2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

I think you need to temper your expectations, the RB19 was the class of the field in 2023. McLaren knew what the problem was at the start of the season with their car and followed a plan to rectify it alongside technical changes that have paid off.
For McLaren to have any chance at beating Red Bull they have to hit the ground running in 2024 and have found a development path that outsmarts Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari. It's a tall order.

As for the engine deal? It's not a works type deal, it's Mercedes being strategic as ever. Strong customer teams = data that can be used to improve the power units. Doesn't mean McLaren will benefit from that immediately.

I think you need to give credit to the team, they repeatedly extracted time from the car and improved it massively. Everyone knows what the car can and can't do, it's talent that fixes it and we did exactly that. I think it is also wrong to assume that if we'd started the season with the Baku spec, that the team still wouldn't have known how to find a big chunk of time, I think they know exactly how to keep improving this car beyond what they got to in Singapore.

The penalty for Red Bull certainly helped and I'm sure they will be faster than us next year, but nobody matched the Mclaren for in season development this year and if RB had brought one more big upgrade we'd still have made up a big chunk of time over the season I think.

You have to give credit to Zak Brown and the leadership at McLaren for fostering an environment that means McLaren engineers, designers, mechanics and pit crews etc can perform to their very best. If McLaren do manage to catch Red Bull in 2024, then having pit crews able to do sub 2 second pit stops will come in handy. McLaren know what they need to do for 2024.

Red Bull didn't really need to bring many updates to the RB19, given how quick the RB19 is and how Max seemed able to extract performance from the car when he needed it. Most of the time he was cruising to victory he was that far ahead. Newey appears to have shifted his focus onto the RB20 some time ago.

I hope McLaren are able to challenge Red Bull properly in 2024. I tend to think Oscar might well be the wild card if it's a fight between Red Bull and McLaren.

Their first and second updates were not dissimilar to Mclarens in scope to be fair. The first update was a smaller one like ours, the second included sidepods and floor like ours at Austria, with some of their floor updates being "hidden" due to the way they built their floor, they only have to inform of an update to the assembly itself and so it was was built a bit more patchwork than us. They did bring further smaller updates through the season, but nothing like our Singapore update.

We definitely brought more, but I challenge the idea that some think RB stood still, far from it, in fact they were also able to bring some more track specific parts like Rear and Beam wings, for example for DF below the Singapore spec wing we hadn't updated any of our rear wings at all whereas RB had a wider array of track specific options I think that were more efficient than ours.

[mwillems]

There were quotes from Lando and Stella saying the Austria package is what they should have started the season with, weren't there?

Wasn't it also reported in the winter that McLaren had continued developing in the direction that brought the Singapore 2022 update, but then realized too late for the beginning of the season that a big change in philosophy could result in much more fruitful development opportunities? Statements from the team members, Lando when the car launched seem to back this up. That they didn't expect to be competitive, had gone the wrong direction etc

Putting these together... is there not the implication that had they realized what the correct path was immediately in 2022 when rule changes for '23 were clear, they would have been able to start the season with the Austria/Silverstone car? Hence the feeling that such drastic mid-season improvement was possible because the launch car was a concept that had been long-abandoned?

To take such a step is nonetheless impressive because after all they went from 4th-5th quickest at the end of 2022 to 2nd-3rd quickest for the second half of '23. But the weak performance at beginning of '23 (further exaggerated by track characteristics of early calendar) is unrepresentative if we take the words of the team themselves imo

I think this is more Lando saying that if they were a championship team that they'd have started with that, not that they realistically could have started with that, IIRC, not unless James key was removed earlier. But yeah, they messed up last year, something clicked and they suddenly understood the formula and where the time was to be found and the words coming from the MTC are that they still know where the time is. Understanding the formula itself is what they have achieved, the development is the output from that, and hopefully this will be proved with the continued extraction of large improvements.

Bear in mind Austria came around 8 months after they suggested they realised they had a problem and started again. They'd have had to discover the secrets to the formula and the new floor height rules before the new floor height rules were announced (Aug 22) to be able to get the Austria package to the first race, let alone testing.

