2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Darth-Piekus]

Last night before the race I had a very bad dream. I was a part of the McLaren workforce and I was looking to find Lando Norris. He was nowhere to be seen, removed all his accounts and he wasn't even answering to his phone. When I found him he told me that he didn't wanted to race for McLaren anymore and terminated the contract.

I am scared to think about the possibility that we might need 3 years to catch up to just a victory. I am hoping that all of that was a big misunderstanding and we shall be at the level of Mercedes once this problem is corrected.

[Mclarensenna]

Last night before the race I had a very bad dream. I was a part of the McLaren workforce and I was looking to find Lando Norris. He was nowhere to be seen, removed all his accounts and he wasn't even answering to his phone. When I found him he told me that he didn't wanted to race for McLaren anymore and terminated the contract.

I am scared to think about the possibility that we might need 3 years to catch up to just a victory. I am hoping that all of that was a big misunderstanding and we shall be at the level of Mercedes once this problem is corrected.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/mclaren-w ... late-2022/
Wind tunnel ready end of 2022
Latest Simulator ready mid 2023
“machinery we use to manufacture our parts” is also receiving a large scale upgrade.

Once these 3 upgrades are in place Mclaren will finally be on equal footing. So yes 2 years we should see Mclaren working in full flight finally and not handicapped as currently. No excuses then not to be fighting for championships.

[Still an Iceman]

I rarely post, but I'd like you all to be less emotional focused and more rational.

- We know for a fact that McLaren had brake issues during winter testing, and they needed to fix it.
- We know for a fact that they brought an TEMPORARY fix for this issue, and waiting for the final fix.
- As McLaren stated, during FP1 FP2 and FP3, they were not focused on tuning the car for this race.

I the end, the current situation is really not comfortable, but we have to be patient and wait for the next few races (maybe wait until Imola), to see some improvements. Until then, we have to keep our head cool.

[mwillems]

Last night before the race I had a very bad dream. I was a part of the McLaren workforce and I was looking to find Lando Norris. He was nowhere to be seen, removed all his accounts and he wasn't even answering to his phone. When I found him he told me that he didn't wanted to race for McLaren anymore and terminated the contract.

I am scared to think about the possibility that we might need 3 years to catch up to just a victory. I am hoping that all of that was a big misunderstanding and we shall be at the level of Mercedes once this problem is corrected.

The scariest part of that is you working for Mclaren

It's just a dream. If the team turn things around then he won't be looking to go anywhere and there is plenty of time to do that and I'm sure they will. The dynamic of the pecking order is going to be very fluid this year in all likelihood and it's all about where we finish at the end of the season.

The next track is completely different to this, has mostly high speed corners with only 3 lower speed corners, braking should be less intense here. I'm not going to say it will happen but perhaps the original solution might work here, who knows as there isn't too much "intense" braking apart from after the main straight and perhaps before.

[genarro]

Do you maybe know what is the problem? Is it a fundamental design problem or just underdevelopment due to lack of running?

Over winter Mclaren thought they'd got almost as much downforce back as the old cars, they reckoned they were half a second off the previous cars, plus the +1.5 seconds the new wheels and tyres cost, so 2 seconds down on last years lap times.

That suggests there's a lot of performance in the car they just need to get on top of their issues so they can set the car up and get it down on the floor, these 2022 cars are incredibly sensitive to mechanical setup, far more than last years cars. I think we'll get much bigger swings between cars on different tracks this year because of it.

Guess we'll have to wait and see if they can unlock the performance of the car. I think the pack will be closer together in Jeddah because the teams will have the same amount of time to adapt to the track.

We just have to wait and see what the season brings.

was just listening to THE RACE podcast and the guys said that basically the car lacks overall grip. They also said that McLaren is lacking in aerodinamical and mechanical grip but that the team isnt quite sure where the main deficit lies.

Key said that the car is a good base for developement and that gives me hope that the car is not fundamentally flawed.

[Fulcrum]

Top speed wasn’t as horrible as I expected it to be:

https://i.imgur.com/J5Uv6Ph.png

Top speed during the race, as recorded by this statistic, is pretty meaningless considering it is highly correlated with availability of DRS and getting a decent slipstream; race winner Leclerc was last in the speed trap at 302.6kph.

[ort895]

It was reported that even during testing the teams were worried about the longevity of the fuel pumps. This is just speculation, but it could be possible that Merc decided to run their engines slightly turned down to avoid retirements.

[_cerber1]

It was reported that even during testing the teams were worried about the longevity of the fuel pumps. This is just speculation, but it could be possible that Merc decided to run their engines slightly turned down to avoid retirements.

I hope so, but there is no information that would confirm this. It is known that McLaren changed the pumps before the race, with the permission of the FIA.

[_cerber1]

Key said that the car is a good base for developement and that gives me hope that the car is not fundamentally flawed.

