2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[diffuser]

Read like true journalism. Someone asking tough questions and finding issue with the answers. Maybe you've gotten too habituated to reading puff pieces?

[Ground Effect]

That article had great detail but the tone was so negative - almost baiting Eric. I don't think the British media have it out for any other team like they do for Mclaren for some reason. The team set a target for the season but they are being grilled about taking somewhat short in Race 1...ridiculous

One thing is for sure after reading the article. If we didn't know already, it made it very clear that money is almost everything in F1. Mclaren must have really had zero confidence in Honda to say goodbye to $100M. Benson should have asked for an estimate of performance improvement these updates are expected to bring.

[makecry]

That article had great detail but the tone was so negative - almost baiting Eric. I don't think the British media have it out for any other team like they do for Mclaren for some reason. The team set a target for the season but they are being grilled about taking somewhat short in Race 1...ridiculous

One thing is for sure after reading the article. If we didn't know already, it made it very clear that money is almost everything in F1. Mclaren must have really had zero confidence in Honda to say goodbye to $100M. Benson should have asked for an estimate of performance improvement these updates are expected to bring.

Yes.This. It was $100mil/yr for next 7 years. $700mill is a HUGE number. But it had to be done, they couldn't have gambled on Honda coming good, they would have lost key personnel in short-term and that would be disastrous because they could have all the money in the world but without good engineers, it's pointless.

For 2018,

IIRC, When McLaren Honda split, The Bahrainis were going to compensate for the budget deficit for 1 year, keep the team going and then it was Eric B's job to give them results so the prize money increases, Zak Brown's job to find sponsors to fill up that $100mill gap.

[bauc]

Very honest interview by Eric, sadly money is the name of the game in F1 for a very long time, but like other teams have proven many times before, you can punch above your weight and you can get there. You just need to make all pieces fit at the right moment. About the new nose, I'm sure it will raise a few eyebrows as I think its the main reason McLAREN do not have a S-duct at the moment, I'm sure there is some clever development right there. Cant wait till Barcelona now!

[tranquility2k4]

What's interesting is that in the analysis in the BBC article surrounding the interview with Eric, it was concluded McLaren were approx 0.8 behind RB. Apparently Alonso lost 4 tenths in the last turn on his first run in Q2 and would have easily been into Q3 otherwise.

Whilst 0.8 may not be accurate, if we assume it is, EB has said that the planned big upgrade for Aus was put on hold as they had to put resource into fixing the reliability issues from testing. It really does make you wonder if testing had gone smoothly and their whole upgrade would have arrived, including the new nose, I wonder how much this would have been worth? If it's worth 0.5 which is feasible, then they would have been quite close to RB.

Another interesting factor is in interviews with Sky Sports Eric stated they ran conservatively in Aus - I'm not sure what he means by this, but if we assume there was more performance to unlock, then you could add this to the equation. They may have found some extra time in the set up if testing had gone smoothly.

All in all McLaren may have been very close to RB at race one if testing had of gone to plan. I feel in this sense they've actually been quite unlucky. They have taken a lot of stick from the press and actually their baseline car is pretty decent. Their only problem now is that whilst they clearly have a good amount of upgrades in the pipeline, they are now behind in the development curve and it will be easier for other teams to always be 1 step ahead. It's all well and good bringing a new nose to Spain but most teams have a big upgrade for Spain. One would assume if they had to delay their nose to Spain then this is to the detriment to an extent of other upgrades they would have otherwise brought if the nose had been introduced earlier.

Saying all of this, I'm pretty confident that McLaren will be the 4th fastest team this year after the first few races and I'm now also confident that Alonso will score a podium (maybe not on merit). If so then it's certainly a lot better than the last few years and justifies their move to Renault.

[Ground Effect]

It begins...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/riva ... 19469/?s=1

[RonDennis]

That article had great detail but the tone was so negative - almost baiting Eric. I don't think the British media have it out for any other team like they do for Mclaren for some reason. The team set a target for the season but they are being grilled about taking somewhat short in Race 1...ridiculous

That's McLaren fault as well. Even if they felt they had one of the best chassis last year, sometimes it's just better not to speak about it. The only thing they did was increase pressure on themselves without any gains.

[bauc]

Another realistic review of the team's present, past and potential future

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/how- ... a-1019738/

[.poz]

It begins...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/riva ... 19469/?s=1

Well.. Mclaren as a very good knowledge about how (photo)copy a F1 car....

[godlameroso]

Brown wasn't on the team in 2007.

It's not magic, the Haas diffuser is a very good design, and not hard to copy. The diffuser itself is just part of the story, furthermore, Sauber has the same diffuser and their car is nowhere near Haas.

[iotar__]

It begins...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/riva ... 19469/?s=1

A. Marketing stunt aimed at clueless public. The message from McLaren is: it's not that we are slow, miles behind top teams and our lies about top chassis from last season have been exposed, it's all evil Haas' fault, let's talk about it instead!