EDIT: Having a quick look I think it was the Baku spec he suggested they should have started the season with, which is more realistic.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/norr ... tart-with/

“What we’re going to have in Baku should be what we started the season with. If you want to be a top team, we should have started the season with those kinds of parts which are coming."

As far as I remember, the Baku upgrade was a floor upgrade that helped with long High speed corners where the car was previously struggling.

[Espresso]

Their first and second updates were not dissimilar to Mclarens in scope to be fair. The first update was a smaller one like ours, the second included sidepods and floor like ours at Austria, with some of their floor updates being "hidden" due to the way they built their floor, they only have to inform of an update to the assembly itself and so it was was built a bit more patchwork than us. They did bring further smaller updates through the season, but nothing like our Singapore update.

We definitely brought more, but I challenge the idea that some think RB stood still, far from it, in fact they were also able to bring some more track specific parts like Rear and Beam wings, for example for DF below the Singapore spec wing we hadn't updated any of our rear wings at all whereas RB had a wider array of track specific options I think that were more efficient than ours.

I think MCL now understands the recipe for a fast car.
Thanks to Zak for bringing in a culture of taking responsibility without blaming but with a healthy challenge: Bring a better solution when mistakes are made. This healthy competitive environment let the employees want to show ideas and abilities.
They earned this upward trajectory and I truly hope they can challenge RBR next year.

[Darth-Piekus]

I am hearing of a new rule from 2025 and 2026 which will forbid the evolution of cars so whoever creates the perfect set up will get the championship for the next two years. Anyone know any details about this?

[organic]

I am hearing of a new rule from 2025 and 2026 which will forbid the evolution of cars so whoever creates the perfect set up will get the championship for the next two years. Anyone know any details about this?

The rule is that you can't work on the 2026 cars until the beginning of the 2025 season. The same rule was in place with the 2022 regulations preventing teams from starting development too early

I think, judging from what people like Allison have said about 2024/2025/2026 is that we'll see very aggressive development of the 2024 cars throughout the year and over the winter. But then few teams will touch the 2025 car much within 2025 itself as there will be a lot to gain from focusing attentions on 2026 rules as soon as possible

[MTudor]

When analizing how much time we've gained and where did it come from,this video does a very good job.
It's not for the whole season but seeing to flaws from the first races,like speed into slow/mid corners speed on the straights with/without DRS and seeing the results from the end of the season we can guess where did Mclaren gained time.

[ollandos]

https://scontent.fskg5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=65721800

[Macklaren]

https://scontent.fskg5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=65721800

Will never happen esp on this car. Impossible to read sponsors esp at night races+heavy

[organic]

https://scontent.fskg5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=65721800

Will never happen esp on this car. Impossible to read sponsors esp at night races+heavy

Weight shouldn't be an issue next year. Expecting a lot more paint on grid

[Macklaren]

https://scontent.fskg5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=65721800

Will never happen esp on this car. Impossible to read sponsors esp at night races+heavy

Weight shouldn't be an issue next year. Expecting a lot more paint on grid

I REALLY hope you are correct. I really miss the looks (and performance) of the prior generation of cars

[Ground Effect]

The potential livery is the furthest thing on my mind.....

[Emag]

https://scontent.fskg5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=65721800

I would much rather have them go back to the 2018 livery.

The new ones look cheap and like they came out of the cyberpunk universe. I really dislike them.

If they want to rebuild that McLaren papaya brand identity like Ferrari (Zak's words), then they need a full papaya car. None of this black stripes crap.

Ferrari doesn't botch their livery for weight. A Ferrari is always red.

I agree, it doesn't make a difference if the car is winning, but why not have it look pretty while at it.

[billamend]

I would much rather have them go back to the 2018 livery.

2019 for me.

[Seerix]

I would much rather have them go back to the 2018 livery.

2019 for me.

https://images3.alphacoders.com/106/1069476.jpg

I like the 2019 one as well. They probably came up with it after Alonso's farewell livery.

[ScottR267]

Both the 2018 and 2019 liveries have shown how far McLaren and specifically Zak has come with sponsors…..this years car is covered in them in comparison