2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[organic]

Wait to see if the race comes back to us. The figures I see show about 5kph slower than RedBull, others including Ferrari have opted for less drag. Do we really think with our limited data we know better how to setup the car? The team has earned our respect.

In sprint quali (ie no drs activations) the top speeds are as follows:

[AR3-GP]

With the higher DF - would people have not expected piastri’s tyres to look better than Max’s for example?

To be honest, I think Oscar just wanted to lead a few laps.

[Farnborough]

With the higher DF - would people have not expected piastri’s tyres to look better than Max’s for example?

Can it deploy greater load than RB though ?

MV quoted "OP was driving like a drift car" and those tyres from Piastri show tearing from lateral load, the outer presented edges are torn on tread blocks on right front for example.

Rear on RB looks like it's running less camber too, inside edge is virtually untouched on that rear compared to other two. Effectively presented the whole tread surface to track more of the time to avoid localised heating there.

[mwillems]

The car is not as bad as some people make it out to be. My point is that one maximum speed is not enough for a high pace in the race. To do this, you can take the example of Williams or Aston. They have a higher maximum speed, but there is not enough speed either in qualifying or in the race. Many compare McLaren with Red Bull, although this is incorrect. In the constructors' championship, we are trying to catch up with Aston and Ferrari. That's their speed to rely on. Do not forget where the team was in the first 6-7 races. I especially note the disgusting racing pace. Now the car has more downforce, better grip, lower tire wear.

Red Bull has been in their own league all season. Yes, it is good to strive for their results, but at the moment we are unable to do so. Let's wait for the next updates and see how they work. McLaren chose for himself the optimal balance of downforce and drag for the weekend, knowing that the weekend will be rainy. Even if the race is dry, the track will be cold, green, there will be little grip, it is more difficult to warm up the tires, the cars will slide, tire wear will be increased.

Before chasing Red Bull, McLaren must become consistently the second most powerful team and only then look forward, step by step to close the gap with Red Bull. With regards to race pace, I'm sure the car will not be very slow. In the first sector there is an opportunity to open the wing, in the second sector we are fast, in the third we do not lose much. So holding on to faster opponents will be difficult, but possible.

It remains to be seen who and how set up their car. Are all teams ready for the race? And for a wet race or a dry one? Complex issue. How many pit stops will there be in the race? One or two? Who will wear out tires faster? You should not judge the racing pace and the capabilities of cars only by one maximum speed. F1 is not a nascar or a drag race, here you also need to slow down and quickly take turns.

Personally, I'm not sure yet whether the car will be capable of bringing Lando or Oscar to the podium, but we will not be slow. It is a fact. The third qualifying segment was held on slicks in cool conditions. And we were not the slowest there. If the team even finishes in 4th or 6th positions, I won't be disappointed because for more consistent and consistent podiums, you need an overall faster car. Almost every race weekend, the nominee for the title of "second force in the peloton" moves from one team to another.

Comparisons to Red Bull are relevant in my view. We are in a development race to become the fastest car and the benchmark to exceed is the Red Bull. No point just trying to beat AM.

In terms of top speed there are a great many tracks where there are enough corners versus straight that the DF we run with and the drag it creates is fine. But at Spa it is a big deficit.

It isn't the end of the world but it is part of the Aero efficiency equation. If we have more DF from the floor we can run less wing. There is probably more that can be done to make the aero more efficient but I don't think we are inefficient. I think that the RB creates monstrous downforce that helps them look after tyres and run close behind cars.

[mwillems]

With the higher DF - would people have not expected piastri’s tyres to look better than Max’s for example?

Can it deploy greater load than RB though ?

MV quoted "OP was driving like a drift car" and those tyres from Piastri show tearing from lateral load, the outer presented edges are torn on tread blocks on right front for example.

Rear on RB looks like it's running less camber too, inside edge is virtually untouched on that rear compared to other two. Effectively presented the whole tread surface to track more of the time to avoid localised heating there.

Those tyres are pushed harder to the ground than any car by dome distance, and are kept flat, the car does not roll.

[Darth-Piekus]

All I can say is rejoice everyone. This car two years now struggled to get to the top 10 being 4th fastest at best in a few occasions while being almost dead last to races like Spa. To leapfrog so many with just one upgrade and stay constantly second fastest only behind the Red Bull of Max Verstapen is in my opinion one of the best turnarounds in history. The others kept bringing updates after Austria and still we managed to keep the car in front. That is so far remarkable. It proves that infrastructure alone doesnt make you best team. All we needed is to replace personel that kept the team back and help release the full potential of those who can make a difference. So the full potential is unleashed and if they could cover up that much with just one upgrade made on the old infrastructure what kind of car could they create with the new up to date tunnel and simulator.

