The keen racing fan knows that McLaren is failing to hold top positions this season. The team is lagging behind not only such mastodons as Ferrari and Mercedes but also smaller Haas and Force India. The company’s management finally explains why 2018 is definitely not the best year for McLaren. 

The problem lies not in the poor skills of their drivers, it is all about McLaren MCL33, the team’s official car constructed for participating in 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. According to McLaren’s chief Zak Brown, they identified some flaws in its construction and are going to deal with this issue. Let's find out how McLaren will justify their setbacks. 

MCL33 lacks aerodynamic effectiveness. And it’s critical: the other constructors continue to scale up their aero performance, while McLaren is still struggling to understand what exactly happened to their car. The wind tunnel testing doesn’t work here: there is something that doesn’t show up during this procedure. MCL33’s aero problems have proved very difficult to solve. Sky F1’s Ted Krawitz admits: “Their rate of aero development is being slowed down because they are having to check it on track because they can't check it in the wind tunnel”. The team continues experimenting with configurations, so they are never sure what results they can expect on the track during each race. 

Zak Brown stresses the urgency of addressing the challenge. MCL33 is like a bird with a busted wing that simply can’t measure up to healthy birds. As long as this illness goes untreated, McLaren will remain vulnerable. 

Even such top drivers as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne have nothing to do with technical issues. According to Alonso, it’s hard to keep your head above water when your car is “missing performance, missing grid, speed and the pace". The star driver seems to be quite disappointed with such a frustrating car of McLaren, so he is about to leave the team according to the recent rumors. We recall that the seasons from 2015 to 2018 are probably the least successful in his career. 

Both races in France at Paul Ricard and in Montreal, Canada turned into a tough trial for McLaren. The team barely made through the Q1 cut. 

You may say that McLaren does much better this season in comparison to the previous one. On the one hand, it’s undeniable: now they have 40 points in the Constructors' Championship against only 2 points they had in 2017, being ranked 5th instead of 9th. But that is definitely not the team’s management target: it was planned to approach top 3 teams (Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull), or even overdo them. So, on the other hand, these results can’t be a cause for celebration for the eight-time constructors' champions. 

"It's not something that will change from one race to another, it will require a bit of time and hopefully we can see some positive improvements soon." — said Stoffel Vandoorne, when Fernando Alonso emphasizes the growing competition on the track. Every team strives to be the best and is constantly moving on to the bigger things when McLaren is compelled to deal with the existing ones before moving forward. How long will it take? A couple of months or a couple of seasons? Nobody knows for now. 

This way, we shouldn’t get our hopes up. McLaren doesn’t perform well now and won’t likely perform well in the nearest future. Because of this, it won’t be a nice idea to bet on the driver at the wheel of MCL33. Even if it is your favorite team and you still believe it can beat them all regardless of these issues. 

“But what if I make a lucky bet and McLaren win?” — you may say. Well, it’s not that simple. Betting on racing sports is a part of gambling, but is based on a slightly different principle than casino games. In games of chance, you always have the same variance and payout ratio. They are absolutely stable and can’t be affected by real-life events, so you can win a jackpot accidentally without knowing any rules and winning strategies. Betting on racing sports is more volatile and more predetermined at the same time. You can draw conclusions from what we see on the track, read in news, or hear in interviews — the results of the particular team usually correspond to its current abilities. This allows you to assess chances of winning in advance and make your bet accordingly.  

That’s why we recommend you not to take any risks now and wait for better times for McLaren. They will definitely come, according to Zak Brown. He says: “I have seen many teams go through tough times and I can assure you McLaren will rise above it all.” 

There is an expectation that McLaren’s endeavours to get their fortune back will bear fruit. Until then, we recommend you to take a closer look at the current leader of the chart — Mercedes, and not-so-successful but very promising Haas. Even Alonso commented on their car that it is “the most stable in this season”. Take note, if you are going to try your luck during the next race.