McLaren MCL34 speculation thread

[GrandAxe]

For McLaren the only direction left for them to go is up!!!

There's always sideways as an option.

If McLaren coordinate their team a little better, they will easily be running in the same pack as the Red Bulls. Otherwise 2019 will just be another sideways year.

Lessons would have been learnt from others teams success with Honda, so my prediction for for 2019 is much tighter coordination with Renault for electronics/software, gearbox and cooling development. There will also be improvements to team structure, so that the car produced wouldn't seem like each team within McLaren wouldn't seem like they were developed for different cars (as discussed on the MCL33 thread).

[M840TR]

Zak Brown says Renault has found a lot of horsepower for their 2019 engine:

"They are telling us that they are very pleased with their winter progress," said Brown. "They have found a lot of kilowatts, and think they will be in the ballpark.

"It is not appropriate for me to quote the numbers they have given us, but I think they feel they are going to be very competitive next year."

While the team accepts that there is no quick fix that will get it back to the front of the grid in the short term, Brown says the feedback from his engineering and design team is that there should a step forward in 2019.

"There is a lot of cautious optimism, but we clearly don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said. "We have done that before and we are not going to make the same mistake twice.

"So it is a very head down approach. Development is going well, and we are on track with what we are wanting to achieve.

"But ultimately obviously we have no idea where the competition is, other than speculating. Everyone plants their different stories: they either want to under play it or over play it. I don't think we will obviously know until we get to Barcelona.

"We are pleased with the progress we have made. We have done things differently, everyone is working well together, so it feels like a more quiet confidence.

"But we are on our toes. We know this is an important year for us to show progress and that comes with some exciting nervous energy."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/rena ... n/4315101/

[Chicane]

MCL34 in my opinion will have longer wheelbase, Redbull style teardrop sidepods, a bigger roll hoop intake and as has been mentioned above a new gearbox with new pickup points. I am really curious if they will keep their current nose or not.

It's encouraging to read Zak's quotes that they are on track with respect to hitting their targets. If Renault deliver on their PU promises and Mclaren hit their targets it will be an interesting battle between Mclaren and Renault for that 4th spot. The gap to the front three is far too big and hence the best Mclaren or Renault can hope is 4th.

[cyclon]

This year's magic word is consistency!

We will remember the McLaren game of being better just before or after Monaco and even better after summer break!

[LM10]

Zak Brown says Renault has found a lot of horsepower for their 2019 engine:

"They are telling us that they are very pleased with their winter progress," said Brown. "They have found a lot of kilowatts, and think they will be in the ballpark.

"It is not appropriate for me to quote the numbers they have given us, but I think they feel they are going to be very competitive next year."

While the team accepts that there is no quick fix that will get it back to the front of the grid in the short term, Brown says the feedback from his engineering and design team is that there should a step forward in 2019.

"There is a lot of cautious optimism, but we clearly don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said. "We have done that before and we are not going to make the same mistake twice.

"So it is a very head down approach. Development is going well, and we are on track with what we are wanting to achieve.

"But ultimately obviously we have no idea where the competition is, other than speculating. Everyone plants their different stories: they either want to under play it or over play it. I don't think we will obviously know until we get to Barcelona.

"We are pleased with the progress we have made. We have done things differently, everyone is working well together, so it feels like a more quiet confidence.

"But we are on our toes. We know this is an important year for us to show progress and that comes with some exciting nervous energy."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/rena ... n/4315101/

Didn't Renault tell quite similar things prior to last season? They were very confident about bringing some big improvements in horsepower throughout season as well, but at the end it turned out not to be even close to what Ferrari and Mercedes put on track.
As fore the step forward for 2019 Brown is mentioning, in my opinion this should be the absolute minimum. They need to do several steps forward, if you ask me. I really hope McLaren get back on their feet again. What they have shown for years now has been everything from ridiculous to laughable and sad at the same time.

[M840TR]

Zak Brown says Renault has found a lot of horsepower for their 2019 engine:

"They are telling us that they are very pleased with their winter progress," said Brown. "They have found a lot of kilowatts, and think they will be in the ballpark.

"It is not appropriate for me to quote the numbers they have given us, but I think they feel they are going to be very competitive next year."

While the team accepts that there is no quick fix that will get it back to the front of the grid in the short term, Brown says the feedback from his engineering and design team is that there should a step forward in 2019.

"There is a lot of cautious optimism, but we clearly don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said. "We have done that before and we are not going to make the same mistake twice.

"So it is a very head down approach. Development is going well, and we are on track with what we are wanting to achieve.

"But ultimately obviously we have no idea where the competition is, other than speculating. Everyone plants their different stories: they either want to under play it or over play it. I don't think we will obviously know until we get to Barcelona.

"We are pleased with the progress we have made. We have done things differently, everyone is working well together, so it feels like a more quiet confidence.

