2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

I think it's the wrong approach to have all the talking heads in his ear telling him the car is "different" because it teaches him to blame the car.

You have to get in and get on with whatever you are given. It sounds like Piastri isn't letting what I feel is overblown messaging, get to him.

It doesn't mention anyone else. He's just saying that the car is different to the Renault and requires him to adapt a bit, and says that it's not suiting a more natural, or neutral, driving style.

The only thing this confirms is that the car is a but different compared to the Renault.

Well the Renault was a last generation car, and a poor one at that. One would hope it behaves differently to that car...

As he says, difficult to know if it is a 22 car thing or a Mclaren thing.

[AR3-GP]

It doesn't mention anyone else. He's just saying that the car is different to the Renault and requires him to adapt a bit, and says that it's not suiting a more natural, or neutral, driving style.

The only thing this confirms is that the car is a but different compared to the Renault.

Well the Renault was a last generation car, and a poor one at that. One would hope it behaves differently to that car...

As he says, difficult to know if it is a 22 car thing or a Mclaren thing.

and none of that is important in my opinion. I just feel the media should stop talking about this "difficult Mclaren" nonsense and stop asking Piastri about it.

[mwillems]

Well the Renault was a last generation car, and a poor one at that. One would hope it behaves differently to that car...

As he says, difficult to know if it is a 22 car thing or a Mclaren thing.

and none of that is important in my opinion. I just feel the media should stop talking about this "difficult Mclaren" nonsense and stop asking Piastri about it.

It's a thing right now and people are looking to understand it more, so they will ask. It's like asking a lion to be vegetarian lol

I'd like to know more about the cars characteristics, I trust the drivers when they talk about the car, and I trust that they probably have some idea of the traits of other cars from speaking with other drivers, though it would never be publicly acknowledged. So I think there is something there.

[AR3-GP]

As he says, difficult to know if it is a 22 car thing or a Mclaren thing.

and none of that is important in my opinion. I just feel the media should stop talking about this "difficult Mclaren" nonsense and stop asking Piastri about it.

It's a thing right now and people are looking to understand it more, so they will ask. It's like asking a lion to be vegetarian lol

I'd like to know more about the cars characteristics, I trust the drivers when they talk about the car, and I trust that they probably have some idea of the traits of other cars from speaking with other drivers, though it would never be publicly acknowledged. So I think there is something there.

When Latifi was getting hammered by Albon and came out and said he didn't gel with the Williams, everybody just moved on and said he was a terrible driver. No one said the Williams was "strange" to drive (other than the obvious issue of being the worst car in the paddock most of the time).

When Perez was getting massacred by Verstappen, no one said the Red Bull was strange and unorthodox to drive. Just that Perez wasn't good enough.

When Sainz was getting massacred by Leclerc, no one said the Ferrari was strange and unorthodox. They just said Leclerc is better.

I'm just tired of this forced "Mclaren is weird" narrative because 1 driver (who came with a ton of media attention) didn't get on with it.

[trinidefender]

The car in the shadow is an outline of an old McLaren if that counts for anything.

it's the Ferrari F14T. original photo without the silhouette effect:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FmXV_JFWQAE ... &name=orig

Well spotted. My apologies. I thought it was the McLaren from the shape of the front wing.

[diffuser]

and none of that is important in my opinion. I just feel the media should stop talking about this "difficult Mclaren" nonsense and stop asking Piastri about it.

It's a thing right now and people are looking to understand it more, so they will ask. It's like asking a lion to be vegetarian lol

I'd like to know more about the cars characteristics, I trust the drivers when they talk about the car, and I trust that they probably have some idea of the traits of other cars from speaking with other drivers, though it would never be publicly acknowledged. So I think there is something there.

When Latifi was getting hammered by Albon and came out and said he didn't gel with the Williams, everybody just moved on and said he was a terrible driver. No one said the Williams was "strange" to drive (other than the obvious issue of being the worst car in the paddock most of the time).

When Perez was getting massacred by Verstappen, no one said the Red Bull was strange and unorthodox to drive. Just that Perez wasn't good enough.

When Sainz was getting massacred by Leclerc, no one said the Ferrari was strange and unorthodox. They just said Leclerc is better.

I'm just tired of this forced "Mclaren is weird" narrative because 1 driver (who came with a ton of media attention) didn't get on with it.

I think that many drivers have said that the RBR cars tend to be so on the nose that only Max can drive them.

Sainz did say he was having problems getting used to driving the Ferrari in the way that was more effective.

[organic]

and none of that is important in my opinion. I just feel the media should stop talking about this "difficult Mclaren" nonsense and stop asking Piastri about it.

It's a thing right now and people are looking to understand it more, so they will ask. It's like asking a lion to be vegetarian lol

I'd like to know more about the cars characteristics, I trust the drivers when they talk about the car, and I trust that they probably have some idea of the traits of other cars from speaking with other drivers, though it would never be publicly acknowledged. So I think there is something there.

When Latifi was getting hammered by Albon and came out and said he didn't gel with the Williams, everybody just moved on and said he was a terrible driver. No one said the Williams was "strange" to drive (other than the obvious issue of being the worst car in the paddock most of the time).

