2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Xero]

Insane to see how small brake opening some teams have. McLaren had a really big brake duct now but still seems to be having issues cooling.

The larger brake duct was a brute force solution to the problem. Once it's been redesigned it will be small again.

[McL-H]

Interview with Seidl… Nothing that we don’t know already, there isn’t a fundamental problem with the car, simply the rest of the teams have done a better job… The team back at home are doing everything they can to bring performance to the car quickly and he feels confident with the team we have and how they are reacting to the situation.

It is very good news if it isn’t a fundamental problem with the car. So the base should be okay. It should mean the team can make specific improvements.

[EddyBaggio]

Interview with Seidl… Nothing that we don’t know already, there isn’t a fundamental problem with the car, simply the rest of the teams have done a better job… The team back at home are doing everything they can to bring performance to the car quickly and he feels confident with the team we have and how they are reacting to the situation.

It is very good news if it isn’t a fundamental problem with the car. So the base should be okay. It should mean the team can make specific improvements.

if it was something fundamentally wrong, do you think he would have said it then?

[Darth-Piekus]

If what Seidl says is true about others doing a better job and considering it took 3 years for Mclaren to reach their first victory and minding the fact that every team will bring updates from time to time can the technical team bring updates who will cover that 1.5 second difference to the front?

[Emag]

If what Seidl says is true about others doing a better job and considering it took 3 years for Mclaren to reach their first victory and minding the fact that every team will bring updates from time to time can the technical team bring updates who will cover that 1.5 second difference to the front?

It remains to be seen I guess.

I would definitely not expect them to get anywhere near the front this season though, especially under a budget cap. However, I remain hopeful they can pull themselves back in the fight for P4 at least.

[SmallSoldier]

Interview with Seidl… Nothing that we don’t know already, there isn’t a fundamental problem with the car, simply the rest of the teams have done a better job… The team back at home are doing everything they can to bring performance to the car quickly and he feels confident with the team we have and how they are reacting to the situation.

It is very good news if it isn’t a fundamental problem with the car. So the base should be okay. It should mean the team can make specific improvements.

if it was something fundamentally wrong, do you think he would have said it then?

There are some cues to that… If the car will be showing signs of instability or hard to get balance out of it, you have a fundamental problem (something that is not working as expected)… For example, what happened to the MCL33, where it will lose downforce when under yaw / turning because the bargeboards weren’t catching the front tire wake and it was creating havoc downstream, that was a fundamental problem that by the time they found it, it was too late into the season to produce a new chassis… Another cue would be correlation and those type of issues are usually known in the paddock fairly quickly, in this case, the car is doing what was expected from it, the expectation was simply too low apparently.

The problem in F1, particularly this season, is that there wasn’t a benchmark or clear target because no one knew what to expect from the new cars… We have an slow speed deficit “versus other teams”, it isn’t that the MCL36 has a problem per se, it is relative to your competition, without knowing what the competition’s performance is, you can only guess.

Now they have a clear target (or targets) and something to go after… There is also an expectation that there will be a lot of convergence with this new formula with how restrictive the regulations are, the teams are analyzing what everyone else is doing and they will try to apply that knowledge to their own cars as fast as possible, the good thing is that McLaren has a chassis that can adopt different aero philophies with certain ease, the packing is tight enough that they could go for a Ferrari aero design or a Red Bull (the Mercedes may require a lot more work)… Ideally, you would have had them at the front and the rest of the teams copying McLaren, but it isn’t the case and they simply need to adapt.

[JPower]

Just watched Lando's fast lap on board. The car looks OK to be honest.

[SmallSoldier]

If what Seidl says is true about others doing a better job and considering it took 3 years for Mclaren to reach their first victory and minding the fact that every team will bring updates from time to time can the technical team bring updates who will cover that 1.5 second difference to the front?

It remains to be seen I guess.

I would definitely not expect them to get anywhere near the front this season though, especially under a budget cap. However, I remain hopeful they can pull themselves back in the fight for P4 at least.

And the Team wasn’t expecting to be at the front this season either… The target was still P4 coming into the season… In 2020 when this rules were finally out, McLaren was fighting for survival (especially considering Covid), while other teams were probably already working on their 2022 cars (from a chassis perspective at least), McLaren was working on integrating a new PU into the MCL35M and those teams at the front have more than 2 times the size of the budget of McLaren (meaning that they could have had a complete McLaren team working exclusively in 2022)… That’s not counting difference in tools / infrastructure between them and the ones currently at the front… The Midfield Teams that apparently have jumped McLaren (Alpine and haas for example) placed most of their resources towards 2022 while McLaren was going after a P3 in 2020 and a P4 in 2021 fighting Ferrari.

It isn’t that surprising to be where they are… Ideal? No… Unexpected? Based on historical performance and previous upward trend, Yes… But completely surprising based on how they got here? Not really, at least not for me

[Emag]

Bahrain might have exaggerated the lack of pace I suppose because it is not looking as bad here. Perhaps the lack of running compared to the other teams in that track meant that they weren't able to find the optimal setup like the others did. Add to that the time spent fixing the brake issues. They may not be as far off the pace from the lead of the midfield as Bahrain suggested.

Still practice though, can't be sure what's to come. But it's definitely looking a lot better than it did a week ago.

[ALO_Power]

Ricciardo has some purpoising in the onboards now it seems. Does this mean we heading to the right direction?

[Emag]

Ricciardo has some purpoising in the onboards now it seems. Does this mean we heading to the right direction?

Who would have though that after Barcelona we would come to see having porpoising as a positive sign

[_cerber1]

[SmallSoldier]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOtwuLtWQAY ... =4096x4096

Interesting that they lose so much in S3… But much better than in Bahrain!

[Emag]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOtwuLtWQAY ... =4096x4096

Interesting that they lose so much in S3… But much better than in Bahrain!

A lot better than in Bahrain. They were bottom 3 in all sectors if I recall correctly?

As for here, isn't S1 the sector with the most corners? Looks promising to be that close there. S3 on the other hand is pretty much one long-ish medium speed corner and 2 straights. It is not unlikely that they may be running with more downforce+drag to compensate for their weaknesses. Would explain the relatively competitive S1 times as well.

Let's see how it plays out tomorrow.

[JordanMugen]

one poster actually asked why they moved to Mercedes. ... This fuelled by their infallible 20/20 hindsight and know it all attitude.

Nothing hindsight about it, I mentioned that since 2019 IIRC when it was first announced. McLaren and Renault had a good relationship, the McLaren-Renault was fast and improving, and crucially there was the potential to collaborate on gearboxes or other items.

It made no sense for McLaren to announce a Mercedes deal for 2 years in the future, especially when there were already other Mercedes customer teams with high integration and so there was no chance for McLaren to take that
role. Yet with Renault having no other customers there was that chance there.

For McLaren to seek out and sign an alternative arrangement showed a lack of faith from McLaren in the excellence of Renault and Viry.

[The Renault] is certainly a solid unit. So why the heck did McLaren not continue the Renault deal?

Why didn't Renault take the same approach by purchasing gearbox and suspension from McLaren (I had previously suggested the opposite, but McLaren had no interest in buying from Renault, so seems like it would have to be Renault buying from McLaren just like Force India used to) and sharing a wind tunnel -- it would be an important efficiency gain which would have improved economies of scale at both teams!!

Worse Renault let McLaren defect to Mercedes-Benz, instead of offering say Lada or Dacia sponsorship to keep McLaren in the fold!

Almost if the marraige between McLaren and Renault was only one of convenience, rather than one based on mutual admiration of technical excellence.