More details about McLaren's technical leadership changes are becoming public as it has now become clear that Toro Rosso's highly valued technical director, James Key, is set to join McLaren in the same role.
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I really think the step forward this upgrade brought was smaller than expected but:
1- Top speed (drag) looks solved now, pretty similar to other Renault teams
2- A new concept does need some time to extract its full potential
3- If we believe Newey words, PP is a very methodical person who makes small steps at once. EB is saying they will bring updates in next two races, so I´d say what we saw in Spain (Spain bastards, what the hell are you doing playing the catalonian anthem??? This people can´t differ between sport and politics...) was just the base, not the whole new car and we should expect similar steps forward in next GPs
Not sure the drag problem is solved because Alonso mentioned after the race (on team website race review) he couldn't get past Leclerc because they still lack speed on straights
Last edited by M840TR on 14 May 2018, 11:09, edited 1 time in total.
There's still a long way to go, but we have to take it as progress. As they've said, this is the Australia car, so definitely they're still behind the development curve. The fact that they're bringing significant upgrades to Monaco, which is unusual for most teams (though Mclaren did last year) and also Canada, etc shows there's a push to improve. I get the feeling things may have been better for them, if not for the tyres used in Barcelona. This is F1, it will take time, but it's a respectable start.
Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?
Kimi Raikkonen: I can only drive one car, obviously.
@2018 Singapore Grand Prix drivers press conference.
I really think the step forward this upgrade brought was smaller than expected but:
1- Top speed (drag) looks solved now, pretty similar to other Renault teams
2- A new concept does need some time to extract its full potential
3- If we believe Newey words, PP is a very methodical person who makes small steps at once. EB is saying they will bring updates in next two races, so I´d say what we saw in Spain (Spain bastards, what the hell are you doing playing the catalonian anthem??? This people can´t differ between sport and politics...) was just the base, not the whole new car and we should expect similar steps forward in next GPs
Not sure the drag problem as solved because Alonso mentioned after the race (on team website race review) he couldn't get past Leclerc because they still lack speed on straights
Wasn't there onboard with ALO, when he overtook Leclerc, while using DRS Leclerc was actually gaining when they were side by side
I really think the step forward this upgrade brought was smaller than expected but:
1- Top speed (drag) looks solved now, pretty similar to other Renault teams
2- A new concept does need some time to extract its full potential
3- If we believe Newey words, PP is a very methodical person who makes small steps at once. EB is saying they will bring updates in next two races, so I´d say what we saw in Spain (Spain bastards, what the hell are you doing playing the catalonian anthem??? This people can´t differ between sport and politics...) was just the base, not the whole new car and we should expect similar steps forward in next GPs
Not sure the drag problem as solved because Alonso mentioned after the race (on team website race review) he couldn't get past Leclerc because they still lack speed on straights
Wasn't there onboard with ALO, when he overtook Leclerc, while using DRS Leclerc was actually gaining when they were side by side
Yes, he was pulling away; but I don't know if drs was enabled since it was VSC restart
I really think the step forward this upgrade brought was smaller than expected but:
1- Top speed (drag) looks solved now, pretty similar to other Renault teams
2- A new concept does need some time to extract its full potential
3- If we believe Newey words, PP is a very methodical person who makes small steps at once. EB is saying they will bring updates in next two races, so I´d say what we saw in Spain (Spain bastards, what the hell are you doing playing the catalonian anthem??? This people can´t differ between sport and politics...) was just the base, not the whole new car and we should expect similar steps forward in next GPs
Not sure the drag problem as solved because Alonso mentioned after the race (on team website race review) he couldn't get past Leclerc because they still lack speed on straights
Wasn't there onboard with ALO, when he overtook Leclerc, while using DRS Leclerc was actually gaining when they were side by side
He overtook Leclerc just after VSC ended. I don't think DRS is enabled so soon after.
I see many people referring to Vandoorne's performance as the metric to the real McLaren one lap pace. How absurd... The best approach to determine maximum performance of the car is to take the best sectors of the fastest driver and combine them. No driver can outdrive a car... Fundamental physics...
I think mclaren is not draggy. What makes red bull faster in straight line is due to it higher speed during corner and at the exit most probably due to lower center of gravity design approach they had (lower air intake and sidepode). Which means that they need less downforce to achieve the same stability under bracking and cornering. But off course the low cog design has its own downside which is they lost pronounce undercut under the sidepode like everyone else has. But I think they solve the issue by manipulating the vortice created by the wing on top of the sidepode to direct the high energy wind under the nose to go around the sidepode. I remember they took quite some to find tune to make the wings work. Also they had a lot of trouble with cooling as the whole packaging sit lower than the sidepode intake. I dont have any data to support my assumption. This is all come purely from observation alone.
I think mclaren might already been working on this, who knows. I really hope so being a mclaren fan. But seing the complexity of it I am not sure if they have the ressources to do it. The technical dept might have a problem trying to satisfy the requirement hence why the tim goss was removed.
