2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[AR3-GP]

Yikes, Piastri apparently only had about 4 pieces of toast for the whole weekend. How the heck was he able to drive like he did all weekend? Amazing effort. Hope he feels back to normal by Miami.

https://www.racefans.net/2023/05/01/rac ... p-01-05-6/

As for the car at Baku, as much as we are still suffering drag issues, it was mostly down to the DRS being too short as there was not much passing at all across the board apart from the RBR rocketships. Really excited for the rest of the season though. It seems things are really starting to track in the right direction now and we haven't even started using the new wind tunnel and other new infrastructure properly yet.

The first requirement for passing is to actually be faster than the car ahead. Since very few cars were out of position (It was really onl the Mclarens who needed to come through the field) that's more likely why we didn't see as much and since Mclaren have a very unique drag issue, that's why they couldn't overtake. The DRS zone was fine. You can't blame the FIA for that.

[BMMR61]

Yikes, Piastri apparently only had about 4 pieces of toast for the whole weekend. How the heck was he able to drive like he did all weekend? Amazing effort. Hope he feels back to normal by Miami.

https://www.racefans.net/2023/05/01/rac ... p-01-05-6/

As for the car at Baku, as much as we are still suffering drag issues, it was mostly down to the DRS being too short as there was not much passing at all across the board apart from the RBR rocketships. Really excited for the rest of the season though. It seems things are really starting to track in the right direction now and we haven't even started using the new wind tunnel and other new infrastructure properly yet.

The first requirement for passing is to actually be faster than the car ahead. Since very few cars were out of position (It was really onl the Mclarens who needed to come through the field) that's more likely why we didn't see as much and since Mclaren have a very unique drag issue, that's why they couldn't overtake. The DRS zone was fine. You can't blame the FIA for that.

There was no “unique drag issue” there was an overall lack of overtaking at Baku this year.
The car should be fine as we go to less topendy tracks and the new aero concept parts get integrated. Beating Alpine shouldn’t be the target, rather getting onto the back of the next group which will alternate between AM, Merc and Ferrari. Unlike Australia, nothing really played into McLaren’s hands and the results were representative, albeit at a track they expected to struggle at.

[haza]

I’m gonna throw my 2 cents in, I think the top speed deficit comes down to 2 things

1:McLaren went for a high to medium downforce setup only them and Mercedes did that and suffered a lack of straight line speed on the straights but were decent amongst the rest of the lap

2:The Mercedes Pu is not the power horse it once was at the moment it’s probably on par with Ferrari as the 2/3 fastest Pu theres was rumours circulating last season that the new E10 fuel did not favour merc power units, all merc powered teams struggle for decent top speed expect Williams who has a low drag low downforce car not saying it’s a huge deficit but it’s no coincidence that Mercedes McLaren and Aston all happen to look draggy

I’m not expecting the issues at Baku to be a season long issue I think it was just a case that McLaren brought a higher down force setup compared to everyone else an only having 1 session to tweak set up, as the season goes on an the car gets more efficient downforce the top speed will be good but won’t be the 2021 top speeds

[Lucky]

But the main events showcased how effective he was in the upgraded McLaren, which the team reckoned was two or three tenths of a second quicker.

[willmesquita]

In terms of points scored, I think we could had p9/p10 if Oscar was in better shape (poor kid was suffering a lot).

Thinking about Miami, I think we'll fight against stronger Alpines.

Barcelona will be better and Monaco will be great.

[AR3-GP]

Yikes, Piastri apparently only had about 4 pieces of toast for the whole weekend. How the heck was he able to drive like he did all weekend? Amazing effort. Hope he feels back to normal by Miami.

https://www.racefans.net/2023/05/01/rac ... p-01-05-6/

As for the car at Baku, as much as we are still suffering drag issues, it was mostly down to the DRS being too short as there was not much passing at all across the board apart from the RBR rocketships. Really excited for the rest of the season though. It seems things are really starting to track in the right direction now and we haven't even started using the new wind tunnel and other new infrastructure properly yet.

The first requirement for passing is to actually be faster than the car ahead. Since very few cars were out of position (It was really onl the Mclarens who needed to come through the field) that's more likely why we didn't see as much and since Mclaren have a very unique drag issue, that's why they couldn't overtake. The DRS zone was fine. You can't blame the FIA for that.

There was no “unique drag issue” there was an overall lack of overtaking at Baku this year.
The car should be fine as we go to less topendy tracks and the new aero concept parts get integrated. Beating Alpine shouldn’t be the target, rather getting onto the back of the next group which will alternate between AM, Merc and Ferrari. Unlike Australia, nothing really played into McLaren’s hands and the results were representative, albeit at a track they expected to struggle at.

Mclaren is the slowest car on the straights in Baku. Yes they have a “ unique drag issue”. They and Mercedes appear to.

[Darth-Piekus]

In terms of points scored, I think we could had p9/p10 if Oscar was in better shape (poor kid was suffering a lot).

