2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Marc.W]

No Lando bashing today? interesting

[mwillems]

No.

interesting.

I think it has to mean that the team has no plan to take an engine in the remaining 3 races.

Looks that way.

[mwillems]

Great recovery drive by NOR & solid race by PIA.....

We need to start the season like this if we want a few wins in 2024, the pack is now much much closer.

Merc look very close to us in this race, but we had to do a lot more with our tyres to recover to the front, so I think the advantage persists but that they are closer. Still the second fastest car with just one driver able to extract the time in the fastest car.

I guess we can see that Merc understand, like we do, how to extract the time they need from the package. They re probably the only competitor after RB that have shown they understand that, at this point at least. They will be a big threat next year.

[MrGapes]

interesting.

I think it has to mean that the team has no plan to take an engine in the remaining 3 races.

Looks that way.

if so Kudos to Merc. HPP, to stretch 3 PUs over a 22 race calendar is mighty.

[mwillems]

I think it has to mean that the team has no plan to take an engine in the remaining 3 races.

Looks that way.

if so Kudos to Merc. HPP, to stretch 3 PUs over a 22 race calendar is mighty.

When did his PU die? How many races had it done?

Edit: It lasted one race, the first race.

I'd imagine one of the PUs might well be being used in FPs until it dies, to preserve the others for just for competitive laps and reduce their mileage.

[CjC]

Should have been a podium with clean qualifying if we go off the last Norris stint. But the races coming up will be good as well - nothing stands out at Brazil as being particularly bad for the car. Not sure about Vegas or Abu Dhabi

Lando has said that he isn’t looking forward to Brazil

I can't remember the race Lando was looking forward to

I’ve just read that he said after the Mexico race that he’s optimistic for Brazil.
So it’s gonna be a crap weekend then

[MrGapes]

Can Lando finish P4? Lets see... I will be down to closing the gap to Sainz and maintaining gap to Leclerc, but Mercedes will be important to steal points off


IMO
Brazil = Mercedes > Mclaren = Ferrari
Vegas = Ferrari > Mclaren > Mercedes
Abu Dhabi = Mclaren > Mercedes > Ferrari

Edit: Lando needs to average approx. +5 points a race on Carlos

[MCLvamos]

https://ibb.co/KNLBwpq

Can Lando finish P4? Lets see... I will be down to closing the gap to Sainz and maintaining gap to Leclerc, but Mercedes will be important to steal points off


IMO
Brazil = Mercedes > Mclaren = Ferrari
Vegas = Ferrari > Mclaren > Mercedes
Abu Dhabi = Mclaren > Mercedes > Ferrari

I honestly don't seeing Ferrari being faster than us anywhere in race trim. In quali possibly, but they look to have a pretty poor car of late on a Sunday. Apart from Monza, which is a bit of an anomaly track, we've been quicker than them every Sunday since the summer break (forgive me if I'm wrong). And I do think that the team will have a proper low drag setup sorted in time for Vegas, as there hasn't been a rush of development recently. So imo the main competition will be Mercedes and ourselves in a way, if we maximise the results every weekend, unlike Mexico, Lando should clear Sainz in the championship.

[MrGapes]

https://ibb.co/KNLBwpq

Can Lando finish P4? Lets see... I will be down to closing the gap to Sainz and maintaining gap to Leclerc, but Mercedes will be important to steal points off


IMO
Brazil = Mercedes > Mclaren = Ferrari
Vegas = Ferrari > Mclaren > Mercedes
Abu Dhabi = Mclaren > Mercedes > Ferrari

I honestly don't seeing Ferrari being faster than us anywhere in race trim. In quali possibly, but they look to have a pretty poor car of late on a Sunday. Apart from Monza, which is a bit of an anomaly track, we've been quicker than them every Sunday since the summer break (forgive me if I'm wrong). And I do think that the team will have a proper low drag setup sorted in time for Vegas, as there hasn't been a rush of development recently. So imo the main competition will be Mercedes and ourselves in a way, if we maximise the results every weekend, unlike Mexico, Lando should clear Sainz in the championship.

