2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

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.

Alonso was holding his speed to use it at the right time though, he was being very "cute", though I agree that Piastri has more to learn with his racecraft. But he is getting on top of the tyres this year, not there yet but a big improvement.

[Darth-Piekus]

So its down to the achilles heel of the car that makes that much of a difference. The slow speed corners and the drag/drs. Fix these and we might have a championship winning car.

[mwillems]

So its down to the achilles heel of the car that makes that much of a difference. The slow speed corners and the drag/drs. Fix these and we might have a championship winning car.

No, not drag or DRS lol Our efficiency is better than Ferrari on the whole, we are a little faster without DRS in the races.

[LionsHeart]

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.

Oh those awkward slow long turns.

[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.

Oh those awkward slow long turns.

And the long mediums with a full tank. To be fair, towards the end of the race it got better. So the advantage of the Ferrari nose was eroded by the end of the race. I'm certain that there is truth that the cars Aero is also not sufficiently strong to handle a full tank, so that the issues we have at the lowest speeds also happen in mediums until the car is lighter.

[CjC]

Can’t wait for China

[mwillems]

Can’t wait for China

Ahahaha It is possible that with much less high speed corners we can tune some of the issues out of the car a little, but we may well be in Aston and Merc territory...!

[LionsHeart]

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.

Oh those awkward slow long turns.

And the long mediums with a full tank. To be fair, towards the end of the race it got better. So the advantage of the Ferrari nose was eroded by the end of the race. I'm certain that there is truth that the cars Aero is also not sufficiently strong to handle a full tank, so that the issues we have at the lowest speeds also happen in mediums until the car is lighter.

Yes, with full tanks it is more difficult for us to maintain the Ferrari's pace.

[MrGapes]

Haven’t had time to analyse loses in telemetry, eye test suggest, t9, and the hairpin.. also the high speed cornering performance wasn’t as great as I expected, weirdly alright in the last chicane.. I suspect suspension compromises were made to ride the curbs better to cut the chicane more (to reduce kmh drop).

Anyway saddle up Macca fans China is going to be a treat! Plenty of long slow corners, and lengthy drs zones for us to enjoy.

[MCLvamos]

Haven’t had time to analyse loses in telemetry, eye test suggest, t9, and the hairpin.. also the high speed cornering performance wasn’t as great as I expected, weirdly alright in the last chicane.. I suspect suspension compromises were made to ride the curbs better to cut the chicane more (to reduce kmh drop).

Anyway saddle up Macca fans China is going to be a treat! Plenty of long slow corners, and lengthy drs zones for us to enjoy.

Reckon we might have a shot at the win!

[Emag]

It's nice we have that cushion of points to Mercedes because I feel like China will be absolutely horrid.

[De Wet]

Yes I saw this. He was saying that there isn't enough feeling in the car to understand what it is doing when the car is right on the edge, and this is part of his struggles with getting the car to the edge and staying on the right side of it.

Yes, something like that. So now I'm just patiently waiting for Miami. There are a couple of awkward long slow turns. Let's see how the update package will partially or significantly solve the problems. I want to hear comments from the drivers. Will there be significant improvements, or will the increase be small?

If this is Baku level then I will start supporting Ferrari

//

[Mansell89]

It's nice we have that cushion of points to Mercedes because I feel like China will be absolutely horrid.

Those long corners gonna highlight our weakness I guess.

I said to someone earlier, I would not be surprised to see Alonso and the two Mercs possibly be ahead of us in Shanghai.

Ferrari should be strong with their tyre management and well out of reach.

[LionsHeart]

Race pace. Lando is exactly 6 tenths of a second slower than Max. This means exactly that much is required to start fighting for victories. The table also shows an error in the lower right corner. McLaren gained just 0.95 seconds in six months at race pace, not 1.52 seconds.

[LionsHeart]

It's nice we have that cushion of points to Mercedes because I feel like China will be absolutely horrid.

Those long corners gonna highlight our weakness I guess.

I said to someone earlier, I would not be surprised to see Alonso and the two Mercs possibly be ahead of us in Shanghai.

Ferrari should be strong with their tyre management and well out of reach.

Knowing Shanghai, the teams will most likely bring the same settings or close to those they had in Australia. This is an average downforce due to the very long two straights, as well as the presence of several fast and medium-speed corners. Well, 3-4 slow turns.

Considering all this, seeing that McLaren is faster than Aston and Mercedes by 3-4 tenths per lap in Suzuka, I don’t believe that McLaren will lose so much in pace. Moreover, with a medium downforce package, the McLaren is very strong. This was confirmed in Jeddah and Australia.