2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[Bisonas]

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.

I agree.
Logic says that Mclaren,with the engine integration process it had to endure, the fine tuning with the engine modes that still has to do, and because of the basic spec car that started the championship it will have the best development rate among Renault Engine Cars. Probably among all cars tbh.
But it remains to be seen.

[Andres125sx]

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.

Add to that the perfect setup for fastest lap differs from the best setup for race conditions (DRS, slipstreams, dirty air, rivals trying to pass your car, slow cars they have to pass...) wich means teams always make some compromise to be able to defend/attack in the race, so any miscalculation or wrong assumption can ruin all simulations

[godlameroso]

I don't know why, but I just have a good feeling about China, not top 3 mind you but certainly will perform nicely, much better than Bahrain if you ask me. This track is all about who can get on the power the soonest and can carry the most speed through the corners. Braking stability doesn't make or break the lap only the exits do, so car setup would be all about maximizing exit traction and downforce through the corners. The long straight doesn't make as much of a difference to the overall lap time as everywhere else does, particularly the final turn, very difficult, lots of time to be lost or gained there.

[dren]

The troubling part is how far off the pace they were in qualifying. They seemed to get it right for the race as their race pace looked solid. We'll see how they look in China.

[Bisonas]

China should be fine.
I am not worried about China. Mclaren should be 4th best car there. ( On lap time, not top speed )
Baku it's what i am worrying about. Baku we will know if Mclaren understood what exactly happen to Bahrain Qually and if they would be able to avoid it from happening again.

[Nuvolari]

I looked at this lap, and Alonso was around 0.35s behind Hulk upto T10 apex in Bahrain. He suddenly dropped half a second in the run to T11, lost another tenth in turns 12, 13 & 14. The remaining time loss happened between T14 apex to finish line. I'm not sure where he improved in his next lap in Q2 (where he found a couple of tenths). Were they overheating the tyres towards the end of the lap? Seemed to take a hammering in the braking zones after T10.

[Ground Effect]

China should be fine.
I am not worried about China. Mclaren should be 4th best car there. ( On lap time, not top speed )
Baku it's what i am worrying about. Baku we will know if Mclaren understood what exactly happen to Bahrain Qually and if they would be able to avoid it from happening again.

There's a chance of struggling in Baku, but the good news is that if they have the usual strong race pace, it's a track that has overtaking opportunities.

[Ground Effect]

From this article, Mclaren is going down the RB13 development route. I'm assuming they'll hope to accelerate the rate of development.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/how- ... y-1024803/

[Bisonas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWPFxgP2SVE

I looked at this lap, and Alonso was around 0.35s behind Hulk upto T10 apex in Bahrain. He suddenly dropped half a second in the run to T11, lost another tenth in turns 12, 13 & 14. The remaining time loss happened between T14 apex to finish line. I'm not sure where he improved in his next lap in Q2 (where he found a couple of tenths). Were they overheating the tyres towards the end of the lap? Seemed to take a hammering in the braking zones after T10.

lol, its almost like as they where on different engine modes on those runs. Its really weird.
Just observe the speed of its car on each up shift on the straights. Mclaren is going through the gears faster, but the upshifts are happening on a much lower speed than the Renault.

[mwillems]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWPFxgP2SVE

I looked at this lap, and Alonso was around 0.35s behind Hulk upto T10 apex in Bahrain. He suddenly dropped half a second in the run to T11, lost another tenth in turns 12, 13 & 14. The remaining time loss happened between T14 apex to finish line. I'm not sure where he improved in his next lap in Q2 (where he found a couple of tenths). Were they overheating the tyres towards the end of the lap? Seemed to take a hammering in the braking zones after T10.

lol, its almost like as they where on different engine modes on those runs. Its really weird.
Just observe the speed of its car on each up shift on the straights. Mclaren is going through the gears faster, but the upshifts are happening on a much lower speed than the Renault.

That is quite interesting. There has been the suggestion of the car being draggy and hence a lower top speed than the other renault cars.... But I wonder what gearing seutp Mclaren went for and could this be the reason for the lower top speed?

[makecry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWPFxgP2SVE

I looked at this lap, and Alonso was around 0.35s behind Hulk upto T10 apex in Bahrain. He suddenly dropped half a second in the run to T11, lost another tenth in turns 12, 13 & 14. The remaining time loss happened between T14 apex to finish line. I'm not sure where he improved in his next lap in Q2 (where he found a couple of tenths). Were they overheating the tyres towards the end of the lap? Seemed to take a hammering in the braking zones after T10.

lol, its almost like as they where on different engine modes on those runs. Its really weird.
Just observe the speed of its car on each up shift on the straights. Mclaren is going through the gears faster, but the upshifts are happening on a much lower speed than the Renault.

That is quite interesting. There has been the suggestion of the car being draggy and hence a lower top speed than the other renault cars.... But I wonder what gearing seutp Mclaren went for and could this be the reason for the lower top speed?

McLaren does seem to have shorter gears. You should compare Vettel's onboard lap with Fernando's and you will see it .

[diffuser]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWPFxgP2SVE

I looked at this lap, and Alonso was around 0.35s behind Hulk upto T10 apex in Bahrain. He suddenly dropped half a second in the run to T11, lost another tenth in turns 12, 13 & 14. The remaining time loss happened between T14 apex to finish line. I'm not sure where he improved in his next lap in Q2 (where he found a couple of tenths). Were they overheating the tyres towards the end of the lap? Seemed to take a hammering in the braking zones after T10.

Thanks for that ....
You can tell they're front end Limited (they need to slow down more in slow corners). That speaks to what Fernando said. You prep for the race to protect the back tires and you loose out in the front for quali.

[PhillipM]

lol, its almost like as they where on different engine modes on those runs. Its really weird.

They probably were, Mclaren aren't running full qualifying mode yet (Boullier says it's only 2/10ths though, so can't be all of it) so they may not be on a full ERS-to-empty boost until they're happy with heat/vibration/reliability or even until new parts come.

To be honest it looks like most of their issue was just front tyre temps.

[Bisonas]

lol, its almost like as they where on different engine modes on those runs. Its really weird.
Just observe the speed of its car on each up shift on the straights. Mclaren is going through the gears faster, but the upshifts are happening on a much lower speed than the Renault.

That is quite interesting. There has been the suggestion of the car being draggy and hence a lower top speed than the other renault cars.... But I wonder what gearing seutp Mclaren went for and could this be the reason for the lower top speed?

McLaren does seem to have shorter gears. You should compare Vettel's onboard lap with Fernando's and you will see it .

I don't think it has to do with gear ratios. That is fixed for the season and i don't think they have a problem with that.
If lets say they are in the same Engine mode, i guess it has more to do with rear tyre temperature. Its easy to get small wheel spin there, if your rear tyre temperatures are not optimal. Especially when you accelerate out of slow corners. They really must messed something up with setup, which had a domino effect on rear tyre temperatures over one lap. Maybe they over done it with understeer trying to protect the rears. I don't know. i am just guessing.

[Bisonas]

lol, its almost like as they where on different engine modes on those runs. Its really weird.

To be honest it looks like most of their issue was just front tyre temps.

If they had a tyre temp problem, IMO it was on the rears, cause Bahrain its a rear-limited track.