2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

It's weird that McLaren are having trouble with the ride height and we're not hearing or seeing that from anyone else. They also normally have an easier time finding the right setup compared to competition eg RB/Merc

Maybe the ride height is preventing us warming the tyres the way we want, I honestly don't understand it, that's just grabbing at straws.

[mwillems]

I mean, we lose .8s in 6-9!!!!!

We don't even get time back on the exit of the corners, we just don't look good anywhere except for 14-15.

Hope they can figure this as it doesn't appear to be a typical balance issue or just about putting a bit of DF on, although that could help.

Surely this is tyres that is affecting us everywhere?

[Dafnalina]

Oscar just mentioned he was having trouble with the tyres with the softs, lots of graining. But was pretty happy with the long run pace. No idea what happened to Lando, maybe he was in dirty air cause his pace was bad.

[CjC]

Apparently, the wing for Monza does not roll here, you need a little more, like for a Spa, and we don't have it.

I bet the team has the other wing as well but they haven't mounted it. It's not a job you do in middle of a FP.

I was expecting the two cars to run with different wings, I'm really surprised they didn't.

Do we know they brought any other wings? Do they actually have anything else to bolt on?

If they haven't done it now them I don't think they will, FP3 is not the time to be playing with wings, unless they need to fly something out in a very big hurry.

But.... it's a nothing race anyway and don't hate me but I'd be happier finishing 5th

5th in the constructors?

[FittingMechanics]

Looking at the telemtry:

Acceleration up to 250 seems on a par with those around us, we drop back against Ferrari with DRS open because they have the majority of their downforce generated by the DRS flap, so when open they get an advantage.

There is almost nothing we can do to reduce this as we have no wing that can compete here, bolting on downforce won't help.

Against Verstappen it looks like we are running a higher engine mode and they are running a bigger wing. They can catch us with DRS open but we are faster than them on the straights, and they will catch us more when they turn their engine up so that gap will grow, from what I can see.

Time gained on the straight is nothing compared to the time lost on Turns 6-9 and turn 12, where we suffer huge losses.

I think that going higher downforce is obvious solution. The car looked very very hard to drive in the slow corners. Lando made multiple mistakes.

Well if they haven't bolted on an alternate wing by now I'm worried they haven't brought it. Do we know if there's something else?

They did 2 laps in FP1 and then had FP2. They had no data after FP1 to know whether they need another wing. But as you said, if they had doubts they would have split their wings in FP1/FP2.

We will see what happens in FP3.

Porpoising/ride height probably meant they have to ride higher and then the car does not produce enough downforce for the corners.

[AR3-GP]

It has been suggested that Mclaren are attempting to replicate some DRS aero effects, but it doesn't sound like it is working currently? They are slowest on the straights.

[CjC]

Sounds like it could be a struggle then. Lando doesn’t sound too confident.

[AR3-GP]

first laps car overheated.. they will probably open up some of the cooling gills

Mclaren have not been known for getting their cooling sums right...

Errr, when last did they have any large issues with cooling? Maybe you're thinking of the other team beginning with M.

Pretty much every team has issues running in traffic for extended periods of time

True, the other M team usually has issues.

I was referring to Bahrain '22, but I understand if we are no longer acknowledging that weekend

[mwillems]

I bet the team has the other wing as well but they haven't mounted it. It's not a job you do in middle of a FP.

I was expecting the two cars to run with different wings, I'm really surprised they didn't.

Do we know they brought any other wings? Do they actually have anything else to bolt on?

If they haven't done it now them I don't think they will, FP3 is not the time to be playing with wings, unless they need to fly something out in a very big hurry.

But.... it's a nothing race anyway and don't hate me but I'd be happier finishing 5th

5th in the constructors?

Yeah, there's no glory for me in 4th or 5th, I want the biggest swing as possible at 1st

[mwillems]

It has been suggested that Mclaren are attempting to replicate some DRS aero effects, but it doesn't sound like it is working currently? They are slowest on the straights.

