2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[BMMR61]

It’s a tough life for Mclaren and to be one of their fans….

Pre-season most of the media talked about the ‘top 3 big teams’ and Aston.
With the race finished, McLaren come home basically the 4th fastest team split in and around the Mercs yet they are deemed to be ‘losers’??

You get the feelings could only be classed as a ‘winner’ if they took the grand slam 1-2 by 30 seconds

Simple fix, either stop reading the media… Or simply stop letting it bother you… Why is it important what the media says? I care about happens on track, the rest is just noise

Of course you're absolutely right. They're (the media) all busy agreeing with each other - their tune will change if and when McLaren smash Mercedes and close the gap to Ferrari next weekend.
I don't think it's unfair to say McLaren were on Mercedes pace at Bahrain and therefore 3rd=. Points show different but there's plenty to play for. Stella stated at testing they didn't have time to incorporate all the developments before Bahrain but there's performance to be found just in setup and understanding the car, before new parts arrive (at Suzuka?)

[CjC]

It’s a tough life for Mclaren and to be one of their fans….

Pre-season most of the media talked about the ‘top 3 big teams’ and Aston.
With the race finished, McLaren come home basically the 4th fastest team split in and around the Mercs yet they are deemed to be ‘losers’??

You get the feelings could only be classed as a ‘winner’ if they took the grand slam 1-2 by 30 seconds

Simple fix, either stop reading the media… Or simply stop letting it bother you… Why is it important what the media says? I care about happens on track, the rest is just noise

Exactly.
However we have to get our information from somewhere so I have to read it.
It’s a thought I’ve been mulling over for a while- what do the current ‘top 3’ do for that name? Is it literally they finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the WCC?

[mwillems]

Average pace saw us third fastest car, according to this analysis, .35s from Ferrari

Yeah that seems spot on. It's the gap to RedBull that worries me though. Way too big considering they are set to get a rather major upgrade in Imola.

I guess we should wait and see how it's gonna be on the upcoming favorable tracks. Maybe the average gap comes down a little.

But if RedBull pulls even further ahead with the Imola package, I am afraid we will be having another 2023 ...

Yeah I agree, the gap to RB is huge and at first thought, worrying. Essentially the first upgrade we bring is going to be the second half of the car that they were developing over winter and it has been in development for some time. You'd think that several parts are only just getting close to sign off and moving into build now, but of course they may be late due to issues.

In theory that would be 6 months of Development coming to the car in 4-6 weeks. I guess that is crunch time for Mclaren. Everyone has brought their time to the table by then and the cars will be much more directly comparable.

Of course the next 3 races will hopefully bring us closer to RB and 1 race does not make a season so as big as that gap is, and as unlikely it seems we will close that down this year, it's quite early for conclusions still.

At least that is what I'm telling myself

[mwillems]

A quick look at tyre deg, and we did seem to lose the tyres quicker the lower fuel we were on. We seemed to start out slightly better than others but as the grand prix wore on the deg seemed to get worse. It still wasn't too bad bad vs Mercedes, but against Aston and Ferrari it was noticeable.

[Emag]

A quick look at tyre deg, and we did seem to lose the tyres quicker the lower fuel we were on. We seemed to start out slightly better than others but as the grand prix wore on the deg seemed to get worse. It still wasn't too bad bad vs Mercedes, but against Aston and Ferrari it was noticeable.

Yeah, I mentioned that the race panned out similarly to Hungary last year. Pace advantage early in the stint which dwindled to disadvantage at the end.

We don't know with what kind of wear they were dealing with though. Bahrain is a track at which you get punished heavily if you have a weak rear-end.

If their car is more prone to cooking the rears, Bahrain would greatly exaggerate the laptime deficit to competitors who handle it better.

