2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

The only valid reason they would've let Lando through at that point imo was to challenge Max. In hindsight if Lando was let past he may have been closer to him when Max had his slow last stop, but Max probably would have been clear either way. Anyway, who cares, both our drivers are performing amazing and we have another double podium. Don't get drawn in to all the toxic nonsense pushed by non-McLaren fans on Twitter.

Eh, what toxic nonsense?

[mwillems]

McLaren are looking like 2024 WCC candidates if Red Bull keep Checo in their 2nd car.

Could be Tracing Point all over again, Checo Stroll!

[Ben1980]

When they came close a few races back, Andrea was pretty clear that he doesn't want them racing, and that the team comes first, no fing around.

[mwillems]

When they came close a few races back, Andrea was pretty clear that he doesn't want them racing, and that the team comes first, no fing around.

Hmmm, I need to look at that, I thought he was more concerned about how they nearly made contact than trying to overtake.

[Slahinki]

I think today we were the closest competition Red Bull have had all season, and our pace had them rattled considering the uncharacteristic mistake they made during Verstappen's last pit stop. With this in mind I think it's a shame the team didn't let the faster driver through to give it a go. With the gap we had behind, swapping back in case of it not working out would have been safe too. Honestly has me feeling disappointed. Team showed a lack of agressive spirit today, even if the result is still great.

[blastdoman]

Great race by both drivers. Special mention for Lando who had a brutal pace, especially with the yellow tire in the third stint. We will never know if starting second he would have been able to challenge Max for the victory.

Great team in the pits too.

Very happy

[mwillems]

With a 2 and 3 on the start grid and a free tyre choice we could have gone hunting.

I'm not sure life could have been made much easier than what happened at the start. Only Lando had to fight to get 3rd but that was fairly routine.

Don't want to take anything from Oscar's performance today, but on a clean race with Lando starting alongside Max today, I think we would have given RedBull a run for their money. Especially with their botched pistop in the end.

Lando was faster than Max (on clear air) on the first stint before McLaren pit him to cover slower cars, which I think was a mistake. Highly likely that Max had more pace in hand, because he didn't really have to risk anything to push hard, but I am a bit bummed we didn't get the chance to see the real gap between the cars today.

And with Lando right behind him, I think Max would have been forced to go a bit harder.

Not to bang on but that's why he needs to nail the Qualy, unfortunately he got his due place today, I'd have rather seen Lando challenge max as he has more race pace and I'm a Brit Still, I don't think he'd have got past Max, but it would have been good to watch.

[MCLvamos]

COTA might suit us tbh. No real slow corners. Red Bull will be mighty on the straights and on deg too probably. Got to remember that this 3 stop mandate played into our hands because there was no advantage to being easy on the tyres, Max even talked about it.

[Darth-Piekus]

Actually we might have fixed that straight problem decifit.

[LionsHeart]

Overall here in Qatar we had the highest chances. The guys discussed this earlier. To summarize: great race pace from Lando and Oscar, many thanks to the team for building such a fast car. The updates are working well. The only thing unclear is how much closer our drivers could have been if they had started from 2nd and 4th place. Maybe it would have been a little bit harder for Max. In the race, his race engineer asked him to increase the race pace, and that's an indication that they are starting to feel the pressure.

Fastest pitstop in 1.8 seconds on 18-inch wheels, that's impressive. The rest of the pit stops were no more than 2.5 seconds as well, if I remember correctly. Very high consistency from the mechanics, special bravo for them! Next year all sorts of things could happen, as both Red Bull and McLaren stopped updating this year's chassis at about the same time. Next year, maybe the difference will be even smaller, we'll see, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself as I'm a bad predictor.

It's going to be harder on the COTA track. I think it's gonna be Suzuka all over again. There is a bunch of slow corners in sector 3, where McLaren may have a little trouble.

