2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Tomsky]

Andrea Stella [McLaren]: "Spa-Francorchamps is normally mentioned as one of the high speed tracks, but in reality, the higher speed corners are turn 10, which is flat out in qualifying."

"There is a lot of lap time in corner one, which is 80km/h, corner 8, which is 100km/h and the last chicane, which is 90km/h. So, I don’t want to repeat myself, but I go with some care in these three corners, we see that we loose time."

"It will be how rapidly you adapt your car to the demand of the track [because it's a Sprint weekend]. Spa is a very demanding track in terms of your understanding, for instance, your ride heights. Eau Rouge, you can’t run too low because otherwise you’ll have problems under the car. So, how rapidly you can adapt your car will influence the weekends performance."
@JunaidSamodien_

[Emag]

Anyone who has done any bit of simracing will know what Stella is talking about here.

Even after I felt comfortable with my speed in the track on assetto corsa gt servers in spa, I literally gained 1s of laptime just by looking how the top guys were taking T1 and the bus stop chicane.

The amount of laptime you can gain/lose there is astonishing.

[runningmanz]

Stella reckons Piastri's issue was more to do with the floor damage and that he might have done it multiple times not just with Perez.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/07/24/fl ... n-hungary/

Nice compliment from Stella:

“Oscar is a guy that doesn’t look for excuses,” Stella said.

Yep very calm and level headed too. Just gets on with the job.

[Seerix]

Lando actually mentioned over the weekend, that he is NOT looking forward to SPA turn 1 in particular.

[mclaren111]

Stella:

“Running over the kerb definitely here in Hungary creates damage to the floor,” he added when Speedcafe asked what damage Piastri had incurred.

“We see it because the floor is fully instrumented; there are a lot of pressure sensors and you can see the trace of these pressure sensors change, so you see that something has happened.

“And then you also measure the forces acting on the car, and we could see this not only in the pressure sensors but also on the forces measured through the pushrods.”

Surely they would've advised PIA during the race...

[CjC]

Lando actually mentioned over the weekend, that he is NOT looking forward to SPA turn 1 in particular.

I’m not surprised. The struggle from last year will be front and centre in his mind. It looked awful.

[LionsHeart]

I have some speculation that the mechanical upgrades the team talked about earlier may not even be the suspension. Or not just the suspension. Might be the brake cover. They also affect the amount of heat that is retained inside to keep the brakes warm and keep the tires at optimum temperatures.

Who knows, maybe the new tires affected the warming up of the tires and keeping the temperatures in the working window, which means they will have to make changes to the brake ducts and the casing itself. Perhaps the team wants a smoother start of the tires so as not to overshoot the optimal temperature window, which will favorably affect the racing pace.

[AMG.Tzan]

Does anyone remember in what position was Mclaren in the Constructors championship on July 1st?? Either 5th or 6th I think! The wind tunnel and CFD time they'll have for the rest of 2023 will be really important for 24 considering the huge jump they've already made now!

Norris is such a good driver! We already knew that but now he's got a car to show that! I was expecting Perez to eat him alive but probably Perez ate his tires alive and even Hamilton caught him in the end!

Piastri talked of damage! What damage did he have and where did he pick it up??

[LionsHeart]

Does anyone remember in what position was Mclaren in the Constructors championship on July 1st?? Either 5th or 6th I think! The wind tunnel and CFD time they'll have for the rest of 2023 will be really important for 24 considering the huge jump they've already made now!

Norris is such a good driver! We already knew that but now he's got a car to show that! I was expecting Perez to eat him alive but probably Perez ate his tires alive and even Hamilton caught him in the end!

Piastri talked of damage! What damage did he have and where did he pick it up??

6th position.

[AMG.Tzan]

Does anyone remember in what position was Mclaren in the Constructors championship on July 1st?? Either 5th or 6th I think! The wind tunnel and CFD time they'll have for the rest of 2023 will be really important for 24 considering the huge jump they've already made now!

Norris is such a good driver! We already knew that but now he's got a car to show that! I was expecting Perez to eat him alive but probably Perez ate his tires alive and even Hamilton caught him in the end!

Piastri talked of damage! What damage did he have and where did he pick it up??

6th position.

Great, that means 95% wind tunnel time IIRC!

