2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[PhillipM]

To be honest the last time they did make a chassis that the drivers felt was great to drive, it was one of the slowest on the grid.
I can remember Alonso saying the car balance felt great and then when they were nowhere still saying it felt great but obviously had no grip compared.

Balance is a tricky one, often the faster you make a car in terms of peak potential the harder it gets to drive.

[Ground Effect]

Piastri, who scored his maiden F1 points at his home grand prix, is confident that the changes in Baku will enable McLaren to close the gap to all the teams ahead.

“I think it’ll definitely help us to move closer to the front of the grid,” he expressed. “I’m sure all the other teams have got upgrades of their own as well.
“And I think what we’ve got coming in Baku is a good step in what is a bigger plan throughout the rest of the season. So it’ll help a bit, definitely, and get us on the right track, I hope.”

However, Piastri has also admitted that the relative step the papaya squad makes in the pecking order will be determined by the step McLaren’s rivals also make with new parts.

“But I think we are not underestimating that everyone else will probably have new parts as well, so we’ll see how much competitiveness we gain from that,” he added.

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/04/ ... the-front/

[AR3-GP]

It's nice to see a realistic understanding of the challenge from Piastri. They have to wait and see what others have brought to Baku. Mclaren will be faster, they just don't know how much faster others will be because they are not fortune tellers.

[PhillipM]

Apparently there's modifications to the lower sidepods in the works. Whether that's to deepen the 'waterslides' or just to match the new floor profile I don't know yet.

[organic]

Apparently there's modifications to the lower sidepods in the works. Whether that's to deepen the 'waterslides' or just to match the new floor profile I don't know yet.

Wow, very interesting thank you! Maybe something like the RB with the extended undercut and more of an outboard slab? and keeping the waterslide about the same ? That's my guess but I am far less in the know than you

[Ground Effect]

Apparently there's modifications to the lower sidepods in the works. Whether that's to deepen the 'waterslides' or just to match the new floor profile I don't know yet.

Thanks for the info, very interesting. Any idea if that's planned for the pre shutdown upgrade or post?

[PhillipM]

I mean it's the guys from the composites floor so it must be something either in production or that they've been given specs for already.

[Ground Effect]

I mean it's the guys from the composites floor so it must be something either in production or that they've been given specs for already.

Thanks @PhillipM

[BMMR61]

Notice that the field split in Aus was 102.08% (think that's correct) on fastest pace. That's really tight and punishing for any drop back in terms of finishing positions.

The immediate teams ahead on pace - Ferrari and Alpine - are on Australian GP race pace, only a couple of tenths at the most quicker. A fundamental shift in aero approach has the potential to more than negate that difference. But any new parts introduced will need to be integrated which, if on the right path need 2-3 race weekends to sort fully. I’m encouraged that McLaren were making their pessimistic forecasts before the season started and before others like Merc and Ferrari said they had a problem. Actually Merc to my knowledge haven’t said they have a fundamental problem and are continuing to develop the currrent concept - correct me if I’m wrong. Fundamental shifts in development when successful usually provide longer development cycles before limits are reached.

The high downforce, slow straightline speed and good low speed characteristic of the MCL60 should respond well to any success in improving the aero efficiency of the conceptual changes MTC bring in coming weeks. By this I mean, high downforce doesn’t negate low corner speed so that should be baked into the mechanical grip of the car, which has been a weakness in the last few chassis they have produced.

[mclaren111]

I mean it's the guys from the composites floor so it must be something either in production or that they've been given specs for already.

Thanks Again for all the Info...

[Emag]

To be honest the last time they did make a chassis that the drivers felt was great to drive, it was one of the slowest on the grid.
I can remember Alonso saying the car balance felt great and then when they were nowhere still saying it felt great but obviously had no grip compared.

Balance is a tricky one, often the faster you make a car in terms of peak potential the harder it gets to drive.

Because really, it's all about keeping the average speed as high as possible throughout the lap. The higher your minimum speed through the corners, the more time you gain.

A car that may feel great to drive can often feel great just because it is going much slower than the competition through a corner, and the car is within its "comfort zone".

Push the grip to its limits, you may be getting something that feels peaky and perhaps on the edge on certain places on the track, but if that means you're going 20 kmh faster through critical places, then the balance does not matter anymore because the peaky car is just that much faster.

You're just making it harder for the driver like that though, and consistency may suffer. This may have been the case with the 2021 car where often Lando would have pace to challenge RB / Merc in quali, but then be unable to keep that pace consistently over the race.

[PhillipM]

You know we already had a max exodus of old hands a few years ago, then last year a lot of people left for a discord server instead to get away from stuff exactly like this taking over instead of technical things - then this year actual mclaren employees that I know stopped posting and just started scrolling here for pictures and nothing else.
So, I stopped posting once for the same reasons, I only came back because I prefer the format of the forum here, but I'm out again I think I'm just gonna follow their leads, read only.

Enjoy the rest of the season everyone.

[_cerber1]

Andrea Stella: "We have already prepared a package of updates and we have no doubt that they will show themselves only from the best side. Therefore, despite the fact that there will be only one training session this weekend, we decided to install improvements on the car. We hope that this will help we need to score points both in the sprint and in the race on Sunday."

[MrGapes]

You know we already had a max exodus of old hands a few years ago, then last year a lot of people left for a discord server instead to get away from stuff exactly like this taking over instead of technical things - then this year actual mclaren employees that I know stopped posting and just started scrolling here for pictures and nothing else.
So, I stopped posting once for the same reasons, I only came back because I prefer the format of the forum here, but I'm out again I think I'm just gonna follow their leads, read only.

Enjoy the rest of the season everyone.

That’s a shame… but completely understandable with the way the thread has been lately, I mostly come here to check if you posted anything. As always appreciate the little bits and pieces of Information you pass along.

[Vegetabill]

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/indycar ... -liveries/

This MP4-2 Indy car livery surely has to make a special appearance this year on the MCL60