2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

This is a great read from Norris and his race management. Great skills, commendable understanding of tyres. Won't quote anything, the whole article must be read to comprehend it

https://www.racefans.net/2024/05/20/nor ... erstappen/

When you consider the fact that Red Bull have been gaining the experience of regularly winning since 2021, you can see that this is an incredibly valuable time for McLaren F1 and our drivers and race engineers. The lap times and the inconsistency of them show what a battle it was at Imola with those tyres in these temperatures. Sounds like a little more experience for the engineers at the track (and on the simulators back at Woking) would have given a good opportunity to win here. The setups for the race were suboptimal producing too much oversteer.

Because they were expecting different temperatures. But the team can work together to make changes in the race to improve it, and this is where they can improve by the sounds of it. A shame it was halfway through the race that it was being looked at.

At the same time, every team can look back after a weekend and identify all the things that would have brought more time, this isn't unique to Mclaren and what ifs don't really work out. We could have won this weekend, or we could have got pole and still be overtaken at the start or in the next few laps. We might have cooked our tyres defending in the first stint. We finished 2nd and the car didn't have enough for more in the race where hindsight can't be applied.

[taperoo2k]

Red Bull is the benchmark. We've gained a lot of ground but we aren't quite there yet. A better Saturday and it might have been a different story.

We are on a par with them though I think.

McLaren are within touching distance from Redbull as things stand.

Monaco is won and lost in qualifying or mistakes in the race. Or rain makes it interesting.

We look to be equal overall with Red Bull. It will come.

Over the next few races the competitive picture will begin to sharpen up.

Monaco will see the team benefit like China and Miami, with a very focused setup which releases the car from some of its weak points.

I'd expect more pace from McLaren if the upgrades in the pipeline perform to expectations. I think on a good day McLaren will either be equal with Redbull on pace or might just nudge ahead of Red Bull a bit.

It really gives Red Bull something to think about. They were focussing on developing the '25 car early and like last year, would not do too much work on the current year car.

I think Redbull might have to reverse that decision, if McLaren have indeed started to converge on the optimal concept for this set of regulations. Realistically if McLaren can consistently challenge Redbull for wins then Lando has a slim chance of winning the drivers title. Same with the constructors title, if Perez keeps underperforming then that opens it up for McLaren and Ferrari (if they get their upgrades working) to challenge.

All so they can focus on the '26 regs for most of next year. But this is going to force a rethink about where to spend time and money because I'm sure they'd have liked to have been getting easy wins and pulling big gap before we started to push them like we are this past 2 weeks. That luxury appears to have gone.

If McLaren have converged on the right path for this set of regulations, then that might well force Redbull into rethinking its plans for 2026. Which would be quite the achievement from McLaren if they do manage to force Redbull into changing its development plans in response.

[mwillems]

It's possible that the next upgrade might be the one to make us a dominant car. Certainly there is good reason to be optimistic. But of course it is all relative to performance others bring and we still need to look at the car over the next few races.

[the EDGE]

It's possible that the next upgrade might be the one to make us a dominant car. Certainly there is good reason to be optimistic. But of course it is all relative to performance others bring and we still need to look at the car over the next few races.

The problem is, finding performance from now on is going to get harder & harder

McLaren need to focus on improving their weaknesses, the difficult task will be doing that without affecting their strengths

It surely will be a a good development race for the next 18 months, and they have shown they are well placed for that fight. Without doubt, over the previous 12 months they have added more performance to their car than any other team

[mwillems]

It's possible that the next upgrade might be the one to make us a dominant car. Certainly there is good reason to be optimistic. But of course it is all relative to performance others bring and we still need to look at the car over the next few races.

The problem is, finding performance from now on is going to get harder & harder

McLaren need to focus on improving their weaknesses, the difficult task will be doing that without affecting their strengths

It surely will be a a good development race for the next 18 months, and they have shown they are well placed for that fight. Without doubt, over the previous 12 months they have added more performance to their car than any other team

Yeah I think you are right we will hit the downwards trend soon but are we there yet? I'm not sure we are to be honest, time just keeps coming.

It is difficult to understand how much we gained at this track as we didn't race here in 2023. Monaco might not be the best example of relative performance but Canada and Spain will be nice tests for this car.

[LionsHeart]

This is a great read from Norris and his race management. Great skills, commendable understanding of tyres. Won't quote anything, the whole article must be read to comprehend it

https://www.racefans.net/2024/05/20/nor ... erstappen/

Thank you for sharing the link. It turns out interesting. Now the team and Lando have more experience and more information. This is a useful experience; it will definitely be useful in the future to select the optimal settings.