Could be a possibility.. I didn't realise a low drag upgrade is coming for Vegas... lets see how the slow speed performance is in a low drag medium.

After looking at the data for Mexico ---> I think its going to be Merc = Mclaren > Ferrari... where tf did that slow speed performance come from...

[bauc]

Great recovery drive by NOR & solid race by PIA.....

We need to start the season like this if we want a few wins in 2024, the pack is now much much closer.

Merc look very close to us in this race, but we had to do a lot more with our tyres to recover to the front, so I think the advantage persists but that they are closer. Still the second fastest car with just one driver able to extract the time in the fastest car.

I guess we can see that Merc understand, like we do, how to extract the time they need from the package. They re probably the only competitor after RB that have shown they understand that, at this point at least. They will be a big threat next year.

Amen to that!

[trinidefender]

We'll see. I doubt they would push as hard if they thought the tyres will fall apart.

Team should swap and let Lando try and beat Ricciard. Oscar has damage.

Yeah I was being over cautios. Oscar is in his finishing position.
Lando on a charge.

Are we still terrible in slow corners? Lol Traction issues?? Nope.

Not great, but most certainly not bad.

Yeah, I guess the team did not make a huge mistake by putting them on.

It's a frustrating race. Not sure Landos strategy helped him. His soft run did not really light the world on fire and he didn't really gain a lot by doing it.

Then he loses two positions due to a strategy mistake, then loses 5 on restart.

Great run by Lando to go through the field to P5 but Piastri was frustrating to watch as he was not able to challenge guys ahead of him.

Didn't he gain a few positions at the start. That would have been a lot harder had he started on the mediums and impossible if he started on the hards. Then they pitted him early and put him in clear air and in front of Tsunoda. Running in clear air allowed him to protect his hard tyres, temperatures on the car (a big problem for almost every car following another) and close himself up on the field putting him the pit window of most of the grid, not to mention the overtakes he then made when he caught up.

If they mirrored everyone's strategy and started on the mediums I think it wouldn't have worked out the way it did.

I'll admit when I first saw him start on softs I was a bit confused but that's why we are here and the strategists are there.

[mwillems]

Yeah I was being over cautios. Oscar is in his finishing position.
Lando on a charge.

Are we still terrible in slow corners? Lol Traction issues?? Nope.

Not great, but most certainly not bad.

Yeah, I guess the team did not make a huge mistake by putting them on.

It's a frustrating race. Not sure Landos strategy helped him. His soft run did not really light the world on fire and he didn't really gain a lot by doing it.

Then he loses two positions due to a strategy mistake, then loses 5 on restart.

Great run by Lando to go through the field to P5 but Piastri was frustrating to watch as he was not able to challenge guys ahead of him.

Didn't he gain a few positions at the start. That would have been a lot harder had he started on the mediums and impossible if he started on the hards. Then they pitted him early and put him in clear air and in front of Tsunoda. Running in clear air allowed him to protect his hard tyres, temperatures on the car (a big problem for almost every car following another) and close himself up on the field putting him the pit window of most of the grid, not to mention the overtakes he then made when he caught up.

If they mirrored everyone's strategy and started on the mediums I think it wouldn't have worked out the way it did.

I'll admit when I first saw him start on softs I was a bit confused but that's why we are here and the strategists are there.

We are talking about the medium restart.

Starting on softs, burning the rubber and pitting early to overtake 10 cars whilst being in clear air almost the whole time was brilliant, not questioned at all, I didn't have any issues with it at the start either, I figured they were going to do that and was excited by what Lando would achieve, in fact I called when he pitted that he was going to be 8th on Merit when everything equalised, and it was just a question of whether some would try and stretch to a 1 stop.

