2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[GKlein]

I agree about the many mistakes that Mclaren is making. They have slipped badly. I don't see any efforts to correct the problem either. I think 2018 will not be a good year for them, lots of DNFs, blaming Renault, etc

Although Ron's influence on the company was extreme, his absence seems to one of the factors that's involved in this. There is no one in charge who wants to make the difficult decisions and clean up the operation.

[godlameroso]

Ridiculous, when the car has ran it's ran flawlessly save for some BBQ body panels, which Renault has had on it's chassis as well, it's just harder to tell from the black paint. McLaren is in an infinitely better position than they have been the last 3 years. McLaren always has issues during testing, they've never not had issues, not that I can remember in 20 some odd years.

If they start the season less than one second off the pace it's a huge win for them, because they can catch up though development. McLaren has a huge learning curve with the new power unit, once they design the car around it the McLaren way, there's big improvements they can make. If they're only 1 second a lap down at the start of the season that gap can evaporate once they get on top of power unit integration, and can push the chassis design where they want it.

[Bisonas]

There is the training part, and there is the experience part. You need both to make a good pit stop. When you have both, you can be calm, less nervous and more focused on what you are doing.
They obviously lack something on that pit stop . I want to believe that they lacked experience with the new pit stop gear they have.
And about the "under pressure" thing, what pressure exactly ?? This is testing. If we excuse them and say its normal because they where under pressure, what will happen in AUS when real pressure kicks in ?
They are Mclaren engineers , they shouldn't feel any kind of pressure on practicing pit stops in pre season testing.
If they felt pressure well, i assume they lack experience.
So i prefer to blame the new gear until AUS

[GoranF1]

Vandoorne:
-Mclaren never run on low fuel during test
- Ferrari and Mercedes to far ATM
- Points should be possible in AUS
-Reliability not concern

Alonso stint:

Outlap

17.9

CoolDown

17.7

CoolDown

16.7 (deleted)

Inlap

[Ground Effect]

Vandoorne:
-Mclaren never run on low fuel during test
- Ferrari and Mercedes to far ATM
- Points should be possible in AUS
-Reliability not concern

Alonso stint:

Outlap

17.9

CoolDown

17.7

CoolDown

16.7 (deleted)

Inlap

No comment on Red Bull?

[GoranF1]

Vandoorne:
-Mclaren never run on low fuel during test
- Ferrari and Mercedes to far ATM
- Points should be possible in AUS
-Reliability not concern

Alonso stint:

Outlap

17.9

CoolDown

17.7

CoolDown

16.7 (deleted)

Inlap

No comment on Red Bull?

No...i forgot to say, again he mentions upgrade package for AUS

http://nextgen-auto.com/Vandoorne-atten ... 24896.html

[kfrantzios]

I keep reading that there are tethering issues with the new Renault PU. STR has a new engine too, with different layout as well and the same late timed decision to switch. However they seem to have no issues at all. Sure there are rumors that they changed a few engines, they might not be as aggressive packaging an cooling wise, but they seem fast and consistent. To be honest I was expecting these results vise versa. McLaren should be fast consistent and reliable and STR not. I can't accept McLaren's 2$ issues, and my personal opinion is that Boullier is not fit for the job. As an engineer (civil) running a construction company, I really cannot stand that "hands_in_pockets chatting" attitude of EB.
Regarding the pit stops, where is the innovation Brown promised? Sure people are talking about McLaren on that matter but I hope that he had something else in mind.. I was hoping for some robo action...

[Chicane]

Do they have any fundamental mechanical issues with suspension, Brakes , gearbox, etc ? No

Has the car been decently quick out of the box? Yes

Has the car looked good on long stints? Vandoorne's stint on mediums during his race simulation says so.

According to Vandoorne they have not run on low fuel and have not really pushed for a quick lap so in that light Alonso's lap on the final day was a decent effort.

Those leaks are not something that cannot be dealt with with a proper rebuild of the car.

Since they do not have full chassis dyno they were not able to identify heat pockets beneath the engine cover especially around the rear mounted turbocharger. They adopted drilling holes in the engine cover as a temporary step but we know such holes are a compromise aerodynamically so their lap times makes it even more interesting. Prodromou has mentioned they have been working on Race 1 package in the last few months . Yes the fact that they have not run as much as they wanted means there may still be surprises in the first few races but pace wise the car looks good and Mclaren has a good record as far as rate of development through the season is concerned.

