2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Darth-Piekus]

Ferrari only had a small winglet on the rear suspension. Big package is Imola. Hopefully both teams can get closer to Red Bull. If RBR can be dragged into the pack, similar to Merc, AM, Mcl and Ferrari are at the moment, could make this season come alive.

A small winglet and a new suspension. We had 0 upgrades. Whatever they gained made the difference.

[Ben1980]

I agree with those who believe that the second pit stop was too early. I'm sure Lando would have easily dealt with the two Mercedes and the Leclerc, the fresher tires giving more of an advantage than the race pace. 4th position was real.

But the fresher tyres couldn't get last Leclerc earlier. So, its a big if.

[Darth-Piekus]

Dont fret over it. Until we get an upgrade that does a repeat of last year both Red Bull and Ferrari are at the moment faster no matter the GP.

[LionsHeart]

I read the comments above. Lando was indeed called to the pits early, but even if he had pitted 5-6 laps later, this would not have been enough to overtake Charles on the track. Moreover, Carlos had an even higher margin of pace. Therefore, the attempt was good, even if the second undercut turned out to be frankly early. No matter how you look at it, Ferrari is doing better with tire wear. Today we saw the situation in Bahrain again. On tracks where tire wear is high, Red Bull and Ferrari look much better than McLaren. Therefore, you can leave your disputes alone.

The situation repeats itself over and over again: the higher the tire wear, the faster the optimal balance of the car disappears. The faster the pace is lost. Therefore, Lando experiences problems starting from the middle of each of his stints.

The problem is complex. On fresh soft tires, problems are not visible in one fast lap. Moreover, soft tires can even compensate for a number of shortcomings of the McLaren chassis. As I said earlier, I'm just waiting for updates now. If the handling and balance of the chassis improves, then McLaren will immediately begin to fight with Ferrari. In the meantime, it’s too early to get upset, because in terms of pure speed McLaren remains the third force. And this is already worth rejoicing at. We have 69 points. Mercedes now has 34, and Aston has 33. Both Lando and Oscar consistently earned points in all four races. This is already a good start, compared to 2022 and 2023.

[Darth-Piekus]

Lionheart out of curiosity. What do you think is the decifit that Mclaren needs to cover compared to Ferrari and Red Bull if they want to start winning?

[LionsHeart]

Ferrari only had a small winglet on the rear suspension. Big package is Imola. Hopefully both teams can get closer to Red Bull. If RBR can be dragged into the pack, similar to Merc, AM, Mcl and Ferrari are at the moment, could make this season come alive.

A small winglet and a new suspension. We had 0 upgrades. Whatever they gained made the difference.

Please don't write nonsense. The small winglet and tail of the rear suspension does not give several tenths at once on one lap. This is a very small update and the benefit from these updates is very small. This is not the reason why Ferrari beat McLaren. Ferrari has been consistently looking better since Bahrain.

[LionsHeart]

Lionheart out of curiosity. What do you think is the decifit that Mclaren needs to cover compared to Ferrari and Red Bull if they want to start winning?

You just need to look at the average race pace lag relative to the first four races. If the task is worth winning, then at least 5-6 tenths of a lap should be won back at once.

[Space-heat]

Ferrari only had a small winglet on the rear suspension. Big package is Imola. Hopefully both teams can get closer to Red Bull. If RBR can be dragged into the pack, similar to Merc, AM, Mcl and Ferrari are at the moment, could make this season come alive.

A small winglet and a new suspension. We had 0 upgrades. Whatever they gained made the difference.

It was a winglet on the suspension arm (Jap), and a winglet near the rear exhaust in Aus. Small flow conditioning, but maybe it plays a larger role than the visual change. It will be interesting to see Mcl upgrades, I think all fans want someone to put RBR under some pressure.

[mwillems]

I read the comments above. Lando was indeed called to the pits early, but even if he had pitted 5-6 laps later, this would not have been enough to overtake Charles on the track. Moreover, Carlos had an even higher margin of pace. Therefore, the attempt was good, even if the second undercut turned out to be frankly early. No matter how you look at it, Ferrari is doing better with tire wear. Today we saw the situation in Bahrain again. On tracks where tire wear is high, Red Bull and Ferrari look much better than McLaren. Therefore, you can leave your disputes alone.

The situation repeats itself over and over again: the higher the tire wear, the faster the optimal balance of the car disappears. The faster the pace is lost. Therefore, Lando experiences problems starting from the middle of each of his stints.

The problem is complex. On fresh soft tires, problems are not visible in one fast lap. Moreover, soft tires can even compensate for a number of shortcomings of the McLaren chassis. As I said earlier, I'm just waiting for updates now. If the handling and balance of the chassis improves, then McLaren will immediately begin to fight with Ferrari. In the meantime, it’s too early to get upset, because in terms of pure speed McLaren remains the third force. And this is already worth rejoicing at. We have 69 points. Mercedes now has 34, and Aston has 33. Both Lando and Oscar consistently earned points in all four races. This is already a good start, compared to 2022 and 2023.