[billamend]

EJ: The people who have helped put this together, and I'm including the crown prince himself because it was a big task to take that...

DC: ...he was there, at the weekend.

EJ: ...he was there, I have a good idea why he was there. But that is a separate issue

[CjC]

EJ: The people who have helped put this together, and I'm including the crown prince himself because it was a big task to take that...

DC: ...he was there, at the weekend.

EJ: ...he was there, I have a good idea why he was there. But that is a separate issue

EJ is massively teasing it

[Harisudhan]

Interesting read from Oscar, saying that MCL38 strengths and weakness have shifted a bit. He mentions that the high speed performance dipped a bit and the low speed improved a lot.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/potential ... ar-piastri

[Emag]

Interesting read from Oscar, saying that MCL38 strengths and weakness have shifted a bit. He mentions that the high speed performance dipped a bit and the low speed improved a lot.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/potential ... ar-piastri

Interesting choice of wording, but I have a feeling this is more down to McLaren opening up paths that allow for these compromises via setup, rather than the upgrades making the car like this directly.

[LionsHeart]

Interesting read from Oscar, saying that MCL38 strengths and weakness have shifted a bit. He mentions that the high speed performance dipped a bit and the low speed improved a lot.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/potential ... ar-piastri

Interesting choice of wording, but I have a feeling this is more down to McLaren opening up paths that allow for these compromises via setup, rather than the upgrades making the car like this directly.

In general, yes, the choice of settings has a big impact. But perhaps there really are some changes. Given that the McLaren chassis is already quick in fast corners, this is not a major blow.

The best answer to this question will only come from a track where everyone is using maximum downforce, where the full downforce generation potential can be seen. So what now, will we endure until Hungary?

There won't be maximum downforce on nearby tracks where fast corners can be seen. There are no fast turns in Monaco. Some teams focus more on acceleration and top speed, while others focus on corner entry. This base determines which rear wing each team chooses.

Remember the first races of last season. The telemetry clearly showed that Ferrari accelerated out of slow corners better than others, while McLaren was far behind the leaders. Lack of grip, high drag almost immediately slowed down the chassis, and low maximum speed on the straights. Fortunately, now you can forget it like a bad dream.

[mwillems]

EJ: The people who have helped put this together, and I'm including the crown prince himself because it was a big task to take that...

DC: ...he was there, at the weekend.

EJ: ...he was there, I have a good idea why he was there. But that is a separate issue

EJ is massively teasing it

Yeah but why. Newey can have a blank cheque and write his own contract. So if not for business,then for pleasure...?

[Zynerji]

Anyone care to share their opinion as to how much Andreas Seidl is responsible for the current car? I believe that there is lead time necessary for any success at any team. Is the current form the reasonable outcome of an amazing plan/system? And if so, should I put $500 on Audi winning the WCC for 2026?

[BigBeansBoy]

Everyone ignore this until next Sunday, but I’m guessing it now: Oscar’s going to win in Monaco

[BMMR61]

Speaking about fundamentals of the McLaren and have they shifted. Oscar as reported on Pit Debrief:
https://pitdebrief.com/post/piastri-say ... -imola-gp/
The drivers’ performance is a testament to the effort of the wider McLaren team, who have been fine-tuning the MCL38 during the upgrade process, making the car “nicer to drive.”

Bodes well for the ongoing development of setup, as opposed to bolting on incredible updates - which we all obsess over!

The more experienced an F1 driver is, the more he is able to make changes around the difficult parts of a car's performance. At Austria 2023 Oscar was nowhere and Lando with updates was 4th. Here at Imola with upgrades Oscar came alive and was able to drive the car with greater confidence - where the comment "nice to drive" comes in.

It's not unrealistic to imagine the team grabbing Monaco by the scruff of the neck as the car seems less troublesome of late than it's direct competitors. Still, as I've said "two weekends is a small sample size" we should expect weekends where we may be third fastest car, so as not to be too disappointed. At the other end of the scale it's not unreasonable to hope for a continuing upward graph. Here's why;

The balance of the car seems to be improved
The downforce appears to be generated by the underbody more allowing lower drag - "efficiency"
Top speed is right up there
Tyre deg in races is vastly improved
The drivers are more confident and less accepting of deltas from crew
The team is energised
Red Bull are challenged and it shows as they are making setup errors
And most importantly - the correlation appears to be the best of all teams, proven by putting the updated car in winner's circle on it's debut, and untroubled by it being a Sprint weekend.