2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[LionsHeart]

Also, Lando's first stint is compromised behind George + the extension while everyone else was on newer tires.
First part of the second stint was also somewhat compromised because it took a couple of laps to get through Sainz and both Mercedes.

The car was easily the quickest here. On comparable conditions (both on clean air and on the same tires), Lando had 2-3 tenths on Leclerc, and 1-2 tenths on Max.

Maybe. I am happy with Lando's race pace. All this sets a good mood for future races. And by the way, someone said after qualifying that perhaps Red Bull will have more pace in the race, like, maybe they sacrificed a little pace in qualifying and that's why Max lost to Lando. But the race clearly showed that McLaren is fast both in qualifying and in the race. I remember a couple of past seasons, when Andreas Seidl said that their car was good in the race, but very little pace in qualifying. Then they made updates, adjustments to the settings and after a while the car seemed to become faster in qualifying, but began to lose pace in the race. These are my observations over several seasons. A bright moment was the 2023 season, when the car was fast on one lap, but this was due to the fact that fresh soft tires on one lap completely leveled out the shortcomings of the chassis in slow corners.

Just one package of upgrades allowed McLaren to immediately enter the fight for victories. It may seem strange, but we should be pleased. Engineers, mechanics and other professions where people do quality work bear fruit. And it is nice to see how the updated infrastructure immediately allows for a qualitative step forward. And it is good that in the next two weeks we have two more race weekends. In Austria and Silverstone, the downforce package will be about the same as in Australia, if we remember last season. And this rear wing is very effective for McLaren. So we can expect a continuation of the fight for victories. I hope Ferrari can get into this fight. The high density of results obliges the drivers to give their maximum, because the influence of driving in percentage terms increases sharply.

Good observations. Quite how McLaren have kept the pace unlocked by the Miami upgrade, without any really significant upgrades while their opponents have all talked up their upgrades, it's a surprise. It would be normal to expect the Miami upgrades to be better bedded in at Imola the following race but how much optimisation is possible? It seems to point to a very good understanding of the package, as we have shared here before. The Piastri Barcelona situation is the first head scratcher - a conundrum of what happened? I would offer this possible theory - the circuit and variable wind strengths and directions caught a few drivers out, most noticeably Albon who thought his car was broken. Lets hope it was a one off as we need Oscar to be bringing the points and supporting Lando strategically in the coming races.

It is difficult for me to judge why Oscar was inferior the whole weekend, why his pace was worse than Lando's on all three days. Oscar has already spoken about this after the race. I think the team will sort it out. In the race, his pace was inferior to Lando's by the same amount as Oscar was inferior to Lando's best lap in the second practice. This difference is 3 tenths of a second. And this is the only point where Oscar was able to get the closest. On the other days of the session, it was more difficult for him. Perhaps non-optimal settings, balance and other factors. After all, no one provided telemetry where it would be possible to figure out where exactly Oscar was inferior to Lando on Friday and Saturday. Where exactly Oscar is losing time. This could be some kind of answer for us.

Regarding your message above about Oscar's overall race pace and his pace relative to Leclerc: he did his job well. And the team, as with Lando, gave him a strategy that allowed him to be faster on the second and third stints. This allowed him to have fresher tires relative to his rivals, to catch up with them and overtake them. Oscar passed both Alpine drivers, which means he did the minimum program. Hoping that Oscar would overtake the Ferrari drivers was quite optimistic, given his overall pace this race weekend. Of course, I expected that he would be able to compete with them. But alas, we have what we have. Nothing critically terrible happened. Oscar brought important points to the constructors' cup and that is useful in the future. I hope that the team will quickly figure out what the reasons were for the lack of pace. It is too early to sound the alarm over one race.

[mclaren111]

I really wanted a McLaren home race win

With such strategists, this is unlikely

Man let it go. I questioned the strategy too, but Max had 4-5 seconds on Lando when he pit. Add another one due to the undercut, if they had pit Lando immediately after, that's a 6 second gap with no tire delta. He wasn't gonna be flying like he did.

The race was lost at the start. They just tried something different with the strategy, but it did not work out.