I think James Key was talking about this before the Bahrain test, and before it became clear that there was not enough downforce.

[FittingMechanics]

was just listening to THE RACE podcast and the guys said that basically the car lacks overall grip. They also said that McLaren is lacking in aerodinamical and mechanical grip but that the team isnt quite sure where the main deficit lies.

Key said that the car is a good base for developement and that gives me hope that the car is not fundamentally flawed.

I just don't buy that the car lacks grip everywhere. It was seen as a very good car in Barcelona but now we are led to believe that it lacks grip everywhere. Maybe they fit the floor upside down again in Barcelona.

I think that it is several factors. Losing 150 or so laps for setup work and understanding new cars. Having compromised setup and bad starting position. Compromised braking setup that disrupts the airflow. Starting the race on an alternate strategy that was a gamble that did not work out and probably Mercedes running their engine a bit on the safe side.

[DragonSGC]

Over winter Mclaren thought they'd got almost as much downforce back as the old cars, they reckoned they were half a second off the previous cars, plus the +1.5 seconds the new wheels and tyres cost, so 2 seconds down on last years lap times.

That suggests there's a lot of performance in the car they just need to get on top of their issues so they can set the car up and get it down on the floor, these 2022 cars are incredibly sensitive to mechanical setup, far more than last years cars. I think we'll get much bigger swings between cars on different tracks this year because of it.

Guess we'll have to wait and see if they can unlock the performance of the car. I think the pack will be closer together in Jeddah because the teams will have the same amount of time to adapt to the track.

We just have to wait and see what the season brings.

was just listening to THE RACE podcast and the guys said that basically the car lacks overall grip. They also said that McLaren is lacking in aerodinamical and mechanical grip but that the team isnt quite sure where the main deficit lies.

Key said that the car is a good base for developement and that gives me hope that the car is not fundamentally flawed.

The full quote from lando provides a little more more context I think with all the issues they have been saddled with means the car is devolving into a nasty spiral, cant drive to the maximum because issues, lost testing time so lack data on how to setup car, therefore car already not in the window draining pace, so less pace means less energy transferred to the tyres, tyres fall out the window which I believe what he was referring to that the car understeer's then oversteer's. As I have said a few times sort out the brakes and establish the cars true baseline then go from there, I do have to wonder if they are a little under on PU cooling or Mercs assessment of how much cooling it requires was off, both Mclaren and AM were told to turn down the engines to cool them down

[Balalu]

Before the weekend I told my wife that if McLaren perform as expected (top 4), I will go and buy a new large tv to enjoy the races to the max.

Yesterday she felt so bad for me that today she went out an bought me one herself

Thanks McLaren?

[Emag]

A somewhat "good" sign about this whole thing is that the car is visibly understeering hard on low speed corners. The understeer on low-speed corners is honestly unlike what I have ever seen onboard with any car and it's certainly worse than anything out there.

It gives them a clear issue to fix. Which, to be honest, may just be plain lack of downforce. But at least it's something. If the car was looking nice onboard but it was just slow on the timesheet (like the MCL33) I would have been a lot more worried.

And that understeer can explain the bad race pace as well. It's obvious the drivers are trying to push it to compensate for the lack of pace, but the huge amount of understeer is eating the tires, killing whatever pace that thing has very quickly.

[runningmanz]

Woeful race pace, awful to watch us being sitting ducks lap after lap, looking forward to hearing the teams explanation and how they plan to try and fix these issues going forward. Bloody disappointing start to the season.

I will assume from past experience they will work on a major update for the Barcelona GP, if it does not work they will focus on next year as if they remain stuck at the bottom of the table, at mid season they will get more R&D points from FIA and they will be able to catch up (hopefully)

Far too early to call this car or season a bust. Just have to see what sort of solutions they come up with over the next few races and how much the gap comes down. While it was a shocker there is certainly alot of time to work hard on these issues. Going to be an interesting next few months. Hopefully this is the worst of that we will see.

[runningmanz]

A somewhat "good" sign about this whole thing is that the car is visibly understeering hard on low speed corners. The understeer on low-speed corners is honestly unlike what I have ever seen onboard with any car and it's certainly worse than anything out there.

It gives them a clear issue to fix. Which, to be honest, may just be plain lack of downforce. But at least it's something. If the car was looking nice onboard but it was just slow on the timesheet (like the MCL33) I would have been a lot more worried.

And that understeer can explain the bad race pace as well. It's obvious the drivers are trying to push it to compensate for the lack of pace, but the huge amount of understeer is eating the tires quickly killing whatever pace that thing has very quickly.

Yep clearly low speed corners and understeer is a big problem and the brake problems as well. Solve this and it goes a long way when we seem to have a half decent car at tracks like Barcelona. Easier said than done but not impossible if the fundamentals of the car is ok. Let's see over the next few races how much improvement we can make.