Jacques Villeneuve says he's baffled by McLaren's troubles, wondering how on earth the Woking-based outfit has managed to "screw-up" its new MCL36 so badly.
After a seemingly productive first pre-season test in Barcelona, McLaren encountered brake temperature issues in Bahrain two weeks later that deprived the team of valuable testing miles.
However, McLaren's brake problems appeared secondary to the dismal pace displayed by the team's 2022 car last weekend in Bahrain where Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo spent their weekend in the lower tier of F1's midfield.
"How could McLaren screw this up?" Villeneuve questioned in a column for Dutch website Formule1.nl.
"McLaren was the biggest disappointment of the weekend. Such an experienced organisation, so much knowledge and skill in car design, it’s unbelievable that they screwed up like that.
"It was really painful to see Ricciardo racing at the back."
In Jeddah, ahead of this weekend's Saudia Arabian Grand Prix, Norris elaborated on his team's plight, insisting the MCL36 was overall a well-balanced car with no fundamental flaws, save for a significant lack of downforce.
"Downforce - just overall grip is quite a simple thing," explained the Briton.
"There are quite a few times when the balance has been in a decent place, but if the balance is in a decent place but you are slow, then it is quite a simple thing that you need.
"There are not loads of problems. I guess it is one big problem that is very costly in the world of Formula 1 because all you need is downforce, and that is what we are struggling with at the minute. That's what we need to work on."
Villeneuve was equally critical of Aston Martin's opening performance in Bahrain, although not surprised.
"It’s as if they don’t know how to design a car anymore!" said the Canadian.
"Their car doesn’t look good. To compete at the top it takes more than ambition and money, Formula 1 is a special sport. It’s not just about marketing and branding."
Finally, the 1997 F1 world champion believe Mercedes faces a "difficult task" to put itself back on track with its troublesome W13 Silver Arrow.
"They weren’t competitive with the first version of the sidepods in Barcelona, so I don’t think stepping back would help," Villeneuve said.
éThe current design has apparently worked very well in the simulator, but it doesn’t work. There’s no time to do it differently for the next race.
"In addition, the budget cap now also gives less leeway to go back to the drawing board and redesign the car.
"Like some other teams, they have trouble bouncing the car at high speeds due to the ground effect. As a result, they had to increase the ride height, which means they lose a lot of downforce.
"It is very difficult to understand and solve something like this during the season."
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