2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

I believe the downforce is not important during rotation but rather the initial slowdown and brake application. With more aero load you have better braking, but more importantly on these types of corners is that you get more rotation during the initial phase of trail braking. This is crucial for time gain. As Mario Andretti used to say "I am amazed that drivers still think the brakes are for slowing the car down".

This is of course no longer true with modern drivers, as each of them is a master of the technique albeit at different levels, but I feel like most of general fans are not aware that the brakes are a very 'powerful' tool that allows the driver to control the pitch and the weight balance of the car, making the rear light and more prone to rotate while giving the fronts more load. Of course, overdo it and you lock up, or spin the car around. So it's not really easy finding the right balance each corner.

Anyway, the point is, with more peak downforce you have more initial rotation during this crucial and delicate turn-in point. Then the downforce "washes-off" as speed is scrubbed and it's down to the mechanical platform/grip to keep the car pointing in that direction.

This is what I believe enables the drivers to go faster on slower corners with a higher-downforce setup.

In the shorter corners you are bang on. But it's the longer corners where we suffer and here it stops being a corner entry issue. Though I think downforce in low speed in all areas of the corner is sub optimal, long and short.

According to the team, rear grip is the most improved aspect of the car, mainly in med speed but it has improved everywhere. I think at Bahrain Stella stated it isn't an issue with the rear it is overall downforce in the low speed, and in the previous article i posted he talks about the front being the key to our low speed issues due to the car not managing airflow well at the front.

We are going to find out very soon I hope and whomever is right, I hope we get on the top step

[SilviuAgo]

Oh and it might be P3/P5 if Perez gets his penalty.

Anyone have any footage / onboards of the incident? If so can it be put in the Australian GP thread

Sorry for not looking after Aus GP thread but this is the incident that brought McLaren up a place for both Lando and Oscar.

[mwillems]

4-5kph with that setup.... best to use the Qualy setup as that was the one that offered the right balance

But you can see the point, the diffence with this wing is much bigger in the slower corners than the straights. In fact, more wing didn't help us much more in the slower corners in FP3, we just needed a wing that was getting sufficient load that the aero was working properly, after that the floor could do it's job better. I really do not think this is a wing issue but the loading at the front of the car enabling the car to condition and use the airlfow.

I don't think aero matters much in 100 kmh or slower corners, it's all mechanical grip. At 250kmh you get about 6.2 times more downforce than 100kmh, and with these cars and low ride height at such speeds, it might be over 6.5 times bigger

I had a look, by taking the three fastest laps each of Lando and Oscar and comparing the maximum speed of each on the 5 high speed braking zones and the average difference was 3.6kph across all peak speeds. I noted the idea that you thought it was an issue all through the straight, so I looked at the mid straight speed and on average we were 1.5kph slower.

If you look at Jeddah and our top speed issues, then I don't think that is the reason why we can't overtake with DRS open whilst getting a tow with a car that could stick close in corners. Granted Merc had a small wing but still, it's not the difference unfortunately, we needed way more than 3 or 5 kph at the end of the straight to fight, and even compared to Ferrari our top speed was still lower with that little bit of extra speed.

Not suggesting the rear wing won't contribute though, it will of course, but we need more df from the floor in slow speed, and I'll wager that when that happens we will stop running bigger wings. Let's catch up in 6 weeks!

[Macklaren]

Both cars on the clean side of the grid now. This is huge on a track where grip has been sketchy all weekend

In theory this may sound fair, but last Aus GP's showed how quick you can lose the entrance in T1 or T2 being on outside of the turn.

Aus 2022:

Aus 2023:

Fair point but this is usually a high grip track but it's not really this year

[SmallSoldier]

Fully agreed! You can't even take the word of other F1 people outside the team. Allison was saying McLaren were behind Mercedes and Aston and they weren't far away from Red Bull.

Exactly, which proves that there is a lot that not even telemetry tells you at a first glance… The reality is that is very hard to get any kind of accurate information from Testing or Practice sessions, so many variables not known that is hard to predict.

I believe that McLaren’s current pace is encouraging, if the goal is to keep on closing in on the guys at the front, they are on that path… We all want them fighting for wins, but it’s not something that can be done in a winter, there is no silver bullet or one piece of innovation that will get you there… On the other hand, an smart methodical approach, making sure that what you bring to the track allows you to keep on chipping at the lap delta is the best way.

It’s a long season, we only have a couple of tracks… There is a lot to play for and the goal has to be to try to finish the season as close as you can in order to fight next year.

Indeed SS. The McLaren methodical approach which has been greatly evident since last season's upgrade has continued, and, without wanting to kick a dog when it's down, Mercedes. Oh dear! False dawns and promises and claims of having found the problem and the cure is on the car tomorrow.... What a disappointment for their legion of fans. Hamilton seems to have reached the limit of his patience and I'm sure he saw something that led to his decision to leave. Today Merc weren't in the fight with us and we were pretty close to Ferrari - hats off to Carlos, a very good man!

An amazing drive by Carlos!

