Book Review: West McLaren Mercedes Teamwork by Gerald Donaldson
Positives
Negatives
What on earth is happening at McLaren with the procrastinations with their 2015 driver announcement? Teamwork? Hey, that was actually the title of Gerald Donaldson book on the team when they were the black, silver and red liveried West McLaren Mercedes all dominant squad of the late 1990’s! With the 2014 season in hindsight, re-reading […]
What on earth is happening at McLaren with the procrastinations with their 2015 driver announcement? Teamwork? Hey, that was actually the title of Gerald Donaldson book on the team when they were the black, silver and red liveried West McLaren Mercedes all dominant squad of the late 1990’s!
With the 2014 season in hindsight, re-reading this book is like dusting off an old school album. Youthful pictures of Martin Whitmarsh, Adrian Newey, Ron & Mansour and behind the scenes team personnel.
Donaldson’s book was officially supported by McLaren and he was given access to the team’s personnel at the Woking factory HQ and trackside with the garage and pitcrew. Profiles of key team members like Ron Dennis, Martin Whitmarsh, Jo Ramirez, Adrian Newey and the various department heads of aero, engineering, design, production, composites, fabrication, paintshop, clothing, marketing, etc. It does say a lot about McLaren that the marketing and image departments seemed to get several more pages than the technical departments!
There is a nice tribute chapter to some of the team’s veteran staff and a chapter dedicated to Ron Dennis and. Chapter on various sponsor profiles of the time including West tobacco, Mobil, etc.
For technical fans, the chapters on Mercedes, Ilmor Engineering, the full race team (including mechanics, engineers, roadies, drivers) and the race weekend (from thursday unpacking to the race itself) are the most insightful and interesting.
The photography is full of faces and team personalities – there aren’t that many photos of the car or car parts, so its very much a book about the McLaren team personnel.
While there have been plenty of books written about McLaren, this one is probably a little more unique in that it gives a small insight into so many of the lesser known departments and people within the team.
Reading Martin Whitmarsh’s quotes in the book, one wonders if the all-controlling Ron Dennis still hasn’t let go of the lollipop just yet?…
Wow Factor or Money shot: Photos from inside the factory
Suitable for: Diehard McLaren fans only