Indeed. I think both strategies were doomed to fail unless Leclerc pitted later than us, getting past the Ferrari in the pits seemed to me to be the only realistic opportunity for an overtake. Thinking we could get past on track seems a little like wishful thinking to me.

[LionsHeart]

I came away from the race in a bad mood. It seemed nothing worked for the team who looked very strong in qualifying but every step they made went from promising to, just not enough tyre life. It was alarming how quick that even the hards lost grip even though previously this compound worked for us. It's all in the dark art of the round black things that are affected by track temperature and track surface. Lando looked really very handy for 5 or so laps after his first pitstop and maybe track position was awkward and demanding on the rubber. However, I doubt we could have done a lot better. A few little slip ups by both drivers but excellent pitstops by the team. Well that was our best chance till we get some serious upgrades that work like last year.

Yes! The main problem is that our top speed is weak. It causes limitations in our strategy. Just look at Piastri vs Alonso. Piastri was much faster than alonso but unable to pass him. I hope we can solve the drag problems.

But I think it's not about maximum speed. Lando, for example, easily passed George on the main straight. Oscar just lacks the racing pace like last year here. Oscar could not approach at a distance of 3-4 tenths and then use DRS and slipstream. But Lando came within 4 tenths and overtook Mercedes on the first try.

[Darth-Piekus]

Is it nonsense though? Even a small gain is better than no gain. We knew Ferrari had a slight advantage in the previous races and we were hoping the characteristics of this race would suit Mclaren to nullify that advantage. We have 0 updates on the car. Even a small winglet that improves air flow can make a difference in the whole package. In todays F1 even a milimeter in design can make a difference.

[LionsHeart]

I read the comments above. Lando was indeed called to the pits early, but even if he had pitted 5-6 laps later, this would not have been enough to overtake Charles on the track. Moreover, Carlos had an even higher margin of pace. Therefore, the attempt was good, even if the second undercut turned out to be frankly early. No matter how you look at it, Ferrari is doing better with tire wear. Today we saw the situation in Bahrain again. On tracks where tire wear is high, Red Bull and Ferrari look much better than McLaren. Therefore, you can leave your disputes alone.

The situation repeats itself over and over again: the higher the tire wear, the faster the optimal balance of the car disappears. The faster the pace is lost. Therefore, Lando experiences problems starting from the middle of each of his stints.

The problem is complex. On fresh soft tires, problems are not visible in one fast lap. Moreover, soft tires can even compensate for a number of shortcomings of the McLaren chassis. As I said earlier, I'm just waiting for updates now. If the handling and balance of the chassis improves, then McLaren will immediately begin to fight with Ferrari. In the meantime, it’s too early to get upset, because in terms of pure speed McLaren remains the third force. And this is already worth rejoicing at. We have 69 points. Mercedes now has 34, and Aston has 33. Both Lando and Oscar consistently earned points in all four races. This is already a good start, compared to 2022 and 2023.

Indeed. I think both strategies were doomed to fail unless Leclerc pitted later than us, getting past the Ferrari in the pits seemed to me to be the only realistic opportunity for an overtake. Thinking we could get past on track seems a little like wishful thinking to me.

Yes, that's right. But Ferrari had a good pitstop and the mechanics withstood the pressure.

[mwillems]

Is it nonsense though? Even a small gain is better than no gain. We knew Ferrari had a slight advantage in the previous races and we were hoping the characteristics of this race would suit Mclaren to nullify that advantage. We have 0 updates on the car. Even a small winglet that improves air flow can make a difference in the whole package. In todays F1 even a milimeter in design can make a difference.

It didn't make the difference between the cars here is the point. They were faster than us on merit and deserve their place.

[LionsHeart]

Is it nonsense though? Even a small gain is better than no gain. We knew Ferrari had a slight advantage in the previous races and we were hoping the characteristics of this race would suit Mclaren to nullify that advantage. We have 0 updates on the car. Even a small winglet that improves air flow can make a difference in the whole package. In todays F1 even a milimeter in design can make a difference.

I agree with your position, but these Ferrari updates did not do anything supernatural. They are already consistently faster than us on the first four race tracks. Therefore, even without upgrades they would be faster than McLaren.

That's why I'm telling you that in this case it didn't play a role. Otherwise, Ferrari would be even faster. But not only pure speed played a role here, but also the degradation of tire wear over the race distance. And in this component we are still behind the two leading teams. I was also a little upset by Lando’s early entry into the pits, but then after analyzing the race after the finish I came to the conclusion that we had lost nothing. So the team deservedly took their 14 points based on the capabilities of the car and how our drivers know how to extract speed.

[mwillems]

Looking at the various laps, the Mclaren was equal to the Red Bull across almost the entirety of the lap, including the opening laps where Red Bull would have been pushing for a gap. The entirety of the deficit to Red Bull was at the hairpin, half a second a lap at the start.

Against Ferrari, whose nose is much stronger, we lost time in the long mediums of 1 & 2, as predicted. In the hairpin we were similar. It's worth noting that this is where we would overtake with DRS, which is why it would be even harder for us, because entry to turn 1 is much better for Ferrari.