2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[makecry]

Made a fastest lap comparison between 2017 and 2018.

Haas retired immediately after pit stops so their lap times are not representative.

https://i.imgur.com/Fvoof0W.jpg

Mclaren have made the biggest improvement of 2.482 seconds.

You also forgot to mention that Gasly retired early in the race from overheating due to a plastic bag or possibly damaging the car over a kerb. Gasly is clearly the faster of the two TR drivers and therefore the TR time is not fully representative either.

With only a half second loss over the 2017 car that had better drivers is it really that clear to say Mclaren made the right decision yet. All that you can say is that Mclaren had a lucky race and Toro Rosso has some work to do and hope for some better luck.

Alonso is fooling himself if he thinks Mclaren can bridge that one second gap to Red Bull and he was lucky with Bottas shunting in Q3 and the VSC or else he would have been eighth or ninth in the race. After the Safety car he was immediately losing one second a lap to everybody ahead of him and it was clear he was holding up verstappen, hulkenberg and bottas.

We here honestly dont care about Honda or Toro Rosso. He didnt mention Gasly because this is a McLaren thread and not a Honda/STR thread.

I get it that you are insecure about Honda being so bad and feel the need to bash Alonso and McLaren to compensate but We dont care . STR Honda is not going to be ever on the pace of McLaren Renault.

[willmesquita]

Made a fastest lap comparison between 2017 and 2018.

Haas retired immediately after pit stops so their lap times are not representative.

https://i.imgur.com/Fvoof0W.jpg

Mclaren have made the biggest improvement of 2.482 seconds.

You also forgot to mention that Gasly retired early in the race from overheating due to a plastic bag or possibly damaging the car over a kerb. Gasly is clearly the faster of the two TR drivers and therefore the TR time is not fully representative either.

With only a half second loss over the 2017 car that had better drivers is it really that clear to say Mclaren made the right decision yet. All that you can say is that Mclaren had a lucky race and Toro Rosso has some work to do and hope for some better luck.

Alonso is fooling himself if he thinks Mclaren can bridge that one second gap to Red Bull and he was lucky with Bottas shunting in Q3 and the VSC or else he would have been eighth or ninth in the race. After the Safety car he was immediately losing one second a lap to everybody ahead of him and it was clear he was holding up verstappen, hulkenberg and bottas.

Am I at the wrong topic? Toro Rosso here?

[Chicane]

Made a fastest lap comparison between 2017 and 2018.

Haas retired immediately after pit stops so their lap times are not representative.

https://i.imgur.com/Fvoof0W.jpg

Mclaren have made the biggest improvement of 2.482 seconds.

You also forgot to mention that Gasly retired early in the race from overheating due to a plastic bag or possibly damaging the car over a kerb. Gasly is clearly the faster of the two TR drivers and therefore the TR time is not fully representative either.

With only a half second loss over the 2017 car that had better drivers is it really that clear to say Mclaren made the right decision yet. All that you can say is that Mclaren had a lucky race and Toro Rosso has some work to do and hope for some better luck.

Alonso is fooling himself if he thinks Mclaren can bridge that one second gap to Red Bull and he was lucky with Bottas shunting in Q3 and the VSC or else he would have been eighth or ninth in the race. After the Safety car he was immediately losing one second a lap to everybody ahead of him and it was clear he was holding up verstappen, hulkenberg and bottas.

Actually Toro Rosso's fastest lap in 2017 was 1:26.711. So they were 1.4 second slower in 2018. I made a small mistake. That settles the debate but this thread is about Mclaren so let us stick to McLaren here

[GhostF1]

Made a fastest lap comparison between 2017 and 2018.

Haas retired immediately after pit stops so their lap times are not representative.

https://i.imgur.com/Fvoof0W.jpg

Mclaren have made the biggest improvement of 2.482 seconds.

You also forgot to mention that Gasly retired early in the race from overheating due to a plastic bag or possibly damaging the car over a kerb. Gasly is clearly the faster of the two TR drivers and therefore the TR time is not fully representative either.

With only a half second loss over the 2017 car that had better drivers is it really that clear to say Mclaren made the right decision yet. All that you can say is that Mclaren had a lucky race and Toro Rosso has some work to do and hope for some better luck.

Alonso is fooling himself if he thinks Mclaren can bridge that one second gap to Red Bull and he was lucky with Bottas shunting in Q3 and the VSC or else he would have been eighth or ninth in the race. After the Safety car he was immediately losing one second a lap to everybody ahead of him and it was clear he was holding up verstappen, hulkenberg and bottas.