"But we are on our toes. We know this is an important year for us to show progress and that comes with some exciting nervous energy."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/rena ... n/4315101/

Didn't Renault tell quite similar things prior to last season? They were very confident about bringing some big improvements in horsepower throughout season as well, but at the end it turned out not to be even close to what Ferrari and Mercedes put on track.
As fore the step forward for 2019 Brown is mentioning, in my opinion this should be the absolute minimum. They need to do several steps forward, if you ask me. I really hope McLaren get back on their feet again. What they have shown for years now has been everything from ridiculous to laughable and sad at the same time.

Actually, I think they said most of their focus was on reliability for this year.

[Big Tea]

"Hitting all our targets" sounds good, but if the targets were never revealed it is just hot air. They could change from week to week depending on the results.
One 'advantage' (if you can call it that) they have this year, and it is not an anti Alonso quip, just common sense, is that there will be less pressure to produce results "NOW". There must have been a feeling that they had to get the best car out for Alonso as it was what he expected and they did not want to lose him, but with the new drivers they can take a little more of a long view.

[wunderkind]

Calm down fellas, it's just your typical pre-season big talk by a Team Principal to attract sponsors.

My prediction: McLaren will be nowhere near the podium in 2019.

[DiogoBrand]

Calm down fellas, it's just your typical pre-season big talk by a Team Principal to attract sponsors.

My prediction: McLaren will be nowhere near the podium in 2019.

Did someone from the team say they would?

[godlameroso]

We have heard it said that McLaren is taking a more Red Bull approach to the side pods, and possibly barge boards as well. We also know they were doing extensive testing in this area, honestly this is the car I'm anticipating seeing the most. It's obvious this car will undergo the most radical redesign along with the Williams, while the others will still keep and develop features their cars had this year. Particularly in the middle of the car, this is where they have the most to gain, where the biggest differences can still be made.

[Jackles-UK]

People seem to want to forget that the MCL33 was arguably the 4th or 5th best car out of the box at the start of the season but slipped back dramatically as time passed, their planned upgrades didn’t bring the gains they expected and the grid around them improved.

Even if they only find the performance they expected to find throughout 2018 you would think they would be a big chunk faster to at least trouble the rest of the midfield, any improvement over and above this is just the icing on the cake.

Pat Fry has a history of producing decent (albeit not particularly revolutionary) chassis’s at McLaren and a year of dependable solidity would do the team no harm whatsoever whilst they build towards 2020 and beyond.

[M840TR]

People seem to want to forget that the MCL33 was arguably the 4th or 5th best car out of the box at the start of the season but slipped back dramatically as time passed, their planned upgrades didn’t bring the gains they expected and the grid around them improved.

Even if they only find the performance they expected to find throughout 2018 you would think they would be a big chunk faster to at least trouble the rest of the midfield, any improvement over and above this is just the icing on the cake.

Pat Fry has a history of producing decent (albeit not particularly revolutionary) chassis’s at McLaren and a year of dependable solidity would do the team no harm whatsoever whilst they build towards 2020 and beyond.

Only two Q3 appearances the whole season. Doesn't sound like 4th or 5th fastest to me.

[techman]

i think mclaren fans are happy with renault and honda fans are happy with redbull. i wonder what position you expect them to be now that mclaren have one full year with renault in 2019. ?

[bauc]

People seem to want to forget that the MCL33 was arguably the 4th or 5th best car out of the box at the start of the season but slipped back dramatically as time passed, their planned upgrades didn’t bring the gains they expected and the grid around them improved.

Even if they only find the performance they expected to find throughout 2018 you would think they would be a big chunk faster to at least trouble the rest of the midfield, any improvement over and above this is just the icing on the cake.

Pat Fry has a history of producing decent (albeit not particularly revolutionary) chassis’s at McLaren and a year of dependable solidity would do the team no harm whatsoever whilst they build towards 2020 and beyond.

Only two Q3 appearances the whole season. Doesn't sound like 4th or 5th fastest to me.

4th or 5th best car out of the box at the start of the season

[Big Tea]

People seem to want to forget that the MCL33 was arguably the 4th or 5th best car out of the box at the start of the season but slipped back dramatically as time passed, their planned upgrades didn’t bring the gains they expected and the grid around them improved.

Even if they only find the performance they expected to find throughout 2018 you would think they would be a big chunk faster to at least trouble the rest of the midfield, any improvement over and above this is just the icing on the cake.

Pat Fry has a history of producing decent (albeit not particularly revolutionary) chassis’s at McLaren and a year of dependable solidity would do the team no harm whatsoever whilst they build towards 2020 and beyond.

This is concerning to me as it sounds more and more like correlation between the model and the real world.
If it was just last years model, fine no problem, but they do not seem keen to let us know what this 'problem they have found' was, and if it is correlation, is it now really sorted, as they possibly will not know until next years car hits the track.