2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[CjC]

So we can assume there won’t be a new floor in Silverstone

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10631277/

Probably not.

There has been a noticeable slow-down in the "original" plan for their upgrades. Or at least, in the supposed original plan we could deduce from their words earlier on the season.

Let's look at the timeline:

- Before the season even started, they mentioned that they see big potential in the development curve and they would be accelerating development to reach that potential.

- Then the season started and they mentioned that they had planned (I believe) 3 big upgrade packages for this season. The first one comes in Miami and it's a huge success. By their own words, much bigger improvement than they expected.

- After a couple of races in the blind, Stella speaks out saying that they're now confident they understand why the Miami upgrade package brought forward more performance than anticipated, but he also says there won't be any more big upgrade packages for McLaren this year, but rather they would start bringing smaller bits as soon as they're ready from the factory.

- That holds somewhat true, but the first visible change only came in Austria in the form of a front wing. Zak threw some words around potentially hinting towards some more upgrades in Silverstone, but so far there's nothing there. Could be that they split the cars to maximize learning during practice (they have done that plenty of times before), so I am going to wait until both tracks hit the track tomorrow to confirm.

So, all in all, even if they do bring something here, I was particularly surprised by Stella's comments a couple of races ago saying they won't be bringing a big upgrade package like Miami anymore. And that comment came around the same time he said they were confident they understand why the Miami package turned out better than expected.

I suspect the performance gains from Miami surprised them and it caught them off guard. In a bid to better understand why it happened that way, perhaps the factory was focusing more on correlation work rather than development. And I suspect they might have found something which could have nullified their initial development plan.

If that is indeed the case, then it's not great news for this season. However it's great news for next year since it means they rectified potential development issues early enough to adapt the 2025 concept. Of course they know that taking a step in the wrong direction is very costly in this regulation set. Discounting Aston Martin which has been lost for a while now, just look at Ferrari. Even they got caught off guard by unexpected problems their developments brought.

They have to make sure everything they work on now actually delivers the expected results, otherwise you not only waste resources for nothing, you end up losing double that in trying to rectify the problems.

I know it’s a powerful item but are you suggesting a new floor of some sort would be classed as a big upgrade now?
For instance the Miami car was a big upgrade but that included more than a new floor…

[LionsHeart]

So we can assume there won’t be a new floor in Silverstone

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10631277/

Probably not.

There has been a noticeable slow-down in the "original" plan for their upgrades. Or at least, in the supposed original plan we could deduce from their words earlier on the season.

Let's look at the timeline:

- Before the season even started, they mentioned that they see big potential in the development curve and they would be accelerating development to reach that potential.

- Then the season started and they mentioned that they had planned (I believe) 3 big upgrade packages for this season. The first one comes in Miami and it's a huge success. By their own words, much bigger improvement than they expected.

- After a couple of races in the blind, Stella speaks out saying that they're now confident they understand why the Miami upgrade package brought forward more performance than anticipated, but he also says there won't be any more big upgrade packages for McLaren this year, but rather they would start bringing smaller bits as soon as they're ready from the factory.

- That holds somewhat true, but the first visible change only came in Austria in the form of a front wing. Zak threw some words around potentially hinting towards some more upgrades in Silverstone, but so far there's nothing there. Could be that they split the cars to maximize learning during practice (they have done that plenty of times before), so I am going to wait until both tracks hit the track tomorrow to confirm.

So, all in all, even if they do bring something here, I was particularly surprised by Stella's comments a couple of races ago saying they won't be bringing a big upgrade package like Miami anymore. And that comment came around the same time he said they were confident they understand why the Miami package turned out better than expected.

I suspect the performance gains from Miami surprised them and it caught them off guard. In a bid to better understand why it happened that way, perhaps the factory was focusing more on correlation work rather than development. And I suspect they might have found something which could have nullified their initial development plan.

If that is indeed the case, then it's not great news for this season. However it's great news for next year since it means they rectified potential development issues early enough to adapt the 2025 concept. Of course they know that taking a step in the wrong direction is very costly in this regulation set. Discounting Aston Martin which has been lost for a while now, just look at Ferrari. Even they got caught off guard by unexpected problems their developments brought.

They have to make sure everything they work on now actually delivers the expected results, otherwise you not only waste resources for nothing, you end up losing double that in trying to rectify the problems.

Both tracks will go on track? What? Or was it meant two cars?

McLaren has not changed anything and will not change anything in their plans to develop updates. Stella has made it clear that even if their car went faster than they expected, the car itself creates the downforce they expected. It is not a matter of correlation, it is more a matter of general expectations. The driver also has an impact and makes a difference. If there is a correlation, it is a simulator.

No major one-off updates are required because the basic chassis is now in place. Around this chassis, the aero package is just being fine-tuned. The updated front wing, brake ducts, and front suspension arm plumage are the very first thing the airflow encounters. Next, we can expect updates to the middle and rear of the chassis. And they will be ready soon.

The team presented a full package for Lando and a half package for Oscar (in Miami). And the team managed to optimize the package and settings for Oscar. And the car was fast. So the base chassis works well with the updated parts, without disturbing the overall airflow.

I think the conclusions that the team made gave a clear understanding that it is possible to bring parts more often, dividing a large package into individual parts. Perhaps on Friday we will see a new sidepod, and in Hungary we will see a new floor.