[SilviuAgo]

I barely made it through all the messages from the start of the race. It was incredible to read that there are people on the forum who immediately wrote that McLaren's strategists are repeating Ferrari's strategists, or that they are drunk, or stupid, and so on. For starters! Lando himself demanded to extend the first stint, because his goal was not to overtake Russell, but to have a further fight for the win with Verstappen.

Moving on: Yes, it was a gross mistake on Lando's part in the first corner of the first lap, when he gave up his position. Lando got stuck behind Russell and lost a lot of time. That's right. But the team developed an optimal strategy to have the best chance of catching Max in the 3rd stint of the race. He almost succeeded. Moreover, if it weren't for the fight with Russell, when Lando gave up his position in turns 4 and 5, and then passed him again, quite a lot of time would have been lost there, at least a second. Another second was lost at the second pit stop by the mechanics, who changed the tires in 3.6 seconds. In total, we already have at least 2.5 seconds that were lost.

Even taking into account Lando's mistake on the first lap, victory was still possible and Lando was right that it was necessary to extend the stint. I don't understand the guys on the forum who wrote that it was stupid, that it was the wrong decision. Let me explain something on my fingers. The Barcelona track is not the best for overtaking, that's one. To overtake, you need to have an advantage of one and a half seconds per lap. This was the case before, now I don't know the exact values. That was two. Not having a car at hand that could weigh less thanks to refueling and have an advantage in speed due to this, that's three! There remains one sensible option: to have a significant advantage in speed, you need fresher tires. This is only possible if the first stint of the race was extended. Ideally, the second stint would be extended to have some reserve.

Lando's pace was sufficient, and he knows how to take care of the tires, moreover, after the updates in Miami, the chassis takes care of the tires well, not overloading them. Now that the early mistakes had been made, it remained to follow the strategy in order to have an advantage at the end. But even here there was a bummer: Max had a fresh set of tires on the last stint, and Lando had a rolled-in set that had participated in qualifying. But even so, Lando's pace was higher, and Max's engineer demanded an increase in pace.

What we get as a result: even having lost two positions in the first turn, the victory was not yet lost. The direct fight for first place itself was lost when Lando fought with Russell for a long time, and then a hitch at the pit stop. Yes, I can add here and note that both of Oscar's pit stops were exactly 3 seconds. This is bad. Having a fast car at hand, this should not happen. This is the weekend when both the driver and the mechanics at the pit stop lost the victory, having at hand the fastest car. Well, as the fastest... at least a car that is not inferior in pure pace to the fastest of the Red Bulls. I would put an equal sign. And here one little thing here, another little thing there decided the outcome of the race. Missed opportunities.

After the finish I was as upset as Lando and I understand perfectly well how he felt.

The fans of the team should be more serious and not talk nonsense on the technical forum. Honestly, it's a shame. I don't understand how this couldn't be understood right away? Otherwise, the fight for victory would have been impossible without tire delta. I read all the comments and saw that some changed their minds during the race, both about the team's strategists and about Lando's ability to overtake.

McLaren will definitely have more victories this year. Yes, perhaps the updates will not be superfluous, so at least having a reserve will make it easier to win. But even now the team has missed a couple of opportunities. Imola, Monaco, Canada, and now Barcelona. McLaren could have won all of the above races. There was enough pure pace both in the race and in qualifying. It's just that this difference is so small, I would even say insignificant, that to take these victories, you need both luck and a perfectly spent weekend. It is necessary that the drivers themselves do not make minor piloting errors, and the mechanics change the tires without mistakes. The same goes for the work of engineers and strategists. The car itself is fast, but its pure speed has not yet been converted into victories. Can I call this some kind of karma, or that the team has simply not grown to this winning level? Probably not. The team is, first and foremost, living people who, at one time or another, make certain decisions. Sometimes they turn out to be right, sometimes not.

Austria should be good. The high kerbs could be a problem for Red Bull. Ferrari could improve in this regard. I was sure of that in Canada, but they simply disappeared there. Mercedes is not yet capable of fighting for victories. They lack pure pace. The Barcelona race clearly showed this both in relation to Russell in the first stint and in relation to Hamilton in the third stint. There will be another attempt, where Lando should fight for victory. Let's see how it goes. We have a weekend with a sprint race ahead of us.

