2016 McLaren F1 Team - Honda

[DiogoBrand]

"Possible podium"
Seriously?
Just because they were second or third at some point after SC doesn't mean they have the pace to stay there.
What disappoints me is that after all that talk of "could've gone to Q3" or "car will be better in the race" they manage to finish behind their starting positions. Hopefully that was down to their Mediums strategy which, apart from Melbourne, didn't work for anyone. If the 'moving chicane' performance keeps on even with a better strategy then we can expect a very not good season.

[ollandos]

"Possible podium"
Seriously?
Just because they were second or third at some point after SC doesn't mean they have the pace to stay there.
What disappoints me is that after all that talk of "could've gone to Q3" or "car will be better in the race" they manage to finish behind their starting positions. Hopefully that was down to their Mediums strategy which, apart from Melbourne, didn't work for anyone. If the 'moving chicane' performance keeps on even with a better strategy then we can expect a very not good season.

yes on lap 15-16 alonso can have fresh softs and any others 10laps olders .....+ time gap from riciardo hamilton raikonen ....

from lap 15-16 can have faster tyres until the end from almost all others + time advantage.....with 2 ferraris and one mercedes and red bull back ..... what other lucky gift they are wait in a race? look massa and kyat ....look vettel ....

[namao]

The natural position of McLaren Honda is 12th and 13th in a dry non-accident race day, we know this since Melbourne. This will remain the same until the next PU upgrade (Canada).

Podiums? I don't think so. If so, would be in a crazy race at Monaco or Hungary.

[davidfroshanzen]

The natural position of McLaren Honda is 12th and 13th in a dry non-accident race day, we know this since Melbourne. This will remain the same until the next PU upgrade (Canada).

Podiums? I don't think so. If so, would be in a crazy race at Monaco or Hungary.

100% agree with you. i hope mclaren gentle to say that too. dont
make bullshit statement again for the fans

[Sayeman]

There is no magic solution, we have to be patient. We have been waiting 1.5 year now lets wait another 6 months.

[michl420]

I would not say the Strategie was that bad. The car has a high tire degretation , this is the main problem that need to be solved. They give it a try and learned something. I don't think any other Strategie would be much faster

[Thunder]

So i only watched the last 15 or so Laps of the Race and read a bit on the Forums but to me it looks like the following:

Positives:
- Quali Speed once they can use the Quali Mode seems to be ok (Q3 possible)
- Reliability was good this Weekend so they gathered useful Data

To do List:
- Tire Management (it seems like the Car is eating the Tires quite a bit). That could be solved with the following Points.
- PU Efficiency needs to get better. There seemed to be quite a lot of Fuel saving going on plus i don't think deployment is quite on the Level of the other PU's in the Race
- as part of PU Efficiency more Power is needed
- once that is done the Car needs more Downforce. Right now more Downforce could Help in Quali but could be potentially desastrous in the Race (sitting Ducks on the Straights)
- the Race Strategy Team doesn't work optimal.... (granted they had to choose the Tire allocations in December so Part of that could get better as the Season moves on simply because the Team can choose Tires more fitting to the Car)

The Team surely has Work to do.

[alonsofan]

a little power and reliability boost from honda and a better chassis from macca can make us the 3rd best team since the field is so tight

[diffuser]

Someone earlier quoted Button as saying the strategy was wrong. That was a miss quote, he said might be wrong and that he hadn't seen the data. If it wasn't wrong, they didn't have the pace to be in the top 10.

Button Hadn't driven on the Soft tire.

Alonzo who had run on both the Medium and the softs said there wasn't anything wrong with the strategy.


In FP2 , the long runs we're all in the 1:44s. Until the last set of tires of the race they ran 1:44s. On the last set of tires they averaged 1:42s. Problem is everyone in the top 10 were running 1:43s on heavy Fuel and 1:41 on the last set. So in my opinion, they didn't have the pace and they knew it as early as FP2.

[Far]

Mp4-31 chassis looks like a poor chassis and the Honda engine is still not good enough only second season but the mp4-31 should be better maibe they need the aero engineering from Toro Rosso

Poor? did u watch the race? Button overtaking others with medium compaund, while everybody else were on soft or even SS. The only problem is tyre managment, otherwise the car is not bad at all.

Yes of course I see the race and I have and eye in the telemetry for a speed trap and sector times and the McLaren were running 1.5 to 2 sec slower a lap and the speed traps were only 2 to 5 km/h down to the Mercedes in the last 10 laps and they were faster in 2 or more km/h in every sector for most of the race to the Toro Rosso even Alonso says they have to Look at that data and see Where they can improve Because they have to improve a lot in many area's.
That's my impression Im not the race engineering just and arm Chair fan
Sorry for my band English.

[GoranF1]

Race pace was a complete disaster....i stoped watching the race midway trough...ahhh mountin to climb, mountin...

[ollandos]

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... n%20Vettel

alonso lap chat

loosing 20-25sec on second stind from tyre choise.......

[godlameroso]

The problem is that they stubbornly stayed on tires that were clearly no longer working, perhaps they didn't have any tires left over for the race. If the tires that you're using aren't working pit and try to make the next set last a little longer, should be easier with less fuel. It's better than trying to stretch tires on heavy fuel.

[diffuser]

The problem is that they stubbornly stayed on tires that were clearly no longer working, perhaps they didn't have any tires left over for the race. If the tires that you're using aren't working pit and try to make the next set last a little longer, should be easier with less fuel. It's better than trying to stretch tires on heavy fuel.

Don't forget the math. A pit stop takes 30 seconds.

we have 56 laps ..choice 2 stops or 3.

2 stops + 60 seconds (56/3 ~18laps)
3 Stops +90 seconds (56/4 ~14Laps)
56 -14 = 42.
Over the last 42 laps you got to make up the 30 seconds to break even. 30/42 = 0.71 seconds per lap.

Then add to that:
1 - Do you have the fuel to go flat out for the whole race?
2- If you do go flat out will the tires last 14 laps?
3- If you go flat out can you make up .71 seconds per lap ?( -0.80 will gain you almost 4 seconds over the whole race.)
4- Can you avoid traffic?
5- If you can't how long will it take you to pass a slower car ? (The Slower top speed kills us here).

[CjC]

This is a massive IF but Alonso alluded to it on Sky- the safety car negated the time lost for the first stop for the 3 stoppers. If you take off 25 seconds from Alonso's race time he's right in the mix for good points. Button finished 5 seconds behind Alonso so he could have been in the pints too BUT he did out under the safety car and ended up 3 stopping.
So I might have just contradicted myself