[Emag]

I know it’s a powerful item but are you suggesting a new floor of some sort would be classed as a big upgrade now?
For instance the Miami car was a big upgrade but that included more than a new floor…

My point was the opposite. They gave up on their supposedly planned "big" upgrade packages.

But either way, a floor upgrade is almost never a small upgrade. It's the most important aerodynamic item of these cars.

[FittingMechanics]

Ot they realized the gaps are so small that any update can mean difference between winning or being P4.

If you are well off the pace it makes sense to pool updates together to reduce cost.

But I am just speculating (like all of us)

[mwillems]

Stella never said they'd only bring small upgrades, he said they won't be released as a package. An upgrade can still be substantial even if isn't the whole car.

[Emag]

Stella never said they'd only bring small upgrades, he said they won't be released as a package. An upgrade can still be substantial even if isn't the whole car.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella: "We will bring some upgrades for the upcoming races. But it will not be a single big upgrade like we have seen in the past twelve months. It will be more about a few individual components.

Words after Miami suggest rather straightforwardly that at least one more "big" step like Miami was planned for the future, however it turned out that the Miami step was already much bigger than they anticipated :

“But I think, looking at the numbers, looking at how much we actually improved the car, I would have said that we needed two steps of this size to be competitive regularly with Red Bull.

“We have delivered only one [so far]. We look forward to the next one, and this would make me much more optimistic that we can take the serious challenge to Red Bull.”

Remains to be seen how the pecking order will look like by the end of the season, but the stance regarding development has changed after Miami. They had planned on attacking the weaknesses of the car after that but the Miami package eliminated the weaknesses unexpectedly.

And of course, this is not a bad thing in itself but you need to understand why things turned out the way they did so that the next time you bring something, it doesn't surprise you in the other direction.

[Mostlyeels]

Ok guys, that’s really good.

Big surprise to see it back in action so soon. I expected photos of hospo staff sitting in plastic chairs in the carpark for Silverstone. Maybe they had a spare?

[MrGapes]

Anyone heard anything about possible upgrades week?

[BosF1]

Ok guys, that’s really good.

Big surprise to see it back in action so soon. I expected photos of hospo staff sitting in plastic chairs in the carpark for Silverstone. Maybe they had a spare?

They do not have a spare. The motorhome has been brought back to the German company (Schuler) that manufactured it, to have an extensive cleaning. Obviously, that has been completed quite quickly.

I found it rather interesting to take a look on their website to see more photos and information of different kind of motorhomes. This is the type of motorhome that McLaren has (same as Mercedes apparently)
https://www.schuler-trucks.com/en/motor ... e/srb-500/

[mwillems]

Stella never said they'd only bring small upgrades, he said they won't be released as a package. An upgrade can still be substantial even if isn't the whole car.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella: "We will bring some upgrades for the upcoming races. But it will not be a single big upgrade like we have seen in the past twelve months. It will be more about a few individual components.

Words after Miami suggest rather straightforwardly that at least one more "big" step like Miami was planned for the future, however it turned out that the Miami step was already much bigger than they anticipated :

“But I think, looking at the numbers, looking at how much we actually improved the car, I would have said that we needed two steps of this size to be competitive regularly with Red Bull.

“We have delivered only one [so far]. We look forward to the next one, and this would make me much more optimistic that we can take the serious challenge to Red Bull.”

Remains to be seen how the pecking order will look like by the end of the season, but the stance regarding development has changed after Miami. They had planned on attacking the weaknesses of the car after that but the Miami package eliminated the weaknesses unexpectedly.

And of course, this is not a bad thing in itself but you need to understand why things turned out the way they did so that the next time you bring something, it doesn't surprise you in the other direction.

Yeah he says individual, not small, a deliberate choice of words. I'm just clarifying that he hasn't said that the upgrades will be small or that the curve is slowing down yet though he expects it to.

The Miami upgrade was the same big gain as previous upgrades, so what we've brought to the track hasn't started to show smaller time gains yet, though these next upgrades could be on that curve, there is no evidence yet.

A new floor would potentislly be enough for instance, to put us a little ahead

[BMMR61]

It's looking suspiciously like McLaren are now coming up against the "convergence ceiling". Hopefully the competitive pace achieved over this part of the season in 2023 will provide better data for setups at the circuits we are now going to. Big questions ahead now, like, did the MCL38 platform trade off much of the car's high speed competitiveness as seen by a mediocre Suzuka this year? This would be bad news for this weekend, where I'm hoping we can get both drivers on the podium. By the looks of the rear wing they brought this weekend they are targeting the high speed range - which is more than understandable. I feel reasonably confident that Silverstone will not play to Merc's and Ferrari's strengths, so.....

[LionsHeart]

I don't think there's any updates here, other than maybe trying out the three variations of the beam wing that were used this year, as well as the medium downforce rear wing. At least judging by the photos.

[Mansell89]

Feel like Oscar can do well this weekend- was very good last year and a lot of focus is on Max and Lando.

[FittingMechanics]

I don't think they would have to present already existing things, I think these are low drag variants that they are introducing here.

Btw as I expected and wrote here, I doubt Red Bull is holding anything back in regards to upgrades and I am not convinced they have a "big one" in the works.

They brought two updates here and both they explain as slight reprofiling.

F1 news sites are mainy rumour mills.

[BMMR61]

Overcast Friday, showers and cool temperatures throughout Saturday and Sunday. Ability to fire up the tyres may be crucial.