2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[LionsHeart]

Be objective. It's not about the updates. It's about Oscar's own mistakes. Oscar himself even admitted it after the race. His time in third practice was 1.16.492, right? He could have done it again in qualifying, if he hadn't done that nonsense. Lando's qualifying time was 1:16.260 in Q3.

I am trying to be objective, just thinking what it can be to make him so inconsistent. It may be that he is still inconsistent at this stage of his career or maybe that he doesn't set up the car as well when on other spec to Lando. I really don't know.

He needs to do better in last 4 races in order to fight for the WCC and maybe, just maybe help out Lando try and put pressure on WDC.

Well, he also went off track in Austria and his lap time was cancelled. Because of this, he started lower and it cost him a potential victory. And he had the speed in qualifying. He also had the speed in Mexico. After the race, Oscar himself confirmed it. A banal mistake.

Yes, he needs to get better at stability and use tires more skillfully over the race distance. Having fresh Hards, he couldn’t get around the same Haas. Well, he got Hulk. Last year, without the fastest car, Lando seemed to finish fifth. True, the rivals there were probably weaker, plus this year they reduced the DRS zone on the main straight.

[FittingMechanics]

Well, he also went off track in Austria and his lap time was cancelled. Because of this, he started lower and it cost him a potential victory. And he had the speed in qualifying. He also had the speed in Mexico. After the race, Oscar himself confirmed it. A banal mistake.

Yes, he needs to get better at stability and use tires more skillfully over the race distance. Having fresh Hards, he couldn’t get around the same Haas. Well, he got Hulk. Last year, without the fastest car, Lando seemed to finish fifth. True, the rivals there were probably weaker, plus this year they reduced the DRS zone on the main straight.

Btw I haven't seen anyone talking about how strange Piastri's strategy was. They started him on mediums but ran him to lap 39 which was time hard runners were stopping. So he did effectively a long stint heavy on fuel on medium tyres and then a short stint light on fuel on hards. Not sure if that was the smartest move they could have done. Normal way would be opposite, long stint on hards and short on mediums to the end.

I guess they probably wanted to get a lot of positions early on with the mediums against hard runners but it didn't work out at all.

[bauc]

My upgrades comment was for Texas, here again PIA matched NOR in pace all weekend untill he decided he did not want to, are you saying that the Mclaren on a 12 laps newer tires is slower than Haas? PIA and his manager are playing a stupid game, they will runin the teams chances for Championship just to prove a point.

I really don't think Piastri is doing this on purpose. He is hurting his chances if he does this. Bortoleto looks good in F2, I'm sure plenty of other drivers would love to jump into a McLaren nowadays so I am not convinced it is being done on purpose. Zak sacked Ricciardo and paid out a hefty sum, I'm sure he can get Piastri out of that seat if he senses anything fishy.

What it could be is that Piastri just had his motivation sapped by being told he needs to support Norris. This could be subconscious, but I am not convinced by that either as he did show plenty of aggression in trying to go through the field.

You might be right, I just have a bad vibe about the last 4 races when it comes to PIA, I hope he will prove me wrong.

[Seerix]

Well, he also went off track in Austria and his lap time was cancelled. Because of this, he started lower and it cost him a potential victory. And he had the speed in qualifying. He also had the speed in Mexico. After the race, Oscar himself confirmed it. A banal mistake.

Yes, he needs to get better at stability and use tires more skillfully over the race distance. Having fresh Hards, he couldn’t get around the same Haas. Well, he got Hulk. Last year, without the fastest car, Lando seemed to finish fifth. True, the rivals there were probably weaker, plus this year they reduced the DRS zone on the main straight.

Btw I haven't seen anyone talking about how strange Piastri's strategy was. They started him on mediums but ran him to lap 39 which was time hard runners were stopping. So he did effectively a long stint heavy on fuel on medium tyres and then a short stint light on fuel on hards. Not sure if that was the smartest move they could have done. Normal way would be opposite, long stint on hards and short on mediums to the end.

I guess they probably wanted to get a lot of positions early on with the mediums against hard runners but it didn't work out at all.

I was wondering about PIA strategy as well during the race. I think they chose to do a long sting on mediums after seeing he was not doing well in the first stage of the race. It took him a long time to progress in first ~20 laps (for example behind COL). They might have thought that if they stopped him earlier and he ended up on same age hards as everyone else, he would have hard time overtaking, so they chose as big tyre difference as possible instead thus extending medium stint.

[FittingMechanics]

I was wondering about PIA strategy as well during the race. I think they chose to do a long sting on mediums after seeing he was not doing well in the first stage of the race. It took him a long time to progress in first ~20 laps (for example behind COL). They might have thought that if they stopped him earlier and he ended up on same age hards as everyone else, he would have hard time overtaking, so they chose as big tyre difference as possible instead thus extending medium stint.

