2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Big Tea]

Not in the short term but if Mclaren don't break the top 3 and win races on merit in the next 3 seasons, Lando Norris will be gone. Time waits for no one. If Mclaren don't deliver, he will move to Mercedes, Red Bull, or Audi.

Where would he go that would be better than where he is now?

He would have to replace someone formidable to be a team leader or even a challenge to be second driver as it would mean shaping up to one of he top 3 drivers in F1. Merc could possibly require a replacement for Hamilton, which would be a fair drive, but I can not see him fitting in as number 2 at Ferrari or RBR and being in a better position than team leader at Mclaren as politics would mean him giving up positions

I didn't mention Ferrari. I said Red Bull, Audi, Mercedes.

If Lando Norris is afraid of Verstappen, Russell, or even Leclerc, then he has no business dreaming to win an F1 title.

I understand, but if he was to consider moving he would have to look at all the options. Audi are a complete unknown.
Then again, things change year on year, we could even see Verstappen at Audi, who knows

[AR3-GP]

Where would he go that would be better than where he is now?

He would have to replace someone formidable to be a team leader or even a challenge to be second driver as it would mean shaping up to one of he top 3 drivers in F1. Merc could possibly require a replacement for Hamilton, which would be a fair drive, but I can not see him fitting in as number 2 at Ferrari or RBR and being in a better position than team leader at Mclaren as politics would mean him giving up positions

I didn't mention Ferrari. I said Red Bull, Audi, Mercedes.

If Lando Norris is afraid of Verstappen, Russell, or even Leclerc, then he has no business dreaming to win an F1 title.

I understand, but if he was to consider moving he would have to look at all the options. Audi are a complete unknown.
Then again, things change year on year, we could even see Verstappen at Audi, who knows

Audi/Sauber may be an unknown, but they won a race and nearly a title w/ BMW within 3 years. Remember that Lewis Hamilton moved to Mercedes under similar pretenses. Got tired of just not being good enough w/ Mclaren, and knew that realistically it was a sideways move to Mercedes with more upside. That's exactly how I would view and Audi move.

I have no doubt that Audi will be as good if not better than Mclaren within 1-2 years, as long as Mclaren insist on sitting under the thumb of Mercedes HPP.

[haza]

It’s not a case of sitting under there thumb McLaren went for the best at the time PU McLaren have never really made there own engines they get Ricardo to make them for them in my opinion if McLaren don’t see potential in Mercedes HPP they should try an bury the past an try again with Honda McLaren we’re never really harsh towards Honda publicly it was more Fernandos in race outbursts

[diffuser]

I didn't mention Ferrari. I said Red Bull, Audi, Mercedes.

If Lando Norris is afraid of Verstappen, Russell, or even Leclerc, then he has no business dreaming to win an F1 title.

I understand, but if he was to consider moving he would have to look at all the options. Audi are a complete unknown.
Then again, things change year on year, we could even see Verstappen at Audi, who knows

Audi/Sauber may be an unknown, but they won a race and nearly a title w/ BMW within 3 years. Remember that Lewis Hamilton moved to Mercedes under similar pretenses. Got tired of just not being good enough w/ Mclaren, and knew that realistically it was a sideways move to Mercedes with more upside. That's exactly how I would view and Audi move.

I have no doubt that Audi will be as good if not better than Mclaren within 1-2 years, as long as Mclaren insist on sitting under the thumb of Mercedes HPP.

You're thinking about where Norris may or may not go in 4 years ? When that will depend on how well McLaren may or may not have done in the next 3 years ? Gees! 3 years is a life time in F1.

[AR3-GP]

I understand, but if he was to consider moving he would have to look at all the options. Audi are a complete unknown.
Then again, things change year on year, we could even see Verstappen at Audi, who knows

Audi/Sauber may be an unknown, but they won a race and nearly a title w/ BMW within 3 years. Remember that Lewis Hamilton moved to Mercedes under similar pretenses. Got tired of just not being good enough w/ Mclaren, and knew that realistically it was a sideways move to Mercedes with more upside. That's exactly how I would view and Audi move.

I have no doubt that Audi will be as good if not better than Mclaren within 1-2 years, as long as Mclaren insist on sitting under the thumb of Mercedes HPP.

You're thinking about where Norris may or may not go in 4 years ? When that will depend on how well McLaren may or may not have done in the next 3 years ? Gees! 3 years is a life time in F1.

