2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[ScottR267]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/williams ... 2026-deal/

Could be good news for McLaren if they want to go get a works deal again…..

[haza]

They’ve mentioned lando could take a new PU on the sky feed any conformation from the team ?

[organic]

They’ve mentioned lando could take a new PU on the sky feed any conformation from the team ?

[Szabi1112]

@TheMcLarenZone:

Mclaren’s James Key insists the #MCL60 is not as bad as has been claimed, after all it’s not like they have to “attack” some “crazy characteristic”, they just need more “grip”.

Sounds Positive...

Sounds positive however There is an understanding among the experts that McLaren has the weakest car at the moment.

[organic]

Definitely not the weakest car. Williams and Alpha Tauri have balance limitations and lack downforce on top of that. Haas seem to destroy their tyres even more than last year. Alpine and Alfa Romeo are a few tenths ahead at most

[CjC]

Definitely not the weakest car. Williams and Alpha Tauri have balance limitations and lack downforce on top of that. Haas seem to destroy their tyres even more than last year. Alpine and Alfa Romeo are a few tenths ahead at most

Norris P20 though??

[Macklaren]

just the program. Oscar was P11 on his third or fourth push lap on Softs

[organic]

Definitely not the weakest car. Williams and Alpha Tauri have balance limitations and lack downforce on top of that. Haas seem to destroy their tyres even more than last year. Alpine and Alfa Romeo are a few tenths ahead at most

Norris P20 though??

Norris backed out of his fast lap in the final sector

[MrGapes]

Definitely not the weakest car. Williams and Alpha Tauri have balance limitations and lack downforce on top of that. Haas seem to destroy their tyres even more than last year. Alpine and Alfa Romeo are a few tenths ahead at most

Norris P20 though??

Lando PU was turned all the way down (orange= landos lap he aborted)

[Lucky]

[Emag]

Based on what was said here, that data is not very representative. Hopefully fp2 gives us more usable data

[Slahinki]

Based on what was said here, that data is not very representative. Hopefully fp2 gives us more usable data

Can't think of any races since at least 2018 where practice has given any actual indication of where in the pecking order McLaren would be. But then again, I'm also just a pleb, lol.

[RS200E]

I'm a long time supporter but it's amazing that the McLaren threads are always the most popular here when they have hardly done anything interesting in nearly 10 years. Especially with the car. The Honda partnership was the most interesting thing to date in 10 years. Since then it has been downhill in nearly every way, fom management to car design. 1 win and maximum 3rd in the championship. Ron Dennis would have had the team in a better position by now with the Chinese investors that the board hated so much. Imagine the Chinese money + the usual Bahrain money + Honda money + Ron's leadership Ok him and Whitmarsh messed up believing Honda could step up in such a short time but I'm pretty sure he/they would have put it right before now.

For years te threads have been made up with childish bickering which is the same year after year. Even the mods have given up removing unrelated posts amongst others.

Thankfully something substantially interesting and positive is happening again with the wind tunnel and Norris has become potential championship material. He has been bullish recently. If McLaren don't step up soon he will be gone.

[RS200E]

For clarity and objectivity purposes:

He completed 55 laps:
18 of them on used softs (most likely from qualifying, so max. 3 laps, albeit at least one at full push)
37 on new rubber, various compounds

He was actually not on used rubber most of the race. They had 4 sets of new tires. If the last stint was the one where he kept up with the leaders (I think it was), it was on an 8-lap stint on used softs (presumably not more than 3 laps old when they put them on), compared to ~25 lap stint on hards from those in front.

Yeah the optimism drawn from Lando's stints are unfounded unfortunately.

McLaren are struggling. Are any other teams bringing updates between now and Baku?

The team literally said they drew positives from Lando’s race pace. Surely they would take into account all caveats? Things aren’t so bad that they don’t know what they’re talking about.

See AR3-GP's post below. It's not about what you draw from a race, it's about where you finish. McLaren seem positive about future updates. Other teams will also have updates. There's no reason to believe the McLaren updates will be any better than the teams around them. We shall see.

Given Mclaren's track record, you almost have to take a stance of "I'll believe it when I see it" with regards to potential of their upgrades.

They have done nothing to earn anyone's trust.

[mwillems]