2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[redmaxver]

To everyone saying Alonso was not helped by the SC today, he was in P14 before the SC. 19(!) seconds down on Sainz, who had already stopped, just like all other cars in front of him who were not stopping anymore.

Him stopping a few laps before the SC came out, meant everyone in front of him made another stop, to fall back behind him. All drivers he was supposed to overtake in his draggy car were gone! Gap to Sainz was gone!

Yeah, serious disadvantage guys! Thanks for paying attention.

Ur wrong he was on medium on 1 stop and the renault on 2 stops ultra ultra then soft without SC he was going to take 6 ahead of hulk

... we dont know for certain what renault would have done seein that they were going to be passed by alonso if they pitted.

Genuine question... What do you mean we don't know for certain? Hulk pitted on lap 13, there's no way he's going to the end from there. Even if he tried it, it's not just Alonso that'd get by him.

[redmaxver]

Still waiting for Eric’s head to roll. This is not good enough for a team like McLaren. Seventh place is all down to luck with the SC, otherwise points would not have been possible today.

Embarrassing performance... McLaren’s should be far in front of midfield at this stage. Should be challenging top 3 halfway during the season. Time to act, time to put an accomplished leader at the position of EB and to kick the marketing goerroe out and replace him with someone who knows how to manage a race team.

I feel as if this is all karma for sacking Ron Dennis. Must be hard for him seeing these incompetent fools destroying what’s left of the McLaren name.

And there goes your credibility down the drain...

To everyone saying Alonso was not helped by the SC today, he was in P14 before the SC. 19(!) seconds down on Sainz, who had already stopped, just like all other cars in front of him who were not stopping anymore.

Him stopping a few laps before the SC came out, meant everyone in front of him made another stop, to fall back behind him. All drivers he was supposed to overtake in his draggy car were gone! Gap to Sainz was gone!

Yeah, serious disadvantage guys! Thanks for paying attention.

These comments are simply ludicrous... both are simply unfactual and unhelpful. Is there anything moderators can do?

[nirvaand]

Ur wrong he was on medium on 1 stop and the renault on 2 stops ultra ultra then soft without SC he was going to take 6 ahead of hulk

... we dont know for certain what renault would have done seein that they were going to be passed by alonso if they pitted.

Genuine question... What do you mean we don't know for certain? Hulk pitted on lap 13, there's no way he's going to the end from there. Even if he tried it, it's not just Alonso that'd get by him.

Alonso would have finished P7 regardless of the safety car, so it doesn't really change much in terms of results. Renault would have definitely pitted again, if they stayed till the end, the performance of the tires would have fallen off a cliff, much like Seb last weekend at Bahrain and Alonso on fresher tires would have had much better grip and pace. So the safety car didn't change the result for Alonso, but Stoffel did get caught out.

[Alonso Fan]

Help me. I normally don't follow this driver stuff and mostly BS. But it sounds as Vettel did something really bad.

Lets see. Oh yes Vettel denied him two world championships in 2010 and 2012 and went on to win the others in 2011 and 2013 when Alonso couldn't fight. Then he went to ferrari in 2015 and started winning races and racking up podiums while Alonso was stuck with mclaren Honda for 3 years. On top of that Vettel looked to be in championship contention last year and looks to be again this year. He has his reasons alright. They might not justify his actions towards Vettel but he has his reasons. I remember Canada 2015 as one of the points where he made it very very difficult for Vettel to overtake.

You can tell from his on track battles that he has much more respect for Hamilton (Mexico 2017) and Ricciardo (Germany 2014). BTW I'm not defending him, just providing the info you wanted

Think ALO been waiting 4 years to pass Ferrari on the track but I still think you're reading too much into the pass. He didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He just passed him by taking the racing line that he is entitled to.

I agree he's been waiting too long for that move. But I'm not reading only into this move. I'm pointing out every on track encounter they've had since Alonso left ferrari. He often didn't make it easy for Vettel to lap him either over the last few years.

That move was deliberate, off the racing line, kind of like magnussen on hulk in Hungary last year but to a slightly lesser extent. He forced Vettel to either back off or run wide. He did leave space on the inside of turn two though. He didn't get a penalty so its not a problem but it was unnecessary imo. he probably would have out dragged Vettel out of turn 2 even if he had allowed him to stay alongside and not forced him off. He was on fresher rubber.

[trinidefender]

Seeing as some may not be able to understand strategy very well and the fact that other cars would not have been able to finish the race on the tyres that were on their cars, with the safety car giving them a free pitstop, read this.

"Alonso, who has scored points in all three races so far this year, believes he could have enjoyed a better result if not for the safety car, which was deployed right after he had made his only pitstop.

"The safety car didn't help, definitely," he said.