His pace after he got in clear air on first stint was quite good actually. So it made sense to keep him out long but the strategy as a whole was likely not intended to work out this way. I am sure they expected him to beat cars in the first stint, maybe extend a bit to build a gap to pit into but not to go to lap 39 on mediums.

With how thing went in first stint it did make sense to extend (and hope for a SC).

[deargodhelpme]

I was wondering about PIA strategy as well during the race. I think they chose to do a long sting on mediums after seeing he was not doing well in the first stage of the race. It took him a long time to progress in first ~20 laps (for example behind COL). They might have thought that if they stopped him earlier and he ended up on same age hards as everyone else, he would have hard time overtaking, so they chose as big tyre difference as possible instead thus extending medium stint.

His pace after he got in clear air on first stint was quite good actually. So it made sense to keep him out long but the strategy as a whole was likely not intended to work out this way. I am sure they expected him to beat cars in the first stint, maybe extend a bit to build a gap to pit into but not to go to lap 39 on mediums.

With how thing went in first stint it did make sense to extend (and hope for a SC).

Pretty sure at one point he asked for them to pit him out of the traffic but there wasn't a good gap for him to come back out in so he was told it was better to just stay out and extend.

[Watto]

This is wrong. Norris was making that corner (T4). It can be easily seen and confirmed by watching onboard of Norris, he straightens the car and is on road and clearly in control, he would have kept two tyres on the road but then Verstappen barges in and Norris bails. This is completely obvious on the onboard.

He would then have a tight line into T5 where Verstappen would be on the outside. I reckon Verstappen would be able to defend in T5 but with these rules who knows.

Don't trust everything people (Horner) say. Use your eyes.

I take anything he (and any team for that matter) says

I think it was touch and fo he makes T4, but depending on how the rules work going into T5 would be interesting I suspect if Lando made the apex then well.... Lando could run him wide who knows.


I think all teams play the BS line here I though Max last week worked within teh rules - I don't know I like them but I think he used them to his advantage. I think Lando did it this week Max paid the price he didn't allow Max to ease off on the brakes on the inside to stay ahead. I think maybe like Max last week, Lando would have been happy if he struggled to make the corner. He knew Max would push him wide again. He did, Lando was well alongside him this time so the rules worked against Max. It was agressive and smart.. Probably caught Max out a little I think. and Max in the end got what he reserved.

I don't think it was touch and go at all, it's quite clear on the onboard. I'm sure that Max being a great driver that he is could understand whether Norris will go off and wouldn't barge him off if Norris was going off himself.

Comment about T5 is correct, with the rules from Austin Norris could then probably just go deep into T5, get the apex first and then push Verstappen wide. Silly rule but that happened in Austin. This probably influenced Verstappen to a degree (hard to tell with split second decisions).

My overall point here though is I think Lando was willing to take the risk he wasn't going to make the corner knowing what Max would do. He knew if he could take the extra speed Max would push him. He took the escape path pretty quick (yes, probably had to to avoid a crash, but again something I think Max would do).

I think a critisium of Lando at COTA would have been he didn't really do much to catch Max out. Drove very well but didn't take a big risk or do anything really to catch Max out or force an error.

I think it shows he is learning how to drive that way.

[Ground Effect]

I think Oscar is still getting used to a racing season this long. It was basically the same with Lando in his first 2 seasons, there was a drop off in consistency towards the end of the season. Let's hope he's back on pace in Brazil. If the McLaren is fast enough for the win there, then Oscar should run cover for Lando.

[Balalu]

There was so much talk last week about how Max exploits the rules to their limits; Max himself was blabbing on about it. I can't help thinking that Lando actually outsmarted Max yesteday

[BMMR61]

My upgrades comment was for Texas, here again PIA matched NOR in pace all weekend untill he decided he did not want to, are you saying that the Mclaren on a 12 laps newer tires is slower than Haas? PIA and his manager are playing a stupid game, they will runin the teams chances for Championship just to prove a point.

I really don't think Piastri is doing this on purpose. He is hurting his chances if he does this. Bortoleto looks good in F2, I'm sure plenty of other drivers would love to jump into a McLaren nowadays so I am not convinced it is being done on purpose. Zak sacked Ricciardo and paid out a hefty sum, I'm sure he can get Piastri out of that seat if he senses anything fishy.

What it could be is that Piastri just had his motivation sapped by being told he needs to support Norris. This could be subconscious, but I am not convinced by that either as he did show plenty of aggression in trying to go through the field.

You might be right, I just have a bad vibe about the last 4 races when it comes to PIA, I hope he will prove me wrong.

