2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

***
I'd be surprised if they were adding downforce at the rear at the expense of top speed at this track.

I think the team also suggested that their biggest gain over the winter was grip at the rear.

Edit: looking again, it is probably not flatter. But I do recall that last year we had a limited number of rear wing configurations and we largely ran something similar to Silverstone Spec or Zandvoort/Singapore spec, and we didn't really try to give ourselves many options here.

I'm not saying they were, but the fact remains their chosen low-level wing is bigger than Red Bull. Ferrari tried adding downforce with the same wing as Bahrain and failed to make it work, Perez made Leclerc look like an F2 car while blowing past. McLaren didn't do this, but the wing was still a bit too big and had an inefficient DRS.

I agree with that, just not sure we are ready to correlate it to the floor not providing enough grip at the rear for traction zones.

Quite possibly the issue actually lies at the front of the car. Given how this circuit requires good grip at the front to provide speed at the apex, they may well run more front wing which requires a bigger rear wing for balance.

In fact I rather suspect that is the real reason for the bigger rear wing.

Edit: I'm going to repeat also my nearly year long held belief that in traction zones, part of the issue is having a planted front that allows us to use the traction we have at the rear, and not the rear itself.

[mwillems]

I felt this was because Norris was bringing his tires in and then when Hamilton got too close he bolted. But looking at how things were in next laps it looked like they were both playing a game of cat and mouse. Norris would get away 2-3 seconds then Hamilton would catch up. Possibly it was due to tires overheating or similar issues.

I do think we are much better in the high speed corners than the Mercs and I think that Toto has subsequently come out and said how poor they are here, so I think we just have a really strong trait in the car through Medium and High speeds.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/merce ... tty%20much.

Super excited to see how Australia is for us.

Melbourne has some tight slow corners. I think it's going to be tough out there. In addition, in these slow corners, the steering wheel is turned for a long time, and this will negatively affect the race distance.

It's largely long and flowing with a few low speed, I don't recall 11 and 12 being quite as low speed as this map shows, certainly not 12 which is approached quicker and from which you can get your foot down quicker than 11.

As emag says, the 90 degree are less of a problem as they are relatively "quick" slow corners, turn 13 might be awkward for us, fortunately we then enter into the final turn which isn't flat out, so we aren't impacted on any subsequent straight.

[LionsHeart]

Interesting thread regarding development. Also, I didn't notice they had different setups, but it would explain the difference between s1 and s2 between the 2 cars.

I wrote about this. But there was only my interpretation of Stella’s words after the qualification. I then wrote that Oscar’s settings were more focused on qualifying, while Lando’s were more focused on the race. But they convinced me that it was all about the tire sets. Which, in general, was also confirmed later. The set of tires was indeed different at the start.

[LionsHeart]

I do think we are much better in the high speed corners than the Mercs and I think that Toto has subsequently come out and said how poor they are here, so I think we just have a really strong trait in the car through Medium and High speeds.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/merce ... tty%20much.

Super excited to see how Australia is for us.

Melbourne has some tight slow corners. I think it's going to be tough out there. In addition, in these slow corners, the steering wheel is turned for a long time, and this will negatively affect the race distance.

It's largely long and flowing with a few low speed, I don't recall 11 and 12 being quite as low speed as this map shows, certainly not 12 which is approached quicker and from which you can get your foot down quicker than 11.

As emag says, the 90 degree are less of a problem as they are relatively "quick" slow corners, turn 13 might be awkward for us, fortunately we then enter into the final turn which isn't flat out, so we aren't impacted on any subsequent straight.
https://motorsporttickets.com/blog/wp-c ... -Stats.png

There were no problems with turns 11 and 12. These are more medium-speed turns. But turns 3 and 13 are troublesome. And then there will be problems in the race. In qualifying, I’m sure everything will go well. Here the reason lies not only in the turning angles. Slow turning in itself is a problem for a car with a full tank. And as long as the tires have grip, there won't be any big problems, but then... I should review the race onboard to take a closer look at turn 3. Perhaps turn 3 is really not so critical.

[mwillems]

Melbourne has some tight slow corners. I think it's going to be tough out there. In addition, in these slow corners, the steering wheel is turned for a long time, and this will negatively affect the race distance.

