2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[godlameroso]

They're really going to struggle in Baku then, that one has straights that go on forever, but China is in 3 days so maybe Alonso can redeem himself, he has to average 5th so lucky podium? The field is so tight that any mistake will lead to disaster, so far McLaren has kept it's nose clean while the updates are being worked on. I imagine we won't see the real McLaren until June, the big step comes for either Austria or France if things go according to plan(they never do).

If we take the gain McLaren made over last year on average being 2.5 seconds that means they would have qualified ahead of Red Bull last year in China. If the trend continues this weekend they stand poised to have a much better weekend.

It seems the tires work in the following manner.

The ultra soft is faster than the soft tire but lasts almost as long in the race. The yellow tire is marginally faster than the white tire but lasts less. If I were doing the race strategy, I'd do the opening stint on ultra softs, pit again for ultra softs and finish the race on mediums. The mediums are the ideal tire to stretch out the race but are not a good starting tire. The performance and life of the ultra soft renders the soft tire obsolete. Likely both the soft and ultra soft will be good for something like 14 laps, the softs will degrade in the rear too quickly relative to the front making the car undrivable. The ultra soft will suffer the same fate but because the tire has inherently more grip the window to the car becoming undrivable is similar to the soft. Thus stint one should go to lap 14-16 on either the ultra or soft tire, but the medium tire can easily do 35 laps with improving or at worst consistent pace throughout. That would mean 6 laps of holding on for dear life and likely having to defend against a faster car.

The only other option is US US M doing 2 13 lap stints, which would put you at lap 26, then 30 with the mediums, pushing like crazy in the corners the whole time. Such a strategy would allow you to fuel save during the second US stint while keeping up the pace, then going aggressive towards the end with tires that will hold up throughout.

[rogazilla]

China should be interesting even with the long straight, the rest of the track does favors a good chassis with good down force. Although without top speed and good stability in braking, maybe very difficult to pass on the straight. If they don't qualify well, could be driving faster but stuck behind slower cars much of the laps. Although the last 2 races, they have done well with pit stops and maximized the points. Will be interesting!

[Big Tea]

I wonder if we will see slightly less wing this week? Just enough for a few more mph on the straight and a little more passing ability?

[zeph]

I think the results and standings flatter reality. But in both races they have made the most of the situation, so props to them for that. I’m still not convinced the team is firing on all cylinders, though, and I don’t know what sort of upgrades could make this car challenge RBR. If you talk about in-season development, those guys are better than everybody else.

That used to be the case when Mclaren would seemingly develop their way out of a hole, but I don't know if it still is. Mercedes and Red Bull are extremely good at developing a car over the season. Both made significant strides last year. Mclaren not only has to keep up with them, but close a significant gap, too. The real benchmark is Red Bull since they are both running the same PU. Renault is throwing resources at its team now, so they'll be no slouch.

We’re saying the same thing. I meant that RBR are the current kings of in-season development, not McLaren. I guess I could have worded that more clearly.

[Alonso Fan]

I wonder if we will see slightly less wing this week? Just enough for a few more mph on the straight and a little more passing ability?

Yes I hope so. In the lower engine modes (I assume) they were bogging down a little in 8th gear. It didn't happen when passing the force India or when behind hulk IIRC, which is why I say low engine modes.

[Alonso Fan]

Zak Brown appointed CEO of McLaren Racing:

https://www.racefans.net/2018/04/10/bro ... ructuring/

[diffuser]

I wonder if we will see slightly less wing this week? Just enough for a few more mph on the straight and a little more passing ability?

MORE WING this weekend

[Peter1919]

If I were doing the race strategy, I'd do the opening stint on ultra softs, pit again for ultra softs and finish the race on mediums.

The only other option is US US M

Umm those are the same option surely

[godlameroso]

If I were doing the race strategy, I'd do the opening stint on ultra softs, pit again for ultra softs and finish the race on mediums.

The only other option is US US M

Umm those are the same option surely

US M or US US M.

[willmesquita]

Just realized Alonso actually set the 4th fastest lap of Bahrain GP. Seems we had pace to be up fighting for more than p7 if we had a good qualy.

BTW how do u guys see our evolution in qualy against other teams? At Australia we saw that Macca on top of time gain after 1 year.

[Alonso Fan]

Just realized Alonso actually set the 4th fastest lap of Bahrain GP. Seems we had pace to be up fighting for more than p7 if we had a good qualy.

BTW how do u guys see our evolution in qualy against other teams? At Australia we saw that Macca on top of time gain after 1 year.

We were also the most improved team in Bahrain qualifying IIRC. Even with the bad quali

[godlameroso]

A 1.8 second improvement at both tracks so far, if this carries over to China they should be in decent shape. Last year they did a 1:34.372 so possibly a 1:32.5 is in the cards? That would put them half a second ahead of last year's Red Bull. It would be in line with the current 2 second qualifying gap and one second of race pace deficit. Pole will be ~ 1:30.7-1:30.5

Of course this is just an estimate I could be way off.

[mclaren111]

Motorsport.com:

“We just miscalculated the weekend in terms of set-up,” said Boullier. “It’s a mistake we’ve done and we don’t want to repeat it.

“We need to be where we believe we should be and can’t have too many mistakes like this.”

"Boullier insisted he had “100%” confidence in McLaren’s technical team, and explained that part of its Bahrain troubles was getting the most out of the tyres and the cars carrying too much downforce."

Let's hope they don't make any of these mistakes again.

How come they can't calculate the correct downforce needed ?? I am not an aero expert !!

[Postmoe]

Motorsport.com:

“We just miscalculated the weekend in terms of set-up,” said Boullier. “It’s a mistake we’ve done and we don’t want to repeat it.

“We need to be where we believe we should be and can’t have too many mistakes like this.”

"Boullier insisted he had “100%” confidence in McLaren’s technical team, and explained that part of its Bahrain troubles was getting the most out of the tyres and the cars carrying too much downforce."

Let's hope they don't make any of these mistakes again.

How come they can't calculate the correct downforce needed ?? I am not an aero expert !!

Perfect setup is relative to track temps, track grip improving gradually, qualy mode extra juice.

If your assumptions around where the track will be at Q1 are incorrect, you will miss the optimal levels of DF to get the best possible time with a setup still competitive for tyre management over 10 laps.

[RonDennis]

I think the results and standings flatter reality. But in both races they have made the most of the situation, so props to them for that. I’m still not convinced the team is firing on all cylinders, though, and I don’t know what sort of upgrades could make this car challenge RBR. If you talk about in-season development, those guys are better than everybody else.

That used to be the case when Mclaren would seemingly develop their way out of a hole, but I don't know if it still is. Mercedes and Red Bull are extremely good at developing a car over the season. Both made significant strides last year. Mclaren not only has to keep up with them, but close a significant gap, too. The real benchmark is Red Bull since they are both running the same PU. Renault is throwing resources at its team now, so they'll be no slouch.

We’re saying the same thing. I meant that RBR are the current kings of in-season development, not McLaren. I guess I could have worded that more clearly.

I doubt RBR can make the same gains as McLaren. Their car is much more advanced than the McLaren.