I am not going to continue my thoughts about the race that has passed. It has passed and that is a fact. Now we need to look forward. And the team will do just that, having analyzed all the mistakes they made.

Although mwillems said to keep it shorter I had the pleasure (and patience ) to read all this post and, instead of reading 10 pages of 100 posts saying also some crazy stuff, this is a well done summary of what happened this race and what is next. Chapeau Mr LionsHeart

I really hope RedBull Ring will be kind to McLaren and, if last year in Hungary I had the opportunity to see Lando P2, this time I hope to see live a P1. And if is both in Sprint and Main Race...then I will not say no

[organic]

I expect Lando to score maximum points in Austria. It will suit the car and Lando always goes very well there, and rb20 will struggle. Ferrari will probably be the closest to McLaren so a good chance for a lot of pts swing

I even expect a full set of engine penalties for Verstappen. We'll see.

[mclaren111]

There were two critical moments in the race that meant Lando lost the victory.

1. Bad start by Norris and Verstappen and Russel overtake him
2. Verstappen overtakes Russel on lap 2

If VER didn't manage to overtake or RUS didn't get ahead of Lando I am sure the victory would have been ours with the caveat that maybe a slow stop could have lost him a win as well.

Verstappen was just perfect and the gaps are too small to beat him if you make mistakes.

But the pace was good, strategy made sense and Lando drove great (except the start)

Amen...

[mclaren111]

The Race:

Started: 1st Finished: 2nd

Norris’s qualifying performance was outstanding, gaining time in the high-speed corners when he needed to at the end of Q3 to pip Verstappen.

The wheelspin in the second phase of his start was ultimately what cost him, along with not being able to pass Russell in the first stint, explaining why he was kicking himself for throwing away a potential victory.

However, he also deserves credit for his all-round pace, and his intelligence in backing out when the alternative was a near-certain collision at Turn 1.

Verdict: Tiny details cost him victory.

Better "luck" this weekend...

[SoulPancake13]

Imo, Lando and McLaren still lack the 1% to consistently win races. It comes with experience though. I'm sure Lando will pick up many more wins this season, but operationally, McLaren need to do better. You already lose 1.7 seconds just from a pit stop.

[mwillems]

People need to write shorter messages for idiots like me

I will sleep first before I read these essays. Or perhaps I will get co-pilot to summarise!

Sorry, but I couldn't write shorter. About 10 years ago I could write more.

Don't

[Emag]

Imo, Lando and McLaren still lack the 1% to consistently win races. It comes with experience though. I'm sure Lando will pick up many more wins this season, but operationally, McLaren need to do better. You already lose 1.7 seconds just from a pit stop.

The last time this team had a car that could win races on pure pace, was 2012, which is 12 years ago at this point.

It will take time and some trial and error to get back to winning races under pressure. But of course, the expectations are spiking up from everyone, neglecting the fact that McLaren has outclassed both Mercedes and Ferrari in the last year or so. Both teams which have been racing at the sharp end of the field for a good part of the last decade or so.

Some mistakes are to be expected. What's important is that they learn from them, and don't throw away races in the future when the car has the pace to win it.

[mwillems]

War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.

...
...
...

The end.

Although mwillems said to keep it shorter I had the pleasure (and patience ) to read all this post and, instead of reading 10 pages of 100 posts saying also some crazy stuff, this is a well done summary of what happened this race and what is next. Chapeau Mr LionsHeart

I really hope RedBull Ring will be kind to McLaren and, if last year in Hungary I had the opportunity to see Lando P2, this time I hope to see live a P1. And if is both in Sprint and Main Race...then I will not say no

I think it is best to wait and see what happens at Austria. I see another post suggesting RB might struggle there due to the kerbs, but Canada should be putting those predictions on hold.

No idea what others will do, but I'm certain that Mclaren will be very much in the mix again and possibly we might even sneak the title of favourites...

