2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[FittingMechanics]

Did he go for the fastest lap or just bring it home? I'm not sure he did go for it now.

My point is that he was pushing enough that he couldn't save enough tire delta for the fastest lap. He usually does that and even charges his battery. This race he wasn't able to do that because Norris pushed him all the way. Incredible stuff.

I think I just need to see us beat RB once to be convinced of how close we are, call my a cynic
But you may well be quite right.

It's an amazing performance come what may.

I see many people in this thread are like that. Every race we end up close it is that Red Bull is managing. Always there is magical hidden pace in that Red Bull. I do think often times Verstappen does manage, but today it doesn't seem that he was doing so. He had many races this year and never did he manage it this way (staying 3-7 seconds away) and not being able to take fastest lap.

I do get it. It's hard to believe.

[Emag]

Next best shot would be Abu Dhabi. I expect the pecking order to be similar to Qatar there. Lando can get another sniff at a win if he pulls the weekend together, but unfortunately I think we still need some missfortune on Max's side to get it.

[Ben1980]

I guess VER was not managing that much - he couldn't take fastest lap.

Did he go for the fastest lap or just bring it home? I'm not sure he did go for it now.

Max always goes for fastest lap.

[FittingMechanics]

Next best shot would be Abu Dhabi. I expect the pecking order to be similar to Qatar there. Lando can get another sniff at a win if he pulls the weekend together, but unfortunately I think we still need some missfortune on Max's side to get it.

I think sprint weekends are good for us. It seems Red Bull needs a bit more time to setup. Unfortunately this was the last one.

[McL-H]

Great race from Lando after that MEGA start. Piastri very unfortunate having had that Haas crash into him. Nothing we can do about that.

P2 is the highest anyone can achieve unless the goat suffers from mechanical issues and Norris did just that. What a turnaround this season has been. Amazing work from everyone at the team.

[Marc.W]

Lando now 3 points ahead of Sainz and 3 points behind Alonso, P4 well within reach for him, maybe even P3 if Mercedes continue to struggle!

[CaribouBread]

Great race from Lando, the package is getting there slowly but surely. Hard to believe but its happening. Lando more or less kept up with Max and i both peeled away from the pack so its on pace for both.

[mwillems]

My point is that he was pushing enough that he couldn't save enough tire delta for the fastest lap. He usually does that and even charges his battery. This race he wasn't able to do that because Norris pushed him all the way. Incredible stuff.

I think I just need to see us beat RB once to be convinced of how close we are, call my a cynic
But you may well be quite right.

It's an amazing performance come what may.

I see many people in this thread are like that. Every race we end up close it is that Red Bull is managing. Always there is magical hidden pace in that Red Bull. I do think often times Verstappen does manage, but today it doesn't seem that he was doing so. He had many races this year and never did he manage it this way (staying 3-7 seconds away) and not being able to take fastest lap.

I do get it. It's hard to believe.

I think it's just because the pattern is the same every time, we can get close but not challenge. But if he didn't try for a fast lap then it is a good sign.

[mwillems]

My point is that he was pushing enough that he couldn't save enough tire delta for the fastest lap. He usually does that and even charges his battery. This race he wasn't able to do that because Norris pushed him all the way. Incredible stuff.

I think I just need to see us beat RB once to be convinced of how close we are, call my a cynic
But you may well be quite right.

It's an amazing performance come what may.

I see many people in this thread are like that. Every race we end up close it is that Red Bull is managing. Always there is magical hidden pace in that Red Bull. I do think often times Verstappen does manage, but today it doesn't seem that he was doing so. He had many races this year and never did he manage it this way (staying 3-7 seconds away) and not being able to take fastest lap.

I do get it. It's hard to believe.

I'm looking at the data on F1 Tempo and I think you're right about today. Max looked to keep pushing at the end of the race, just to get to Landos pace. Norris likely got the most he could without killing his tyres and Max was pushing to match.

Pictures to come.

[FittingMechanics]

I think I just need to see us beat RB once to be convinced of how close we are, call my a cynic
But you may well be quite right.

It's an amazing performance come what may.

I see many people in this thread are like that. Every race we end up close it is that Red Bull is managing. Always there is magical hidden pace in that Red Bull. I do think often times Verstappen does manage, but today it doesn't seem that he was doing so. He had many races this year and never did he manage it this way (staying 3-7 seconds away) and not being able to take fastest lap.

