2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[Ground Effect]

About the car, people say its better to have the problems now and not Australia, are they trying to say Mclaren are better placed than the teams who have had no problems ?
Mercedes have had pretty much no problem, so they know they can run an average of 100 laps a day without fault. maybe they will run in to problems when they do another 300 laps over the next 2 days.Then they will know about problems caused by 1000ish laps. Mclaren have had loads of problems running 355 laps. They wont get to know of any problems when running 5, 6, 700 laps. So its not in any way good to have problems now! It is definitely NOT better to have no problems now. Its better to have no problems and run a long hard test program.

This is the same McLaren that showed up with Octopus exhaust in testing, then showed up with titanium diffuser and more similar exhaust to the others and won races that season as well.

This is not the same McLaren as in 2012 in any way. Pretty much everyone who had a leading role in the development of that car is gone. It’s the same story with people saying McLaren can’t build a good car, because they couldn’t beat Mercedes with a Mercedes engine either. As if nothing has changed since then..

To the other point of your post. McLaren are way behind on their testing program and will not have enough knowledge of the car come Melbourne. Competition meanwhile could run their program without problems, have found weaknesses in their packages and are further in finding the right setups. McLaren will have to find out about their car in-season. They are lagging behind and will do so for the remainder of the year. Conclusion: not good.

They are obviously behind and on the back foot, but they say it's no big deal? I think it is, STR are running a new engine as well, but not experiencing the same kind of teething issues. The good news is that they are happy with the car, hopefully, their being honest about that. I noticed Stoffel was quite rapid when the track was wet and while it was drying (intermediates). That's always a good sign. It's more ideal to run, than not to run. So it will have a knock on effect. But I feel if they can have an uninterrupted session tomorrow and the day after, targeting 180 laps, each day. They can salvage the situation and get more data. Also, wouldn't mind seeing them put in some strong lap times as well.

[adb]

Considering how smooth STR's engine adaptation went, there are no excuses for McLaren. Unless they have a flawless weekend in Australia and preferably few more weekends, I won't believe they didn't mess up car's design in major way, no matter the amount of Zak's sweet talking and PR damage limitation

[radosav]

Well after three years with honda, three races lost to adapt to renault are nothing.

[GoranF1]

Considering how smooth STR's engine adaptation went, there are no excuses for McLaren. Unless they have a flawless weekend in Australia and preferably few more weekends, I won't believe they didn't mess up car's design in major way, no matter the amount of Zak's sweet talking and PR damage limitation

You are right, but when reliabilty is sorted Mclaren will be fast and STR will remain slow.
Good decidion form Mcalren despite everything

[Big Tea]

Not helped like this quote from PF1

“This is not engine related,” Boullier said of Wednesday’s stoppage at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“This is a small oil leak we had to the car which unfortunately meant the engine died, so we have to change the engine now.

I dont think I would have considered that a 'small leak'

[rogazilla]

What other part needs oil that’s not engine related and when leaking killed the engine? Or he specifically means no problem with the ice but oil leaked from mgu or TC or gear box?

[Big Tea]

But serious enough to need an engine change.
(edit) recalling that he said 'the engine died' not we had to stop... etc

[RonDennis]

But serious enough to need an engine change.

Try to run the engine of your car without oil, let me know if it's still running.

[Big Tea]

But serious enough to need an engine change.

Try to run the engine of your car without oil, let me know if it's still running.

But this was a 'small oil leak' nothing serious. So the engine died.
Right. Really inspires confidence doesn't it?

[Postmoe]

Not helped like this quote from PF1

“This is not engine related,” Boullier said of Wednesday’s stoppage at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“This is a small oil leak we had to the car which unfortunately meant the engine died, so we have to change the engine now.

I dont think I would have considered that a 'small leak'

An engine dies within seconds without oil but what caused oil starvation could be quite lame. Of course, it's also PR talk but could make sense

[PhillipM]

But this was a 'small oil leak' nothing serious. So the engine died.
Right. Really inspires confidence doesn't it?

Yes, that happens when you have a leak in a pressure line to an engine, even on a road car. A pressure drop even for a second will cause damage. I'd probably stop questioning their statements if you don't realise that.

[PhillipM]

What other part needs oil that’s not engine related and when leaking killed the engine? Or he specifically means no problem with the ice but oil leaked from mgu or TC or gear box?

Probably just an oil line cracked or a fastener fatigue issue.

[HPD]

Renault will inspect the dead engine.

If it's Renault fault, who pays for the new engine?
If it's Mclaren fault, they should buy a new engine?

[Big Tea]

But this was a 'small oil leak' nothing serious. So the engine died.
Right. Really inspires confidence doesn't it?

Yes, that happens when you have a leak in a pressure line to an engine, even on a road car. A pressure drop even for a second will cause damage. I'd probably stop questioning their statements if you don't realise that.

What ever the cause I would not consider a dead engine minor, when you only get 3 for the year.

[Jolle]

Considering how smooth STR's engine adaptation went, there are no excuses for McLaren. Unless they have a flawless weekend in Australia and preferably few more weekends, I won't believe they didn't mess up car's design in major way, no matter the amount of Zak's sweet talking and PR damage limitation

I don't think it's fair to compare STR and McLaren. Their design teams would have had very different assignments.

For STR it's all about giving RedBull a good PU for 2019 (at the soonest). Even finishing dead last every race wouldn't be a real problem. This means they will have build in lots of room in the chassis. Also, with the drivers, they would have made the package easy to drive and predicable. Which is normally not always the fastest.

The McLaren engineers on the other hand would have had the briefing that they need to take risks. No sponsors, big driver. Being the slowest Renault team would mean at the most places 9 en 10 on the grid, with a good shot from FI or Williams even outside the points. So they had no room to play with, everything, every detail is right on or slightly over the edge. Being with a new PU and competing with RedBull directly, that is almost an impossible task. Plus, for the last three years, McLaren have been in a race against one.