2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

Very interesting news. If this is McLaren, it would be a really bad look and potentially bring some trouble their way, but I feel like if it was McLaren, Helmut would have blabbed about it already.

Maybe it’s none of the top teams though. Hopefully names come out at some point.

Considering that they are talking about changing the setup for qualifying/race, I doubt it's McLaren. Just for one reason - so-so pace on the first stint with full tanks. Although that doesn't mean anything.

But wouldn't it improve the Qualy and not the race? Ride height can be lower on Saturday due to low fuel, and then raised back into place for the race on higher fuel. Lowering ride height for a heavier car would not make sense, ride height for a heavier car is higher not lower. So any difference in performance would be seen on Saturday, not Sunday.

The question would be, who's qualifying is better than race pace. And with that, you can rule out Ferrari.

[mwillems]

To be fair, we can't tell, unless we see a team still have competitive race pace but seem to struggle more in Q after the clampdown.

[Darth-Piekus]

Is Mclaren in any danger of losing their rightful earned advantage coming from years of hard work?

[mwillems]

Is Mclaren in any danger of losing their rightful earned advantage coming from years of hard work?

It'd be even worse if someone cut their finger when doing it, and had to wear a plaster with a silly colour.

[LionsHeart]

Very interesting news. If this is McLaren, it would be a really bad look and potentially bring some trouble their way, but I feel like if it was McLaren, Helmut would have blabbed about it already.

Maybe it’s none of the top teams though. Hopefully names come out at some point.

Considering that they are talking about changing the setup for qualifying/race, I doubt it's McLaren. Just for one reason - so-so pace on the first stint with full tanks. Although that doesn't mean anything.

But wouldn't it improve the Qualy and not the race? Ride height can be lower on Saturday due to low fuel, and then raised back into place for the race on higher fuel. Lowering ride height for a heavier car would not make sense, ride height for a heavier car is higher not lower. So any difference in performance would be seen on Saturday, not Sunday.

The question would be, who's qualifying is better than race pace. And with that, you can rule out Ferrari.

You know perfectly well that I know this. I'm ruling out McLaren for now because their pace with full tanks is not as excellent as with an empty tank. But you can't change the front end of the T-Tray floor during the race, right? I mean, McLaren is already fast with an empty tank in race conditions. Why would they make the car even faster in qualifying for one fast lap? Their weak point is the standing starts and the pace in the first phase of the race.

I don't discuss other teams in this thread. This thread is about McLaren. I just wrote my assumptions about it. I'm more interested in what surprise Stella was talking about earlier about the upgrade package for the last six races.

If we talk about some top team, then my suspicions would fall on Mercedes. Their car is extremely sensitive and unstable. Between the 3rd practice and qualifying, between qualifying and the race, the pace changes greatly. And this happens to them often. Of course, this is also just an assumption.

[genarro]

was it anywhere even remotely said that it is McLaren?

[Emag]

was it anywhere even remotely said that it is McLaren?

Nope, we don't know anything specific at the moment. Could be anybody.

[zxof]

It's not us!! Redbull is the accused team.

https://x.com/ErikvHaren/status/1846955607028277684

[mwillems]

Considering that they are talking about changing the setup for qualifying/race, I doubt it's McLaren. Just for one reason - so-so pace on the first stint with full tanks. Although that doesn't mean anything.

But wouldn't it improve the Qualy and not the race? Ride height can be lower on Saturday due to low fuel, and then raised back into place for the race on higher fuel. Lowering ride height for a heavier car would not make sense, ride height for a heavier car is higher not lower. So any difference in performance would be seen on Saturday, not Sunday.

The question would be, who's qualifying is better than race pace. And with that, you can rule out Ferrari.

You know perfectly well that I know this. I'm ruling out McLaren for now because their pace with full tanks is not as excellent as with an empty tank. But you can't change the front end of the T-Tray floor during the race, right? I mean, McLaren is already fast with an empty tank in race conditions. Why would they make the car even faster in qualifying for one fast lap? Their weak point is the standing starts and the pace in the first phase of the race.

I don't discuss other teams in this thread. This thread is about McLaren. I just wrote my assumptions about it. I'm more interested in what surprise Stella was talking about earlier about the upgrade package for the last six races.

If we talk about some top team, then my suspicions would fall on Mercedes. Their car is extremely sensitive and unstable. Between the 3rd practice and qualifying, between qualifying and the race, the pace changes greatly. And this happens to them often. Of course, this is also just an assumption.

I didn't know you meant that, the way it was written suggested a focus on full tank performance on a Sunday, not performance on empty tank on any other particular day. Full tank performance doesn't really have anything to do with it as the car would have been set up to get away with the lowest ride height they could get away with in the race anyway. We might be able to see something now on relative performance between empty tank on a Saturday and empty tank on a Sunday however.

Mclaren tend to have a strong end to the race, performance wise, so I suspect that Mclarens slower ability on heavier fuel lies elsewhere.

Why would they do it? Because every advantage counts, same reasons the wings flex a little. They won't just do this in weak areas, they might do it in any area they can get an advantage if they so desired.

[mwillems]

It's not us!!

https://x.com/ErikvHaren/status/1846955607028277684

Gossip until shown otherwise.

[Macklaren]

It's not us!!

https://x.com/ErikvHaren/status/1846955607028277684

Gossip until shown otherwise.

Though it is the only plausible answer given that Marko is not absolutely wailing about it to everyone

[mwillems]

It's not us!!

https://x.com/ErikvHaren/status/1846955607028277684

Gossip until shown otherwise.

Though it is the only plausible answer given that Marko is not absolutely wailing about it to everyone

lol The Marko Vacuum is a good point, if not a little anecdotal. None the less, might be better to wait and see what comes out of this before conclusions are drawn.

[LionsHeart]

It's not us!!

https://x.com/ErikvHaren/status/1846955607028277684

Gossip until shown otherwise.

By the way, the FIA ​​has already said that they found nothing suspicious in the cars? Maybe they just want to close another grey area of ​​the regulations? Just like it was with the braking system. Nothing was said openly about which of the teams could use such a braking system.

[Macklaren]

It's not us!!

https://x.com/ErikvHaren/status/1846955607028277684

Gossip until shown otherwise.

By the way, the FIA ​​has already said that they found nothing suspicious in the cars? Maybe they just want to close another grey area of ​​the regulations? Just like it was with the braking system. Nothing was said openly about which of the teams could use such a braking system.

There are some good stories about this in the media. The device/system was definitely found on a car. But there is no hard evidence that it was actually used in a race. The FIA cannot say anything until they get that evidence based on past precedence

[mwillems]

There will be no "hard" evidence, but possibly some pointers if we see a cars Saturday performance degrade but Sunday performance remain stable. But then of course, everyone brings updates and it is possible to obfuscate who is sufffering and who is not.