F1 2010: McLaren team guide

In the silver corner With Mercedes gone, you'd expect McLaren to pimp new colours - all black, perhaps. But they've kept the famous Silver Arrow paint job with which the German car maker made its racing name. Silver is "a colouration that works for our partners and us". McLaren might once again be a privateer team, but they're as corporate as ever. This team is so serious the MP4-25 has frown lines. Highs and lows of 2009 Having channelled all their resources into Lewis Hamilton's 2008 world title, someone forgot to work on the following year's car. But they staged a dramatic mid-season turnaround, claiming two wins. Just don't mention McLaren seem to have more gates than Heathrow Airport. No sooner had we forgotten 2007's Spygate, than last season delivered their latest reputation-buster: caught fibbing to the stewards at the Australian grand prix, Hamilton was tarnished by Liegate. Change is good Imagining you'll get away with telling porkies in the headmaster's office suggests muddled thinking but the Aussie faux pas was a one-off. If these strategists can't master the new rules, no team can. Stands out in a crowd If you've ever seen the inside of a mechanic's toolbox, you'll wonder how a Formula One team made cleanliness their USP. The lifts at the McLaren Technology Centre were designed specifically so they require no oily cables and the last thing you'll find in the engine bay is a saucy Pirelli calendar. If only their reputation were so spotless. Most likely to crash into McLaren's and Ferrari's long-standing rivalry is compounded by the Scuderia's special relationship with the FIA – which takes every opportunity it can to punish the British squad. If McLaren aim their racers at anyone it will be the scattering officials in parc fermé . Pitboard message It would be pertinent to optimise the velocity of our auto-vehicular components at this time. Who pulls the strings McLaren often draw staff from outside motor sport, which is how they ended up with ex-BAE man Martin Whitmarsh at the helm. He took over when Ron Dennis (an old-school boss who started as a grease monkey) stepped aside, completing the transformation from garagiste outfit to corporate monolith. Cockpit compatibility The consensus is that Hamilton, embedded in the team since before puberty, will humble Jenson Button. But the reformed playboy has had more tough seasons than Hamilton has million-pound sponsorship deals. Button can knuckle down and pray his results do the talking; his team-mate has it all to prove. What's in the boot Mercedes is still supplying the engine and Whitmarsh loves to talk about the team's technical "strength in depth" (four mentions in the MP4-25 press pack alone) and with two world champions at the steering wheels, collecting the big gong is the target. Tiger in the tank Hamilton set the fastest time at the second test, his long-run pace also impressing. But McLaren were the only ones to master KERS last season and may regret the teams' decision to abandon this inconvenient nod towards the environment. Tweet this With two world champs in the top British team, Blighty is guaranteed another title. Not this Do you not remember when Prost took out his McLaren team-mate Senna at Suzuka in 89? Title odds 2-1 If they were an iPhone app Tetris All about fitting odd and ill-matched shapes into a pattern. It can boggle the eyes at close quarters but all looks calm from a distance. A trifle old-fashioned and it lacks bells or whistles – at times it looks a wee bit clunky but in the hands of someone with the right skills manages to get the job done. Sometimes it does a 180° turn and ends up facing the direction it came from but is usually only defeated by sheer speed The drivers 1. Jenson Button, 30, Britain He's the one who Resembles a sockless, trendy architect in the Boden catalogue. Formerly presumed to be as laid back as Jeff Lebowski but after his car turned from a torpedo into a tank last summer he revealed his stamina to take the drivers' title and earned a unique accolade – a footbridge in Frome named in his honour. On track for Thrillingly proved last year that, given the right tools, he can do the job. The spectre of what happened to Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007 stalks any team-mate of Lewis Hamilton's but Button is more mentally robust and mature. In another life he'd be Living Michael Caine's part in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as the bronzed, debonair and occasionally slippery Englishman on the Midi beat. 2. Lewis Hamilton, 25, Britain He's the one who Masks his indomitability and ruthless streak behind the considerable charm and countenance of a doe-eyed boy-band balladeer always ready with a dazzling smile to make the grannies swoon. On track for Demonstrating 2009 was a blip that furthered the education of the prodigiously talented non dom and that the salad days of 2007 and the title a year later will return now McLaren's boffins have got their swagger back. Tougher than ever, he will also be keen to rebound triumphantly by pulling someone to make his former Pussycat Doll lover Nicole Scherzinger go 'miaow'. In another life he'd be Starting a fight between Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue over the honour of mentoring him on The X Factor. Facts and figures Debut Monaco 1966 Grands prix 665 Wins 164 Poles 145 Constructors' titles 8 Drivers' titles 12 Based Woking Team principal Martin Whitmarsh Technical director Paddy Lowe The car Engine Mercedes-Benz FO 108Z Tyres Bridgestone