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.
Fortunately, Monaco is a place where a good driver can make a difference even if the car is not top notch, so hoping Alonso can put the car p5/p6Ground Effect wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 15:03If the "last year Ferrari" claims are accurate, then they should be hard to beat in Monaco as well...
True, but that will take some performance from him. Red Bull and Ferrari will be strong. Possible to qualify ahead of a Merc I would say. But it'll have to be a mega lap.bauc wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 16:05Fortunately, Monaco is a place where a good driver can make a difference even if the car is not top notch, so hoping Alonso can put the car p5/p6Ground Effect wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 15:03If the "last year Ferrari" claims are accurate, then they should be hard to beat in Monaco as well...
I agree, but if he can qualify P8 at Barcelona, then we can hope for more at track like Monaconirvaand wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 16:23True, but that will take some performance from him. Red Bull and Ferrari will be strong. Possible to qualify ahead of a Merc I would say. But it'll have to be a mega lap.bauc wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 16:05Fortunately, Monaco is a place where a good driver can make a difference even if the car is not top notch, so hoping Alonso can put the car p5/p6Ground Effect wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 15:03
If the "last year Ferrari" claims are accurate, then they should be hard to beat in Monaco as well...
Renault maybe with a lot of question marks but I think Haas is significantly ahead.
Hypersofts are making their race debut in Monaco. Mclaren tested the heck out of those tyres in pre season, I hope they have sufficient data to give them an advantage. Haas didn't use the hypersofts at all, don't know if they did this week. I'd be happy with a row 4 lock out, even that will be tough, Renault bringing updates as well.
Very true, but the good news is they've said they'll bring a fairly significant upgrade to Monaco. Let's hope they address the obvious current weaknesses.ALO_Power wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 19:54For Monaco I really have mixed feelings. From one side I'm positive since the driver can make a big difference, from the other side I'm really grounded since Monaco is all about mechanical grip and all about being able to switch on the tires for that one lap since it's a train race (as our fellow members underlined). I don't know in what level the car is, regarding mechanical grip and as for switching on the tires I'm concerned since in the 1st races there were big struggles on this segment that led to very poor qualifying appearances. Let's hope they can get it right, since the driver has to have confidence in order to attack, something that wasn't there in 2016 for example.
True. Last year though Stoffel looked very mighty in Monaco before the crash. Alonso wasn't there so we can't know what was the full potential of MCL32 at that race but let's see now.ollandos wrote: ↑17 May 2018, 21:27some info about monaco ....
last year best mclaren time on Q it was 1.13.249 from stoffel on Q2 ..both cars in Q3 pole time from kimi 1.12 178...gap 1.071....this year with current pace of the car ..normaly mclaren it will be 0.5-0.7 from pole ...with out any gain from more updates and ..alonso on wheel .../.. my view is something like 0.6 gap ..is the normal and any other is on hands of alonso with any help from updates...monaco is unigue .and even podium is possible ..the most importal is to avoid the traffic ....and any crash on fp1-2-3 ..easy any mistake there can route for PU and gearbox change ..and that cost the race...the good news ..one haas have penalty ..and this car it was on pole last year ...with no mistakes and little luck even win is possible there ..
Haas pulled away from Carlos Sainz Renault though
Maybe McLaren found a better set-up and extracted more performance, because as far as I'm aware, McLaren didn't run any new parts in testing. But the biggest factor is track evolution, wind, fresh engine, and possibly traffic.
