2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Ben1980]

No that's not what the facts say. The list is best I can surmise where two well matched drivers battled it out with their teammate and brought the title home. Across the span of 50 championships I covered many times the drivers just weren't closely matched but that didn't have any bearing on the championship. Both your statements are not borne out in fact. It's also plenty the case that the WDC and WCC have gone different ways. My point is that the idea of having two excellent drivers being an impediment to winning championships is a nonsense. It can be a handful but what are managers for?!

11 times in 65 seasons has the WCC not been one by the team who fielded the WDC. So it's really quite rare.

In recent years, having 2 challenging drivers has rarely been the way of winning either title. This may change, but it goes against recent history.

I dont expect either driver to be consistently beating the other over a season, and fear it will go against them overall, but with Ferrari having 2 big names, it may all be different.

[Henri]

Norris can blame himself for this, he is not a rookie. He has also been given priority on updates, and still his inexperienced team mate is breathing down his neck. This is going to be fun to watch.

[Ben1980]

Norris can blame himself for this, he is not a rookie. He has also been given priority on updates, and still his inexperienced team mate is breathing down his neck. This is going to be fun to watch.

Not sure what Norris is to be blamed for. He's ahead, he's smashed his teammate in qualifying, and will likely beat him again by seasons end.

And if Piastri wasn't breathing down his neck I'd be very disappointed.

[CjC]

Ok, so if anyone fancy’s a change of pace

This is a great interview with Stella:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-t ... /10651782/

It’s paywalled so I’ll only quote 2 things.
Firstly, supposedly there is a second ‘major’ update planned for the Mcl38:

Quote from the article, not Stella’s words:
‘Equally, whereas some rivals have introduced new parts that have not performed as expected, McLaren has been working on a second major upgrade for this season, but had not yet at the time of writing deployed it.’

Secondly, Stella does say that Mclaren are still behind on infrastructure…. Which surprised me to honest.

These are Stella’s actual words:
“The ‘what next’ for us is infrastructure. We have to keep adding capacity and capabilities. Tools – from a hardware and software point of view, we are behind. There has been a lack of investment for a long time. We are trying to compensate.”

[Henri]

Ok, so if anyone fancy’s a change of pace

This is a great interview with Stella:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-t ... /10651782/

It’s paywalled so I’ll only quote 2 things.
Firstly, supposedly there is a second ‘major’ update planned for the Mcl38:

Quote from the article, not Stella’s words:
‘Equally, whereas some rivals have introduced new parts that have not performed as expected, McLaren has been working on a second major upgrade for this season, but had not yet at the time of writing deployed it.’

Secondly, Stella does say that Mclaren are still behind on infrastructure…. Which surprised me to honest.

These are Stella’s actual words:
“The ‘what next’ for us is infrastructure. We have to keep adding capacity and capabilities. Tools – from a hardware and software point of view, we are behind. There has been a lack of investment for a long time. We are trying to compensate.”

Wonder what software they are missing

[CjC]

Oracle

[Darth-Piekus]

If Mclaren is doing that well despite being behind in some infrastructure then what are they gonna do when they are in front everywhere?

[mwillems]

Ok, so if anyone fancy’s a change of pace

This is a great interview with Stella:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-t ... /10651782/

It’s paywalled so I’ll only quote 2 things.
Firstly, supposedly there is a second ‘major’ update planned for the Mcl38:

Quote from the article, not Stella’s words:
‘Equally, whereas some rivals have introduced new parts that have not performed as expected, McLaren has been working on a second major upgrade for this season, but had not yet at the time of writing deployed it.’

Secondly, Stella does say that Mclaren are still behind on infrastructure…. Which surprised me to honest.

These are Stella’s actual words:
“The ‘what next’ for us is infrastructure. We have to keep adding capacity and capabilities. Tools – from a hardware and software point of view, we are behind. There has been a lack of investment for a long time. We are trying to compensate.”

Wonder what software they are missing

Strategy

[mwillems]

If Mclaren is doing that well despite being behind in some infrastructure then what are they gonna do when they are in front everywhere?

Be a little bit better.

[Darth-Piekus]

If Mclaren is doing that well despite being behind in some infrastructure then what are they gonna do when they are in front everywhere?

Be a little bit better.

I suppose they can be a little better meaning destroying the competition.

[ScottR267]

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1055025/1 ... ilton-link

Interesting if this was to be true

[BMMR61]

No that's not what the facts say. The list is best I can surmise where two well matched drivers battled it out with their teammate and brought the title home. Across the span of 50 championships I covered many times the drivers just weren't closely matched but that didn't have any bearing on the championship. Both your statements are not borne out in fact. It's also plenty the case that the WDC and WCC have gone different ways. My point is that the idea of having two excellent drivers being an impediment to winning championships is a nonsense. It can be a handful but what are managers for?!

11 times in 65 seasons has the WCC not been one by the team who fielded the WDC. So it's really quite rare.

In recent years, having 2 challenging drivers has rarely been the way of winning either title. This may change, but it goes against recent history.

I dont expect either driver to be consistently beating the other over a season, and fear it will go against them overall, but with Ferrari having 2 big names, it may all be different.

There's a simple nuance to the fact - dominant teams. Think McLaren in the 80s, Ferrari in the 00s, then RedBulls, Mercedes, and RedBulls again. You can win WDCs with competing teammates and WCCs (more rarely) with only one competitive driver, though this is a risky strategy (if it's a strategy at all) as we see with Perez.

[BMMR61]

Norris can blame himself for this, he is not a rookie. He has also been given priority on updates, and still his inexperienced team mate is breathing down his neck. This is going to be fun to watch.

Not sure what Norris is to be blamed for. He's ahead, he's smashed his teammate in qualifying, and will likely beat him again by seasons end.

And if Piastri wasn't breathing down his neck I'd be very disappointed.

Lando outqualifies Oscar by average of 1.5 positions per race and average gap of 0.13 if we adjust Spain for DNF. Most commonly they are <0.1 apart. The perfect team dynamic if the drivers behave with maturity (and they do).The reality is Lando is more consistent in both qualifying and racing, in fact he's always been acing qualifying. He should be able to win the WDC if, and it's a big if, Red Bull don't fix the balance issue with the RB20.

I'm sure if Lando misses out on the WDC everyone in the "team orders" lane will concoct their reasoning "if Lando had been gifted".... this and that, never accounting for the points he missed out on himself.

[mwillems]

Oscar is not really a master of over takes at this point, as far as I can see. The move itself is only one part of it. Everything else around it, the approach work to manage the car into an overtaking opportunity while keeping tyre temps and life under control has work to be done. But it is all stuff that is gained with experience. He certainly looks good at taking an opportunity, but he needs all of the approach work around it.

But certainly around qualifying Oscar is not only consistently behind Lando, but also consistently close. You shouldn't really look at one side of the equation without the other, but plenty will as it's a nice headline (Here's looking at you, Lucky!). The average gap in Qualifying since and including the Miami upgrade, is .123 seconds. The median is .08 seconds. From that perspective, qualifying performance looks very close.

[geogate]

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1055025/1 ... ilton-link

Interesting if this was to be true

I would question how much difference a race engineer makes - Sure, it is an important role, but the skills required to do it are not in short supply.
I think Stella should be more prepared to step in over the radio when circumstances call for a stamp of authority