2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[Andres125sx]

I read on the Renault thread about the works team planned chassis upgrades for Baku, centered around a low DF requirements, bargeboards and wings. I wonder if we'll see anything along that line from Mclaren, there were no specifics in their race preview.

They´re still working on what was going to be Australia car, trying to finish it for Spain (4th GP in the season)

[Andres125sx]

Painful. Renault will increase their gap to us and FI may pass us too. STR I'm unsure, their lower d/f package in Bahrain was pretty sweet after all.

It'll hurt until Spain, we know that, and this one might be the worst so far.

Yeah and Sauber will probably be faster too, thanks god F2 cars are not allowed to participate, or they would beat McLaren too....

I don´t know how they will perform, but I know they will do much better than past season with Honda, when they qualified 16th and 19th

As a comparison you seems to enjoy, STR qualified 11th and 12th

[marvin78]

Maybe it's because that's a bigger achievement than McLarens qualifying on 6th and 7th.

[Jolle]

Can any of our Spanish-speaking friends here help translate this? Supposedly says Alonso will be replaced by Norris at the end of the season.

https://www.diariogol.com/motor/fernand ... 3_102.html

Google translate not nailing this. Is it just clickbait or what?

From that link...

El piloto asturiano, igual que ocurriera en Mercedes y Ferrari, habrá trabajado incansablemente para devolver a una escudería por la senda de la victoria y tendrá que ver como otros recogen las mieles del éxito.

I must have missed that period when Alonso worked for Mercedes

You can see how reliable is diariogol when they don´t even know the teams Alonso has worked for

2007 (Mercedes owned/had the majority stake of McLaren back then)

[McHonda]

Painful. Renault will increase their gap to us and FI may pass us too. STR I'm unsure, their lower d/f package in Bahrain was pretty sweet after all.

It'll hurt until Spain, we know that, and this one might be the worst so far.

Yeah and Sauber will probably be faster too, thanks god F2 cars are not allowed to participate, or they would beat McLaren too....

I don´t know how they will perform, but I know they will do much better than past season with Honda, when they qualified 16th and 19th

As a comparison you seems to enjoy, STR qualified 11th and 12th

Calm down. Renault are already ahead right now and are bringing new bargeboards and new front and rear wings to Baku. Haas have Ferrari power. Force India have Mercedes power. STR gubbed us on the last low d/f package track just 2 weeks ago.

And we aren't bringing our own upgrades until the race after. We self admittedly are struggling in a straight line right now and Baku has the longest straight.

It's hardly trolling to suggest this might be our worst showing is it? Obviously I hope I'm wrong but if we're at a track that highlights our current weaknesses and our already quicker rivals are either bringing upgrades and/or were ahead at the last lower d/f track and we don't have the upgrades here then you'll forgive me for being on the pessimistic side for this one.

You can believe everyone else will bomb and we've solved all the issues in 2 weeks and without upgrades and we'll be on pole and beat Ferrari if you want though. Go nuts.

[techman]

mclaren renault bringing a b spec car with a new nose i heard, shows that their car had the drag issue for a long time but now it more highlighted with redbull winning with a renault. and mclaren renault have very low top speeds in general. it makes you wonder when they said their GPS traces shows they are quick in corners but losing on the straights last season.

[PhillipM]

It doesn't, because most of us realise this years car != last years car.

This years car has very good reasons for being draggier than last years car for a start.

[marvin78]

Which are?

[PhillipM]

A rushed engine installation with oversized radiators/coolers and sidepods - plus things like no S-duct that they were running last year.

You can't condem last years package refined over years on the basis of this years when it's been a rushed engine install and visibly not as tight or as detailed as last years car.

[marvin78]

I don't see the real reasons. Those are explanations but the reasons (and the engine change does not count, TR obviously managed to build a much less draggier car despite their change) are missing here (for the missing s-duct for example).

[Nuvolari]

So, how do we think the car will go in Baku? Is it Q3 material here? Lots of corners between 90-120 km/h, but good that they don't go on for long.

Traction seemed alright in China.

Between 2.5% and 3.0% slower than the pole time

I'm going to be slightly more optimistic and say around 2 seconds off pole.

About 0.4s/km deficit. Seeing how there is a nice downward trend from the the three races so far, I'm predicting they'll close the gap further to near 2% off pole time. If they get the tyres wrong, all bets are off.

[techman]

A rushed engine installation with oversized radiators/coolers and sidepods - plus things like no S-duct that they were running last year.

You can't condem last years package refined over years on the basis of this years when it's been a rushed engine install and visibly not as tight or as detailed as last years car.

mate its the same time with TR. mclaren was ahead of TR in the last few races last year end. i also expected TR will be quite slow with 2 rookies with mclarens better driver line up. But i am surprised with how things turned out to be. we heard mclaren saying this car is an evolution of last year just like current TR is an evolution of last years. no different but looking at the top speed , drag a big part to play in last years car. Now people i read elsewhere agree mclaren was draggy all along. But now they car compare with other renault cars unlike before. As for the s duct redbull is also not running the s duct , they still have the hole for it but no exit. i guess there is an advantage for them to use it like it. As far the radiators, i remember eric saying the renault needs smaller radiators than H, i find the link the put it when i find it again.

[PhillipM]

TR also built a car with less downforce, which is whey it's not as draggy, and as has been stated many, many, many times before, Mclaren and Renault deliberately went overkill on the cooling to ensure reliability in the first stages of the season until they had more data.
Which is why they've scored so many points...

S-duct isn't there because their nose didn't go through the crash test in time.

[Ground Effect]

mclaren renault bringing a b spec car with a new nose i heard, shows that their car had the drag issue for a long time but now it more highlighted with redbull winning with a renault. and mclaren renault have very low top speeds in general. it makes you wonder when they said their GPS traces shows they are quick in corners but losing on the straights last season.

No it doesn't actually, the issues of the MCL33 can't be assumed to have been present in the MCL32. If it was all about DF or being too draggy, why were they running out of delpoyment on the straights with the MCL32? Also, Mclaren haven't said they're bringing a b-spec chassis, certain outlets, journalists and fans are the ones interpreting it as such. Mclaren have said they are bringing major updates, that will bring the car to where it should have been in Australia, so it's not a reworked chassis. "We didn't turn up in Australia with the car we wanted because we were delayed for some reasons so a lot of parts and upgrades are on their way to hit the track," said Eric Boullier, McLaren's racing director.
"For logistical reasons it's very likely going to be in Barcelona and from that point we will see performance wise where we are."
A b-spec would suggest a reworking of the philosophy and cars baseline, if there are correlation issues, like the RB13 last season.
With the late switch of engines, they didn't start the season with the car they wanted. Same problem STR have, and as I recall, they also have big updates planned for Baku, as Hartley has mentioned, that can't be regarded as a b-spec either. You won't read the major sports outlets like Sky, BBC refer to the upgrades as a b-spec.

[Nuvolari]

Not sure where all this drag talk is coming from. In China in the race, all Renault powered cars were within 2-3km/h of each other's Vmax at the long straight. Yes, the car is likely a bit draggy, but it's not as horrible as some are trying to make out here. What's the big deal?