2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[bauc]

Considering that our car was heavily compromised this year I'm super happy with the result, we were 5-6 laps away (hint RAIN) from winning 2 races in a row!!!

We will come back next year in much better shape, I'm sure of it, we have the team in place to do so! Mclaren!

[Mansell89]

Very pleased with the season when you think we’ve been developing the same car for a little while now- for James and the team to have put it in the hunt for race wins twice and the off pole position and podium is enormous progress against the might of Merc and RBR.

Ferrari did a super job end of season and congrats to them on reaching 3rd. Nice to see these two great teams fighting hard and fair!

Question to you all- do people honestly believe the Ferrari engine is really that much improved? It made a step but it’s not better than a Merc yet is it (maybe next years will be)?

I thought the Merc engine looked scary good even in those final corners of the season when Lewis came back at Max with no DRS- they have loads of performance in the locker if they can stay reliable.

Excited to see us start with a blank canvas, new rule book, and no hinderances to packaging the Merc engine in 2022!

I think we will go pretty well! Good luck to our team in the winter - let’s hope we are one of many teams closely fighting it out for the front rows!

[MrGapes]

Apparently there were articles back in October that Lando was pursued by Redbull? Did I miss something..

[diffuser]

Apparently there were articles back in October that Lando was pursued by Redbull? Did I miss something..

Pretty sure he's locked up at McLaren, wether he likes it or not, for the maximum. Like Gasley has been with RB/AT.

[_cerber1]

Apparently there were articles back in October that Lando was pursued by Redbull? Did I miss something..

Lando dispelled all rumors, saying that everything suits him in McLaren and that he wants to win his first title with them.

[djos]

Regarding the end of the race: c’mon, are you guys that are unhappy seriously telling me that you wanted the race and season finale to end behind the safety car?

How boring!

Lewis would have won that race regardless of the race directors actions …. if Mercedes’ hadn’t been been so darn conservative. Not once but twice!

RedBull gambled on changing tires and won, it was strategic genius at its finest coupled with incredible never day die driving from Max.

Personally, I thought it was the most exciting end to a championship I can recall, and I’ve been following F1 since 1985 (I was 10 and grew up in Adelaide).

Massi is correct, it’s a race and should be run as such.

[trinidefender]

I would have preferred the safety car ending. 2nd after that would be a safety car coming in but with no lapped drivers being allowed to unlap themselves. Instead what we got was a farce which compromised the races of other people because they are trying to create a show, the actual sport be damned.

Add in the consistently inconsistent stewarding eg Norris and Perez with one incident and max and Lewis at another and for me, the officials ruined what should have been one of the best F1 seasons probably of all time.

[djos]

Great job by Lando. I hope we can end this season with 1 final podium tomorrow.

On another note, I saw a video today in which our drivers are pushing fans to take a vaccin. I do not want to ramble up a Covid discussion here, as I believe it has no place in sports. But I do want to express my anger in the team (and whole of F1) for involving themselves in a discussion they have no part in.

Do not expose me to a political agenda while I am trying to enjoy my time watching sports, escaping from the daily stress of the real world and the anxiety that comes with it.

There’s nothing Political about encouraging ppl to get vaccinated, except in the USA where gutter politicians have made it political.

For the sake of it being a sport and not a show then yes, I would have preferred the safety car ending. 2nd after that would be a safety car coming in but with no lapped drivers being allowed to unlap themselves. Instead what we got was a farce which compromised the races of other people because they are trying to create a show, the actual sport be damned.

Add in the consistently inconsistent stewarding eg Norris and Perez with one incident and max and Lewis at another and for me, the officials ruined what should have been one of the best F1 seasons probably of all time.

I agree the stewarding this year has been a joke and wildly inconsistent.

Btw, chainbear explains what we saw really well and that’s what he did was broadly legal.

[FittingMechanics]

Regarding the end of the race: c’mon, are you guys that are unhappy seriously telling me that you wanted the race and season finale to end behind the safety car?

How boring!

Lewis would have won that race regardless of the race directors actions …. if Mercedes’ hadn’t been been so darn conservative. Not once but twice!

