2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[dren]

A better qualifying position will allow them to take advantage of their good race pace. Very excited to see China and the pace of McLaren and STR-H as Bahrain has them equal on competitiveness.

Gasly finished on the lead lap, neither Mclaren did. I wouldn't say Bahrain had them equal on competitiveness. A Haas and a Renault finished ahead of the Mclaren duo. As tight as the midfield is currently, the order will likely change back and forth based on the track, but the TR was clearly the better car at Bahrain.

If Mclaren doesn't make rather large strides soon, I see some restructuring taking place.

[krisfx]

You have to give credit to McLaren and specially Alonso, they made the most of two difficult races, first Australia coming from not so good pre-seson testing and yesterday after that unexplainable qualifying they did.

There aren't many people who want to give credit to a team that have failed to materialise on their best chassis since records began bleating through the Honda seasons.

[radosav]

A better qualifying position will allow them to take advantage of their good race pace. Very excited to see China and the pace of McLaren and STR-H as Bahrain has them equal on competitiveness.

Gasly finished on the lead lap, neither Mclaren did. I wouldn't say Bahrain had them equal on competitiveness. A Haas and a Renault finished ahead of the Mclaren duo. As tight as the midfield is currently, the order will likely change back and forth based on the track, but the TR was clearly the better car at Bahrain.

If Mclaren doesn't make rather large strides soon, I see some restructuring taking place.

did you watch the race? alonso slowed on last lap to be overtaken by leaders so he can end race one lap earlier.
gasly was in free air all race, alonso behind hulk all race

[PhillipM]

Alonso was actually pulling away from Vettel until he backed off.

[PhillipM]

The delta between fastest lap and the qualifying lap (+3.956s) just seems unusually small in 2018 compared to other teams? Suggests the car had more pace in it in qualifying for some reason the team couldn't unlock.

They're not running full qualifying mode on the Renault engine yet, which explains some of the poor qualifying pace, but then again it's apparently only worth 2/10ths anyway.

[Alonso Fan]

Alonso was actually pulling away from Vettel until he backed off.

Yes and he was faster than hulk at numerous points in the race, just couldn't get past. Got within 0.6 a few times but didn't have that grunt down the straights to overtake the works Renault.

[fellowhoodlums]

I can't do stats like you guys but you cannot compare Bahrain 2018 to 2017. To me the ultimate comparison is - Brazil/Abu Dhabi 2017 v Melbourne/Bahrain 2018.

I know it's impossible to put figures on these things but looking at the results, is the McLaren-Renault 2018 (after two races) better than MacLaren-Honda at the end of 2017?

At the end of 2017 the Honda engine was thirsty, still lacked top speed and was easy to pass on the straights. The 2018 Renault engined car doesn't have that weakness and yet, the results are no better.

Tells me that the car, excluding the engine, is no better than that of Abu Dhabi 2017. The only improvement McLaren has made over the winter is the extra tenths Renault power gives them, and everyone else has improved their cars more than McLaren therefore nullifying that gain.

[Ground Effect]

The delta between fastest lap and the qualifying lap (+3.956s) just seems unusually small in 2018 compared to other teams? Suggests the car had more pace in it in qualifying for some reason the team couldn't unlock.

They're not running full qualifying mode on the Renault engine yet, which explains some of the poor qualifying pace, but then again it's apparently only worth 2/10ths anyway.

Is there a link based on above info?

[diffuser]

Really like this image.

[Andres125sx]

Wow I see a lot of people who didn´t post after Merlbourne but have been quite fast to post their opinions (read, rants) after Bahrain, to the point this thread has grown around 15 pages in no time

Yeah Gasly and STR have been impressive in Bahrain, but one single result with one single car does not make a norm.