I do get it. It's hard to believe.

I'm looking at the data on F1 Tempo and I think you're right about today. Max looked to keep pushing at the end of the race, just to get to Landos pace. Norris likely got the most he could without killing his tyres and Max was pushing to match.

Pictures to come.

I usually don't watch Verstappen's comms but today his engineer was giving him gap and Lando's pace for each lap. Max pushed when he saw Lando push but he did not have those mega laps when he "uses" the tire before pitstop or at the end of the race. He had 0.15s pace advantage.

[mwillems]

I see many people in this thread are like that. Every race we end up close it is that Red Bull is managing. Always there is magical hidden pace in that Red Bull. I do think often times Verstappen does manage, but today it doesn't seem that he was doing so. He had many races this year and never did he manage it this way (staying 3-7 seconds away) and not being able to take fastest lap.

I do get it. It's hard to believe.

I'm looking at the data on F1 Tempo and I think you're right about today. Max looked to keep pushing at the end of the race, just to get to Landos pace. Norris likely got the most he could without killing his tyres and Max was pushing to match.

Pictures to come.

I usually don't watch Verstappen's comms but today his engineer was giving him gap and Lando's pace for each lap. Max pushed when he saw Lando push but he did not have those mega laps when he "uses" the tire before pitstop or at the end of the race. He had 0.15s pace advantage.

You'll find the data quite interesting. When my daughter is asleep I'll post it, I'm interested to see what people make of it.

[AR3-GP]

I'm looking at the data on F1 Tempo and I think you're right about today. Max looked to keep pushing at the end of the race, just to get to Landos pace. Norris likely got the most he could without killing his tyres and Max was pushing to match.

Pictures to come.

I usually don't watch Verstappen's comms but today his engineer was giving him gap and Lando's pace for each lap. Max pushed when he saw Lando push but he did not have those mega laps when he "uses" the tire before pitstop or at the end of the race. He had 0.15s pace advantage.

You'll find the data quite interesting. When my daughter is asleep I'll post it, I'm interested to see what people make of it.

I would disagree with this sentiment. Max just drove an incredibly mature race as instructed by his engineer, without worrying about fast laps, especially in that last stint. It was one of his more reserved drives. He never asked about fast lap and was just coasting through the T6/T7 by the end.



Near the end, his engineer told him that he was fuel corrected lapping half a second slower than the opening stint. Then Max said "yeah I'm just chilling" after Lando set the fastest race lap. That says it all. Max was on an economy drive for most of the race.

[organic]

The race pace gap was about 0.10-0.15s if you just take the data as is.

If you consider extraneous factors: Lando in his first stint used the new soft, whereas max used the used soft. And then Max didn't push with the new soft at the very end, choosing instead to go rather easy on the tyre, whereas Norris hammered his final soft stint

OTOH the middle stint max got drs on some backmarkers that Norris didn't have access to (as they may have boxed out of his way or Norris himself did) and Norris probably hurt his first set of soft tyres in the first 10 laps

[mwillems]

The race pace gap was about 0.10-0.15s if you just take the data as is.

If you consider extraneous factors: Lando in his first stint used the new soft, whereas max used the used soft. And then Max didn't push with the new soft at the very end, choosing instead to go rather easy on the tyre, whereas Norris hammered his final soft stint

OTOH the middle stint max got drs on some backmarkers that Norris didn't have access to (as they may have boxed out of his way or Norris himself did) and Norris probably hurt his first set of soft tyres in the first 10 laps

https://i.imgur.com/b9v6E4d.png

Thanks, what is interesting is that Max is steadily pushing the car more and more at the end, so not really managing the gap in a way I'd expect to see but almost like he is testing the car or tires each lap. Whereas Lando puts in a belter and then drives to a delta.

You never know what people really have up their sleeve, but my gut is that over the race distance Max could have made a bigger gap if he'd wanted to, but was cautious as he knew he was faster and didn't want to do anything to risk the tyre in a stint. The final stint I don't fully understand they way he steadily increased his time. Or why he was happy to go progressively slower for the first three laps of the last stint.

[search]

not that it made a difference the way the race unfolded, but should the team have have tried the one-stopper in the end? The laps are so short, it's not a given that the race would get restarted after a late SC.