2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[organic]

Sounds like they will be making a proper low downforce wing for Monza and Vegas. Shame it wasn't ready for this race but can understand considering the recent upgrade package

Yep, that sounds like the quandary they were in: produce a whole package for 2 races, and lose out in 1 (Spa), or produce a half-and-half package that would've sort of worked in all races, but (a) not maximised points, and (b) not allowed them to fully test the step change the upgrade provided.

Spa was painful, no doubt But Lando maintaining P7 was pretty awesome! Some issues with the car (hards and steering, the commentators mentioned), and then stretching out those softs at the end. When I saw them put on the softs with 26 laps to go you could see the paths strategy might take, and I really thought at that point it was a massive roll of the dice to stretch them out, but they made it work.

Such a damn shame for Piastri, but he showed his quality during other parts of the weekend.

The call to put Norris on softs at precisely the time they did was a masterstroke really. Norris was at times 3-4s quicker than the frontrunners in those wet laps. It allowed him to make up some of the time they lost from awful start of the race

And the track in the 2nd half of the race seemed not to be hurting the tyres as much as the first half. Of course that always happens as fuel burns off, but it was extreme. I think it must've rubbered in quickly and not too badly affected by the rain. Really helped the long soft stint

To an extent it was a gamble to hope the softs would last 26 laps, but it really paid off despite the risk

Very cool strategy. IMO the team is proving itself to be operationally very strong even under greater scrutiny & pressure (that comes from having a faster car)

[Mostlyeels]

The call to put Norris on softs at precisely that time was a masterstroke really. Norris was at times 3-4s quicker than the frontrunners in those wet laps.

And the track in the 2nd half of the race seemed not to be hurting the tyres as much as the first half. Of course that always happens as fuel burns off, but it was extreme. I think it must've rubbered in quickly and not too badly affected by the rain. Really helped the long soft stint

Yes, though at the time I had grave doubts! It seemed to work on multiple levels, and in the end took the perfect marriage of car, driver, and strategy to bring it home. And in the meantime other drivers on other strategies were moving through the field -- really an awesome end to the race, in some ways.

[Mostlyeels]

Very cool strategy. IMO the team is proving itself to be operationally very strong even under greater scrutiny & pressure (that comes from having a faster car)

The massive success of the team in the previous two races has really enabled them to take strategic gambles like this: success breed success! I think it really gives them momentum, coming into the second half of the year.

[FittingMechanics]

About the "steering issue". I was surprised that it came up here as I didn't hear any mention of it by Lando during the race. Now watching his post race interview he is quite surprised when Rachel asked him about the steering issue. So I guess there was no issue or at least it was not something that Lando would notice.

[LionsHeart]

About the "steering issue". I was surprised that it came up here as I didn't hear any mention of it by Lando during the race. Now watching his post race interview he is quite surprised when Rachel asked him about the steering issue. So I guess there was no issue or at least it was not something that Lando would notice.

Interesting

[Stig14]

About the "steering issue". I was surprised that it came up here as I didn't hear any mention of it by Lando during the race. Now watching his post race interview he is quite surprised when Rachel asked him about the steering issue. So I guess there was no issue or at least it was not something that Lando would notice.

I think the commentators got confused. I was watching onboard with Lando the whole race and they were giving him lots of switch suggestions in the first two stints to try and manage the diff / energy deployment / brake balance etc. I never got the impression there was an issue but instead were trying to help optimise the car.

[basti313]

Very cool strategy. IMO the team is proving itself to be operationally very strong even under greater scrutiny & pressure (that comes from having a faster car)

The massive success of the team in the previous two races has really enabled them to take strategic gambles like this: success breed success! I think it really gives them momentum, coming into the second half of the year.

Well, I get whay you are excited, but the reality is different and the post race interviews sounded completely different:
- They got the setup completely wrong. Much too much drag for the race.
- They got the strategy wrong with gambling on Hards and having to do an early stop because they were a sitting duck on the Kemmel.
- They just lucked into the Soft strategy because of the rain.

We need to be realistic....the Saturday was just great, but with this car and without the light rain it would have been hard to get a point on Sunday after the error at the start.

[Balalu]

A bit of luck with the rain, but excellent call (softs) by the team. This team is really comming strong in all aspects.

[bauc]

Very cool strategy. IMO the team is proving itself to be operationally very strong even under greater scrutiny & pressure (that comes from having a faster car)

The massive success of the team in the previous two races has really enabled them to take strategic gambles like this: success breed success! I think it really gives them momentum, coming into the second half of the year.

Well, I get whay you are excited, but the reality is different and the post race interviews sounded completely different:
- They got the setup completely wrong. Much too much drag for the race.
- They got the strategy wrong with gambling on Hards and having to do an early stop because they were a sitting duck on the Kemmel.
- They just lucked into the Soft strategy because of the rain.

We need to be realistic....the Saturday was just great, but with this car and without the light rain it would have been hard to get a point on Sunday after the error at the start.

They gambled with wet conditions and they missed it, its a learning process. I still see positives from this weekend. When the car is in the right window, is very close to the RRB.

[basti313]

The massive success of the team in the previous two races has really enabled them to take strategic gambles like this: success breed success! I think it really gives them momentum, coming into the second half of the year.