B. They might not be so confident in jumping them in 2 races as some people here were based on Alonso's mood .

C. As for foundations of current McLaren's situation, serious journalism (not crowd pleasing bandwagon after failure) would include elements like:
- paying ~+40 million (correct me) per season for pair of ancient drivers, Button and Alonso to get them ~10 point per season. This money could have gone to car development. Even in F1 you can't run on empty hype forever.
- every possbile sign from the previous seasons about realistic position of the team in the current F1 that was hidden behind "Honda's fault" shouting. Tyre tests one of the examples.

[RonDennis]

I think it's good that these articles arrive. It lowers the expectations a bit and it should bring some rest as well. Like it has been said before, McLaren no longer has a works deal with Mercedes, they haven't had a title sponsor in years and Formula 1 hasn't become any cheaper. McLaren just needs a couple of decent to good years until 2021 and let's hope Liberty will finally do something about those ridiculous budgets, engines and aero, because it's not only damaging McLaren, but also the sport.

[adrianjordan]

What's interesting is that in the analysis in the BBC article surrounding the interview with Eric, it was concluded McLaren were approx 0.8 behind RB. Apparently Alonso lost 4 tenths in the last turn on his first run in Q2 and would have easily been into Q3 otherwise.

Whilst 0.8 may not be accurate, if we assume it is, EB has said that the planned big upgrade for Aus was put on hold as they had to put resource into fixing the reliability issues from testing. It really does make you wonder if testing had gone smoothly and their whole upgrade would have arrived, including the new nose, I wonder how much this would have been worth? If it's worth 0.5 which is feasible, then they would have been quite close to RB.

Another interesting factor is in interviews with Sky Sports Eric stated they ran conservatively in Aus - I'm not sure what he means by this, but if we assume there was more performance to unlock, then you could add this to the equation. They may have found some extra time in the set up if testing had gone smoothly.

All in all McLaren may have been very close to RB at race one if testing had of gone to plan. I feel in this sense they've actually been quite unlucky. They have taken a lot of stick from the press and actually their baseline car is pretty decent. Their only problem now is that whilst they clearly have a good amount of upgrades in the pipeline, they are now behind in the development curve and it will be easier for other teams to always be 1 step ahead. It's all well and good bringing a new nose to Spain but most teams have a big upgrade for Spain. One would assume if they had to delay their nose to Spain then this is to the detriment to an extent of other upgrades they would have otherwise brought if the nose had been introduced earlier.

Saying all of this, I'm pretty confident that McLaren will be the 4th fastest team this year after the first few races and I'm now also confident that Alonso will score a podium (maybe not on merit). If so then it's certainly a lot better than the last few years and justifies their move to Renault.

I largely agree, though I think they may be able to look at some upgrades in the pipeline and some still further behind and modify their approach slightly to catch up.

I genuinely think their approach this year is to develop the car as aggressively as possible, even to the detriment of reliability at time to try and get a win somewhere later in the year and set themselves up as best they can for a title push next year.

I think they have more potential in their car than RBR and the other teams they'll be fighting.

It's going to be an interesting season.

Will be very interesting to see the new nose. Given Ferrari used their nose philosophy it would be quite funny if Mclaren move away from it!!

[Bisonas]

The---------	Finish	Speed	
Driver------	Line	Trap	Diff
Vandoorne	302.0	308.0	6.0
Fer Alonzo	299.8	309.8	10.0
Car Sainz	301.0	310.4	9.4
Hulkenburg	301.3	309.9	8.6
Ricciardo	299.2	311.1	11.9
Verstappen	301.0	312.5	11.5

Based on that I think Vandoorne was running more wing than Alonzo. that's why he's faster than Alo at the finished line but slower at the speed trap.

it looks like Renault's Downforce is higher and a little more efficient than Mclaren's and RBR is even better

Vandoorne maybe run slightly more downforce mate, it is highly possible yea, but its irrelevant.
And regarding the comparison above, Sainz, Hulk, Ricc, Ves, they all went to Q3. They all improved their times in Q3. RB drivers by a lot. Only Sainz didn't improve, because obviously he didn't put a good lap together, but its possible he did make a better S1 on his Q3 run and mess it up l8r, i have to check. So since the speed chart its not Q2 specific , you can't possibly compare efficiency and downforce levels between Renault and Mclaren.
And above all that, we know Alonso did mistakes on both runs on Q2. Especially on second run he did a very bad S1.
Of course RB was more efficient on Aero they where 0.9-1.2s faster on same engine in AUS.
But Renault ?? i don't really think so.
Anyway i am not going to debate this any more.
Its already off-topic by now.

[Jackles-UK]

Given the fact that the top three teams (particularly Ferrari) have yet to fully understand their cars, the McLaren updates could be a great opportunity to close the gap early on in the season as others establish where they need improvement.

As the season progresses and teams refine and dial in their performance (like Mercedes did last year) though, I can see the rival teams moving back ahead of them a bit.