[Emag]

Looking at post race interviews, Leclerc acknowledged that they did not expect McLaren to be as strong as they were here. With kind of a shocked face when prompted by the interviewer regarding McLaren's pace he said "McLaren is very strong".

Post race, even though he finished behind Russell, he asked for the gap to McLaren. When his engineer told him it was over 30s, his response was "Oh my god".

Ferrari is a bit too far to catch at this point, but still, it feels good to be acknowledged by a team which started last year as the favorite for the championship, and also this year, has been completely out of reach for the better part of the season for McLaren.

[mwillems]

Overall here in Qatar we had the highest chances. The guys discussed this earlier. To summarize: great race pace from Lando and Oscar, many thanks to the team for building such a fast car. The updates are working well. The only thing unclear is how much closer our drivers could have been if they had started from 2nd and 4th place. Maybe it would have been a little bit harder for Max. In the race, his race engineer asked him to increase the race pace, and that's an indication that they are starting to feel the pressure.

Fastest pitstop in 1.8 seconds on 18-inch wheels, that's impressive. The rest of the pit stops were no more than 2.5 seconds as well, if I remember correctly. Very high consistency from the mechanics, special bravo for them! Next year all sorts of things could happen, as both Red Bull and McLaren stopped updating this year's chassis at about the same time. Next year, maybe the difference will be even smaller, we'll see, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself as I'm a bad predictor.

It's going to be harder on the COTA track. I think it's gonna be Suzuka all over again. There is a bunch of slow corners in sector 3, where McLaren may have a little trouble.

https://i.ibb.co/SVNb3jB/8-DE60-F3-A-A7 ... -B4408.jpg

Nice summary, thanks.


Lando was consistently faster in the race than Oscar. Piastri was not managing the gap at the end, you can see, Lando let up as per team orders.

Look at that last lap from Max, gives you the evidence you need to know he could have banged those laps in much earlier if he'd wanted to.

[Xero]

Really having "pinch myself" moment while watching the Sky coverage. Ended with Max talking up McLaren and how they need to improve to keep them at bay. The start of the season seems so long ago now, it's simply astonishing where the team now find themselves. Best ever progress during a F1 season?

COTA will probably bring Ferrari and Mercedes closer, but will be a clearer validation of the last upgrade fixing low speed troubles.

[mwillems]

In the fastest laps for Max, Lando and Oscar, the difference was only in top speed, over the rest of the lap it was comparable.

[LionsHeart]

Overall here in Qatar we had the highest chances. The guys discussed this earlier. To summarize: great race pace from Lando and Oscar, many thanks to the team for building such a fast car. The updates are working well. The only thing unclear is how much closer our drivers could have been if they had started from 2nd and 4th place. Maybe it would have been a little bit harder for Max. In the race, his race engineer asked him to increase the race pace, and that's an indication that they are starting to feel the pressure.

Fastest pitstop in 1.8 seconds on 18-inch wheels, that's impressive. The rest of the pit stops were no more than 2.5 seconds as well, if I remember correctly. Very high consistency from the mechanics, special bravo for them! Next year all sorts of things could happen, as both Red Bull and McLaren stopped updating this year's chassis at about the same time. Next year, maybe the difference will be even smaller, we'll see, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself as I'm a bad predictor.

It's going to be harder on the COTA track. I think it's gonna be Suzuka all over again. There is a bunch of slow corners in sector 3, where McLaren may have a little trouble.

https://i.ibb.co/SVNb3jB/8-DE60-F3-A-A7 ... -B4408.jpg

Nice summary, thanks.


Lando was consistently faster in the race than Oscar. Piastri was not managing the gap at the end, you can see, Lando let up as per team orders.

Look at that last lap from Max, gives you the evidence you need to know he could have banged those laps in much earlier if he'd wanted to.

Yes, I agree. But this was the best race from McLaren this year. Pretty much collected all the bonuses, considering the sprint points. So I'm doubly impressed and delighted with today's race.