Well, I get whay you are excited, but the reality is different and the post race interviews sounded completely different:
- They got the setup completely wrong. Much too much drag for the race.
- They got the strategy wrong with gambling on Hards and having to do an early stop because they were a sitting duck on the Kemmel.
- They just lucked into the Soft strategy because of the rain.

We need to be realistic....the Saturday was just great, but with this car and without the light rain it would have been hard to get a point on Sunday after the error at the start.

They gambled with wet conditions and they missed it, its a learning process. I still see positives from this weekend. When the car is in the right window, is very close to the RRB.

I did not see this. To me the truth is still from Hungary and there they were close, but behind the Merc in overall pace.
Spa you can not judge. They looked really good in the wet because of the setup. Without rain both cars would have had a tough stand to get into the points. No idea how you want to make a "close to RB" out of this as the RB setup was clearly set for the mostly dry race.
They also did not do a low drag setup, so no chance in Monza. But I guess Netherlands will be good...still no ides if better or worse than the Merc. No need to get overexcited.

[Swed3121]

Well, I get whay you are excited, but the reality is different and the post race interviews sounded completely different:
- They got the setup completely wrong. Much too much drag for the race.
- They got the strategy wrong with gambling on Hards and having to do an early stop because they were a sitting duck on the Kemmel.
- They just lucked into the Soft strategy because of the rain.

We need to be realistic....the Saturday was just great, but with this car and without the light rain it would have been hard to get a point on Sunday after the error at the start.

They gambled with wet conditions and they missed it, its a learning process. I still see positives from this weekend. When the car is in the right window, is very close to the RRB.

I did not see this. To me the truth is still from Hungary and there they were close, but behind the Merc in overall pace.
Spa you can not judge. They looked really good in the wet because of the setup. Without rain both cars would have had a tough stand to get into the points. No idea how you want to make a "close to RB" out of this as the RB setup was clearly set for the mostly dry race.
They also did not do a low drag setup, so no chance in Monza. But I guess Netherlands will be good...still no ides if better or worse than the Merc. No need to get overexcited.

„They did not do a low drag setup so no chance in Monza“

You do realize that between now and then there is a summer break and that teams can develop and build parts during the season.

[basti313]

They gambled with wet conditions and they missed it, its a learning process. I still see positives from this weekend. When the car is in the right window, is very close to the RRB.

I did not see this. To me the truth is still from Hungary and there they were close, but behind the Merc in overall pace.
Spa you can not judge. They looked really good in the wet because of the setup. Without rain both cars would have had a tough stand to get into the points. No idea how you want to make a "close to RB" out of this as the RB setup was clearly set for the mostly dry race.
They also did not do a low drag setup, so no chance in Monza. But I guess Netherlands will be good...still no ides if better or worse than the Merc. No need to get overexcited.

„They did not do a low drag setup so no chance in Monza“

You do realize that between now and then there is a summer break and that teams can develop and build parts during the season.

1. Not during the summer break.
2. Both Ferrari and Merc used the Monza wing. Makes only sense if it is there, it does not make sense to use a Monza wing only for Monza. If you have a low drag wing you use it in Spa and Monza, this is done since ~3years like this.

[organic]

I did not see this. To me the truth is still from Hungary and there they were close, but behind the Merc in overall pace.
Spa you can not judge. They looked really good in the wet because of the setup. Without rain both cars would have had a tough stand to get into the points. No idea how you want to make a "close to RB" out of this as the RB setup was clearly set for the mostly dry race.
They also did not do a low drag setup, so no chance in Monza. But I guess Netherlands will be good...still no ides if better or worse than the Merc. No need to get overexcited.

„They did not do a low drag setup so no chance in Monza“

You do realize that between now and then there is a summer break and that teams can develop and build parts during the season.

1. Not during the summer break.
2. Both Ferrari and Merc used the Monza wing. Makes only sense if it is there, it does not make sense to use a Monza wing only for Monza. If you have a low drag wing you use it in Spa and Monza, this is done since ~3years like this.

Only 2 of the 4 weeks are required to have the factory shut down. So it is possible that they can manufacture the low df rear wing before Monza.

It's worth noting that with Vegas' addition to the calendar and is likely to stay around, there is now another track where you need a very low downforce RW. This makes having a suitable spec wing for these races more appealing and more important.

Besides, it's quite clear that components can be carried across seasons; a Monza spec wing developed in the next few weeks and brought this year can still be used at Monza, spa and Vegas next year as well. The regulations are stable

[FittingMechanics]

About the "steering issue". I was surprised that it came up here as I didn't hear any mention of it by Lando during the race. Now watching his post race interview he is quite surprised when Rachel asked him about the steering issue. So I guess there was no issue or at least it was not something that Lando would notice.

I think the commentators got confused. I was watching onboard with Lando the whole race and they were giving him lots of switch suggestions in the first two stints to try and manage the diff / energy deployment / brake balance etc. I never got the impression there was an issue but instead were trying to help optimise the car.

Ah yes, this might be it.

Engineer was giving Lando suggestions every lap or so, Lando was quite frustrated and thus the TV team decided to release that one message where he say "mate it's not working". My guess is they were trying to improve deployment to be faster on the straight as this was the part of the race where he was getting overtaken every lap.

[CjC]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10502520/

Don’t worry, there’s no rolling over and taking it from these guys.
They say they’ll have a low DF wing for Monza