[LionsHeart]

I barely made it through all the messages from the start of the race. It was incredible to read that there are people on the forum who immediately wrote that McLaren's strategists are repeating Ferrari's strategists, or that they are drunk, or stupid, and so on. For starters! Lando himself demanded to extend the first stint, because his goal was not to overtake Russell, but to have a further fight for the win with Verstappen.

Moving on: Yes, it was a gross mistake on Lando's part in the first corner of the first lap, when he gave up his position. Lando got stuck behind Russell and lost a lot of time. That's right. But the team developed an optimal strategy to have the best chance of catching Max in the 3rd stint of the race. He almost succeeded. Moreover, if it weren't for the fight with Russell, when Lando gave up his position in turns 4 and 5, and then passed him again, quite a lot of time would have been lost there, at least a second. Another second was lost at the second pit stop by the mechanics, who changed the tires in 3.6 seconds. In total, we already have at least 2.5 seconds that were lost.

Even taking into account Lando's mistake on the first lap, victory was still possible and Lando was right that it was necessary to extend the stint. I don't understand the guys on the forum who wrote that it was stupid, that it was the wrong decision. Let me explain something on my fingers. The Barcelona track is not the best for overtaking, that's one. To overtake, you need to have an advantage of one and a half seconds per lap. This was the case before, now I don't know the exact values. That was two. Not having a car at hand that could weigh less thanks to refueling and have an advantage in speed due to this, that's three! There remains one sensible option: to have a significant advantage in speed, you need fresher tires. This is only possible if the first stint of the race was extended. Ideally, the second stint would be extended to have some reserve.

Lando's pace was sufficient, and he knows how to take care of the tires, moreover, after the updates in Miami, the chassis takes care of the tires well, not overloading them. Now that the early mistakes had been made, it remained to follow the strategy in order to have an advantage at the end. But even here there was a bummer: Max had a fresh set of tires on the last stint, and Lando had a rolled-in set that had participated in qualifying. But even so, Lando's pace was higher, and Max's engineer demanded an increase in pace.

What we get as a result: even having lost two positions in the first turn, the victory was not yet lost. The direct fight for first place itself was lost when Lando fought with Russell for a long time, and then a hitch at the pit stop. Yes, I can add here and note that both of Oscar's pit stops were exactly 3 seconds. This is bad. Having a fast car at hand, this should not happen. This is the weekend when both the driver and the mechanics at the pit stop lost the victory, having at hand the fastest car. Well, as the fastest... at least a car that is not inferior in pure pace to the fastest of the Red Bulls. I would put an equal sign. And here one little thing here, another little thing there decided the outcome of the race. Missed opportunities.

After the finish I was as upset as Lando and I understand perfectly well how he felt.

The fans of the team should be more serious and not talk nonsense on the technical forum. Honestly, it's a shame. I don't understand how this couldn't be understood right away? Otherwise, the fight for victory would have been impossible without tire delta. I read all the comments and saw that some changed their minds during the race, both about the team's strategists and about Lando's ability to overtake.

McLaren will definitely have more victories this year. Yes, perhaps the updates will not be superfluous, so at least having a reserve will make it easier to win. But even now the team has missed a couple of opportunities. Imola, Monaco, Canada, and now Barcelona. McLaren could have won all of the above races. There was enough pure pace both in the race and in qualifying. It's just that this difference is so small, I would even say insignificant, that to take these victories, you need both luck and a perfectly spent weekend. It is necessary that the drivers themselves do not make minor piloting errors, and the mechanics change the tires without mistakes. The same goes for the work of engineers and strategists. The car itself is fast, but its pure speed has not yet been converted into victories. Can I call this some kind of karma, or that the team has simply not grown to this winning level? Probably not. The team is, first and foremost, living people who, at one time or another, make certain decisions. Sometimes they turn out to be right, sometimes not.

Austria should be good. The high kerbs could be a problem for Red Bull. Ferrari could improve in this regard. I was sure of that in Canada, but they simply disappeared there. Mercedes is not yet capable of fighting for victories. They lack pure pace. The Barcelona race clearly showed this both in relation to Russell in the first stint and in relation to Hamilton in the third stint. There will be another attempt, where Lando should fight for victory. Let's see how it goes. We have a weekend with a sprint race ahead of us.