[mwillems]

Yes this is the most competitive car we have had for over a decade.

Don't get cocky though, or assume that other teams can't at any point out develop us.

[Dafnalina]

Before the last chicane, Piastri is ahead of Sainz by 0.224, losing 2 tenths to Sainz in the chicane alone… Lando actually loses 1 tenth against Piastri in the chicane also.

By the time they hit the chicane, Lando was matching Sainz in terms of lap time (almost identical)… And as an additional reference point, Piastri loses 1 tenth to Hamilton also at the chicane

That is fascinating. S1 I could see, but the chicane is unexpected for me.

Didn’t someone say Lando ran into traffic?

He was stuck behind Perez the entire lap and likely had dirty air, but I don't know how much of an impact that could've had.

I think the Mercedes will be much better in the dry. I don't see how the boys can make up positions tomorrow, maybe if Ferrari fumbles their strategy. But good luck to them

[djos]

Epic job by Oscar! So good to see him finally get a podium result!

[Farnborough]

All I can say is rejoice everyone. This car two years now struggled to get to the top 10 being 4th fastest at best in a few occasions while being almost dead last to races like Spa. To leapfrog so many with just one upgrade and stay constantly second fastest only behind the Red Bull of Max Verstapen is in my opinion one of the best turnarounds in history. The others kept bringing updates after Austria and still we managed to keep the car in front. That is so far remarkable. It proves that infrastructure alone doesnt make you best team. All we needed is to replace personel that kept the team back and help release the full potential of those who can make a difference. So the full potential is unleashed and if they could cover up that much with just one upgrade made on the old infrastructure what kind of car could they create with the new up to date tunnel and simulator.

It's definitely looking more and more competent by the race, as each different circuit ticks off.

It may seem like semantics, but will try to make the point that it's not an "upgrade" as such, bur a whole design switch that looks like the floor philosophy shifted to get here.
There's comments about last year and realised the development of their 2022 into this year was not going to yeald the gains they were looking to build into the 2023 chassis, and then noted the arrival at Bahrain of the wrong design as it had effectively gone through planning, build etc before the noted change in direction of the team.
This one looks to have comprehensively adopted the RB type floor theory (presumably they made comparison in their tunnel of the two concept that then caused the design switch to be considered) we then see the practical time frame of development, integration, production and arrival at track in rolling out this direction and removal of last concept traces as the final details arrive.

Certainly impressive, and the further we get into it the more it looks like they've hauled themselves out of the bog and up onto the higher plateau of genuine performance. It's the development from here that's going to define whether they can challenge RB fully over coming races.
A true reset of basic design direction nonetheless.

[Tzk]

All we needed is to replace personel that kept the team back and help release the full potential of those who can make a difference.

It's not only about the personel or the infrastructure. It's everything: The tools, the people, the right development path AND the personal making the right choices while using/developing the available tools at McL. RB nailed it, McL too.

The best windtunnel and cfd tools won't help if you can't get them to correlate with the real car. The best personel doesn't help if they don't have a calibrated tunnel and cfd. And so on. It's always the sum of all the little things they're using.

Have a look over to ferrari. Seems like they got the right tools, but can't get them to work properly. Same for the mercs and the underfloor airflow and vortex generation.

[LionsHeart]

I looked at the weather forecast: the probability of rain is 60-80%. I was expecting dry weather, but the Spa never ceases to amaze.

[FittingMechanics]

With the higher DF - would people have not expected piastri’s tyres to look better than Max’s for example?

Piastri switched to used inters.
Max switched to new inters.

Max did 1 less lap on them.
Max runs a RB - it is high DF compared to rest even when running lower DF setup.

[CjC]

It’s quite conclusive that Mclaren are running too much wing now for Spa:

https://the-race.com/formula-1/whats-co ... straights/

Stella says it wasn’t Mclarens main priority to develop a wing for this drag level considering they had the huge task of adding all that downforce they lacked earlier in the season.
I guess they just ran out of resource in time for Spa. Which is understandable

[FittingMechanics]

It’s quite conclusive that Mclaren are running too much wing now for Spa:

https://the-race.com/formula-1/whats-co ... straights/

Stella says it wasn’t Mclarens main priority to develop a wing for this drag level considering they had the huge task of adding all that downforce they lacked earlier in the season.
I guess they just ran out of resource in time for Spa. Which is understandable

Still we got P5 and P7 for race and P2 and P5 in Sprint race.

Not a bad showing. Top 6 in race would make this a great weekend.