Thinking about Miami, I think we'll fight against stronger Alpines.

Barcelona will be better and Monaco will be great.

Have in mind that we will be able to gain some more time setting up and tweaking the new upgrade much better.

[daren_p]

In terms of points scored, I think we could had p9/p10 if Oscar was in better shape (poor kid was suffering a lot).

Thinking about Miami, I think we'll fight against stronger Alpines.

Barcelona will be better and Monaco will be great.

Have in mind that we will be able to gain some more time setting up and tweaking the new upgrade much better.

As will Alpine, that as far as I know also brought a new package with them to Baku.

[Mostlyeels]

As will Alpine, that as far as I know also brought a new package with them to Baku.

They seem very happy with their new floor: https://www.racefans.net/2023/05/01/ove ... -for-ocon/

We'll see more of how McLaren compares with them once they get some decent FP running to tune their setup in Miami.

[mwillems]

I’m gonna throw my 2 cents in, I think the top speed deficit comes down to 2 things

1:McLaren went for a high to medium downforce setup only them and Mercedes did that and suffered a lack of straight line speed on the straights but were decent amongst the rest of the lap

2:The Mercedes Pu is not the power horse it once was at the moment it’s probably on par with Ferrari as the 2/3 fastest Pu theres was rumours circulating last season that the new E10 fuel did not favour merc power units, all merc powered teams struggle for decent top speed expect Williams who has a low drag low downforce car not saying it’s a huge deficit but it’s no coincidence that Mercedes McLaren and Aston all happen to look draggy

I’m not expecting the issues at Baku to be a season long issue I think it was just a case that McLaren brought a higher down force setup compared to everyone else an only having 1 session to tweak set up, as the season goes on an the car gets more efficient downforce the top speed will be good but won’t be the 2021 top speeds

We did go High DF, it's right though in that lowering it would have given us any outright overtakes here, but it would have given the chance to apply direct pressure to the car in front.

The reason this is more critical than others have let on is because when tyres start to fade those drivers can often start to make mistakes and so that pressure is critical if you want to make headway.

With the setup of our car, we were never in a position to make headway should we need to, we were largely doomed to whatever position we found ourselves in. my only point was that we could have maintained a similar lap tap with less DF I think with the benefit of being able to put more pressure on teams.

On its own, this would not have got far, but in conjunction with other strategy errors it did cost us and we could have done a lot more this weekend.
But that, in itself, is a good thing. This brick has speed and downforce now. Not class leading, or midfield leading, but certainly the MCL60 is ready for a good fight.

[haza]

I’m gonna throw my 2 cents in, I think the top speed deficit comes down to 2 things

1:McLaren went for a high to medium downforce setup only them and Mercedes did that and suffered a lack of straight line speed on the straights but were decent amongst the rest of the lap

2:The Mercedes Pu is not the power horse it once was at the moment it’s probably on par with Ferrari as the 2/3 fastest Pu theres was rumours circulating last season that the new E10 fuel did not favour merc power units, all merc powered teams struggle for decent top speed expect Williams who has a low drag low downforce car not saying it’s a huge deficit but it’s no coincidence that Mercedes McLaren and Aston all happen to look draggy

I’m not expecting the issues at Baku to be a season long issue I think it was just a case that McLaren brought a higher down force setup compared to everyone else an only having 1 session to tweak set up, as the season goes on an the car gets more efficient downforce the top speed will be good but won’t be the 2021 top speeds

We did go High DF, it's right though in that lowering it would have given us any outright overtakes here, but it would have given the chance to apply direct pressure to the car in front.

The reason this is more critical than others have let on is because when tyres start to fade those drivers can often start to make mistakes and so that pressure is critical if you want to make headway.

With the setup of our car, we were never in a position to make headway should we need to, we were largely doomed to whatever position we found ourselves in. my only point was that we could have maintained a similar lap tap with less DF I think with the benefit of being able to put more pressure on teams.

On its own, this would not have got far, but in conjunction with other strategy errors it did cost us and we could have done a lot more this weekend.
But that, in itself, is a good thing. This brick has speed and downforce now. Not class leading, or midfield leading, but certainly the MCL60 is ready for a good fight.

Tracks like Monaco and Hungary should be competitive weekends for us we seem to have fixed our low speed issues but I wouldn’t expect our top speed deficiency to be ironed out until mid season once the rest of the major upgrades are fitted. I am happy to see the new floor doing its job car looked much better and with 2 more major upgrades and some bits from the new wind tunnel coming later in the year i still believe we can get close to the top teams

[ScottR267]

[CjC]

Is it me or has Mclaren stopped listing their partners on their website?

[ScottR267]

Is it me or has Mclaren stopped listing their partners on their website?

Too many to list

[proteus]

Is it me or has Mclaren stopped listing their partners on their website?

Just scroll to the bottom of their page. They changed the layout of their site.