2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[RonDennis]

Planet F1:

McLaren boss Eric Boullier wants to keep a lid on expectations as the Woking team prepare to unveil upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren still have a sizeable gap to narrow between themselves and the other teams they share the same power unit with: Renault and Red Bull.

Spain has long been touted as the race where we will see the real McLaren show up and that the upgrades planned would make the MCL33 the car that they wanted to start the season with.

But now Boullier has warned that the improvements may not be as big as many are expecting.

"There is a new direction for Barcelona," Boullier confirmed to El Confidencial newspaper. "But you cannot expect us to leap ahead of everyone else.
"I think 95 per cent of the paddock will bring new aerodynamic packages to Barcelona, so the difference will either be the same, we lose some ground, or perhaps we gain a little."
"It is up to us that our evolution works and lives up to our own expectations, and then to hope that the others cannot do the same."

Let's hope for the best !!

In other words, don't expect too much.

[Alonso Fan]

I think it’s time to give Eric B some credit for team operations and the team’s position so far

and good pitstops and strategy

Are you sure about good pitstops?, they rarely are in the top 10 and never in the top 5.

Well they haven't had any issues like ferrari or haas and other teams

[Postmoe]

Is there an explanation to Vandoorne's performances other than lack of skill?

Nope. He's just crap, he's been slow since day one and shows no flashes of speed at all, Button would have run rings around him, he's actively costing Mclaren now because with someone of Button's speed in that car they'd have a shot at being 3rd in the constructors at the moment instead of 4th.

That is an interesting point as Vandoorne seems similar to Button in a way. Sensible, consistent driver you can trust to keep focused up to the checkered flag. That's why he's having very good comebacks on the last third of the race.

I think what we are seeing is what has hapenned many times: give Alonso a predictable car, preferably neutral, prefrerably reliable, and he will score points massively relative to any other pilot.

We cannot blame Vandoorne just because he doesn't equal the best guy out there for this set of circumstances.

[nirvaand]

Planet F1:

McLaren boss Eric Boullier wants to keep a lid on expectations as the Woking team prepare to unveil upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren still have a sizeable gap to narrow between themselves and the other teams they share the same power unit with: Renault and Red Bull.

Spain has long been touted as the race where we will see the real McLaren show up and that the upgrades planned would make the MCL33 the car that they wanted to start the season with.

But now Boullier has warned that the improvements may not be as big as many are expecting.

"There is a new direction for Barcelona," Boullier confirmed to El Confidencial newspaper. "But you cannot expect us to leap ahead of everyone else.
"I think 95 per cent of the paddock will bring new aerodynamic packages to Barcelona, so the difference will either be the same, we lose some ground, or perhaps we gain a little."
"It is up to us that our evolution works and lives up to our own expectations, and then to hope that the others cannot do the same."

Let's hope for the best !!

In other words, don't expect too much.

Not again. I was finally expecting them to leap everyone to be the 4th best team. But now Eric B comes with this statement. Either they are playing down the hype to surprise everyone or they genuinely won't make a huge step forward.

[mclaren111]

Yup.

Will have to wait and see. Nothing else we can do.

[loner]

Planet F1:
Let's hope for the best !!

In other words, don't expect too much.

Not again. I was finally expecting them to leap everyone to be the 4th best team. But now Eric B comes with this statement. Either they are playing down the hype to surprise everyone or they genuinely won't make a huge step forward.

lol .. 3 weeks ago ALO said Mclaren can forget about the midfield

but Alonso believes the team can already look at taking the fight to Red Bull - the fastest of the three teams powered by Renault. "Definitely it's going to be better and better [for McLaren]," Alonso said
"Hopefully from Bahrain we see another step forward and Red Bull will be the next target."
Pushed further on the likelihood of McLaren taking the fight to Red Bull in the near future, Alonso responded: "Right now they're still clearly ahead of us - they're in that exclusive group of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
"But McLaren is willing to enter that group and in the next couple of races hopefully we forget the middle group and we look forward to that privileged three top teams.
"There is potential in the car - I cannot see any reason why we should not be there in the next coming races."

surprise wise...

[PhillipM]

We cannot blame Vandoorne just because he doesn't equal the best guy out there for this set of circumstances.

Button was up there with Alonso most of the time.

[proteus]

Planet F1:





Let's hope for the best !!

In other words, don't expect too much.

Not again. I was finally expecting them to leap everyone to be the 4th best team. But now Eric B comes with this statement. Either they are playing down the hype to surprise everyone or they genuinely won't make a huge step forward.

How can u just make a giant leap with an untested part of a car? If testing would actully be allowed, there would be no doubts the update will work. Now it will be only fingers crossed that computer corelation is correct with the actual race track. Spain will be more about finding out what the new parts are and less bout giant leaps towards the front....this is the new F1 where we blast tons of money for unimportant things and we decide to agresively save money on things that actually matter and would make the sport more interesting...