If the wing is a big part of that, then having an old wing here (22 Wing) will prevent that I guess.

But to be fair even after Singapore when the car was clearly a slippier package, we continued to be slower than RB with the DRS open but a match for it when closed, and there haven't been updates in that department since. So I can only assume this is something for next year.

Edit: no it's the beam wing that is different, I should have read this earlier

[Dafnalina]

We might be running a lower PU mode, but sill the car is too draggy.

The easiest solution would be higher df, but I feat they've only brought this attempt at a rb wing, only for rb to run a higher df wing here lol.

Hope they can find more performance, Lando being so far off the pace in the long runs is worrisome

[mwillems]

Looking at the telemtry:

Acceleration up to 250 seems on a par with those around us, we drop back against Ferrari with DRS open because they have the majority of their downforce generated by the DRS flap, so when open they get an advantage.

There is almost nothing we can do to reduce this as we have no wing that can compete here, bolting on downforce won't help.

Against Verstappen it looks like we are running a higher engine mode and they are running a bigger wing. They can catch us with DRS open but we are faster than them on the straights, and they will catch us more when they turn their engine up so that gap will grow, from what I can see.

Time gained on the straight is nothing compared to the time lost on Turns 6-9 and turn 12, where we suffer huge losses.

I think that going higher downforce is obvious solution. The car looked very very hard to drive in the slow corners. Lando made multiple mistakes.

Well if they haven't bolted on an alternate wing by now I'm worried they haven't brought it. Do we know if there's something else?

They did 2 laps in FP1 and then had FP2. They had no data after FP1 to know whether they need another wing. But as you said, if they had doubts they would have split their wings in FP1/FP2.

We will see what happens in FP3.

Porpoising/ride height probably meant they have to ride higher and then the car does not produce enough downforce for the corners.

It won't do any harm. But this looks to be something different than just a DF problem. In Austin you could see the car was struggling with grip and it was in places DF loss from ride height and the affect of some bumps to which wing would have helped. This looks a totally different problem, we look slow everywhere and it is why I can only guess they are having a problem with the tyres as a result of the setup they seem to need to take.

[mwillems]

We might be running a lower PU mode, but sill the car is too draggy.

The easiest solution would be higher df, but I feat they've only brought this attempt at a rb wing, only for rb to run a higher df wing here lol.

Hope they can find more performance, Lando being so far off the pace in the long runs is worrisome

I'd seen those comments about a lower PU mode in the comments. Doesn't look like a lower PU mode to me.
We drop back when DRS opens, the rest of the straight we are one of the fastest, second only to Alonso, so I dispute the idea that we are draggy until DRS is open where we don't get the gains others do.

The speeds below are just when the DRS is open, before that we are only slower than Alonso, then you can see the dip in top speed.

[mwillems]

Just before DRS opens.

[CjC]

We might be running a lower PU mode, but sill the car is too draggy.

The easiest solution would be higher df, but I feat they've only brought this attempt at a rb wing, only for rb to run a higher df wing here lol.

Hope they can find more performance, Lando being so far off the pace in the long runs is worrisome

I'd seen those comments about a lower PU mode in the comments. Doesn't look like a lower PU mode to me.
We drop back when DRS opens, the rest of the straight we are one of the fastest, second only to Alonso, so I dispute the idea that we are draggy until DRS is open where we don't get the gains others do.

The speeds below are just when the DRS is open, before that we are only slower than Alonso, then you can see the dip in top speed.

https://i.ibb.co/Zgk7r5N/Vegas-FP2v2.pn ... egas-FP2v2

Organic posted this is the Merc thread suggesting McLaren ran lower revs:

Car is fast in a straight line but is losing heaps of time through corners. Looking like the 4th best team right now.

Hamilton had perfect tows on both straights on his fastest lap so I think the straight line speed is deceiving for that lap in specific.

https://i.postimg.cc/RhBF632p/image.png

Rpm of Merc is also high. See compared to McLaren..