I am not going to continue my thoughts about the race that has passed. It has passed and that is a fact. Now we need to look forward. And the team will do just that, having analyzed all the mistakes they made.

Although mwillems said to keep it shorter I had the pleasure (and patience ) to read all this post and, instead of reading 10 pages of 100 posts saying also some crazy stuff, this is a well done summary of what happened this race and what is next. Chapeau Mr LionsHeart

I really hope RedBull Ring will be kind to McLaren and, if last year in Hungary I had the opportunity to see Lando P2, this time I hope to see live a P1. And if is both in Sprint and Main Race...then I will not say no

Great! I hope you get to see some great racing from the grandstands at the track.

I assume you are going to a race? In that case, please listen to Lando's car. In the last 4-5 races, when his car is going fast at full throttle, there is some kind of whistling sound. I don't know what it is and I have not heard it from other cars with a Mercedes engine.

[LionsHeart]

Imo, Lando and McLaren still lack the 1% to consistently win races. It comes with experience though. I'm sure Lando will pick up many more wins this season, but operationally, McLaren need to do better. You already lose 1.7 seconds just from a pit stop.

The last time this team had a car that could win races on pure pace, was 2012, which is 12 years ago at this point.

It will take time and some trial and error to get back to winning races under pressure. But of course, the expectations are spiking up from everyone, neglecting the fact that McLaren has outclassed both Mercedes and Ferrari in the last year or so. Both teams which have been racing at the sharp end of the field for a good part of the last decade or so.

Some mistakes are to be expected. What's important is that they learn from them, and don't throw away races in the future when the car has the pace to win it.

Yes, well said. Working under pressure imposes certain conditions when victory is at stake.

[LionsHeart]

War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.

...
...
...

The end.

Although mwillems said to keep it shorter I had the pleasure (and patience ) to read all this post and, instead of reading 10 pages of 100 posts saying also some crazy stuff, this is a well done summary of what happened this race and what is next. Chapeau Mr LionsHeart

I really hope RedBull Ring will be kind to McLaren and, if last year in Hungary I had the opportunity to see Lando P2, this time I hope to see live a P1. And if is both in Sprint and Main Race...then I will not say no

I think it is best to wait and see what happens at Austria. I see another post suggesting RB might struggle there due to the kerbs, but Canada should be putting those predictions on hold.

No idea what others will do, but I'm certain that Mclaren will be very much in the mix again and possibly we might even sneak the title of favourites...

War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy.



Enough. My stomach hurts from laughing.

Is it nice to know that the team has climbed out of the midfield? I read Carlos' interview today, he said that he was impressed with McLaren's consistency. After all, in the last six races McLaren has had at least one car in the top two at the finish. It's a bit reminiscent of last season, when Lando had a lot of second places in the race.

[TeamKoolGreen]

Piastri is struggling pretty hard. Getting beat by Alpines while his teammate is getting wins, poles and podiums. But nobody cares. He's not George Russell

It is normal to have a sophomore struggle. And it's good that Piastri is getting his space. I just don't like double standards.

[Emag]

Piastri is struggling pretty hard. Getting beat by Alpines while his teammate is getting wins, poles and podiums. But nobody cares. He's not George Russell

It is normal to have a sophomore struggle. And it's good that Piastri is getting his space. I just don't like double standards.

Well, it's not like McLaren has anything to do with what happens to George Russell so that's a missplaced comparison.

Either way, it's obvious that he didn't have a good weekend here and it doesn't need much telling. He was not beat by Alpines though. Got stuck a bit on the first stint which cost him a shot at going after Ferrari/Merc. Either way, he did not have the pace to overtake either of them (except Carlos who was put on the hard tire on the last stint) so it didn't make much of a difference in the end.

This was a bad weekend for him, but he hasn't really been that far off Lando since Miami. How good or bad you gauge his performance is dependent on how high you rate Lando as a driver. If you think Lando is top tier, then he is not doing that bad.

If you think Lando is below that, then perhaps his performance seems more underwhelming to you.