2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[MCLvamos]

Agreed the mediums were never enough to make it through

At least there is an easy decision to take a new engine now.

I mean his lap on the mediums was going to be good enough to get him through comfortably (judging by the mini sectors literally up until the last corner). Not sure why they made him abort, it's not like they were in a rush to turn around for the next run, he was sat in the garage for a good 5 minutes after that. Mistakes from Lando, yes, but very strange and in my opinion poor session management from the team.\

Also, watch them not take the engine pen. It seems a no-brainer but I have this horrible feeling that they won't do it.

[djos]

Great work by Oscar to get into Q3, however, I think the track temps dropping at the start of Q3 really hurt his lap times.

Shame for Lando to get bumped so early tho, he looked to be overdriving the car a bit and it really cost him on that first soft tire run.

[organic]

On Norris' onboard in Q1, Lando begins to back out for the yellow flag and then his engineer tells Lando to 'keep pushing'

[AR3-GP]

On Norris' onboard in Q1, Lando begins to back out for the yellow flag and then his engineer tells Lando to 'keep pushing'

Wasn’t there that one time in Imola ‘22 where Verstappen got pole with a yellow out for Bottas or something like that?

[MCLvamos]

On Norris' onboard in Q1, Lando begins to back out for the yellow flag and then his engineer tells Lando to 'keep pushing'

Wasn’t there that one time in Imola ‘22 where Verstappen got pole with a yellow out for Bottas or something like that?

Yeah, but that was in the wet with wider margins between cars. Here, a lift through one of those mini-straights (where Alonso was) pretty much meant your lap was over

[AR3-GP]

On Norris' onboard in Q1, Lando begins to back out for the yellow flag and then his engineer tells Lando to 'keep pushing'

Wasn’t there that one time in Imola ‘22 where Verstappen got pole with a yellow out for Bottas or something like that?

Yeah, but that was in the wet with wider margins between cars. Here, a lift through one of those mini-straights (where Alonso was) pretty much meant your lap was over

right, thank you that’s a big difference. I had forgotten that it was semi-wet

[BMMR61]

It looks like it’s safe to come out without all the moaning! Yeah it was a bit of a shitstorm to abandon the mediums run which looked far from rubbish. Q3 really shouldn’t produce too much for a car driver combination like that. Yes the times were quite close but Seargent, the Astons and the Haases should not have been an obstacle. Lando was perplexed about the decision to box without completing the lap. Oscar on his medium run said it wasn’t a good (representative) lap.

What happened to the conditions today? We didn’t get near the 1:18s in free practice like yesterday, the car didn’t look hooked up like yesterday, they didn’t look like challenging Max today - so much hope, no chance tomorrow. It’s like their prophecy about struggling came true for once.

[mwillems]

Agreed the mediums were never enough to make it through

At least there is an easy decision to take a new engine now.

I mean his lap on the mediums was going to be good enough to get him through comfortably (judging by the mini sectors literally up until the last corner). Not sure why they made him abort, it's not like they were in a rush to turn around for the next run, he was sat in the garage for a good 5 minutes after that. Mistakes from Lando, yes, but very strange and in my opinion poor session management from the team.\

Also, watch them not take the engine pen. It seems a no-brainer but I have this horrible feeling that they won't do it.

Yeah I think you may be right, he could have got through. The team apparently said he had a problem and had to come in and that removed that banker. I'm sure we will learn more after today.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norr ... /10539598/

[PikeStance]

Poor devious and unlucky breaks can hurt sometimes. Who knows, maybe the decisions and fortunes will reverse and Norris can make something out of his poor grid position. Piastri was avble to gain points in Singapore. We can only hope the opportunity is there for Norris. Piastri getting on the podium is feasible. We will have the pace; we just need to bring our “A” game.

[mwillems]

Poor devious and unlucky breaks can hurt sometimes. Who knows, maybe the decisions and fortunes will reverse and Norris can make something out of his poor grid position. Piastri was avble to gain points in Singapore. We can only hope the opportunity is there for Norris. Piastri getting on the podium is feasible. We will have the pace; we just need to bring our “A” game.

I expect a new engine at least and I'm sure he'll get top 10. Anything can happen and he'll have plenty of softs!

[Ben1980]

I really don't care for next season, I'm not basing anything on next season. That's just guesswork.

Obviously if he is in a tight battles and makes too many mistakes it will impact his points total. But, next year, Mercedes may improve, Ferrari may improve. Its not beyond tge realm of possibilities. We aren't far and away better than them both as it is.