"We were executing a one-stop strategy a little bit differently, with a very long first stint that I think would have paid off in the end, but I think the safety car opened the opportunity for everybody to put a new set of tyres and that was a shame for us."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alon ... r-1026615/

Sour much? I'm just posting words from the actual driver.

[trinidefender]

On another note, here is the full selection of available pit/car radio transmissions for Alonso.

[McL-H]

To everyone saying Alonso was not helped by the SC today, he was in P14 before the SC. 19(!) seconds down on Sainz, who had already stopped, just like all other cars in front of him who were not stopping anymore.

Him stopping a few laps before the SC came out, meant everyone in front of him made another stop, to fall back behind him. All drivers he was supposed to overtake in his draggy car were gone! Gap to Sainz was gone!

Yeah, serious disadvantage guys! Thanks for paying attention.

In theory Alonso was fighting the Renault cars and the Haas cars for best of the rest,(P7). when track went SC yellow Alonso was on Fresh Mediums he had just pitted and was going to the end. HUL was 20 sec ahead, SAI was 13 sec, MAG was 10 sec and GRO was 5 Sec. SAI and HUL where on 18-19laps worn Mediums at the time and they had to stop again. GRO was on second US stint he had to stop again.
Only MAG was a question mark because he was on similar strategy with Alonso. He also pitted kinda late he could possibly go at the end.
As it turned out Mclaren had lower degradation and much better pace on Mediums than Haas and at some point he passed MAG and pull a gap on them.
IMO if we had no SC, Alonso would eventualy pass MAG as he did, and after Renaults had pitted he would be sitting P7 as best of the rest. From then on, HUL would have been quicker on track cause of fresh Soft tyres. It would all come down to Mclaren Tyre degradation and if Alonso had enough gap and enough pace to Keep HUL behind him. Either way he would be P7 or P8 with no SC.
SC didn't actualy change much in term of points for Mclaren. It just spiced up the show a bit.
I hope that clears things for you.

Thank you for clarifying. You’re right, apparently I misunderstood the race. Still, I believe pace is below to what I expect of McLaren.

[bauc]

With the car clearly lacking straightline speed and traction out of the slow-medium speed corner's , the fact the we have scored points 3 races in a row and the team now has only 2 points less than the entire 2017 season speak volume of how Mclaren has improved over the last seasons in terms of consistency. Yes they gained few places due to crashes and safety car on the track but still to win it, you need to be in it, something Mclaren lacked in the last 3 years. Now, its up to Mclaren to upgrade the car from Barcelona onwards, and if things go to planned I think Mclaren has a legit shot of P4 in the constructors this season.

Actually i think the safety car cost them a better finish. After his pitstop, ALO was P14 with 20-lap newer tires than the rest of the field.

I meant in general for the past 3 races

[mclaren111]

Autosport:

Has McLaren’s biggest strength become its weakness?

Can someone please post full article. I am not Autosport + member

Thank you

[Alonso Fan]

Autosport:

Has McLaren’s biggest strength become its weakness?

Can someone please post full article. I am not Autosport + member

Thank you

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/has- ... s-1025168/

Here you go

[mclaren111]

Autosport:

Has McLaren’s biggest strength become its weakness?

Can someone please post full article. I am not Autosport + member

Thank you

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/has- ... s-1025168/

Here you go

Sorry. It's the same as before

[Alonso Fan]

Autosport:




Can someone please post full article. I am not Autosport + member

Thank you

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/has- ... s-1025168/

Here you go

Sorry. It's the same as before

Did you not sign up for a free Motorsport subscription when Alonso was dishing them out?

[mclaren111]

No. Missed it. Was visiting my daughter in Cape Town.

[Alonso Fan]

No. Missed it. Was visiting my daughter in Cape Town.

Ah, family first any day. Who cars if you missed it eh? The article doesn't cover much of what we already don't know. And it was written before China so some things don't make sense anymore. I won't post it because that's not right, just like I wouldn't torrent games or music etc.

[rogazilla]

Answer to previous about why EB needs to go. To casual fans who watch the race only, may not be that obvious but it is different to just say things for PR versus someone who doesn't seem to make logical sense. Maybe he just choose to answer things illogically to me but really know what's happening but just from things he said, sounded like he has no clue.

This season we knew since testing, big upgrade is coming.
The unreliability during testing was because they went too aggressive
The big upgrade is delayed as they had to focus on fixing what's found in testing
Now the speed isn't there, although they are scoring points in hauls and that's great for McLaren. Happy for them but I think anyone looking at the pace of the car knows they are far from target.
Yet, they have met their 2018 target? They are not aggressive enough? Even when the upgrade isn't here yet? The emergency meeting to figure out why the car isn't fast when you know you have upgrade coming?

We know the S duct changes means a pretty substantial front wing will probably come. It is his job to answer tough questions and take punches but there is much better way to answer those questions than the way EB is doing.