2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mclaren111]

I see Ferrari did a filming day today to test new Front Wing etc...

Would be nice if we do the same since it's the Stupid Sprint Nonsence again this weekend...

[Ground Effect]

It will be a massive improvement if they manage to challenge Alpine for 5th. RedBull, Aston, Merc and Ferrari are out of range. My question is who is the father of these improvements, is it still Key or did Prodromou took over when they found out they are at the dead end?

Nothing would make me happier to see them in top 3 spot again, but modern F1 doesnt work this way. In the 90s with unlimited testing and money it would be possible, but today not so much.

If I'm remembering right, the first upgrade, being the floor, was signed off by the Key led structure. The coming batches of upgrade are the first by Prod and the two Neils.

[Mostlyeels]

It will be a massive improvement if they manage to challenge Alpine for 5th.

Realistically, I would be happy with that (though in my heart of hearts I wish for them to be at the pointy end). If we're battling it out with Alpine, I think our drivers are a better pairing and can make a difference.

[Balalu]

It will be a massive improvement if they manage to challenge Alpine for 5th. RedBull, Aston, Merc and Ferrari are out of range. My question is who is the father of these improvements, is it still Key or did Prodromou took over when they found out they are at the dead end?

Nothing would make me happier to see them in top 3 spot again, but modern F1 doesnt work this way. In the 90s with unlimited testing and money it would be possible, but today not so much.

If I'm remembering right, the first upgrade, being the floor, was signed off by the Key led structure. The coming batches of upgrade are the first by Prod and the two Neils.

I read somewhere that this update is the first product of the new structure, without Key.

[Mansell89]

It will be a massive improvement if they manage to challenge Alpine for 5th. RedBull, Aston, Merc and Ferrari are out of range. My question is who is the father of these improvements, is it still Key or did Prodromou took over when they found out they are at the dead end?

Nothing would make me happier to see them in top 3 spot again, but modern F1 doesnt work this way. In the 90s with unlimited testing and money it would be possible, but today not so much.

If I'm remembering right, the first upgrade, being the floor, was signed off by the Key led structure. The coming batches of upgrade are the first by Prod and the two Neils.

I read somewhere that this update is the first product of the new structure, without Key.

Very interested to see it guys for that very reason. The first glimpse of new ideas and direction.

[PikeStance]

I have recorded the finishing position of each driver in each race and averaged them out. DNF was valued at 20.
Below is the order.
I broke the tie between Ocon and Stroll by factoring first (finishing in points, then podiums, and then calculated races not finished (DNF). Ocon was ahead in the latter comparisons.
Piastri (12) finished ahead of Norris who is 18th. Finishing P17 four times did not help at all.

Driver Avg Pos.
1 Verstappen 1.25
2 Alonso 3.38
3 Hamilton 4.13
4 Perez 4.63
5 Sainz 6.25
6 Russel 8.75
7 LeClerc 9.75
8 Gasly 10.25
9 Ocon 10.38 (1/5/0)
10 Strolls 10.38 (0/5/2)
11 Tsunodo 11.75
12 Piastri: 13.38
13 Bottas 13.50
14 Albon 13.86
15 Zhou 14.00
16 Hulkenberg 14.13
17 De Vries 14.50
18 Norris 15.25
19 Sargent 17.25
20 Magnussen 17.63


I've looked at teams as well. It will be interesting to see the results post-changes.
Team - Driver 1 - Driver 2 = Avg.
Red Bull - 1.25 - 4.63 = 2.94
Mercedes - 4.13 - 8.75 = 6.44
Aston Martin - 3.38 - 10.35 = 7.20
Ferrari - 6.25 - 9.75 = 8.00
Alpine - 10.25 - 10.35 = 10.30
Alfa Romero - 13.50 - 14.00 = 13.75
Alpha Tauri - 11.75 - 14.50 = 13.13
McLaren - 13.38 - 15.25 = 14.32
Williams - 13.86 - 17.25 = 15.56
Haas - 14.13 - 17.63 = 15.88

[Darth-Piekus]

Do we have pictures of the new parts?

[Emag]

Do we have pictures of the new parts?

We may get some tomorrow, but even then, it will probably be snippets.

Today its too early I think.

[BMMR61]

It will be a massive improvement if they manage to challenge Alpine for 5th. RedBull, Aston, Merc and Ferrari are out of range. My question is who is the father of these improvements, is it still Key or did Prodromou took over when they found out they are at the dead end?

Nothing would make me happier to see them in top 3 spot again, but modern F1 doesnt work this way. In the 90s with unlimited testing and money it would be possible, but today not so much.