Considering the jump Aston Martin made during the winter just by selecting the right development path, this could put Mclaren even closer to Red Bull next year

[LionsHeart]

Does anyone remember in what position was Mclaren in the Constructors championship on July 1st?? Either 5th or 6th I think! The wind tunnel and CFD time they'll have for the rest of 2023 will be really important for 24 considering the huge jump they've already made now!

Norris is such a good driver! We already knew that but now he's got a car to show that! I was expecting Perez to eat him alive but probably Perez ate his tires alive and even Hamilton caught him in the end!

Piastri talked of damage! What damage did he have and where did he pick it up??

6th position.

Great, that means 95% wind tunnel time IIRC!

Considering the jump Aston Martin made during the winter just by selecting the right development path, this could put Mclaren even closer to Red Bull next year

Yeah, that’s right! It even seemed to me at first that the team deliberately leaked the last season of Alpine and started badly this year in order to be able to work more with the car. But I quickly got rid of this thought. I remembered that the team was hit hard by the fact that in the technical regulations they made changes to the bottom, raising the edge by 15 mm, which affected efficiency and productivity.

[mwillems]

I have some speculation that the mechanical upgrades the team talked about earlier may not even be the suspension. Or not just the suspension. Might be the brake cover. They also affect the amount of heat that is retained inside to keep the brakes warm and keep the tires at optimum temperatures.

Who knows, maybe the new tires affected the warming up of the tires and keeping the temperatures in the working window, which means they will have to make changes to the brake ducts and the casing itself. Perhaps the team wants a smoother start of the tires so as not to overshoot the optimal temperature window, which will favorably affect the racing pace.

Wouldn't the brake cover be Aero and therefore described in the FIA upgrade docs? Everything inside might be different, but is still aero though, right?

The tires seem to warm up very quickly still, it is possibly the deformation of the tyre that has changed and improved as the sidewall has almost certainly become stronger and more rigid. Possibly there is also strengthening under the surface of the road gripping rubber and this could affect the transfer of heat. But if it was to do with how the brakes are able to pass heat to the tyres they'd jave had it under control a long time before, I think. I suspect it is more likely to do with how the car needs to be driven causing a lot of energy to go into the tyres.

[MrGapes]

Lando actually mentioned over the weekend, that he is NOT looking forward to SPA turn 1 in particular.

I’m not surprised. The struggle from last year will be front and centre in his mind. It looked awful.

That t1 was such a nightmare to watch ... Closes up through a 7km circuit, just to lose 4-5 tenths in one corner.

[LionsHeart]

I have some speculation that the mechanical upgrades the team talked about earlier may not even be the suspension. Or not just the suspension. Might be the brake cover. They also affect the amount of heat that is retained inside to keep the brakes warm and keep the tires at optimum temperatures.

Who knows, maybe the new tires affected the warming up of the tires and keeping the temperatures in the working window, which means they will have to make changes to the brake ducts and the casing itself. Perhaps the team wants a smoother start of the tires so as not to overshoot the optimal temperature window, which will favorably affect the racing pace.

Wouldn't the brake cover be Aero and therefore described in the FIA upgrade docs? Everything inside might be different, but is still aero though, right?

The tires seem to warm up very quickly still, it is possibly the deformation of the tyre that has changed and improved as the sidewall has almost certainly become stronger and more rigid. Possibly there is also strengthening under the surface of the road gripping rubber and this could affect the transfer of heat. But if it was to do with how the brakes are able to pass heat to the tyres they'd jave had it under control a long time before, I think. I suspect it is more likely to do with how the car needs to be driven causing a lot of energy to go into the tyres.

Perhaps I agree. With all of the above arguments. In theory, yes, this is an aero package, rather than a mechanical part. But looking at the analysis of tire degradation, McLaren is still where it was before, except that downforce significantly offsets the overall drop in racing pace. But the degree of tire degradation is still bad compared to other teams. But, Hungary turned out to be a very tough test given the soft tire compounds, hot weather and its most comfortable corners.

[FittingMechanics]

I watched Oscars start and Lando could have taken P1 after T1/T2 if he stayed on the inside. Risky to go to the outside with those two fighting. But easy to say in hindsight.

Good work by Oscar though.