When Perez was getting massacred by Verstappen, no one said the Red Bull was strange and unorthodox to drive. Just that Perez wasn't good enough.

When Sainz was getting massacred by Leclerc, no one said the Ferrari was strange and unorthodox. They just said Leclerc is better.

I'm just tired of this forced "Mclaren is weird" narrative because 1 driver (who came with a ton of media attention) didn't get on with it.

Well Sainz said the McLaren is weird too..

“I think, for whatever reason, naturally at the moment the car isn’t quite coming to me,” he told Sky Sports. “Bumped into Carlos not too long ago. He was like, ‘What do you think, strange huh?’

I remember seeing this interaction in an interview that was interrupted by one of them walking past the other.

McLaren themselves have said they understand their 2021 car isn't the easiest to drive, and that the way Norris drives it is extracting a lot of performance that Ricciardo can't with his driving style.

That was 2021, and the whole "weird" car handling phenomenon seemed to be a legitimate thing with that chassis (carried through from 2020, which carlos would've driven).

Whether that existed for 2022 as well is another thing entirely, and there's significantly less evidence/corroboration of their weird handling characteristics having carried forwards, just Ricciardo's continued struggles. I don't think the 2022 car was particularly weird. There are other explanations for Ricciardo's struggles in '22: Ricciardo lacked confidence, they had issues with the brakes for a number of races, and the new car had dramatic understeer (like all 2022 cars except for Ferrari) which didn't suit his driving style. But.. the narrative that McLaren make weird cars was already running so it continued, unchecked

Maybe, just maybe, it is true that the reason why the 2020/2021 McLarens ended up weird (perhaps a part of their simulation technique) was carried forward into the new regs and also has affected the development of the new car, making it weird also. Hard to know for sure, but there's certainly a lack of evidence that having occured

[AR3-GP]

In all the time in 2020 that the Mclaren was "weird" there had never been any complaints from Norris and Sainz in the media at the time. Alonso, Button, Vandoorne never said their Mclarens were "weird". Everybody just got on with it. No car is "weird". A driver is supposed to drive it the way it needs to be driven. That's what he's paid to do.

This "weirdness" narrative was all invented in 2021 and carried through to 2022 despite being a completely different car from the ground up.

[PhillipM]

I think that many drivers have said that the RBR cars tend to be so on the nose that only Max can drive them.

He suffered at the start of the season when it struggled with understeer, certainly.

[eurwynf1]

Hi, long time lurker. Thanks to you all for your contributions especially PhillipM and Diffuser.
With all the talk about outdated infrastructure how is it that Red Bull are on top with a old wind tunnel?

[mwillems]

and none of that is important in my opinion. I just feel the media should stop talking about this "difficult Mclaren" nonsense and stop asking Piastri about it.

It's a thing right now and people are looking to understand it more, so they will ask. It's like asking a lion to be vegetarian lol

I'd like to know more about the cars characteristics, I trust the drivers when they talk about the car, and I trust that they probably have some idea of the traits of other cars from speaking with other drivers, though it would never be publicly acknowledged. So I think there is something there.

When Latifi was getting hammered by Albon and came out and said he didn't gel with the Williams, everybody just moved on and said he was a terrible driver. No one said the Williams was "strange" to drive (other than the obvious issue of being the worst car in the paddock most of the time).

When Perez was getting massacred by Verstappen, no one said the Red Bull was strange and unorthodox to drive. Just that Perez wasn't good enough.

When Sainz was getting massacred by Leclerc, no one said the Ferrari was strange and unorthodox. They just said Leclerc is better.

I'm just tired of this forced "Mclaren is weird" narrative because 1 driver (who came with a ton of media attention) didn't get on with it.

Norris, Sainz and Ricciardo have all said the Mclaren is unique, it isn't one driver.

Just 1 driver that wasn't able to adapt.

Even the team have acknowledged it, its very real.

What the public don't know is how much it exists in other cars.

[daren_p]

Hi, long time lurker. Thanks to you all for your contributions especially PhillipM and Diffuser.
With all the talk about outdated infrastructure how is it that Red Bull are on top with a old wind tunnel?

Old as in, it was built some time ago but as far as I know has been updated multiple times so while the tunnel may be "old", its still state of the art. Think this is just RedBull talking themselves up as per usual & leaving out important facts.

[PhillipM]

Hi, long time lurker. Thanks to you all for your contributions especially PhillipM and Diffuser.
With all the talk about outdated infrastructure how is it that Red Bull are on top with a old wind tunnel?

It's not really an old tunnel, it's their own tunnel and they've constantly updated ancillaries and systems there almost every year.

[genarro]

Hi, long time lurker. Thanks to you all for your contributions especially PhillipM and Diffuser.
With all the talk about outdated infrastructure how is it that Red Bull are on top with a old wind tunnel?

It's not really an old tunnel, it's their own tunnel and they've constantly updated ancillaries and systems there almost every year.

Since there have been some dry times regarding any news, PhillipM do you have any info regarding the car and the new infrastructure/simulator?

[PhillipM]

Not really, I've been out of the country over xmas and nye, haven't seen anyone as such