2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

Why is it reasonable to assume that? I've looked at the telemetry for all sessions in qualifying and the car's best numbers came in Q3..

If you take Piastri's deleted laptime and either of Norris' deleted Q3 times you get McLaren's topspeed falling out as 317-318km/h

If you select the fastest valid laptimes set by each driver in qualifying (Norris' first run in Q2, Piastri's first run in Q3) you get top speeds of 314 km/h and 315 km/h which is what some of these data accounts on Twitter have done:

https://i.imgur.com/juWVWZX.png

Whereas if you look at simply when the drivers pushed the most:

https://i.imgur.com/BHjvmAT.png

If you look at when the top speeds were the highest you will have tows obfuscating matters: it was worth as much as 10km/h on the straight yesterday.

https://ibb.co/yQHJgRW

Yes.. that run was +5km/h on the main straight over every single other run that McLaren did in qualifying. I think we can deduce that there was a tow involved When the grip comes up in the final corner and the drivers push more the top speed starting the lap will be higher, hence Q3 top speeds being (ignoring the anomolous 323km/h) a few km/h higher than Q2/Q1.

Fair point but Piastri did a 319 without tow still and these times are taken from the fastest speed on the lap, they are not discriminating through sections of the track so those track positions are valid.

319 is the fastest no tow, certainly a decent speed.

Edit: Piastri also managed 321 on his 3rd fast lap. So I'm not so sure that 323 is with a tow, it's worth checking.

Speeds will have been impacted by exits from corners which will have been impacted by the very changeable wind conditions in some instances, looking just at Q3 to ascertain yesterdays speeds is possibly not as reliable an indicator as normal and certainly not for Mclaren lol

[PikeStance]

When it comes to qualifying Piastri is driving on par with Norris. On race day, Norris is well ahead. When all said I’m done, I’m expecting Piastri to be better.

bit speculative imo. Im a lando fan so will always fight his corner, but I do feel like it's the "good" or media-backed at least opinion now to say lando is overrated and class Piastri as the next Hamilton. Whilst Oscar is a phenomenal talent, I wouldn't write off Lando in any way.

OMG, you sure love your hyperbole.
F1 is a team sport and just like every team, it is always more than one guy. Lando is doing what is expected. With a car that can perform, he is earning the podium. If he does that who gives a flying rear end what people think. I think people give media pundits way too much credit.

Anyway, if share your expectation by definition that’s speculative,.. I mean you are practically begging for a Captain Obvious award there.

[PikeStance]

It’s a little bit of an overreaction to track limits. The track was tricky all day. Let’s see if they can bounce back with the sprint. I think with our new found race pace we can still be a factor for a podium on Sunday.

The quotes in here are largely talking about the season so far and the last 6 races, not one event. Of course if this was a one off it would be an overreaction but the conversation hasn't be about one qualifying.

Ok, sure let’s move the goal post. Channeling my inner Lt. Colombo, track limits have not been an issue. Both drivers have been qualifying well when driving the “same car” and Norris has been driving a better race pace all year. Minus the track limits, the same is playing out. So it doesn’t make sense to have this conversation. Anyway,…

[mwillems]

It’s a little bit of an overreaction to track limits. The track was tricky all day. Let’s see if they can bounce back with the sprint. I think with our new found race pace we can still be a factor for a podium on Sunday.

The quotes in here are largely talking about the season so far and the last 6 races, not one event. Of course if this was a one off it would be an overreaction but the conversation hasn't be about one qualifying.

Ok, sure let’s move the goal post. Channeling my inner Lt. Colombo, track limits have not been an issue. Both drivers have been qualifying well when driving the “same car” and Norris has been driving a better race pace all year. Minus the track limits, the same is playing out. So it doesn’t make sense to have this conversation. Anyway,…

Almost all of this has been about the season you're just beign lazy, if you don't want to read and understand what people are saying then just don't get involved or be ignored. As for the rest of your answer, it's got nothing to do with what we are talking about, the distinction was made already between race and Q, and the fact this is about consistency and not race pace.

[mwillems]

Why is it reasonable to assume that? I've looked at the telemetry for all sessions in qualifying and the car's best numbers came in Q3..

If you take Piastri's deleted laptime and either of Norris' deleted Q3 times you get McLaren's topspeed falling out as 317-318km/h

If you select the fastest valid laptimes set by each driver in qualifying (Norris' first run in Q2, Piastri's first run in Q3) you get top speeds of 314 km/h and 315 km/h which is what some of these data accounts on Twitter have done:

https://i.imgur.com/juWVWZX.png

Whereas if you look at simply when the drivers pushed the most:

https://i.imgur.com/BHjvmAT.png

If you look at when the top speeds were the highest you will have tows obfuscating matters: it was worth as much as 10km/h on the straight yesterday.

https://ibb.co/yQHJgRW

Yes.. that run was +5km/h on the main straight over every single other run that McLaren did in qualifying. I think we can deduce that there was a tow involved When the grip comes up in the final corner and the drivers push more the top speed starting the lap will be higher, hence Q3 top speeds being (ignoring the anomolous 323km/h) a few km/h higher than Q2/Q1.