Come on! His weekend imploded in Q1, the decision to try mediums put him on the edge and after that he blew it on his own with a ridiculously overaggressive lap on the softs that ended on the kerb. The medium - hard strategy was rubbish, and went against common wisdom. I think he drove an OK race but far from his normal standard. When you consider he looked really great throughout the three practice sessions and headed FP3 (unusual for him) his exit was hard to believe. To try to spin some conspiracy theory goes against all common sense, AND the evident character of the lad. There was far too much over-egging of the team orders by media desperate for Lando to win the WDC from too early in the season - some are still at it but now it's defensible. Oscar is done and the job is to win the WCC if at all possible, the WDC would be a surprise bonus. I'll give my reason for now believing it's just become more realistic - elsewhere.

[FittingMechanics]

Come on! His weekend imploded in Q1, the decision to try mediums put him on the edge and after that he blew it on his own with a ridiculously overaggressive lap on the softs that ended on the kerb. The medium - hard strategy was rubbish, and went against common wisdom. I think he drove an OK race but far from his normal standard. When you consider he looked really great throughout the three practice sessions and headed FP3 (unusual for him) his exit was hard to believe. To try to spin some conspiracy theory goes against all common sense, AND the evident character of the lad. There was far too much over-egging of the team orders by media desperate for Lando to win the WDC from too early in the season - some are still at it but now it's defensible. Oscar is done and the job is to win the WCC if at all possible, the WDC would be a surprise bonus. I'll give my reason for now believing it's just become more realistic - elsewhere.

Both drivers tried the mediums in Q1 (and Ferrari) but it didn't work for anyone. It may be what put Piastri off, everything is different on other tyres.

I didn't usually like when they went conservative with their tire usage in Q1 and Q2 (using two sets for each) but here it meant Piastri was out.

[CjC]

There was so much talk last week about how Max exploits the rules to their limits; Max himself was blabbing on about it. I can't help thinking that Lando actually outsmarted Max yesteday

I also thought Lando stepped it up in Mexico. My worry? What is Max’ next step??

[BMMR61]

McLaren's protest, or whatever legalese they called that shambles, turned out to be very useful. It rallied drivers sentiments on the issue of the overtaking rules and hands down they shouted that they'd had enough. The continuum of that and the slight backdown by the FIA after the protest was rejected was encouragement for the Mexico GP stewards to take a stronger line. That and the fact that there were different persons on the steward panel and I won't name names that may be significant.

This weekend has been extremely bad news for Red Bull. On top of the clear line in the sand about divebombing and other Max approaches to driving has now got him on the back foot.

The RB20 still has serious deficiencies that haven't been fixed by the new floor, they are floundering to find the sweet spot. TBH they haven't had the car in the sweet spot for a whole weekend for a long time. With 4 GPs and 2 Sprints, 47 points is still a big hill to climb but the RB20 is looking less convincing than at almost any stage of 2024. Worse than Hungary, much worse than Monaco. It's window is now as narrow as Mercedes. McLaren's MCL38 is still a competitive car and I suspect the new floor and FW might just be able to be tuned to give that little edge to beat Ferrari.

[FittingMechanics]

Russell said that 19 of 20 drivers are in agreement about the changes to the overtaking rules. I wonder who the holdout is? (rhetorical question)

On the positive, if Max does take an engine penalty (+5 at least) in Brazil then hopefully he wouldn't be around Norris at race start in the Grand Prix. In the sprint it may be different. Getting a big result in Brazil would do wonders for the team, we need 1-2 to solidify WCC lead and put additional pressure on Verstappen. If he starts to lose big chunks of points his super defensive racing will need to turn into super aggressive attacking racing which could lead to DNFs, especially if Red Bull pace from Mexico remains similar in following races.

Just pile on the pressure!

[Emag]

Russell said that 19 of 20 drivers are in agreement about the changes to the overtaking rules. I wonder who the holdout is? (rhetorical question)

On the positive, if Max does take an engine penalty (+5 at least) in Brazil then hopefully he wouldn't be around Norris at race start in the Grand Prix. In the sprint it may be different. Getting a big result in Brazil would do wonders for the team, we need 1-2 to solidify WCC lead and put additional pressure on Verstappen. If he starts to lose big chunks of points his super defensive racing will need to turn into super aggressive attacking racing which could lead to DNFs, especially if Red Bull pace from Mexico remains similar in following races.

Just pile on the pressure!

Max may not be around to mess with Lando at the start but a +5 is not huge enough to the point where it’s guaranteed Lando pulls a full pitstop on him on the first stint. Then they can just let Max stay out a bit longer and fu*k Lando’s race once he is out of the pits to make him lose another one (assuming they’re going to be in the fight again).