{"id":136058,"date":"2025-09-14T04:37:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T04:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/136058\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T04:37:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T04:37:15","slug":"mph-the-f1-force-that-could-split-leclerc-ferrari-and-even-mclaren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/136058\/","title":{"rendered":"MPH: The F1 force that could split Leclerc & Ferrari \u2014 and even McLaren"},"content":{"rendered":"

In F1, competitive pressure ruptures everything eventually. Even the most harmonious relationships cannot withstand failure indefinitely. Failure has different definitions according to expectations, of course. Success for Racing Bulls<\/a> would be fifth place in the constructors\u2019 championship this year. Such a result would be catastrophic for Ferrari<\/a> or Red Bull<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But success applies pressure too, and it\u2019s just as capable of rupturing relationships as failure. Back in the late 80s, Ayrton Senna<\/a> came to McLaren<\/a>, the place Alain Prost<\/a> had made his own since arriving there in \u201984. It was difficult to think of a more harmonious relationship between a team and a driver as that between Prost and McLaren.<\/p>\n

But by sheer scintillating performance and ruthless ambition, Senna eased him out. McLaren became a place Prost no longer wanted to be. Senna and McLaren went on to further incredible success together after Prost\u2019s departure and Senna\u2019s pay demands rose steeply as success accrued. He was the fastest man in the world, so McLaren boss Ron Dennis kept paying, albeit increasingly reluctantly.<\/p>\n

Eventually, McLaren was outgunned by the technology leaps made by Williams<\/a> in the early 90s. Dennis later attributed this to the lack of investment he\u2019d made because of meeting Senna\u2019s pay demands. When Senna realised McLaren was no longer keeping up, he left for Williams. Success had ruptured their partnership just as surely as Prost\u2019s earlier success had attracted the force which would end his relationship with the team. Nothing stays in stasis. Fortunes are always moving one way or the other. Staying on top is only ever about how long you can surf the wave. Eventually, you get dunked.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Senna arrived at McLaren when it was Prost\u2019s home<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

Expectation is always highest at Ferrari and the pressure of both success and failure has been very evident there. The success steamroller of the Schumacher-era Ferrari was interrupted by a combination of fatigue and Luca di Montezemolo\u2019s desire for a more Italian team. Since Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen<\/a>\u2018s 2007 title, the constant \u2018almost but not quite\u2019 outcomes have extracted a cost of groundhog day cycles of dismissals and resignations.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso<\/a> almost won a title in his first year at Ferrari. Almost. He almost won again two years later. But the pressure of not delivering the crown turned a niggle between him and the team into a rupture. His replacement Sebastian Vettel<\/a> would experience much the same thing.<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/p>\n

Will Ferrari give Leclerc a car to fight for the title?<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

How long can Charles Leclerc<\/a> \u2013 winning races there for seven years but never a title contender \u2013 keep the faith? Maybe the outright fastest driver on the grid, capable of outrageously flattering the car, he is giving his peak performance years to an organisation that\u2019s not quite there. How long before the itch to move has to be scratched?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In F1, competitive pressure ruptures everything eventually. Even the most harmonious relationships cannot withstand failure indefinitely. Failure has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1665,1687,831,372,6537,1469,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-136058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-mclaren","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}