The new McLaren - Mercedes partnership

In 2014 the long lasting co-operation between McLaren and Mercedes came to an end. It had started back in 1996 and despite the almost 2 decades of partnership, the results were only one Constructors' championship (1998) and 3 Drivers' championships (1998, 1999, 2008).
McLaren turned to a previous supplier, Honda, in an effort to revitalize the golden era of the late '80s, but the results proved to be far from. After 3 years with Honda engines (2015-17) the deal did not continue, without a single podium, not to mention victories or championships. After McLaren, Honda partnered with Red Bull with immediate good results, although failing to win championship, they won some races.

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

Since last year, McLaren is powered by Renault. The French manufacturer has had a declining performance in recent years, and couldn't keep up with Mercedes and Ferrari when they were supplying Red Bull. With French engines, McLaren managed to improve and to avoid the bottom of the standings. Actually this year they usually are the best of the rest, behind Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and in front of Renault's official team.
But now, McLaren has announced that 2020 will be the last year with Renault and that in 2021 will go back to Mercedes power units. That means, 2020 will be another wasted year, since it will be the last with Renault, probably they will not receive all the support from the French. Also 2021 perhaps will be a wasted season, as it will be in a transitional stage. A season that they will have to learn how the Mercedes engine works and adapt their car to it.
If McLaren had started producing their own F1 engines back in 2014 (as they do for their road cars), by now they should have succeeded in creating a reliable and powerful engine.
Swtching from one customer engine (Renault) to another (Mercedes) doesn't seem very wise. Especially now that the combination McLaren-Renault looks fine on track. Unless they know something about the future of the Mercedes F1 team that hasn't been officially announced yet...

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Η ορολογία στη F1

Όσο απόμακρος και αν φαίνεται ο κόσμος της Formula 1 από την ελληνική πραγματικότητα, έχει κάτι πολύ οικείο και αυτό δεν είναι άλλο από την ορολογία που χρησιμοποιείται. Όπως είναι γνωστό, για να περιγράψει κάποιος έναν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου ή καλαθοσφαίρισης πρέπει να αναφέρει αρκετές ξένες λέξεις. Στην περίπτωση της Formula 1, χρησιμοποιούνται επίσης πολλές ξένες λέξεις, αλλά το πλήθος τους είναι συγκρίσιμο με το αντίστοιχο πλήθος των όρων των δύο δημοφιλέστερων αθλημάτων στην Ελλάδα. Μάλιστα υπό κάποιες συνθήκες, μπορεί ο αριθμός των ξένων ορολογιών της κορυφαίας μορφής μηχανοκίνητου αθλητισμού να είναι μικρότερος. Αρχικά να αναφέρουμε μερικές από τις κοινές λέξεις που χρησιμοποιούνται κατά κόρον και στο ποδόσφαιρο και στην καλαθοσφαίριση (που συνήθως αποκαλείται μπάσκετ ): φάουλ, άουτ, πάσα, μπάλα, ασίστ, σκορ, σουτ, ντέρμπι, ματς, ρεβάνς. Σε αυτές προστίθενται, όσον αφορά το ποδόσφαιρο, οι εξής πολύ συχνές: γκολ, τάκλιν, γκελ, οφσάιντ, πέναλτι, πλασέ, μπακ, χαφ, φάλτσο και φυσι

ChineseGP

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