of the team, that includes one driver compromising the WDC (due to the reflected prestige) for the other at the business end of the season, but round 1 is not the business end of the season.
If Alonso has a bad season with a few DNF’s and Hamilton was challenging, Hamilton would be number 1, if they were even no number 1, if Alonso is in front he is number 1

[littleman]

Hamilton has been McLaren's 'number one' for the past 10 years.Australia was simply the final confirmation that 'uncle' Ron's been waiting for. Lewis will be favoured even more than Mika was. Ron will try to play fair with both but his emotional ties to Lewis will inevitably surface at some point. I can see Alonso and McLaren drifting apart already - but neither yet know it!

[deejay]

There is fairly good evidence to suggest Mclaren favoured Senna over Prost in there last season or two together.

[SennaTheGreat]

I think Mclaren favoured Senna more than Prost because, as Prost says, "Ayrton was more the kamakaze driver, where as I (Prost) was more of a computer, and always analysing the telementry sheets!!"

I also know that is why Honda favoured Senna over Alain aswell.

[Andrew2001]

Fernando will show Lewis the way at tracks like Malaysia, Bahrain, Hungaroring, Spa and others, he will not be on the Spaniards pace all season long.
Go Fernando, not because he is my fav. driver, but because he is driving a McLaren. My drivers of the year are Nick Heidfeld and Alex Wurz but they do not drive McLarens so go Fernando.

[Smokey 6 litre]

Anyone get the feeling that its has already been shown that Alonso is Mclaren #1?

Lewis was running ahead of Alonso but his middle stint was about 3 laps shorter, why? he pitted after Alonso so why would Mclaren short fuel him?

Rons looking to the future, not just buy promoting Lewis but by favouring Alonso now. With Kimi's dominant display Alonso needs all the points if he's to keep up! I think Ron knows that its too early for Lewis to challange for the title so the focus must be on Alonso now.

[LampCord]

I think its a foregone conclusion that FA is the #1.

The two drivers are comperable in qualifying times but you just can't replace FA's Schumacher like race management. Its really the thing that has seperated him from the other ultra-quick drivers so far in his career.

Lets not forget that a big reason the lap times were so close over the race is that FA was behind his teamate. I felt he was being held up a bit.

[Greenback]

Awesome finish for LH, 3 races on and they are still on equal points.

[Menelaos]

I don't think McLaren's 1-2 status is going to change (or take shape, actually) unless one of the drivers is leading the WDC and the other is not close to the front. There's no reason why they'd do it as long as both drivers perform superbly and if they did I believe they would have to go with Alonso's experience. Although I'd still be a Lewis Hamilton fan

[kobefly]

McLaren has another oportunity to show his proud of the "free fight" for the win.
It doesn´t seem to be a possible problem this year as Hamilton is a rookie and it´d be very strange if he complains about that, specially under the man that had supported all his career.
In the future if Lewis proves to be a real challenger to Alonso things can get ugly as it happend with a couple of drivers in the past.

[Greenback]

LH is officially the "no.1" at mclaren now.

[Yannick]

The trend at the time is to not have an explicit #1 driver in a team. This is probably better for exciting races from a spectator's point of view than constructing special circuits.
Under the old points system, however, Massa would be championship leader now with one point advantage over Alonso and Hamilton in joint 2nd position.

[Fish_Flake]

There is no designated "number 1" at McLaren right now, nor at Ferrari for that matter. As long as these two teams dominate the field in they are at the moment, there will be no reason to.

Designating a "number one" and "number two" driver in a team is a defensive move. The number one driver's role is to aim for the highest possible race position; the number two's job is to stay behind and keep anyone else from stealing valuable points. Right now, the Drivers' Championship is a crapshoot, and the Constructors' Championship is a two-horse race. Until BMW-Sauber, Renault, or some other team becomes a threat to win races, the top four positions are going be fought by those four cars alone. The stakes are too high right now to tell one driver to back off and be subordinate to team orders. At this point in the season, the only thing that Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, and Hamilton can to is to push as hard as possible for the advantage. These conditions do not lend themselves well to hierarchal labels.

[Greenback]

Officially, I don’t think Mclaren will dare to admit that there is already a “no.1” within the team. But if you consider the facts about who LH is and what he has achieved after 4 races, it is hard to believe that the team is not dreaming of seeing a born in England, Made in Mclaren, first black rookie to win the WDC.

I believe LH is already the unofficial no.1 within the mclaren family.

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by Greenback

LH is officially the "no.1" at mclaren now.

LOL! in your eyes. A big Lewis fan, but still early in the season. McLaren traditionally havent used team orders/ No 1 status until only one driver can win the WDC. The way this season is going i) it will go down to the wire and ii) McLaren may loose out if they dont decide to back one driver before Ferrari do.

I still think, come the end of the year, Alonso will have the upper hand. Lewis has had it quite easy so far (but good on him, you tend to make your own luck).

[georgeboi999]

No one is going to be #1 or #2. They will battle it on their own.

[LampCord]

I do find it amazing that the two drivers that were considered the clear favorites and heirs to Schumi are both trailing their less heralded teamates at the moment.

Of course, its a long season and much may change. But we certainly aren't seeing the kind of dominance from KR and FA that I think many expected. Myself included!

This is shaping up to be one of the most competitive and interesting seasons in a long time.

Does anyone else feel that FA was putting too much pressure on himself to win in Spain? Between the comments about MS being a 'mascot' and his aggressive first corner move at turn 1, I sense he is displaying a little jealousy about others getting the attention that he feels he deserves. He needs to settle down a bit.

If he'd just held his position he'd be leading the championship instead of his teamate right now.