[Macafangrskg]

The time delta of our improvement continues with exactly the same numbers 1.78 sec below one year after for McLaren. Redbull 0.817 below Mercedes 0.244 below Ferrari 1.085 below and Aston Martin 0.107 below. In two weeks we will know the absolute truth of course because we will go to Japan which happened last year towards the end of the season with all our updates finished (after the Singapore update). In other words, we will have a comparison of last year's final car with this year's launch spec

[SmallSoldier]

The time delta of our improvement continues with exactly the same numbers 1.78 sec below one year after for McLaren. Redbull 0.817 below Mercedes 0.244 below Ferrari 1.085 below and Aston Martin 0.107 below. In two weeks we will know the absolute truth of course because we will go to Japan which happened last year towards the end of the season with all our updates finished (after the Singapore update). In other words, we will have a comparison of last year's final car with this year's launch spec

I would just be careful drawing any major conclusions from Japan in regards to how much the car has or hasn’t improved over previous year… Track conditions are a key factor and those will most probably be very different against last year.

[Emag]

The number by itself don't tell us much, but if we are anywhere near Ferrari's and RedBull's improvement numbers in Japan then that means McLaren had a relatively successful winter to keep up with the rate of development of the big teams. Would bode well for future upgrades as well, since Andreas made it clear that they keep seeing the same gradient since the introduction of the Austria package last year. There's a lot more to gain for them.

[Macafangrskg]

The time delta of our improvement continues with exactly the same numbers 1.78 sec below one year after for McLaren. Redbull 0.817 below Mercedes 0.244 below Ferrari 1.085 below and Aston Martin 0.107 below. In two weeks we will know the absolute truth of course because we will go to Japan which happened last year towards the end of the season with all our updates finished (after the Singapore update). In other words, we will have a comparison of last year's final car with this year's launch spec

I would just be careful drawing any major conclusions from Japan in regards to how much the car has or hasn’t improved over previous year… Track conditions are a key factor and those will most probably be very different against last year.

Correct but our calculations will be against the delta time difference of all competitors

[mwillems]

The time delta of our improvement continues with exactly the same numbers 1.78 sec below one year after for McLaren. Redbull 0.817 below Mercedes 0.244 below Ferrari 1.085 below and Aston Martin 0.107 below. In two weeks we will know the absolute truth of course because we will go to Japan which happened last year towards the end of the season with all our updates finished (after the Singapore update). In other words, we will have a comparison of last year's final car with this year's launch spec

I would just be careful drawing any major conclusions from Japan in regards to how much the car has or hasn’t improved over previous year… Track conditions are a key factor and those will most probably be very different against last year.

Correct but our calculations will be against the delta time difference of all competitors

Correct. It isn't an exact science but you'll get a good approximation even if it is at a different time of the year.

But I'm not sure of the point, all we need to know is where we finish each race and are those positions getting higher up the order.

Target for last season was 4th fastest. We're now 3rd fastest after less favourable tracks, and on the track that suits us more, almost joint 2nd fastest with Suzuka to come. So we are still ahead of schedule and we just need to wait for the upgrade, I suspect it'll release the cars potential.

Miami might hurt our butts a little though

[Macafangrskg]

I would just be careful drawing any major conclusions from Japan in regards to how much the car has or hasn’t improved over previous year… Track conditions are a key factor and those will most probably be very different against last year.

Correct but our calculations will be against the delta time difference of all competitors

Correct. It isn't an exact science but you'll get a good approximation even if it is at a different time of the year.

But I'm not sure of the point, all we need to know is where we finish each race and are those positions getting higher up the order.

Target for last season was 4th fastest. We're now 3rd fastest after less favourable tracks, and on the track that suits us more, almost joint 2nd fastest with Suzuka to come. So we are still ahead of schedule and we just need to wait for the upgrade, I suspect it'll release the cars potential.

Miami might hurt our butts a little though

I believe the team have a clear plan of upgrades based of point scoring.As long as the points are coming and the team understanding the concept and the setup variations they will try to push the upgrades as a complete packages.So far from what i can understand from the q sessions the car seams less on knife edge especially with low fuel load.Piastri im particular is very settled

[mwillems]

There were some instances of it being inconsistent last year. Largely in low speed but as the year progressed, updates arrived which enabled a setup that could remove some of the short low speed corner issues, but moved it to higher speed corners. It couldn't be totally removed.

This year they are approaching the issue by adding wing, otherwise the peakiness would still be there.

Bahrain had some mistakes from Lando, but since then it has been plain sailing with both putting in alternate strong Q performances.

[Darth-Piekus]

How was Lando's Q3 today? Was it faultless?

[FittingMechanics]

How was Lando's Q3 today? Was it faultless?

I think he had no major complaints, but he also didn't say it was lap of his life.

Oscar said his last lap was average - not super happy with it.

[FittingMechanics]

Everyone predicting two stopper.

"with all 19 drivers arriving at the race with two sets of Hard tyres (some – including us – having scrubbed those sets) and one set of Mediums"