2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[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.

[mwillems]

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.....

We may be coming to a convengeance ceiling, but what is the evidence that stacks in the face of the same previous trend of upgrade gains being maintained?

There's an argument that some of the gains in Miami were delayed prohects from the start of the season, but I can't see anything else.

I see convergence, with some teams ahead or behind, but no ceiling, yet.

[FittingMechanics]

It may be that Red Bull (and Ferrari) is reaching the diminishing returns part of the development but McLaren we can't say. They are still improving. Same can be said for Mercedes.