Yes that's what I was thinking about . I did point out that I have no idea if Mclaren will finally hit their lofty goals. I just suspect that if they don't before '26, Lando will leave.

Piastri is quite important in all of this as Mclaren need assurances on the driver front. They need an A-list driver even while the car is midfield.

[Darth-Piekus]

I will never understand why that outdated Simulator and Wind Tunnel play that much of a huge role. Was Mclaren always with an up to date Simulator and Wind Tunnel from 1997 to 2012?

[bauc]

I will never understand why that outdated Simulator and Wind Tunnel play that much of a huge role. Was Mclaren always with an up to date Simulator and Wind Tunnel from 1997 to 2012?

No, but testing was unlimited back then, and when the new rules come into play, simulation was (still is) key to development since you could no longer rent a track and test it for yourself 10 days straight and do the same again and again during the winter breaks and during the season as well.

[PhillipM]

And everyone elses infrastructure has been constantly upgraded since with that in mind.

[diffuser]

I will never understand why that outdated Simulator and Wind Tunnel play that much of a huge role. Was Mclaren always with an up to date Simulator and Wind Tunnel from 1997 to 2012?

I've wondered the same. Is it a valid statement or is it a crutch? Kind of have to believe what they're saying. It will be interesting to see how good of a car Aston will put together this year using Merc's wind tunnel.

[Arcanum]

As the decision makers in McLaren didn't accept the chassis limitations until the year after Honda left, it's possible they weren't acknowledging how much the infrastructure was holding them back until that 2018 season when it became blindingly obvious that the chassis was uncompetitive, and after Brown & Seidl got to grips with the organisation (which wouldn't have been overnight in a complex engineering organisation).

Also, it's not a binary situation where the infrastructure was fine one season, but unacceptable the next. The impact would be progressively worse. Which, of course, matters a lot in an F1 world of marginal gains.

Looking back to 2014-2018, it's intriguing how the McLaren decision makers had their heads in the sand so badly. A technology organisation must look ahead multiple years on infrastructure and methodologies. To have underinvested on long lead items like tooling, driver simulator and wind tunnel looks like a failure on many levels. Most screw-ups are never as simple as they seem from the outside, so I guess there's a good story which may emerge one day.

[Stig14]

I will never understand why that outdated Simulator and Wind Tunnel play that much of a huge role. Was Mclaren always with an up to date Simulator and Wind Tunnel from 1997 to 2012?

I've wondered the same. Is it a valid statement or is it a crutch? Kind of have to believe what they're saying. It will be interesting to see how good of a car Aston will put together this year using Merc's wind tunnel.

It's hard to believe that the 3 teams with the strongest infrastructure just happen to consistently do the best job on track year after year if it's not an important factor. I'm sure the top 3 teams do have good people who do good jobs but that is enabled by the infrastructure.

[Macklaren]

Soooo.....Feb 13 car launch. going early again. Also interesting color scheme on the invite graphic with blue and orange gradients and references to 60th anniversary. Hybrid throwback livery anyone?

[Darth-Piekus]

The problem is that we haven't seen as a team a car that was anywhere near the competitive levels of 2012 or at least somewhere near 2021.

[diffuser]

I will never understand why that outdated Simulator and Wind Tunnel play that much of a huge role. Was Mclaren always with an up to date Simulator and Wind Tunnel from 1997 to 2012?

I've wondered the same. Is it a valid statement or is it a crutch? Kind of have to believe what they're saying. It will be interesting to see how good of a car Aston will put together this year using Merc's wind tunnel.

It's hard to believe that the 3 teams with the strongest infrastructure just happen to consistently do the best job on track year after year if it's not an important factor. I'm sure the top 3 teams do have good people who do good jobs but that is enabled by the infrastructure.

There are also processes that differ.

[Emag]

I am a bit pessimistic going into this season to be honest. Morale is probably not the highest it has been after a disappointing season, and with Seidl snatched away I hope management doesn't go to ---. We have already had Stella lowering expectations in a previous interview, and for a team which has a lot of room for improvement in terms of gap to the front, messages like that are never encouraging.

Plus, I am actually concerned on the competition. And I am not really including Ferrari, RedBull and Mercedes here as I think they will be completely out of reach. But with Alpine running their power units to 11 last year with no care for reliability really made the battle seem closer than it actually was. If they have made reliability improvements this year, that's already a big boost for them. And there's also the case of Aston Martin, who have had large investments on standby for a while now and were already showing signs of being a threat later in the season last year.

I don't think it will be easy to beat Alpine and Aston Martin this season.