The next is not intended to get angry McLaren haters, it´s only to motivate McLaren fans who read this thread and are tempted to join the haters

2018 WCC standings:

1 FERRARI 65
2 MERCEDES 55
3 MCLAREN RENAULT 22
4 RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 20
5 RENAULT 15
6 SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 12
7 HAAS FERRARI 10
8 SAUBER FERRARI 2
9 FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1
10 WILLIAMS MERCEDES 0


Yes that is correct, McLaren is 3rd team right not. We all know that´s due to RBR problems, but even so it´s encouraging. In the whole Honda era not a single time they scored points with both cars two consecutive GPs, but first two GPs with Renault, and both cars score points in both.

If that´s not a step forward please let me know what´s that

[diffuser]

Oh and when did this become the McLaren Vs STR thread?

I noticed on the F1 Page McLaren are refereed to as "MCLAREN RENAULT". I thought that wasn't gonna be there official naming. I'd be surprised but does that mean they're getting some kind of sponsorship from Renault ?

[redmaxver]

Gasly finished on the lead lap, neither Mclaren did. I wouldn't say Bahrain had them equal on competitiveness. A Haas and a Renault finished ahead of the Mclaren duo. As tight as the midfield is currently, the order will likely change back and forth based on the track, but the TR was clearly the better car at Bahrain.

Genuine question, did you watch the race? Alonso had to slow massively to allow himself to be caught and finish a lap early.

Gasly, absolutely sublime. The other TR came last. I don't see how you can ignore that when comparing the duo's collective performances at Bahrain. The two McL's had the consistent race pace to make passes and climb into very respectable positions after starting 13/14.

Either way, this weekend proved TR are capable of contesting in the midfield and I'm looking forward to watching it unfold.

[diffuser]

The delta between fastest lap and the qualifying lap (+3.956s) just seems unusually small in 2018 compared to other teams? Suggests the car had more pace in it in qualifying for some reason the team couldn't unlock.

They're not running full qualifying mode on the Renault engine yet, which explains some of the poor qualifying pace, but then again it's apparently only worth 2/10ths anyway.

Is there a link based on above info?

I don't think that is the case anymore. The overall aero efficiency will improve once they get the whole package on. My concern is the lack of pace out of S3 at Bahrain. Parts of Albert park have similar traits and I suspect the same thing. There are basically 2 slow corners in that Sector three in bahrain. When Alonso was trying to catch Hulk at the end of the GP, he was like .5 faster that Hulk in S2. In the early laps of that last stint he was even with Hulk but as he pushed harder he seemed to over drive it in S3 and lost a bunch of time(4 tenths) in that sector. He did it twice in backto back laps. Would love to have seen what happened there. Did he under steer, over steer, wheel spin what ???

[Andres125sx]

That Game dosn't have official standings. It only has a score and that is 1-1 atm.

So when both McLaren cars finish above both STR cars that´s one point for McLaren, but when one STR car finish above both McLaren cars and second STR car is dead last, that´s equally one point for STR???

Sorry but no, that´s biased at least

And no, there´s an official standing wich is called Constructor Standings for a reason, wich I posted above and at wich McLaren has scored almost double point to STR.




OT, just a reminder: STR has scored 12 points in first two GPs, exactly the same they scored in 2017 season after first two GPs with the difference in 2018 they scored points only once with Gasly superb race in Bahrain, wich obviously took advantage of Verstappen, Ricciardo and Raikonnen DNFs (a half of the top three cars), but I´m not going to say they´ve been extremelly lucky as some people have stated about McLaren in Melbourne (when no car from top three retired, and only two of them had problems), this is racing.

[Mansell89]

Solid races from Alonso and Vandoorne but to be a minute + off the ultimate pace is disappointing.

Had the two RBRs have stayed in the race they’d have struggled for points.

I’d just like to see a glimpse or flash of delivering on the promises they keep making. Haven’t seen any real sign of it just yet, and for upgrades to improve a car by a second that would be spectacular. I can’t envisage anything other than an ongoing fight with Renault and Haas- Red Bull are some way up the road.