2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[swifteddie1]

a) Lawrence is being roundly mocked for his "confidence" b) did you hear Fernando's comments about the first part of the season likely to be very difficult?

How do you know Fernando isn't trying to down play expectations....he also said Stroll is a future world champion...

Mark Hughes from The Race and other motorsport publications reported that the word in the grapevine is that the numbers from the AM windtunnel are very good and he tends to be accurate with his reporting.

Lets see what happens at the first race, really hoping I'm wrong but i would expect AM to have taken a step forward based on their confidence/optimism.

[Ground Effect]

Craig Scarborough (Scarbs) reckons the MCL60 is a fundamental shift and an attempt to copy last season’s Red Bull. He foresees problems getting the car sufficiently developed as other copied designs Racing Point?) have in the past, which gels with some of the comments from Andreas. So, do we go into 2023 with a fundamentally different concept which the team will have to learn to develop?

On the low key statements coming from the team I would not be concerned at all, even if the car ain’t great out of the box. Bragging can be a burden to bear, low key is fine by me. Obviously if the team performed at Bahrain like last year I’d be disappointed but the team bounced back pretty quickly. The longer term issues were the fundamental flaws of the car, so from that perspective it’s probably a good thing to be making fundamental design concept changes.

Just read the article, quite surprised that he'd come to that sort of conclusion. Once again the media is building their analysis around the suggestion that McLaren aren't "entirely happy" with the launch spec. So I don't think they're doing a deep dive into looking at the cat. Very bizarre...

[genarro]

Craig Scarborough (Scarbs) reckons the MCL60 is a fundamental shift and an attempt to copy last season’s Red Bull. He foresees problems getting the car sufficiently developed as other copied designs Racing Point?) have in the past, which gels with some of the comments from Andreas. So, do we go into 2023 with a fundamentally different concept which the team will have to learn to develop?

On the low key statements coming from the team I would not be concerned at all, even if the car ain’t great out of the box. Bragging can be a burden to bear, low key is fine by me. Obviously if the team performed at Bahrain like last year I’d be disappointed but the team bounced back pretty quickly. The longer term issues were the fundamental flaws of the car, so from that perspective it’s probably a good thing to be making fundamental design concept changes.

Just read the article, quite surprised that he'd come to that sort of conclusion. Once again the media is building their analysis around the suggestion that McLaren aren't "entirely happy" with the launch spec. So I don't think they're doing a deep dive into looking at the cat. Very bizarre...

The whole thing kinda blew out of proportions imo. Stella just said that this is not the final product and there will be alot of developement early on because they started some developements very late.

Nothing to worry yet

[BMMR61]

Craig Scarborough (Scarbs) reckons the MCL60 is a fundamental shift and an attempt to copy last season’s Red Bull. He foresees problems getting the car sufficiently developed as other copied designs Racing Point?) have in the past, which gels with some of the comments from Andreas. So, do we go into 2023 with a fundamentally different concept which the team will have to learn to develop?

On the low key statements coming from the team I would not be concerned at all, even if the car ain’t great out of the box. Bragging can be a burden to bear, low key is fine by me. Obviously if the team performed at Bahrain like last year I’d be disappointed but the team bounced back pretty quickly. The longer term issues were the fundamental flaws of the car, so from that perspective it’s probably a good thing to be making fundamental design concept changes.

Just read the article, quite surprised that he'd come to that sort of conclusion. Once again the media is building their analysis around the suggestion that McLaren aren't "entirely happy" with the launch spec. So I don't think they're doing a deep dive into looking at the cat. Very bizarre...

Yeah I have a degree of agreement, Scarbs was making some sweeping statements that indicate we need to hold judgement on the car, after all most of the cars will look very different in a few weeks when the cars line up for the FP1 in Bahrain. Last year the Barcelona test looked quite promising and then….. oh dear! It will be interesting to look back in six months regards development - were Stella’s comments reflective of genuine concern they had perhaps fallen off their preseason schedule, and other things. Then there’s the spectre of mind games….