RedBull gambled on changing tires and won, it was strategic genius at its finest coupled with incredible never day die driving from Max.

Personally, I thought it was the most exciting end to a championship I can recall, and I’ve been following F1 since 1985 (I was 10 and grew up in Adelaide).

Massi is correct, it’s a race and should be run as such.

Red Bull did not gamble. They were falling behind and had free pitstops with no loss of position.

Mercedes played it safe and they were very unlucky. VSC lasted for a single lap so Hamilton could not pit the lap after Verstappen (I think that would have been smart). I was watching the tracker and Hamilton was close to pit entry when VSC ended. I would love to know if they wanted to pit him defensively there. Not sure if it would have helped as they probably would not pit during the SC for the same reason as today, but if they pitted under VSC they would have fresher tires, perhaps even mediums.

I felt the ending was cheap as it was due to luck with a backmarker caused safety car and then confusing restart procedure. But Hamilton should have defended the inside line, if he defended like Perez he would have won the championship in style.

[djos]

Red Bull did not gamble. They were falling behind and had free pitstops with no loss of position.

Mercedes played it safe and they were very unlucky. VSC lasted for a single lap so Hamilton could not pit the lap after Verstappen (I think that would have been smart). I was watching the tracker and Hamilton was close to pit entry when VSC ended. I would love to know if they wanted to pit him defensively there. Not sure if it would have helped as they probably would not pit during the SC for the same reason as today, but if they pitted under VSC they would have fresher tires, perhaps even mediums.

I felt the ending was cheap as it was due to luck with a backmarker caused safety car and then confusing restart procedure. But Hamilton should have defended the inside line, if he defended like Perez he would have won the championship in style.

RBR sensed an opportunity and went for it, how is that not gambling? Mercedes should have covered off Max and didn't. instead, they gambled on the race finishing under safety car (which to be fair is what normally happens in these circumstances).

[FittingMechanics]

RBR sensed an opportunity and went for it, how is that not gambling? Mercedes should have covered of max and didn't. instead, they gambled on the race finishing under safety car (which to be fair is what normally happens in these circumstances).

Gambling means you can lose something. Verstappen had nothing to lose as he had a free pitstop on both occasions.

Mercedes could not "cover" Max as they were ahead and they could not pit without risking Max staying out which would certainly happen if Hamilton did not pit. By the time Hamilton went around the lap, VSC ended or Max came too close for Hamilton to pit.

The situation was similar to Norris losing the win in Sochi. Norris was ahead and the team did not risk pitting to lose track position to Hamilton. Once Hamilton pitted it was too late as the gap was too small for Norris to pit on the next lap.

I'm not sure what is there to debate. It's a clear cut situation. Mercedes was conservative but unlucky. Alternative would have been for Mercedes to throw away track position in two situations hoping things go their way. Seeing how Perez defended and with the fact Max led the championship I fail to see how Mercedes could have done anything better.

What they really needed was Bottas on top of his game to make it impossible for Max to pit without losing position.

[Seerix]

post season testing with new tyres

[billamend]

Apparently there were articles back in October that Lando was pursued by Redbull? Did I miss something..

He has been pursued by RedBull since maybe F3? There is even a story of him and Marko having a meeting and Marko always talking about Max. And then in F2, when Ricciardo went to Renault they tried to get Lando on Toro Rosso.

Regarding the end of the race: c’mon, are you guys that are unhappy seriously telling me that you wanted the race and season finale to end behind the safety car?

Reportedly, there was a "gentleman" agreement between the teams and Massi that race should not end with a Safety Car. The same way that they were talking about taking points in case of an accident.

I agree with you: ending under a safety car would have been awful, and having Max lap a few cars in the last lap would have caused an accident.

[mclaren111]

post season testing with new tyres

These new front tyres looks like mountains...

[Seerix]

post season testing with new tyres

These new front tyres looks like mountains...

Current cars are very good looking IMO and I did not really like the dummy 2022 car presented by FIA, but who knows how will it look like in the end, the real deal. We got used to high noses, step noses, f#lus noses, tall small rear wings etc afterall. We'll get used to these new ones as well