2016 McLaren F1 Team - Honda

[GoranF1]

if you want Honda buy a CBR....other wise....

[Sayeman]

Well i'm happy that we are contending for top 10 place every race now, far cry from last year.
Being a Honda supporter it pains me seeing that Honda still hasn't managed to get on top of the reliability issue. having said that both Merc and Ferrari are having PU failures too tbh.
Looking forward to a solid weekend in Monaco, and the Canada PU upgrade.

[Sonador]

Ah nice to see the mclaren chassis being unreliable as per usual.

Note the sarcasm.
I had to say it, there has been a lot of honda defending and mclaren bashing recently here.

(I'm 50-50, work to do on both fronts but I just have to say something now)

Both sides have a lot of work to do, to me the (chassis) upgrade package did not deliver as much as i tought.
How was Mclaren on tyre wear? I am curious to find out what the isseus were on Button's car (loose rear end)

[CjC]

Good point about tyre wear.
I noticed during the race Alonso set his PB the lap before his pit in lap on his second stint. It was about 2 seconds quicker than his previous laps.
Suggests to me tyre wear was reasonable, chassis may have improved. Also suggests that there is a lot of fuel saving going on too unfortunately.

[Vasconia]

Good point about tyre wear.
I noticed during the race Alonso set his PB the lap before his pit in lap on his second stint. It was about 2 seconds quicker than his previous laps.
Suggests to me tyre wear was reasonable, chassis may have improved. Also suggests that there is a lot of fuel saving going on too unfortunately.

Fuel saving plus I think they still have a problem with tyre wear. I hope they have not a failure in Monaco because its the best chance of achieving a good result this season.

Alonso was quite upset with team orders and the lack of the new front-wing....

[bauc]

Good point about tyre wear.
I noticed during the race Alonso set his PB the lap before his pit in lap on his second stint. It was about 2 seconds quicker than his previous laps.
Suggests to me tyre wear was reasonable, chassis may have improved. Also suggests that there is a lot of fuel saving going on too unfortunately.

Fuel saving after 3 laps under the SC?, no... Honda PU has high demand for fuel but not that high

[max_speed]

one thing is clear Mclaren chassis is good. in early part of the race when Alonso was ahead of Massa , he managed to stay ahead for laps.
he was increasing the Gap and was using the last sector to put himself significantly ahead and was preventing an overtake in straight under DRS (similar to how verstappen defended against iceman).
i still think Honda engine is quite thirsty and Mclaren looses lot of time in race because of that.
i am very happy with one fact that Alonso was Damn right in leaving ferrari and it was validated yesterday.
If honda engine improves bit more then they can easily overhaul ForceIndia/Toro rosso and hopefully by year end they can overcome Williams and become 4th fastest team and well poised to exploit 2017 rules to come in contention for wins in 2017.
i hope it happens.

[Vasconia]

one thing is clear Mclaren chassis is good. in early part of the race when Alonso was ahead of Massa , he managed to stay ahead for laps.
he was increasing the Gap and was using the last sector to put himself significantly ahead and was preventing an overtake in straight under DRS (similar to how verstappen defended against iceman).
i still think Honda engine is quite thirsty and Mclaren looses lot of time in race because of that.
i am very happy with one fact that Alonso was Damn right in leaving ferrari and it was validated yesterday.
If honda engine improves bit more then they can easily overhaul ForceIndia/Toro rosso and hopefully by year end they can overcome Williams and become 4th fastest team and well poised to exploit 2017 rules to come in contention for wins in 2017.
i hope it happens.

Those laps showed that the chassis is good and also that Alonso continues to be a tough guy to overtake. Lets see now what happens in Monaco but Canada will be the highlight of the season for Mclaren, if the PU update can work well...

[godlameroso]

Here's what I've seen so far. Mclaren chassis still a big work in progress, but it's rapidly improving, they gained a second over winter testing. The Honda engine has improved since last year, but it still has the same flaws from last year albeit with more reliability. As it stands now, they're almost 1.7 seconds per lap slower than Mercedes on average, at their current rate of development there is zero chance in hell that they'll ever get a podium this year on merit. I think if they make strides with both engine and chassis, they'll be able to cut the deficit to Mercedes to around a second per lap.

[Pierce89]

Here's what I've seen so far. Mclaren chassis still a big work in progress, but it's rapidly improving, they gained a second over winter testing. The Honda engine has improved since last year, but it still has the same flaws from last year albeit with more reliability. As it stands now, they're almost 1.7 seconds per lap slower than Mercedes on average, at their current rate of development there is zero chance in hell that they'll ever get a podium this year on merit. I think if they make strides with both engine and chassis, they'll be able to cut the deficit to Mercedes to around a second per lap.

I doubt they'll be on the podium, but at Hungary, they'll at least threaten the podium.

[basti313]

Here's what I've seen so far. Mclaren chassis still a big work in progress, but it's rapidly improving, they gained a second over winter testing. The Honda engine has improved since last year, but it still has the same flaws from last year albeit with more reliability. As it stands now, they're almost 1.7 seconds per lap slower than Mercedes on average, at their current rate of development there is zero chance in hell that they'll ever get a podium this year on merit. I think if they make strides with both engine and chassis, they'll be able to cut the deficit to Mercedes to around a second per lap.

I doubt they'll be on the podium, but at Hungary, they'll at least threaten the podium.

How that? P9 in Spain looks promising, but without the Mercs crashing this would have been (again) a finish outside of the points for both McLarens. And if you are 50sec behind a Williams and 90 sec behind a Ferrari in Spain I see no reason why you should be able to fight for a podium in Hungary.
The realistic scenario is still, that they will finish in the points after very good races or races with many crashes. Just a good performance is still not enough for points.

[Vasconia]

Here's what I've seen so far. Mclaren chassis still a big work in progress, but it's rapidly improving, they gained a second over winter testing. The Honda engine has improved since last year, but it still has the same flaws from last year albeit with more reliability. As it stands now, they're almost 1.7 seconds per lap slower than Mercedes on average, at their current rate of development there is zero chance in hell that they'll ever get a podium this year on merit. I think if they make strides with both engine and chassis, they'll be able to cut the deficit to Mercedes to around a second per lap.

I doubt they'll be on the podium, but at Hungary, they'll at least threaten the podium.

It depends on the temperature. If it is hot as usual they will sufffer a lot if they dont improve the tyre degradation.

[alonsofan]

did button race with the upgraded aero package?

[a1b2i3r45]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/05/15/2 ... test-laps/

Button had an edge in the first 20 laps, then it seems alo's pace was better until he retired. With so many variables I dont know how the team will draw any conclusion on the new FW.

[Nuvolari]

The fuel saving is really holding them back too much in the early part of the races. They were about 1.5s/lap slower than the front runners during the 2nd stint. Looking at the first few laps on Alonso's final stint, the pace difference to Ricciardo was the same. Presumably, Alonso was going for it, without much fuel saving in his final stint. If so, where is the magic? Even though he was about half a second per lap quicker than Button in those laps, I'm not convinced the chassis performance is that good compared to Red Bull. Assuming no fuel saving by Alonso for the final stint.