[the EDGE]

Stella’s comments really depend on what context you take them in

I take them as comparing the Mcl60 to the top 3, after all, I’m pretty sure I remember him also saying that they expect development to make McLaren. part of the top 4, not just leading the midfield

On the other hand, if he is comparing the Mcl60 to the midfield, then obviously his comments are a cause for concern

Scarabs comments are pretty embarrassing for him, saying it’s a Redbull clone is just nonsense, the only similarity is the sidepods, which McLaren had already started to migrate towards last year, like most other teams. Everything else is clear evolution of their own work

I think what we have seen of the Mcl60 so far is quite basic, the FW, RW & floor, where real performance come from, are yet to be shown so that’s going to be interesting, and so will the race 4 upgrade package where we will se what Stella was alluding too

The big question mark however still remains, the cars front end, and tyre interaction. If McLaren are ever going to get near the top 3, here is where big strides must be made

[bauc]

I miss this cars

[mclaren111]

I miss this cars

https://scontent.fskp4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=63F421CE

Me too... What a Beauty... Remember the wonderful MP4-20 ?

[McL-H]

The whole thing kinda blew out of proportions imo. Stella just said that this is not the final product and there will be alot of developement early on because they started some developements very late.

Nothing to worry yet

That’s the wording he used. But it’s not what he said. You can read a lot in between the lines.

[bauc]

I miss this cars

https://scontent.fskp4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=63F421CE

Me too... What a Beauty... Remember the wonderful MP4-20 ?

Yes, its my favorite car of all time

[Slahinki]

The whole thing kinda blew out of proportions imo. Stella just said that this is not the final product and there will be alot of developement early on because they started some developements very late.

Nothing to worry yet

That’s the wording he used. But it’s not what he said. You can read a lot in between the lines.

You can indeed read much between the lines. So much in fact, that on many occations you end up with complete fiction.

[JordanMugen]

Actually one could argue that some of these concepts are pretty old:

Downwash Sidepods = Check
Undercut = Check
Cannon Exit = Check
Cannon Exit Aimed between Rear Wing and Beam Wing = Check
(It even uses a similar ramp on the Exit Cannon that Mercedes showed in the W14)

Why was the MP4-29 so uncompetitive despite sharing the power unit of the leading Mercedes and Williams cars?

Actually for that matter, why was the MP4-28 so uncompetitive too?

Was simply the lack of Mercedes money starting to take effect (and indeed money flowing from McLaren to Mercedes, rather than the other way), or was it more complex than that?

The RB ideas were already considered by Mclaren and I'm sure other teams during the previous years car design in mid-late '21.

Yet instead McLaren choose a design with less potential for some reason and then changed afterwards. Rather odd!

Of course that assumes that McLaren would have been able to produce a winning car in 2022, and that the midfield was not their ceiling due to lacking Mercedes money over a full decade regardless of their choice of vehicle design?

I miss this cars

That's when McLaren had a lot of Mercedes money. Surely the absence of works Mercedes-Benz backing is by far the simplest explanation for why McLaren are less competitive now?

[bauc]

[/quote]

I miss this cars

That's when McLaren had a lot of Mercedes money. Surely the absence of works Mercedes-Benz backing is by far the simplest explanation for why McLaren are less competitive now?
[/quote]

No, the core team of engineers & car designers left and people put in charge after Ron did not put racing as 1st priority for Mclaren .... In the meantime the equipment got old and they were left dry.

[Macklaren]

But the McLaren body language and comments are in stark contrast to the quite confidence at Aston Martin for example.

a) Lawrence is being roundly mocked for his "confidence" b) did you hear Fernando's comments about the first part of the season likely to be very difficult?

I’m afraid that isn’t my statement

ah sorry....got quotedelete wrong

[diffuser]

A picture of a F1 car is worth 1000 words but it doesn't tell you how fast it is in comparison to a picture of another F1 car!

[genarro]

The whole thing kinda blew out of proportions imo. Stella just said that this is not the final product and there will be alot of developement early on because they started some developements very late.

Nothing to worry yet

That’s the wording he used. But it’s not what he said. You can read a lot in between the lines.

Then enlighten me please