[ 2020 ] Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[Chalke]

According to Carlos Sainz, aero developments for the MCL35 won’t arrive until at least one more month... Only tweaks to current parts expected for the triple header.

Even when it is known that manufacturing of parts is behind, I’m surprised that it has taken so long for major updates to be ready for the car... I wonder if it’s a new package that needs all parts to be installed together in order to provide the expected performance... Which would explain the delays.


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I imagine all focus was swapped to any components they need to change before the Italian GP when they become locked in until the end of 2021 - electronics, brakes and arguably more interesting, the front crash structure (potentially affecting the nose shape going forward) and the inboard suspension components are on that list.

Aerodynamic parts can be changed afterwards freely but because McLaren lose their 2 tokens as a result of the engine swap, they have to get these parts homologated next week or they're stuck with them.

I didn’t realize that the teams had until the Italian GP to make changes to the chassis, I thought the chassis were already locked considering what they raced as of the Austrian GP... Could you share a bit more information about it please? Would love to read the rules regarding it.


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You're mostly right - the vast majority of the car, particularly the survival cell and most structural parts were frozen as of the first round at Austria (referred to as R1-2020), but some changes are permitted by the 8th round (mid-2020) and the first round next year (R1-2021).

The FIA F1 regs are freely available here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... 5-27_0.pdf

You're looking for Article 22.8 on page 106 for the mention of these dates and Appendix 4 on page 118 for the table of components those dates affect.

Or for a more easily digestible overview, Chainbear did a great overview (as he does many topics) on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BFzubAMa4

[SmallSoldier]

I imagine all focus was swapped to any components they need to change before the Italian GP when they become locked in until the end of 2021 - electronics, brakes and arguably more interesting, the front crash structure (potentially affecting the nose shape going forward) and the inboard suspension components are on that list.

Aerodynamic parts can be changed afterwards freely but because McLaren lose their 2 tokens as a result of the engine swap, they have to get these parts homologated next week or they're stuck with them.

I didn’t realize that the teams had until the Italian GP to make changes to the chassis, I thought the chassis were already locked considering what they raced as of the Austrian GP... Could you share a bit more information about it please? Would love to read the rules regarding it.


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You're mostly right - the vast majority of the car, particularly the survival cell and most structural parts were frozen as of the first round at Austria (referred to as R1-2020), but some changes are permitted by the 8th round (mid-2020) and the first round next year (R1-2021).

The FIA F1 regs are freely available here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... 5-27_0.pdf

You're looking for Article 22.8 on page 106 for the mention of these dates and Appendix 4 on page 118 for the table of components those dates affect.

Or for a more easily digestible overview, Chainbear did a great overview (as he does many topics) on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BFzubAMa4

I really appreciate not only you providing the links (which I’ve just went through), but also pointing me to the right part of the regulations regarding it... Thanks!!!

I would have suspected that the Chassis and Aero development departments would be independent from each other, therefore even when the focus would have been in Chassis related parts that aren’t yet frozen for 2021, the aero parts should have still followed their development path with certain normalcy.

Been said that, I can also understand how the team may have added additional resources to support the development of parts yet to be frozen (which aren’t many) in an effort to homologate them before FP1 next week.

In any case, I am not bashing the team... I was just surprised that no major upgrades have appear yet on the car, knowing how Mclaren’s development pace is usually on the high side... Also, even when we are about to start round 7 of the Championship, the reality is that has been only 2 months since the season started, which in itself is a very short period of time.


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[the EDGE]

Also with 9 races in 11 weeks, McLaren stated their main production focus was ensuring they had enough Spare parts to see them through It should the worst happen

Isn't that the same for all teams though?

Either they have less capacity or less efficiency, or they are doing something else as mentioned above. That something else may also be in part the extra work required to get the car ready for the Merc engine next year I guess.

I suspect the truth is they do have less capacity, at least when compared to the top 3 who’s budgets are nearly double McLarens.