I downloaded the telemetry, Landos speed of 323 was set without a tow, the nearest guy was 2000m away.

I've added the files here and will be available for 7 days

https://easyupload.io/m/omtnob

We are going to have a very competitive race and I think the package of the car was improved at Singapore, who's main benefits appear to be low speed and straight line speed, largely through better handling of the front tyre wake.

[PikeStance]

The quotes in here are largely talking about the season so far and the last 6 races, not one event. Of course if this was a one off it would be an overreaction but the conversation hasn't be about one qualifying.

Ok, sure let’s move the goal post. Channeling my inner Lt. Colombo, track limits have not been an issue. Both drivers have been qualifying well when driving the “same car” and Norris has been driving a better race pace all year. Minus the track limits, the same is playing out. So it doesn’t make sense to have this conversation. Anyway,…

Nobody is moving the goalpost, you're just not reading and that's your issue.

It’s strange how mature you handle differences when it related to aerodynamics discussions but everything else you resort to juvenile ad homs.

[mwillems]

Ok, sure let’s move the goal post. Channeling my inner Lt. Colombo, track limits have not been an issue. Both drivers have been qualifying well when driving the “same car” and Norris has been driving a better race pace all year. Minus the track limits, the same is playing out. So it doesn’t make sense to have this conversation. Anyway,…

Nobody is moving the goalpost, you're just not reading and that's your issue.

It’s strange how mature you handle differences when it related to aerodynamics discussions but everything else you resort to juvenile ad homs.

If you read the last comment in a discussion as if that represents the whole discussion then expect to look silly. I lose patience with people too lazy to read a discussion at then to throw dismissive remarks and add nothing whilst missing the point entirely. Speaking of maturity I notice also your condescending remark to MclVamos as I quote below...

"OMG, you sure love your hyperbole"
...
"Anyway, if share your expectation by definition that’s speculative,.. I mean you are practically begging for a Captain Obvious award there."

So I think you get back the respect that dish out, no?

[BMMR61]

Major concerns by Pirelli about sidewall flex on kerbs leading to potential delamination according to The Race.
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-q ... hree-stop/
If limits are put on number of laps allowed per tyre then three stops will become necessary if not made mandatory. Three stops will provide greater undercut opportunity for our beleaguered McLaren drivers in the main race. Meantime, the sprint shootout and sprint race will give opportunities for redemption - surely the McLaren is the second fastest car on this track. It certainly looked pretty planted in the high speed turns.

[organic]

If they force a 3-stopper it might hurt McLaren in the sense that alternative strategies will be difficult, but the increased number of pitstops should mean that there are more opportunities to pass with under/overcuts and get clean air

[mclaren111]

When it comes to qualifying Piastri is driving on par with Norris. On race day, Norris is well ahead. When all said I’m done, I’m expecting Piastri to be better.

bit speculative imo. Im a lando fan so will always fight his corner, but I do feel like it's the "good" or media-backed at least opinion now to say lando is overrated and class Piastri as the next Hamilton. Whilst Oscar is a phenomenal talent, I wouldn't write off Lando in any way.

Hamilton are totally overrated...

[organic]

Very high speed corners T12-T13 due to come down by about 20km/h (as a result of changes to track limits) which is where McLaren were losing a chunk of time to max yesterday. Could be closer in sprint quali/sprint as a result

[Szabi1112]

If they force a 3-stopper it might hurt McLaren in the sense that alternative strategies will be difficult, but the increased number of pitstops should mean that there are more opportunities to pass with under/overcuts and get clean air

If you are enable to protect the tyres well or better than the others, it means you will be faster in the same stint. So its not a problem.

[BMMR61]

With the chat about Lando making too many qualifying mistakes, well not setting a time is almost unforgivable. However, conditions were pretty atrocious and practice time limited, rubbering minimal, and in the final rundown, even mighty Max went off on his final run and abandoned it. Character building!

[organic]

If they force a 3-stopper it might hurt McLaren in the sense that alternative strategies will be difficult, but the increased number of pitstops should mean that there are more opportunities to pass with under/overcuts and get clean air

If you are enable to protect the tyres well or better than the others, it means you will be faster in the same stint. So its not a problem.

Qatar is a tyre wear limited circuit, rather than tyre degradation as far as I understand it. In other words it's about the gauge of the rubber wearing down, rather than the tyre losing performance due to thermal effects.

So the effect is that laptimes don't drop as much until the end of the stints when you really lose laptime. The mandatory 3-stop to avoid sidewall damage would prevent anyone running into tyre wear problems and make protecting the tyres less relevant

[mwillems]

Everyone is understandably focussed on the race, but given what we saw yesterday, I'm optimistic for a good sprint and very much looking forward to it. We have another chance to get on the front row and a realistic shot at a first win, albeit a sprint win. And no doubt we will all learn about the tyres today when we see just how well they hold out. I'm not usually excited by a sprint, but today I am.