I disagree it would be a massive improvement necessary to beat Alpine. Greater performance consistency needs to be one goal as they have tended to be 5th to 9th at circuits, though this is part of that closeness of “the midfield”. Canada which was far from an outlier we were marginally quicker in race pace so there’s everything to play for even if the points difference looks bigger than the performance gap.

I got a clear impression that Key got the cold shoulder before the MCL60 launch as he wasn’t present. This aligns with the chat about fundamental concepts etc. Probably the last Key overseen development would be the floor introduced at Baku which was little more than a marginal improvement. There’s a real bullish attitude in the camp about the coming developments which will look silly if they don’t amount to improvement, I’d say I’m optimistic they will find a few tenths but more important they will find more correlation and understanding about the car. This helps find the sweet spot more quickly in FP but be wary that this is going to take a path through to the “summer break”. By this I mean there will be a lot of trial and error, not helped by the reduced practice at Austria. It’s easy to get prematurely excited about Austria prospects, a decent step may become obvious immediately but the full nature of the change in direction won’t be fully appreciated for 3-4 race weekends.

There’s the likelihood that we will see in this forum the unrealistic who think anything less than 0.5 seconds is a fail and continue the rowdy criticism of everything and everyone at McLaren. I’ve already written this season off as one of major personnel reforms, plus of course the arrival of the wind tunnel and simulation tools so eagerly awaited.

[mclaren111]

It will be a massive improvement if they manage to challenge Alpine for 5th. RedBull, Aston, Merc and Ferrari are out of range. My question is who is the father of these improvements, is it still Key or did Prodromou took over when they found out they are at the dead end?

Nothing would make me happier to see them in top 3 spot again, but modern F1 doesnt work this way. In the 90s with unlimited testing and money it would be possible, but today not so much.

I disagree it would be a massive improvement necessary to beat Alpine. Greater performance consistency needs to be one goal as they have tended to be 5th to 9th at circuits, though this is part of that closeness of “the midfield”. Canada which was far from an outlier we were marginally quicker in race pace so there’s everything to play for even if the points difference looks bigger than the performance gap.

I got a clear impression that Key got the cold shoulder before the MCL60 launch as he wasn’t present. This aligns with the chat about fundamental concepts etc. Probably the last Key overseen development would be the floor introduced at Baku which was little more than a marginal improvement. There’s a real bullish attitude in the camp about the coming developments which will look silly if they don’t amount to improvement, I’d say I’m optimistic they will find a few tenths but more important they will find more correlation and understanding about the car. This helps find the sweet spot more quickly in FP but be wary that this is going to take a path through to the “summer break”. By this I mean there will be a lot of trial and error, not helped by the reduced practice at Austria. It’s easy to get prematurely excited about Austria prospects, a decent step may become obvious immediately but the full nature of the change in direction won’t be fully appreciated for 3-4 race weekends.

There’s the likelihood that we will see in this forum the unrealistic who think anything less than 0.5 seconds is a fail and continue the rowdy criticism of everything and everyone at McLaren. I’ve already written this season off as one of major personnel reforms, plus of course the arrival of the wind tunnel and simulation tools so eagerly awaited.

Spot On...

[Ben1980]

Just caught the end of Austria 2020 on Sky. They talked about the financial woes at Mclaren and the raft of redundancies. Its easy to forget things weren't great only a short time ago.

[mwillems]

I wonder, will tomorrow be the day the pictures surface? I'm excited to see the new Macca..

[eurwynf1]

I wonder, will tomorrow be the day the pictures surface? I'm excited to see the new Macca..

I hope so too, Imagine they changed concepts to zeropods but got it to work, Mika must of seen something to think we would fight with the Bulls

[the EDGE]

I’m hoping they’ve moved to a higher anti-dive suspension set-up, like Merc have done. That may have to wait until 2024 though

During Ted’s notebook at Canada he mentioned he believed a deal had been done to bring Rob Marshall into the team earlier than January 2024, I wonder whether this is true or not, as we’ve not heard anything about it yet

[MrGapes]

I’m hoping they’ve moved to a higher anti-dive suspension set-up, like Merc have done. That may have to wait until 2024 though

During Ted’s notebook at Canada he mentioned he believed a deal had been done to bring Rob Marshall into the team earlier than January 2024, I wonder whether this is true or not, as we’ve not heard anything about it yet

I don't think they would need Rob to implement a anti-dive suspension... Could probably see it in Hungary, its main purpose would be for aerodynamic gain.