That additional money must be being spent somewhere and it can’t all be on design & testing as those areas are restricted by the RRA so I imagine a chunk of the extra cash is spent on areas like production where teams can spend freely

Looking further down the field I don’t recall many big upgrades on any other teams

[the EDGE]

According to Carlos Sainz, aero developments for the MCL35 won’t arrive until at least one more month... Only tweaks to current parts expected for the triple header.

Even when it is known that manufacturing of parts is behind, I’m surprised that it has taken so long for major updates to be ready for the car... I wonder if it’s a new package that needs all parts to be installed together in order to provide the expected performance... Which would explain the delays.


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Yes but they also had to make 70 folks redundant and had a cash flow problem until 2 months after the summer break finished, so I'm not sure how much that affected things. Not sure if they ring fenced the F1 team financially but it wouldn't surprise me if this had contributed a small amount.

I’m sure the Covid19 measures had to have an impact, although the Cash Flow issues were an issue from a Forecast perspective, but I would have expected the team to have short term financing to maintain their level of development... It is special projects (such as the Wind Tunnel) that would have suffer the biggest effects of a cash constrain.


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I can see cash flow affecting teams that outsource such as HASS, but as Mclaren manufacture in-house surely a short-term cash flow Issue would not affect this as all of the resources (staff & equipment) would be in place regardless, that would only leave raw materials, which in the scale of things are the rather inexpensive part

I guess design could be slowed because they don’t use their own wind tunnel and that would be an expensive bill, and now I come to think of it with Toyotas facility being located in cologne, perhaps travel restrictions may have been an issue too

[_cerber1]

[Chalke]

I didn’t realize that the teams had until the Italian GP to make changes to the chassis, I thought the chassis were already locked considering what they raced as of the Austrian GP... Could you share a bit more information about it please? Would love to read the rules regarding it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You're mostly right - the vast majority of the car, particularly the survival cell and most structural parts were frozen as of the first round at Austria (referred to as R1-2020), but some changes are permitted by the 8th round (mid-2020) and the first round next year (R1-2021).

The FIA F1 regs are freely available here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... 5-27_0.pdf

You're looking for Article 22.8 on page 106 for the mention of these dates and Appendix 4 on page 118 for the table of components those dates affect.

Or for a more easily digestible overview, Chainbear did a great overview (as he does many topics) on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BFzubAMa4

I really appreciate not only you providing the links (which I’ve just went through), but also pointing me to the right part of the regulations regarding it... Thanks!!!

I would have suspected that the Chassis and Aero development departments would be independent from each other, therefore even when the focus would have been in Chassis related parts that aren’t yet frozen for 2021, the aero parts should have still followed their development path with certain normalcy.

Been said that, I can also understand how the team may have added additional resources to support the development of parts yet to be frozen (which aren’t many) in an effort to homologate them before FP1 next week.

In any case, I am not bashing the team... I was just surprised that no major upgrades have appear yet on the car, knowing how Mclaren’s development pace is usually on the high side... Also, even when we are about to start round 7 of the Championship, the reality is that has been only 2 months since the season started, which in itself is a very short period of time.


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Maybe I'm just holding out hope on a B-spec car that they'll run for the next season and a half, with an updated nose concept, new suspension geometry and because of that the aero parts had to wait to match it... but as mwillems says, probably it's just Covid slowing them down and every team has limited manufacturing resources so the aero parts will come when they're finished.

It's fun to speculate though.

[101FlyingDutchman]

Ugh. 1.3-1.5 sec down per lap in the middle sector compared to the W11 on the longer running. Hopefully different fuel loads/run plan.

Race Pace compared to Renault is v good. So that’s promising.
The 4 Mercs and VER in a league of their own

[Ground Effect]

TeamStream

Pit - Sainz: Pace is similar to Renault, similar to Lando, maybe half a second off Racing Point.