[Postmoe]

We cannot blame Vandoorne just because he doesn't equal the best guy out there for this set of circumstances.

Button was up there with Alonso most of the time.

Being a sofisticated and mature driver, with plenty of experience.

[DiogoBrand]

Planet F1:

McLaren boss Eric Boullier wants to keep a lid on expectations as the Woking team prepare to unveil upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren still have a sizeable gap to narrow between themselves and the other teams they share the same power unit with: Renault and Red Bull.

Spain has long been touted as the race where we will see the real McLaren show up and that the upgrades planned would make the MCL33 the car that they wanted to start the season with.

But now Boullier has warned that the improvements may not be as big as many are expecting.

"There is a new direction for Barcelona," Boullier confirmed to El Confidencial newspaper. "But you cannot expect us to leap ahead of everyone else.
"I think 95 per cent of the paddock will bring new aerodynamic packages to Barcelona, so the difference will either be the same, we lose some ground, or perhaps we gain a little."
"It is up to us that our evolution works and lives up to our own expectations, and then to hope that the others cannot do the same."

Let's hope for the best !!

Boullier being Boullier.
Start of season: yea the car is crap but we'll bring a big update on race X that will narrow thr gap to team Y
Just before race X: yea that huge upgrade won't be huge at all and we'll keep on with the mediocre results until the end of season.

It's been like that since 2015 and I see no reason for that to change. I wonder when will McLaren actually turn things around and get their first top 4 finish since I believe 2012.

[nirvaand]

In other words, don't expect too much.

Not again. I was finally expecting them to leap everyone to be the 4th best team. But now Eric B comes with this statement. Either they are playing down the hype to surprise everyone or they genuinely won't make a huge step forward.

How can u just make a giant leap with an untested part of a car? If testing would actully be allowed, there would be no doubts the update will work. Now it will be only fingers crossed that computer corelation is correct with the actual race track. Spain will be more about finding out what the new parts are and less bout giant leaps towards the front....this is the new F1 where we blast tons of money for unimportant things and we decide to agresively save money on things that actually matter and would make the sport more interesting...

I think there are two days of testing at Barcelona right after the race there in 2 weeks time.

[Ground Effect]

Let's see how it goes, hopefully they'll get on top of the issues, find more speed and more efficiency with the downforce levels. They need a car that will compliment and take advantage of extra power whenever Renault decide to bring it.

[PhillipM]

My only worry is with the package being delayed so much, it's not going to have the impact it would have had earlier - if it's worth 6-7 tenths, but everyone else bolts on their normal Spanish upgrade packages and gain 3-4 tenths....all it's done is help keep them ahead of the midfield.

[RonDennis]

Planet F1:

McLaren boss Eric Boullier wants to keep a lid on expectations as the Woking team prepare to unveil upgrades at the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren still have a sizeable gap to narrow between themselves and the other teams they share the same power unit with: Renault and Red Bull.

Spain has long been touted as the race where we will see the real McLaren show up and that the upgrades planned would make the MCL33 the car that they wanted to start the season with.

But now Boullier has warned that the improvements may not be as big as many are expecting.

"There is a new direction for Barcelona," Boullier confirmed to El Confidencial newspaper. "But you cannot expect us to leap ahead of everyone else.
"I think 95 per cent of the paddock will bring new aerodynamic packages to Barcelona, so the difference will either be the same, we lose some ground, or perhaps we gain a little."
"It is up to us that our evolution works and lives up to our own expectations, and then to hope that the others cannot do the same."

Let's hope for the best !!

Boullier being Boullier.
Start of season: yea the car is crap but we'll bring a big update on race X that will narrow thr gap to team Y
Just before race X: yea that huge upgrade won't be huge at all and we'll keep on with the mediocre results until the end of season.

It's been like that since 2015 and I see no reason for that to change. I wonder when will McLaren actually turn things around and get their first top 4 finish since I believe 2012.

I doubt it, imagine how those shareholders feel. Expecting to be behind Red Bull, but ahead of the midfield. Instead McLaren is fighting with teams like Sauber, Force India, Toro Rosso and Williams. They haven't even entered Q3 once, what a gigantic fail even with the delay of the new engine. Just look at the end of 2017. Alonso was fifth in Q1 Mexico (after stopping because of the penalty), they were 7th in Brazil quali (1,2 seconds of pole), 9th in Austin (1,5 seconds of pole). Where the * are they now?

[diffuser]

Is there an explanation to Vandoorne's performances other than lack of skill?

Nope. He's just crap, he's been slow since day one and shows no flashes of speed at all, Button would have run rings around him, he's actively costing Mclaren now because with someone of Button's speed in that car they'd have a shot at being 3rd in the constructors at the moment instead of 4th.

I thought I had seen a pattern last year where the tracks he was close/ahead were the tracks he'd raced at before. Where ALO didn't have a Huge experience advantage. That all went out the window with Baku.....


Eric B once said that he was impressed at how quickly Alonso got on top of setups and was able to put the car on the edge.