Cs98 wrote: ↑29 Jan 2024, 20:54
taperoo2k wrote: ↑29 Jan 2024, 19:42
Mclaren are improving, if they can challenge Red Bull in 2024 or 2025 remains to be seen.
As for the 2026 Power Units? I didn't misinterpret what Verstappen said, he was complaining about
something the engine manufacturers have known about for a long time. What Red Bull appears to want is tweaks to the rules to shift the balance in favour of the ICE over the battery. You can either view that as Red Bull haven't got the best hybrid system or they have built an ICE that they feel is ahead of the competition and want to bake an advantage in like Mercedes had with it's split turbo design.
As for McLaren? The advantages a works team has over a customer team isn't as big as it once was due
to the changes the FIA made to engine mapping and so on. If any customer team wins the titles, McLaren currently is the best placed team to do so.
2026 wise? Nobody has a clue what the pecking order will be. Hence Lando sticking with McLaren is a sensible choice, if the deal only runs to 2026, Lando will have options.
Or you can view it as they don't think the regulations will provide good racing, which is a legitimate concern for a guy like Max (and commercially) and certainly was at the time those comments were made (remember now they added close to 50% more fuel weight some time afterwards). So I think you've established an either or that doesn't exist, there are more than two options here. In regards to comments specifically about the state of their engine development every single one of them I've read has been either bullish or "on target", coming from people in or close to the team (Marko, Horner, Ford CEO etc.).
Sure McLaren is the best placed customer team to win in 2026, because all the other teams with legitimate title ambitions are going to be factory teams by then. As far as disadvantages of being a customer, some of them disappeared when they banned engine modes, some of them disappeared when they implemented the engine freeze. But the engine freeze will disappear in 2026 and then that phenomenon of always being one step behind the manufacturer when it comes to adapting the newest spec engine becomes a factor.
Nobody has a clue? We certainly have a clue, we don't know definitively, but it's not like we don't know who these teams are and what their pedigree is based on their recent accomplishments. RB is right up there, McLaren hasn't been for a while. Could that change? Anything can happen, but it wouldn't be a good bet IMO.
Mercedes and McLaren deal does appear to include more collaboration between the two. So, it's not exactly a traditional customer engine deal. Brown has steadily improved McLaren over the last couple of years, they've had some stumbles along the way, but Brown hasn't been shy about making changes when necessary. It's the kind of pragmatism that got McLaren to the top in the past. McLaren have everything they need to build a title winning car, it's now down to the people at McLaren to make it happen.
On the aero side Red Bull are top of the tree. But the main issue for Red Bull is not aero, it's if they are on target to produce a Power Unit that's got the performance and reliability to challenge Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, Renault and Audi. You can either read the complaints about the simulator performance as a concern for the racing or Red Bull either being in trouble or they might have an advantage if the rules are tweaked a bit.
I think McLaren have made the sensible choice to stick with Mercedes over a deal with Renault or even Red Bull.
As for Lando? Winning a driver's title with McLaren would be quite the achievement, though Oscar might have something to say about that.
can’t see it happening.
.