[101FlyingDutchman]

Yep watching the F1 app that’s how it seems. Merc VER and Perez. STR. ALB then the 4 Renault powered machines

[mwillems]

I didn’t realize that the teams had until the Italian GP to make changes to the chassis, I thought the chassis were already locked considering what they raced as of the Austrian GP... Could you share a bit more information about it please? Would love to read the rules regarding it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You're mostly right - the vast majority of the car, particularly the survival cell and most structural parts were frozen as of the first round at Austria (referred to as R1-2020), but some changes are permitted by the 8th round (mid-2020) and the first round next year (R1-2021).

The FIA F1 regs are freely available here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... 5-27_0.pdf

You're looking for Article 22.8 on page 106 for the mention of these dates and Appendix 4 on page 118 for the table of components those dates affect.

Or for a more easily digestible overview, Chainbear did a great overview (as he does many topics) on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BFzubAMa4

I really appreciate not only you providing the links (which I’ve just went through), but also pointing me to the right part of the regulations regarding it... Thanks!!!

I would have suspected that the Chassis and Aero development departments would be independent from each other, therefore even when the focus would have been in Chassis related parts that aren’t yet frozen for 2021, the aero parts should have still followed their development path with certain normalcy.

Been said that, I can also understand how the team may have added additional resources to support the development of parts yet to be frozen (which aren’t many) in an effort to homologate them before FP1 next week.

In any case, I am not bashing the team... I was just surprised that no major upgrades have appear yet on the car, knowing how Mclaren’s development pace is usually on the high side... Also, even when we are about to start round 7 of the Championship, the reality is that has been only 2 months since the season started, which in itself is a very short period of time.


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It's 2 months to the season in but the summer break ended in April, which was 4 months ago, so I do think it may be something more than just playing Covid Catchup. I think they may be in a unique position relative to the other top teams, as I doubt Merc, Ferrari, Red Bull, Racing Point or Renault F1 teams would have had these same financial and resource issues, and will keep the maximum number of staff until they have to let them go due to the budget cap and not release some early due to economic circumstances.

[_cerber1]

[McFAN]

New PU for Lando

[_cerber1]

Carlos is the leader in the maximum speed in the first training session - 330 km / h

[mclaren111]

Yip...

Sainz 330 km/h
Gas 329
Kvy 329
Alb 326
Ham 326
Lat 325
Per 325
Oco 324
Ric 324
Rai 324
Stro 323
Rus 323
Bot 322
Vers 322
Nor 322
Lec 322
Vet 318
Gro 310
Gio 238
Mag 198

[SmallSoldier]

You're mostly right - the vast majority of the car, particularly the survival cell and most structural parts were frozen as of the first round at Austria (referred to as R1-2020), but some changes are permitted by the 8th round (mid-2020) and the first round next year (R1-2021).

The FIA F1 regs are freely available here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... 5-27_0.pdf

You're looking for Article 22.8 on page 106 for the mention of these dates and Appendix 4 on page 118 for the table of components those dates affect.

Or for a more easily digestible overview, Chainbear did a great overview (as he does many topics) on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8BFzubAMa4

I really appreciate not only you providing the links (which I’ve just went through), but also pointing me to the right part of the regulations regarding it... Thanks!!!

I would have suspected that the Chassis and Aero development departments would be independent from each other, therefore even when the focus would have been in Chassis related parts that aren’t yet frozen for 2021, the aero parts should have still followed their development path with certain normalcy.

Been said that, I can also understand how the team may have added additional resources to support the development of parts yet to be frozen (which aren’t many) in an effort to homologate them before FP1 next week.

In any case, I am not bashing the team... I was just surprised that no major upgrades have appear yet on the car, knowing how Mclaren’s development pace is usually on the high side... Also, even when we are about to start round 7 of the Championship, the reality is that has been only 2 months since the season started, which in itself is a very short period of time.


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Maybe I'm just holding out hope on a B-spec car that they'll run for the next season and a half, with an updated nose concept, new suspension geometry and because of that the aero parts had to wait to match it... but as mwillems says, probably it's just Covid slowing them down and every team has limited manufacturing resources so the aero parts will come when they're finished.

It's fun to speculate though.

As improbable as it could be... I’m also holding to the same hope


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