McLaren MCL39 Speculation Thread

[mwillems]

My memory of 2024 is very different -- for much of the season, we sat back and managed our pace at the start of every stint and unleashed devastating pace toward the end of the stint. Its not like our early pace advantage dropped off.

I think cold temps was the only clear weakness of the car in 2024

That did indeed happen, but not against Ferrari. That was only really the case against Red Bull, where it happened a bunch of times, most notably Imola.

The only instances where Ferrari really got comprehensively beaten on tyre deg were Imola and Baku stint, where Leclerc was pushing like an animal, and where Leclerc sat in Piastri’s dirty air with a huge pace advantage for like 30 laps before his deg finally kicked in, respectively,

Either way what I mean to say is that McLaren had good enough tyre wear. I don’t think improving deg needs to be a priority for the MCL39 unless they feel Ferrari or Red Bull will get closer in terms of raw pace.

I think they just need to target it in those conditions and configurations where it removes a lot of the cars competitiveness. In fact, this is what the team have in fact said they will be doing.

[MTudor]

I can't wait to see what's so radical on the new car and then the goal post will move to the first test,the first FP''s,first quali,first race,then first 5 races,first updates,etc

[mclaren111]

I can't wait to see what's so radical on the new car and then the goal post will move to the first test,the first FP''s,first quali,first race,then first 5 races,first updates,etc

I don't think it will be radical in looks... Most probably under the skin as they say...

[Seanspeed]

I feel like you're proving my entire point. You're remembering the outliers in a small handful of races where Ferrari had fantastic race pace/tire wear, while ignoring that Mclaren had superior race pace/tire wear for like 80% of the season in comparison.

The point here is that when allowed to cruise at the ”natural” pace of the car (i.e. in the optimal temperature window), Ferrari was much kinder on their tyres than McLaren and could manage longer stints with respectable pace.

Again, that's just selective memory.

So when Ferrari were falling off in pace, it was because of 'natural pace' of the car, and not because the tires were falling off? The Ferrari could achieve very good tire preservation, but it could only be achieved if they did everything right, and in particular, really took it easy on the tires in the early stages of a stint. Basically, they had a high peak for tire life if everything went well, but in this era, that's clearly very hard to do consistently, and Ferrari definitely failed plenty.

While I'd say with Mclaren, there was a wider working window for them to keep their tires working well and in decent shape. It was a better overall situation in terms of tire usage, even if they, like everybody on the grid, didn't always get it right, either.

[bananapeel23]

I feel like you're proving my entire point. You're remembering the outliers in a small handful of races where Ferrari had fantastic race pace/tire wear, while ignoring that Mclaren had superior race pace/tire wear for like 80% of the season in comparison.

The point here is that when allowed to cruise at the ”natural” pace of the car (i.e. in the optimal temperature window), Ferrari was much kinder on their tyres than McLaren and could manage longer stints with respectable pace.

Again, that's just selective memory.

So when Ferrari were falling off in pace, it was because of 'natural pace' of the car, and not because the tires were falling off? The Ferrari could achieve very good tire preservation, but it could only be achieved if they did everything right, and in particular, really took it easy on the tires in the early stages of a stint. Basically, they had a high peak for tire life if everything went well, but in this era, that's clearly very hard to do consistently, and Ferrari definitely failed plenty.

While I'd say with Mclaren, there was a wider working window for them to keep their tires working well and in decent shape. It was a better overall situation in terms of tire usage, even if they, like everybody on the grid, didn't always get it right, either.

Believe it or not, but your tires fall off faster when you're forced to go faster than the car can handle, otherwise you would see drivers doing only quali laps.

When you have someone faster breathing down your neck, you're forced to push or get overtaken. If you're fighting for track position, the choice is obvious.

Like there is very objective tyre wear data and you can dig it up if you'd like. That Ferrari was the best on their tyres on average isn't even up for debate, it's just a fact.