[Macafangrskg]

A quick look at tyre deg, and we did seem to lose the tyres quicker the lower fuel we were on. We seemed to start out slightly better than others but as the grand prix wore on the deg seemed to get worse. It still wasn't too bad bad vs Mercedes, but against Aston and Ferrari it was noticeable.

Yeah, I mentioned that the race panned out similarly to Hungary last year. Pace advantage early in the stint which dwindled to disadvantage at the end.

We don't know with what kind of wear they were dealing with though. Bahrain is a track at which you get punished heavily if you have a weak rear-end.

If their car is more prone to cooking the rears, Bahrain would greatly exaggerate the laptime deficit to competitors who handle it better.

I saw exactly the same thing.I thing we were over conservative with our setup. Like we were afraid. It is the exact opposite of 2022,2023 when as the race ended in some races we got also fastest laps

[mwillems]

A quick look at tyre deg, and we did seem to lose the tyres quicker the lower fuel we were on. We seemed to start out slightly better than others but as the grand prix wore on the deg seemed to get worse. It still wasn't too bad bad vs Mercedes, but against Aston and Ferrari it was noticeable.

Yeah, I mentioned that the race panned out similarly to Hungary last year. Pace advantage early in the stint which dwindled to disadvantage at the end.

We don't know with what kind of wear they were dealing with though. Bahrain is a track at which you get punished heavily if you have a weak rear-end.

If their car is more prone to cooking the rears, Bahrain would greatly exaggerate the laptime deficit to competitors who handle it better.

It's odd that it had a direct correlation to fuel loads and seemed to ignore the fact that the track was rubbering in. The team also said that the rear had a lot more grip now, which I would assume would come from a mix of Mechanical and Aero from the floor and diffuser. They also ran a bigger RW. Strange much?

I'm still open to the idea that the team will not understand the best way to set the car up yet and that some gains may yet still be found as they get to know this platform, but this may well be a very real issue for the time being.

[mwillems]

OK, so an interesting tidbit here. I've been suspecting for a while that we have an issue with a planted front and Lando seems to confirm as much when talking about Jeddah.

https://f1i.com/news/501584-norris-mcla ... ement.html

Queried on McLaren’s prospects next weekend in Jeddah’s high-speed environment, Norris believes the Saudi track should better suit the team’s MCL38.

"But it's also a track where you want to have a good front at apex and this is something we don't have at all, so there are still going to be things we're going to struggle with a lot.

"On average, the track speed is higher, which maybe should suit us a bit more, so I'm excited for it."

And regarding the pace vs Mercedes:

Norris admitted that gaining an upper hand over Russell was a tall order, even despite the Mercedes driver’s engine issues that weighed on his performance.

“We were close to Mercedes, I don't think we had any advantage over them," he added. "The pace was so similar that, as soon as I got into the dirty air, I didn't have enough of an advantage to have a chance to overtake or even get within DRS.

[djos]

OK, so an interesting tidbit here. I've been suspecting for a while that we have an issue with a planted front and Lando seems to confirm as much when talking about Jeddah.

https://f1i.com/news/501584-norris-mcla ... ement.html

Queried on McLaren’s prospects next weekend in Jeddah’s high-speed environment, Norris believes the Saudi track should better suit the team’s MCL38.

"But it's also a track where you want to have a good front at apex and this is something we don't have at all, so there are still going to be things we're going to struggle with a lot.

"On average, the track speed is higher, which maybe should suit us a bit more, so I'm excited for it."

And regarding the pace vs Mercedes:

Norris admitted that gaining an upper hand over Russell was a tall order, even despite the Mercedes driver’s engine issues that weighed on his performance.

“We were close to Mercedes, I don't think we had any advantage over them," he added. "The pace was so similar that, as soon as I got into the dirty air, I didn't have enough of an advantage to have a chance to overtake or even get within DRS.

It’s pretty disappointing that this is still an issue they haven’t been able to fix.

