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I like how you pick and choose. They were slower at Monaco and they were slower at Spain than Kvyat. Monaco is a chassis track. All Honda cars were slower at Canada. At Spain after such a big update, the team was slower than 2 Haas, Ricciardo and Kvyat, we just got lucky with the result because Lando's incident.
My point stands, with the number of updates McLaren has brought, they should be much further ahead in pace than they are right now. Even Zak Brown has said they are sixth fastest in the interview. Renault is bringing a major update and if it works, they are going to be clearly faster than McLaren is right now.
You might be looking at it wrong. They messed up the setup direction in Spain hence the pace. Monaco is a mechanical grip focused track and they did well to get into Q3 despite the circuit exposing their main weakness i.e low speed corners. Back on pace in Canada.
Maybe the weaknesses will not be fully resolved till next year, even though they aim for improvements?
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.
That was always the plan, they said the same last winter, the focus is on 2020 and beyond, it's not abandoning this years car, it's just that it take a long time to reorganise and then to see the fruits of that labour.
I like how you pick and choose. They were slower at Monaco and they were slower at Spain than Kvyat. Monaco is a chassis track. All Honda cars were slower at Canada. At Spain after such a big update, the team was slower than 2 Haas, Ricciardo and Kvyat, we just got lucky with the result because Lando's incident.
My point stands, with the number of updates McLaren has brought, they should be much further ahead in pace than they are right now. Even Zak Brown has said they are sixth fastest in the interview. Renault is bringing a major update and if it works, they are going to be clearly faster than McLaren is right now.
You might be looking at it wrong. They messed up the setup direction in Spain hence the pace. Monaco is a mechanical grip focused track and they did well to get into Q3 despite the circuit exposing their main weakness i.e low speed corners. Back on pace in Canada.
The irony is that none of the Midfield teams can differentiate themselves from the others via speed. Most of the time it comes down to the smallest thing in execution or being hurt by tire type they start the race on.
In the good rules gone bad category, The Q2 tire rule for those who make it into the Q3 is punishing the midfield teams that execute better in quali. It's getting to the point where at some races it's a distinct advantage to qualify lower. They either have to do away completely with that rule or just apply it to the top 6.
Guys been wondering, for those who watched the Canadian Grand Prix, can anyone remember which team ran the least amount of rear wing? I saw reports saying McLaren did, but I didn’t see the race weekend, just snippets. But from the pics I saw of cars during scrutineering, I didn’t see much difference between McLaren and the rest of the midfield. In fact, I thought STR ran pretty low downforce rear wing.
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.
Guys been wondering, for those who watched the Canadian Grand Prix, can anyone remember which team ran the least amount of rear wing? I saw reports saying McLaren did, but I didn’t see the race weekend, just snippets. But from the pics I saw of cars during scrutineering, I didn’t see much difference between McLaren and the rest of the midfield. In fact, I thought STR ran pretty low downforce rear wing.
I'm sure Renault is too strong for McLaren. It is important not to let the rest go ahead.
I think McLaren must the be the team which was one of the best updating the car through the season, so I don´t think the battle with Renault is already lost.
They still seem to be. There were 2 new floors introduced in 4 weeks' time. Spain & Canada.
Though Canada was a bad race when I was expecting them to be very competitive.
I think it will be smart to focus on 2020 quite early. Like I said before, it's quite hard to change the characteristic of the car during the season and after last year they probably went for a concept that lacks a bit of downforce, but reaches high speeds on the straights. Not saying the current chassis doesn't have potential, but with a new chassis the gains will be much bigger than adding some elements to the bargeboard area.
I was looking at the Qualifying times from Canada the other day comparing Renault to McLaren being conscious they are likely in a race for best of the rest this year. Riccardo in particular got gradually faster through each session, pulling out a whopping half second in Q3. McLaren never really got any quicker from Q1 - Q3. Simple conclusion I drew was Renault works team having access to an improved qualifying party mode that McLaren didn't have access to or chose not to use. I can't believe he found a full half second without?
I was looking at the Qualifying times from Canada the other day comparing Renault to McLaren being conscious they are likely in a race for best of the rest this year. Riccardo in particular got gradually faster through each session, pulling out a whopping half second in Q3. McLaren never really got any quicker from Q1 - Q3. Simple conclusion I drew was Renault works team having access to an improved qualifying party mode that McLaren didn't have access to or chose not to use. I can't believe he found a full half second without?
Sainz would've been only 2-3 tenths off Ric if Q3 went smooth. His Q2 lap was faster than Norris' Q3.