I think they are not in as bad a shape as has been projected and they will be in good shape come Melbourne at least in terms of performance although they may take a couple of races to iron out all the niggles.

[JonoNic]

How do we know if the new package doesn't have heat pockets too?

As the previous commenter mentioned that they don't have a chassis dyno to iron out these issues.

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[GoranF1]

Do they have any fundamental mechanical issues with suspension, Brakes , gearbox, etc ? No

Has the car been decently quick out of the box? Yes

Has the car looked good on long stints? Vandoorne's stint on mediums during his race simulation says so.

According to Vandoorne they have not run on low fuel and have not really pushed for a quick lap so in that light Alonso's lap on the final day was a decent effort.

Those leaks are not something that cannot be dealt with with a proper rebuild of the car.

Since they do not have full chassis dyno they were not able to identify heat pockets beneath the engine cover especially around the rear mounted turbocharger. They adopted drilling holes in the engine cover as a temporary step but we know such holes are a compromise aerodynamically so their lap times makes it even more interesting. Prodromou has mentioned they have been working on Race 1 package in the last few months . Yes the fact that they have not run as much as they wanted means there may still be surprises in the first few races but pace wise the car looks good and Mclaren has a good record as far as rate of development through the season is concerned.

I think they are not in as bad a shape as has been projected and they will be in good shape come Melbourne at least in terms of performance although they may take a couple of races to iron out all the niggles.

Actualy on the medium stint it wasbt to bad....lost about 5 sec to Vettel only....before was not good stint 1 and 2

[Chicane]

Do they have any fundamental mechanical issues with suspension, Brakes , gearbox, etc ? No

Has the car been decently quick out of the box? Yes

Has the car looked good on long stints? Vandoorne's stint on mediums during his race simulation says so.

According to Vandoorne they have not run on low fuel and have not really pushed for a quick lap so in that light Alonso's lap on the final day was a decent effort.

Those leaks are not something that cannot be dealt with with a proper rebuild of the car.

Since they do not have full chassis dyno they were not able to identify heat pockets beneath the engine cover especially around the rear mounted turbocharger. They adopted drilling holes in the engine cover as a temporary step but we know such holes are a compromise aerodynamically so their lap times makes it even more interesting. Prodromou has mentioned they have been working on Race 1 package in the last few months . Yes the fact that they have not run as much as they wanted means there may still be surprises in the first few races but pace wise the car looks good and Mclaren has a good record as far as rate of development through the season is concerned.

I think they are not in as bad a shape as has been projected and they will be in good shape come Melbourne at least in terms of performance although they may take a couple of races to iron out all the niggles.

Actualy on the medium stint it wasbt to bad....lost about 5 sec to Vettel only....before was not good stint 1 and 2

Yeah his medium stint wasn't far off both Vettel and Verstappen

[PhillipM]

How do we know if the new package doesn't have heat pockets too?

As the previous commenter mentioned that they don't have a chassis dyno to iron out these issues.

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Because the minute you know you have a little too much temperature there it's easy to design it out. That's why the covers have been covered in heat stickers, paint and sensors through testing.

[adrianjordan]

There is the training part, and there is the experience part. You need both to make a good pit stop. When you have both, you can be calm, less nervous and more focused on what you are doing.
They obviously lack something on that pit stop . I want to believe that they lacked experience with the new pit stop gear they have.
And about the "under pressure" thing, what pressure exactly ?? This is testing. If we excuse them and say its normal because they where under pressure, what will happen in AUS when real pressure kicks in ?
They are Mclaren engineers , they shouldn't feel any kind of pressure on practicing pit stops in pre season testing.
If they felt pressure well, i assume they lack experience.
So i prefer to blame the new gear until AUS

The pressure is coming from all eyes being on the team almost willing a mistake to happen so they can point at it.

[Ground Effect]

How do we know if the new package doesn't have heat pockets too?

As the previous commenter mentioned that they don't have a chassis dyno to iron out these issues.

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I don't think they'll have the heat pocket issue because they've hit the track. The lack of a chassis dyno would probably have prevented it happening on track. But now that it has, (thankfully in testing) they should have a solution ahead of Melbourne.

[adrianjordan]

If you had a stretcher to lift a patient that did not have a stop to prevent it slipping off the lift, what would be your opinion?

Cost cutting as usual

If you gave a patient the wrong fluid in the drip, what would happen to you?

Depends on what happened as a result, worst case prison...