Actually Toro Rosso's fastest lap in 2017 was 1:26.711. So they were 1.4 second slower. I made a small mistake. That settles the debate but this thread is about Mclaren so let us stick to McLaren here

A lot of sniping here. I can clearly see he was just adding information that was clearly omitted for whatever reason, to that "lap time comparison data" that included RBR and Haas information. No need to go grade 5 because someone mention the TR or H word...

Anyway, good race from McLaren, it was great to see them up there, hopefully Bahrain will confirm their pace, or just reveal it.

[diffuser]

Their weakest sector was S3. I didn't like their speed at the start finish line, it was between 2 and 4 KPH slower than the other Renaults. That last curve is taken at as much throttle as the chassis can bare. So if you're slower than the other chassis with the same PU, they're able to get on the throttle sooner(more Downforce).

[makecry]

Their weakest sector was S3. I didn't like their speed at the start finish line, it was between 2 and 4 KPH slower than the other Renaults. That last curve is taken at as much throttle as the chassis can bare. So if you're slower than the other chassis with the same PU, they're able to get on the throttle sooner(more Downforce).

I was about to post this. They were a tenth or two behind in S3 on Renault so it needs to be analyzed by them but Renault brought a lot of updates this race, McLaren is bringing new ones in next race so let's see how it goes!

[ollandos]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCYo4-g_j8

i find this ....is all team radios on alonso side .....he ask about some gearbox software issue on Q2 i think on last lap...

[Bisonas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCYo4-g_j8

i find this ....is all team radios on alonso side .....he ask about some gearbox software issue on Q2 i think on last lap...

If the sequence of the msgs is timely correct, then the msg was not about last lap.
The "Its quite dark out here" msg , was after his first lap in Q3 . He asked if they should go out fast, for their last lap.
So the previous msg was earlier . Good find though.

[Vasconia]

Their weakest sector was S3. I didn't like their speed at the start finish line, it was between 2 and 4 KPH slower than the other Renaults. That last curve is taken at as much throttle as the chassis can bare. So if you're slower than the other chassis with the same PU, they're able to get on the throttle sooner(more Downforce).

The car has more drag than others perhaps.

Anyway, the performance was encouraging and it the upcoming udpates are that massive 2018 could finally be a good(or decent) season for Mclaren and a good basis for a truly exciting 2019 season.

[Lucky]

Their weakest sector was S3. I didn't like their speed at the start finish line, it was between 2 and 4 KPH slower than the other Renaults. That last curve is taken at as much throttle as the chassis can bare. So if you're slower than the other chassis with the same PU, they're able to get on the throttle sooner(more Downforce).

McLaren is the fastest on the finish line in qualifying

[bauc]

Great Photo



Fixed!

[Jef Patat]

Especially with the correct url

[fellowhoodlums]

If that speed trap list is anything to go by it says one thing in my mind and that is the PU was turned down a bit due to the packaging issues they didn't get resolved after testing. We know they mentioned a heat pocket - perhaps the parts to fix this just took too long to manufacture and it'll ship straight to Bahrain? In the meantime the engine is turned down a little to manage the problem.

Alonso and Boullier sounded very positive with result and comparison with the middle teams implying this is the base line. Phrases like "free upgrades" over next couple of races tell you there is significant performance they know can be switched on but can't just now.

Just all guess work based on stuff that's said.

[Bisonas]

IMO The speeds are perfectly fine.
If you take in comparison the cars that where running in free air on the last part of the race, (Alonso, Kimi, Vetel etc) their finish line speed and their top speed is similar. Only in Intermediate1 trap you see Kimi much faster there, and that probably happen because he got a tow passing some backmarker before T6.

Now if you see all the cars that where following other cars, (Hamilton, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Hulkenberg Perez, Bottas etc) they all have higher speeds on most traps and that's normal. Especially on start finish line and top speed traps they had DRS along with a possible tow.

[Sieper]

If that speed trap list is anything to go by it says one thing in my mind and that is the PU was turned down a bit due to the packaging issues they didn't get resolved after testing. We know they mentioned a heat pocket - perhaps the parts to fix this just took too long to manufacture and it'll ship straight to Bahrain? In the meantime the engine is turned down a little to manage the problem.

Alonso and Boullier sounded very positive with result and comparison with the middle teams implying this is the base line. Phrases like "free upgrades" over next couple of races tell you there is significant performance they know can be switched on but can't just now.

Just all guess work based on stuff that's said.

I also feel that is likely, especially as Alonso Is very clear that they will still find much time.