All I'm saying is, while lando hasn't been perfect, he has been consistently very good. Maybe he needs to better to win, maybe he will be, maybe not. No idea.

Just celebrate what he has achieved, which is basically 2nd best since Austria. He's been pretty good.

There's no guesswork involved. Getting the most out of the car is relative and we don't need to know what the car does next year, just that the main driver is struggling to do so now in Qualy.

I celebrate what he has achieved also, I can do that and notice where he struggles too, like everyone does with the car when talking about work to do on low speed corners. Lando is not a protected species and is here to be looked at with an open mind as is everything else in F1.

I may be mistaken but it seems that your responses are more about just ignoring faults and risks because he's good at something else (Race pace), ignoring mistakes because the car has had an upturn, and ignoring the fact that he needs to be good at all the stuff to win the title (Because he might not get the chance), and ignoring the fact that it could be very close to being a title winning car (Because we don't know), because the team have improved massively and we're all on a high right now so why care if anything that isn't working right now might hold us back in the future if we have a good car... If we don't know how good the car might be next year, why care? Hmm, we can agree to disagree at this point.

But, he's not struggling in qualifying that's my point. Look at his positions. Yep, he had issues in Qatar, and yesterday. But to say he is struggling is well wide of the mark.

And, I'm not ignoring anything, he has a history of getting the best out of the car in qualifying this year and previous year.

Will he need to do better, if he has a race winning car, and a title challenger? For sure, would I expect him to? No idea. You don't know how someone reacts if in a title fight.

Next season is a different thing, I hope we are challenging a bit more for wins, and that brings more pressure, be interesting to see how both cope with it.

[mwillems]

I really don't care for next season, I'm not basing anything on next season. That's just guesswork.

Obviously if he is in a tight battles and makes too many mistakes it will impact his points total. But, next year, Mercedes may improve, Ferrari may improve. Its not beyond tge realm of possibilities. We aren't far and away better than them both as it is.

All I'm saying is, while lando hasn't been perfect, he has been consistently very good. Maybe he needs to better to win, maybe he will be, maybe not. No idea.

Just celebrate what he has achieved, which is basically 2nd best since Austria. He's been pretty good.

There's no guesswork involved. Getting the most out of the car is relative and we don't need to know what the car does next year, just that the main driver is struggling to do so now in Qualy.

I celebrate what he has achieved also, I can do that and notice where he struggles too, like everyone does with the car when talking about work to do on low speed corners. Lando is not a protected species and is here to be looked at with an open mind as is everything else in F1.

I may be mistaken but it seems that your responses are more about just ignoring faults and risks because he's good at something else (Race pace), ignoring mistakes because the car has had an upturn, and ignoring the fact that he needs to be good at all the stuff to win the title (Because he might not get the chance), and ignoring the fact that it could be very close to being a title winning car (Because we don't know), because the team have improved massively and we're all on a high right now so why care if anything that isn't working right now might hold us back in the future if we have a good car... If we don't know how good the car might be next year, why care? Hmm, we can agree to disagree at this point.

But, he's not struggling in qualifying that's my point. Look at his positions. Yep, he had issues in Qatar, and yesterday. But to say he is struggling is well wide of the mark.

And, I'm not ignoring anything, he has a history of getting the best out of the car in qualifying this year and previous year.

Will he need to do better, if he has a race winning car, and a title challenger? For sure, would I expect him to? No idea. You don't know how someone reacts if in a title fight.

Next season is a different thing, I hope we are challenging a bit more for wins, and that brings more pressure, be interesting to see how both cope with it.

The car has been the biggest part of those positions IMO. Being beaten 5-3 by the rookie over 8 races pushes that point home. 2 major mistakes in that time, several smaller ones costing grid position in that time. But we can agree to disagree on what that means.

[geogate]

beaten by what looks like an exceptional rookie - just like Alonso was by Hamilton multiple times in his rookie season - Alonso is still one of the F1 greats in his ability

[Marc.W]

I hope they give Lando a new PU etc , it'll be interesting to see just how much he was loosing to Oscar with the older more tired PU

[BMMR61]

McLaren aren’t divulging what Lando’s issue was only that there was an issue. No comment yet on new PU components but it’s a free pass unless I have a misunderstanding of the rules. I think the Pirelli choice of compounds was borderline scandalous. When almost everyone is having to manage the early sector pace to achieve a decent single lap isn’t unique but it’s getting ridiculous. Many will regard the extreme mix up of the order in Q3 as a great spectacle but Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull all found the rubber to be unpredictable when pushed to the edge. Just my opinion.