It's largely long and flowing with a few low speed, I don't recall 11 and 12 being quite as low speed as this map shows, certainly not 12 which is approached quicker and from which you can get your foot down quicker than 11.

As emag says, the 90 degree are less of a problem as they are relatively "quick" slow corners, turn 13 might be awkward for us, fortunately we then enter into the final turn which isn't flat out, so we aren't impacted on any subsequent straight.
https://motorsporttickets.com/blog/wp-c ... -Stats.png

There were no problems with turns 11 and 12. These are more medium-speed turns. But turns 3 and 13 are troublesome. And then there will be problems in the race. In qualifying, I’m sure everything will go well.

Interesting, you mean deg? because in performance this car seems well poised, if not perfect, between Q and R I thought.

I feel like I want to bet you 600 Rubles that we are at Parity with Ferrari in the race, if not a little faster

Edit: I joke of course, I'm sure betting is against the forum rules!

[LionsHeart]

It's largely long and flowing with a few low speed, I don't recall 11 and 12 being quite as low speed as this map shows, certainly not 12 which is approached quicker and from which you can get your foot down quicker than 11.

As emag says, the 90 degree are less of a problem as they are relatively "quick" slow corners, turn 13 might be awkward for us, fortunately we then enter into the final turn which isn't flat out, so we aren't impacted on any subsequent straight.
https://motorsporttickets.com/blog/wp-c ... -Stats.png

There were no problems with turns 11 and 12. These are more medium-speed turns. But turns 3 and 13 are troublesome. And then there will be problems in the race. In qualifying, I’m sure everything will go well.

Interesting, you mean deg? because in performance this car seems well poised, if not perfect, between Q and R I thought.

I feel like I want to bet you 600 Rubles that we are at Parity with Ferrari in the race, if not a little faster

Edit: I joke of course, I'm sure betting is against the forum rules!

I don't like to argue with money. But I doubt that we will be faster than Ferrari. No matter how much I want this. But I have 600 rubles.

Edit: Thank you for cheering me up. My stomach hurts from laughing right now.

[mwillems]

Hopefully about the bet and not that we might be fighting with the Leclerc Ferrari!

[LionsHeart]

Hopefully about the bet and not that we might be fighting with the Leclerc Ferrari!

Yeah, sure.

Edit: mwillems, I don’t know why exactly 600 rubles, but I’m ready for 520, 570, 600, 620, 650, 675, 720, 750, 765. If you know what I mean.

[mwillems]

Can you get long tail rubles?

[LionsHeart]

Can you get long tail rubles?

This is a very interesting question. I think yeah, but I don’t know. The main thing is that they are enough to buy a McLaren.

[mwillems]

Can you get long tail rubles?

This is a very interesting question. I think yeah, but I don’t know. The main thing is that they are enough to buy a McLaren.

600 Rubles is about £5 I think, which in the UK is a common bet and is generally referred to as a silly bet, no matter how rich people are, it is not meant to challenge peoples finances it is just for fun

And let's end it there I think!

[LionsHeart]

Can you get long tail rubles?

This is a very interesting question. I think yeah, but I don’t know. The main thing is that they are enough to buy a McLaren.

600 Rubles is about £5 I think, which in the UK is a common bet and is generally referred to as a silly bet, no matter how rich people are, it is not meant to challenge peoples finances it is just for fun

And let's end it there I think!

Agree.

[LionsHeart]

Stella says major updates could come to Miami or Imola. The second option is more preferable, since it is closer to the team’s base and the track is much more traditional. A little more time for production, and there are also three free practices available.

This means the first major updates will appear only in mid-May. Wait another two months.

[SmallSoldier]

That analysis doesn’t take into account the fact that while Hamilton was probably depleting his battery in the straight to keep Piastri behind, the same wasn’t necessarily true the other way around… When you know you aren’t fighting the other car (McLaren vs RBR), there is no need to deplete your battery or use overtake to defend, which would exaggerate the difference (not saying there isn’t one, but it isn’t as bad as that graph indicates)

[Marc.W]

Stella says major updates could come to Miami or Imola. The second option is more preferable, since it is closer to the team’s base and the track is much more traditional. A little more time for production, and there are also three free practices available.

This means the first major updates will appear only in mid-May. Wait another two months.

I believe Zak has been quoted saying no updates until after Miami because they want to be able to evaluate it properly (not a sprint weekend)