[mwillems]

OK, so an interesting tidbit here. I've been suspecting for a while that we have an issue with a planted front and Lando seems to confirm as much when talking about Jeddah.

https://f1i.com/news/501584-norris-mcla ... ement.html

...

It’s pretty disappointing that this is still an issue they haven’t been able to fix.

I think it is something they haven't yet tried to bring to the car. It feels like most of the Aero was held back, so it might be worth seeing what comes out of the first raft of upgrades. If we don't look good then, then I will be concerned I think. But don't let that take away from the fact that Bahrain was still a good opening performance from us.

[djos]

OK, so an interesting tidbit here. I've been suspecting for a while that we have an issue with a planted front and Lando seems to confirm as much when talking about Jeddah.

https://f1i.com/news/501584-norris-mcla ... ement.html

...

It’s pretty disappointing that this is still an issue they haven’t been able to fix.

I think it is something they haven't yet tried to bring to the car. It feels like most of the Aero was held back, so it might be worth seeing what comes out of the first raft of upgrades. If we don't look good then, then I will be concerned I think. But don't let that take away from the fact that Bahrain was still a good opening performance from us.

I wonder if it’s aero or mechanical? Neither driver is complaining of aero balance issues that I’ve seen.

But you are correct, it’s a much better start to the season than recent years.

[101FlyingDutchman]

Could a new front wing help or at least one with a gurney flap for more front DF?
Mind you if the aero balance front/rear is good then perhaps not. We are only running one beam wing.
Suspect it’s more mechanical at the moment then DF related

[De Wet]

It’s a tough life for Mclaren and to be one of their fans….

Pre-season most of the media talked about the ‘top 3 big teams’ and Aston.
With the race finished, McLaren come home basically the 4th fastest team split in and around the Mercs yet they are deemed to be ‘losers’??

You get the feelings could only be classed as a ‘winner’ if they took the grand slam 1-2 by 30 seconds

Simple fix, either stop reading the media… Or simply stop letting it bother you… Why is it important what the media says? I care about happens on track, the rest is just noise

Exactly.
However we have to get our information from somewhere so I have to read it.
It’s a thought I’ve been mulling over for a while- what do the current ‘top 3’ do for that name? Is it literally they finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the WCC?

The Top 3 Money Spenders for the last 10 years... +- $200 Million more than other teams annually...

[mwillems]

It’s pretty disappointing that this is still an issue they haven’t been able to fix.

I think it is something they haven't yet tried to bring to the car. It feels like most of the Aero was held back, so it might be worth seeing what comes out of the first raft of upgrades. If we don't look good then, then I will be concerned I think. But don't let that take away from the fact that Bahrain was still a good opening performance from us.

I wonder if it’s aero or mechanical? Neither driver is complaining of aero balance issues that I’ve seen.

But you are correct, it’s a much better start to the season than recent years.

Both I should think. Even at lower speeds the floor is doing a lot of work, or should be. Stella remarked last year that we deal poorly with airflow from the front if the front wing isn't loaded enough. I may turn out to be totally wrong but this is what I think will be coming in the next upgrade.

[taperoo2k]

Average pace saw us third fastest car, according to this analysis, .35s from Ferrari

Yeah that seems spot on. It's the gap to RedBull that worries me though. Way too big considering they are set to get a rather major upgrade in Imola.

I guess we should wait and see how it's gonna be on the upcoming favorable tracks. Maybe the average gap comes down a little.

But if RedBull pulls even further ahead with the Imola package, I am afraid we will be having another 2023 ...

The thing for McLaren is to get all the new tools and staff dialed in during the 2024 season. Make sure updates they do bring work and add performance so they can be confident in the design for 2025. I'm not sure if they will be able to challenge in 2025. 2026 might be a good oppertunity if they ace the design and Mercedes produces a competitive engine.

As for Red Bull? Either they take a massive leap forward with the rumoured imola package or it doesn't
change things very much. I expect McLaren will have upgrades coming that they aren't talking about to
the media.