The medium restart I was concerned we were going to drop off with those tyres, but the tyres cured after a little usage like they did last week and had the durability of the Hards and the speed of the Mediums - and my memory was short on this and my concern unfounded. The team nailed the strategy, in fact the Mclaren strategy was the most outstanding piece of this weekend.

[trinidefender]

Yeah, I guess the team did not make a huge mistake by putting them on.

It's a frustrating race. Not sure Landos strategy helped him. His soft run did not really light the world on fire and he didn't really gain a lot by doing it.

Then he loses two positions due to a strategy mistake, then loses 5 on restart.

Great run by Lando to go through the field to P5 but Piastri was frustrating to watch as he was not able to challenge guys ahead of him.

Didn't he gain a few positions at the start. That would have been a lot harder had he started on the mediums and impossible if he started on the hards. Then they pitted him early and put him in clear air and in front of Tsunoda. Running in clear air allowed him to protect his hard tyres, temperatures on the car (a big problem for almost every car following another) and close himself up on the field putting him the pit window of most of the grid, not to mention the overtakes he then made when he caught up.

If they mirrored everyone's strategy and started on the mediums I think it wouldn't have worked out the way it did.

I'll admit when I first saw him start on softs I was a bit confused but that's why we are here and the strategists are there.

We are talking about the medium restart.

Starting on softs, burning the rubber and pitting early to overtake 10 cars whilst being in clear air almost the whole time was brilliant, not questioned at all, I didn't have any issues with it at the start either, I figured they were going to do that and was excited by what Lando would achieve, in fact I called when he pitted that he was going to be 8th on Merit when everything equalised, and it was just a question of whether some would try and stretch to a 1 stop.

The medium restart I was concerned we were going to drop off with those tyres, but the tyres cured after a little usage like they did last week and had the durability of the Hards and the speed of the Mediums - and my memory was short on this and my concern unfounded. The team nailed the strategy, in fact the Mclaren strategy was the most outstanding piece of this weekend.

I was replying to FittingMechanics where he said this, "It's a frustrating race. Not sure Landos strategy helped him. His soft run did not really light the world on fire and he didn't really gain a lot by doing it." Not the restart.

[mwillems]

Didn't he gain a few positions at the start. That would have been a lot harder had he started on the mediums and impossible if he started on the hards. Then they pitted him early and put him in clear air and in front of Tsunoda. Running in clear air allowed him to protect his hard tyres, temperatures on the car (a big problem for almost every car following another) and close himself up on the field putting him the pit window of most of the grid, not to mention the overtakes he then made when he caught up.

If they mirrored everyone's strategy and started on the mediums I think it wouldn't have worked out the way it did.

I'll admit when I first saw him start on softs I was a bit confused but that's why we are here and the strategists are there.

We are talking about the medium restart.

Starting on softs, burning the rubber and pitting early to overtake 10 cars whilst being in clear air almost the whole time was brilliant, not questioned at all, I didn't have any issues with it at the start either, I figured they were going to do that and was excited by what Lando would achieve, in fact I called when he pitted that he was going to be 8th on Merit when everything equalised, and it was just a question of whether some would try and stretch to a 1 stop.

The medium restart I was concerned we were going to drop off with those tyres, but the tyres cured after a little usage like they did last week and had the durability of the Hards and the speed of the Mediums - and my memory was short on this and my concern unfounded. The team nailed the strategy, in fact the Mclaren strategy was the most outstanding piece of this weekend.

I was replying to FittingMechanics where he said this, "It's a frustrating race. Not sure Landos strategy helped him. His soft run did not really light the world on fire and he didn't really gain a lot by doing it." Not the restart.

True, I'll be honest and say I didn't read beyond the first line!

Well, I disagree with the softs comment, strategy was fantastic and saved us fighting directly with 10 pilots, the team couldn't have got it more right.

[Mostlyeels]

https://www.racefans.net/2023/10/30/nor ... g-crashes/

Apparently Lando had to avoid a couple of near-misses on the restart, which explains why he dropped places.