McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[raymondu999]

That's quite an interesting point actually. The McLaren on the other hand seems to be a "traffic specialist." If you look at on boards in Nurburgring; Spa, whatever, in very slow hairpins; like Nurburgring T1; and in long slow corners, like Rivage, the McLaren nose is mighty. But put it in dirty air; and the McLaren doesn't seem to mind at all.

[MIKEY_!]

Yes, it seems that while the RBR struggles (more than others) in dirty air (it can't all be webber) the Mclaren does better than most. Button still has the most passes this season i think, although that's no all car either.

[Intego]

Well, this belongs to the RB7 thread, but: it's not that easy to say it's black or white. We saw several races where RB performed different. Every race had seen a Red Bull P1. In some races Vettel pulled away in front and then managed his speed so that we could never see whether that was the end of th RB7's potential or not. And you can't say Red Bull has a bad race pace, because McL has a better pace. Both were fast, one was more.
(Consider that in Suzuka Button stopped his car right after crossing the finish line in order to have some gas to be left. So he pushed very hard and McL gambled. Alonso nearly got Button and the two last laps Button had to run qualy mode and did the fastest lap of the race. So that was the top of the MP4-26's potential.)
The RB good-qualy-bad-race-car was last year. The RB6 had problems when it didn't get clean air. It was fast, but when getting in slipstream it got slow and both driver had to step back because of aero (overheating and so on). And DRS would hardly have helped because it was difficult to get within 1 sec of the lead.
Newey and his engineers have sorted that out, now they are able to follow the car in front and overtake (even without DRS -> Spa, Monza). Though McL is specialist here.
And as for the race don't forget strategy and pitting. Red Bull has grown and does a very good job. With strategy they brought Webber from 6 to 4 in Suzuka and I think it was for the third stint they pitted both cars in a row within ten seconds.

[raymondu999]

The raw race pace I think the Red Bull is sometimes equal, sometimes below, sometimes above the McLaren. That's how I see it anyways. But I think the thing that I alluded to above as well is; that the McLaren have hit the sweet spot and seem to be better able to cope with tyre deg and wear than Red Bull has.

[Intego]

That's right Raymond. McL and Sauber are the team that have understood the Pirellis at its best. Consider that Pedro de la Rosa last year tested the Pirellis in the second phase and still is a McL employee. EDIT: Plus they know the difference between the Bridgestones and Pirellis best because they tested the definite tyres on their MP4-25. Taken that into account it's not surprising that Button got his first two victorys this year under partly wet conditions as for anyone else it was a shot in the dark.

I still think they have a good mechanical grip which is good for the tyres. In Suzuka we saw the RBs eating their options but with the primes they were fine.
Plus McL has a very good KERS and effective DRS (which of course is useless in front but helpful for overtaking). They have a very good overall package and two very fast drivers. Lewis struggles a bit but that is all about confidence. Button confirmed that in the BBC post race forum when he stated that he's more confident than ever (and he almost took the first non-Red Bull pole). They have to rebuild up Hamilton and then will be prepared for 2012.

[Intego]

On a side note something funny: German Bild.de usually writes news without background and doesn't make an exception:

That hurts Formula 1 bully Lewis Hamilton (26)!

Mate Jenson Button (31) is the new No. 1 at McLaren, is the first chaser since his victory at Suzuka.

Button instantly made ​​the announcement a boss: "We must win the next four races: When we finish the season on a high, then we have a good base for 2012 to attack Red Bull." McLaren-pupil Hamilton demoted!

And so it came to the new hierarchy in the England team:

• In Suzuka Hamilton (world champion 2008) had to drive FOR button (World Champion 2009) for the first time.

• The contract with Button was already extended, his salary adjusted to that of Hamilton (20 million €).

Reason: Button crashes less, gets more points, and opposed to constantly bad-tempered Hamilton everyone in the team likes him.

German source

[kalinka]

McL and Sauber are the team that have understood the Pirellis at its best.

Nice to see that puzzles are falling in place now. I thought (and said on this forum ) before season start,that McL will be good with tyres. They have all the experience they need. Remember, they switched tyre manufacturer from Bridgestons to Michelin and back in last 10 years. They had done this before, and they know exactly what they need to do in that situation. Ferrari stayed with Bridgestons, though I'm not convinced their problem is inexperience. Sauber is a bit of mystery, maybe they just hit that sweet spot unaware of it, maybe they just have better engineers there than other teams.

What is more interesting for me, what'll happen now >
Can McL tweak the MP4-26 for the reamining races to be good at qualy and race too ?
Are the two requirements excluding somewhat each other (race pace vs. qualy-pace ) ?
Did they consider to go with RBR and build a qualy-car from MP4-27, concentrating less on the race pace ?

[raymondu999]

I think race vs quali pace is very real now; especially with differing levels of DRS effect

[Intego]

McL and Sauber are the team that have understood the Pirellis at its best.

... Sauber is a bit of mystery, maybe they just hit that sweet spot unaware of it, maybe they just have better engineers there than other teams.

What is more interesting for me, what'll happen now >
Can McL tweak the MP4-26 for the reamining races to be good at qualy and race too ?
Are the two requirements excluding somewhat each other (race pace vs. qualy-pace ) ?
Did they consider to go with RBR and build a qualy-car from MP4-27, concentrating less on the race pace ?

Maybe I was wrong a bit. Sauber designed a car to be smooth on tyres not to be surprised. It also would not have helped to hold Heidfeld as he tested the first Pirellis who were miles away from the actual ones.

I can see McL getting at least one pole and additional wins this year. RBR/Newey just stated that they now can concentrate on 2012, while McL/Button still fights for 2nd in WDC.

[raymondu999]

While true; Intego; they will be fighting for 2nd in the WDC/WCC with what they have now. I don't think they'll be seriously racing any further upgrades this year. Testing maybe. Racing...not so sure. It would make more sense for them to divert resources to 2012 as well.

Also was it not deal Rosa first on the pirellis? I could be wrong on this.

[Intego]

Just had a look on that:
PdlR for Sauber till GP Italia, then Pirelli
NH for Pirelli till GP Singapure, then Sauber

Plus PdlR tested in artificial wet conditions in Abu Dhabi, Heidfeld did not.

[Vasco]

The problem with the 26 was that it never had the outright pace that the RB7 had. Even if the RB7 ate its tyres too quickly, by having a big speed advantage and by running in clean air, they could control their pace and manage their tyre wear. Mclaren on the other hand has probably been running more at the limit during the race than RB.

They had this same excuse last year with the 25, where all they talked about was the race pace.

They have a solid foundation with their U-pods for next year, and all we can do is wait and see how next year goes....that German national anthem needs to stop and wunderkind needs to be taught a lesson or two!!!

[Coefficient]

Actually I've just been rewatching quali. Even the HRT could DRS through 130.

Odd... Listening to the McLaren's engine noise from onboards, they were definitely lifting very slightly.

I think that's probably the revs dropping due to the increased resistance on turn in.

[Coefficient]

Why not slow the actuator down? You then press it earlier, but only hitting the full open stance when you would normally have opened it

slowing the action down could labour the actuator whilst moving from closed to open. This could encourage failures.

[raymondu999]

Scarbs has an excellent write up on the 26