2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[MCLvamos]

That just means they did longer stints… that won’t effect the average lap times though- would it?

It depends whether they are running to a delta or being quicker each lap as the fuel burns up. Wouldn't be a big difference though today as tyres are usually the limiting factor, not fuel.

Piastri positive after FP2 - says it felt good today both in qualy and race runs. He thinks we are in a decent place. "More or less where we thought". Overall feeling pretty positive.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... xbBEP.html

Lando upbeat (for his standards) too. Says it was "better than he expected" [F1 Interview]

[MCLvamos]

We just need to wait for the race to see where we are… An irrelevant point of data? The MCL38 in practice was already half a second faster than the MCL60 in qualifying last year

Clearly we will win the constructors

I think several races to get a grip to be fair. We'll have three races then a raft of upgrades and start figuring out the cars relative strengths again.

I don't know if I'm right or wrong but I have half a mind to think that understanding the new platform is going to take a good while, at least to get the best out of it.

There were several mechanical / chassis changes, so there might still be a bit too learn in terms of setup, but with the regulations been stable, I would be surprised if they don’t have a very good idea of “what works”.

The one thing that I haven’t found any information about is in regards to the operating window for the tires… Did we increase the window? McLaren suffered a lot in “hot conditions” last year, with a car that could heat up the tires quiet quick, but could overheat them as easy… My understanding is that the operating window of the tires for the MCL60 was quiet narrow and that made them compromise a bit in terms of setup

To be fair I think that was solved decently (although not completely) with the Austria package.

[SmallSoldier]

Clearly we will win the constructors

I think several races to get a grip to be fair. We'll have three races then a raft of upgrades and start figuring out the cars relative strengths again.

I don't know if I'm right or wrong but I have half a mind to think that understanding the new platform is going to take a good while, at least to get the best out of it.

There were several mechanical / chassis changes, so there might still be a bit too learn in terms of setup, but with the regulations been stable, I would be surprised if they don’t have a very good idea of “what works”.

The one thing that I haven’t found any information about is in regards to the operating window for the tires… Did we increase the window? McLaren suffered a lot in “hot conditions” last year, with a car that could heat up the tires quiet quick, but could overheat them as easy… My understanding is that the operating window of the tires for the MCL60 was quiet narrow and that made them compromise a bit in terms of setup

To be fair I think that was solved decently (although not completely) with the Austria package.

I’m sure the Austria packaged helped, but that was more an aero upgrade (bringing more efficiency to the package), but it wasn’t a mechanical change… which was one of the main culprits for the “window width”.

But I’m just speculating… Excited about the start of the season, let’s have a good one!

[MCLvamos]

There were several mechanical / chassis changes, so there might still be a bit too learn in terms of setup, but with the regulations been stable, I would be surprised if they don’t have a very good idea of “what works”.

The one thing that I haven’t found any information about is in regards to the operating window for the tires… Did we increase the window? McLaren suffered a lot in “hot conditions” last year, with a car that could heat up the tires quiet quick, but could overheat them as easy… My understanding is that the operating window of the tires for the MCL60 was quiet narrow and that made them compromise a bit in terms of setup

To be fair I think that was solved decently (although not completely) with the Austria package.

I’m sure the Austria packaged helped, but that was more an aero upgrade (bringing more efficiency to the package), but it wasn’t a mechanical change… which was one of the main culprits for the “window width”.

But I’m just speculating… Excited about the start of the season, let’s have a good one!

Not that DTS is a good source for reliable info, but Andrea does say they redesigned some mechanical components in reference to the big upgrade, but you are right, that knife-edge nature of the car wasn't really addressed last year.

[LionsHeart]

Last year's best fp2 time was 1:30.9. Today that time was improved by 5-6 tenths. I wonder if they can get out of 1:29.0 in qualifying?

[Darth-Piekus]

Hopefully the pace is genuine and they will be able to fight at the front for once. It's best for the sport.

[mwillems]

We just need to wait for the race to see where we are… An irrelevant point of data? The MCL38 in practice was already half a second faster than the MCL60 in qualifying last year

Clearly we will win the constructors

I think several races to get a grip to be fair. We'll have three races then a raft of upgrades and start figuring out the cars relative strengths again.

I don't know if I'm right or wrong but I have half a mind to think that understanding the new platform is going to take a good while, at least to get the best out of it.

There were several mechanical / chassis changes, so there might still be a bit too learn in terms of setup, but with the regulations been stable, I would be surprised if they don’t have a very good idea of “what works”.

The one thing that I haven’t found any information about is in regards to the operating window for the tires… Did we increase the window? McLaren suffered a lot in “hot conditions” last year, with a car that could heat up the tires quiet quick, but could overheat them as easy… My understanding is that the operating window of the tires for the MCL60 was quiet narrow and that made them compromise a bit in terms of setup

It's still fairly early days for the MCL38 though and with a much shortened pre season testing so I'm not sure how easy it is for them to get the car dialled in still.

I think that the window moved and the car became much better after Austria and Singapore. I'm sure this was hypothesised on here and along came a hot race and the Mclarens did very well, surprising some - though I don't recall which race. But at Vegas it looked to have just had inverted the characteristic because we struggled to get heat into the tyres more than others, if I recall.

[mwillems]

To be fair I think that was solved decently (although not completely) with the Austria package.

I’m sure the Austria packaged helped, but that was more an aero upgrade (bringing more efficiency to the package), but it wasn’t a mechanical change… which was one of the main culprits for the “window width”.

But I’m just speculating… Excited about the start of the season, let’s have a good one!

Not that DTS is a good source for reliable info, but Andrea does say they redesigned some mechanical components in reference to the big upgrade, but you are right, that knife-edge nature of the car wasn't really addressed last year.

Yes they had to redesign the cooling layout and sidepod packaging in general for the new shaped pods, I don't imagine this did much but make space. The car did lose a bit of speed though so I'd wonder if the packaging inside the car that was released at Austria did cause some drag but that the overall benefit in Aero performance was worth it.

The knife edge was "elaborated", shall we say, when they realised late on that with a setup change they could change in which type of corner the peakiness occurred. This was referenced in season and off season by Stella when looking at some of the issues that Norris had on some fast laps towards the end of the season.

That particular characteristic still hasn't gone with the car having the same issue in Bahrain. Something that took me by surprise a little. But it is in part related to how the air is being dealt with at the front of the car in lower load situations. It seems like we don't seem to be able to keep the floor sealed throughout the low speed corner.

However, now putting 2+2 together to get a little closer to 4 than I was before... if it is only the upgrades that went into the new tunnel, this can be explained, as it will not have been possible to test Yaw in the old tunnel at any speed, let alone low speed.

I am rather expecting a front wing to come very soon.

Edit: At the very least.

[FittingMechanics]

F1 with their predictions. I'd love to see how they got to these numbers. I fail to see any metric where the data fits what they predicted.

I have a suspicion that this "analysis" is heavily influenced by "magic numbers" where they fit teams where they expect them to be. Red Bull did not show much yet they predict them P1, McLaren looked good in race pace yet they put them far down.

[BMMR61]

It's interesting to note the apparent improvement McLaren have made in 6 days since the test. The data analysis that transpires on a brand new car results in a steep learning curve before any new components have been added. Stella's guys seem to have a very calm approach to understanding setups. Of course we always must hold back expectations and conclusions in FP as neither we nor the team know the relative fuel loads, engine maps etc. I'm going to enjoy seeing pundits and fans contradicting bold statements from the previous week, hopefully when they see some decent pace from McLaren. But it is looking a bit better than testing.

[CjC]

@Mwillems- Was just about to say after reading your post that this car was primarily developed in the old wind tunnel like the MCL60 so it’s no surprise really that to a certain degree some of the old weakness’s are still apparent

[CjC]

F1 with their predictions. I'd love to see how they got to these numbers. I fail to see any metric where the data fits what they predicted.

I have a suspicion that this "analysis" is heavily influenced by "magic numbers" where they fit teams where they expect them to be. Red Bull did not show much yet they predict them P1, McLaren looked good in race pace yet they put them far down.

Yea I was confused by Lawrence’s analysis tonight and after testing to be honest.

Oscar running less fuel keeps coming up in other reporters theories as well

[BMMR61]

@Mwillems- Was just about to say after reading your post that this car was primarily developed in the old wind tunnel like the MCL60 so it’s no surprise really that to a certain degree some of the old weakness’s are still apparent

Shows just how long the development cycle of every new F1 car really is these days. It's got to be more than 9 months from the initial platform layout and initial wind tunnel test.

[BMMR61]

F1 with their predictions. I'd love to see how they got to these numbers. I fail to see any metric where the data fits what they predicted.

I have a suspicion that this "analysis" is heavily influenced by "magic numbers" where they fit teams where they expect them to be. Red Bull did not show much yet they predict them P1, McLaren looked good in race pace yet they put them far down.

Yea I was confused by Lawrence’s analysis tonight and after testing to be honest.

Oscar running less fuel keeps coming up in other reporters theories as well

There seems to be a reluctance to break from the media pack with these predictions. I couldn't see data which would place McLaren well down the pecking order, only the pessimistic comments from the team and Lando in particular (we know what he can be like) stifled my optimism. There seems to be a little more swagger in the team comments today.

[mwillems]

@Mwillems- Was just about to say after reading your post that this car was primarily developed in the old wind tunnel like the MCL60 so it’s no surprise really that to a certain degree some of the old weakness’s are still apparent

Yeah that's what I was trying to say at the end, but probably badly