That's kind of a tough question to answer after a single practice session. Either way, realistically speaking I would say no, but who knows what happens during the season. Maybe the team finds itself fighting for a win again like Monza last year.
Agreed. McLaren never really pushed for laptimes in FP1/FP2. Often times they struggled in FP2 but had a setup solution overnight. It's obvious team knows the car well and can gain insight from the data overnight. I'd expect the same to continue this year as well.mwillems wrote: ↑26 Mar 2021, 15:02It does look like the teams sandbagged in Testing and they are doing the same now. They are 2 seconds off last years FP1 times and I do not think these cars are 2 seconds slower, so these teams are meaningless.
End of FP2 could show us something, but for those who remember, there were plenty of times last year where we came through only in FP3 and showed our pace, gaining more time between FP2 and FP3 than others. I expect it will be similar this time around, unless it was due to later setup changes and we simply have a better understanding of the car this year.
Since Bahrain was at the end of the season last year, despite the testing, I'd imagine there is a lot to learn about there cars still compared to last years Bahrain GP. So perhaps we won't get as close to last years times due to setup knowledge, as much as anything.FittingMechanics wrote: ↑26 Mar 2021, 15:07Agreed. McLaren never really pushed for laptimes in FP1/FP2. Often times they struggled in FP2 but had a setup solution overnight. It's obvious team knows the car well and can gain insight from the data overnight. I'd expect the same to continue this year as well.mwillems wrote: ↑26 Mar 2021, 15:02It does look like the teams sandbagged in Testing and they are doing the same now. They are 2 seconds off last years FP1 times and I do not think these cars are 2 seconds slower, so these teams are meaningless.
End of FP2 could show us something, but for those who remember, there were plenty of times last year where we came through only in FP3 and showed our pace, gaining more time between FP2 and FP3 than others. I expect it will be similar this time around, unless it was due to later setup changes and we simply have a better understanding of the car this year.
Overall very promising. They can put the car high up the grid without much effort. Hopefully we get some good long run analysis this evening and we can enjoy the hype until sunday.
) kravitz might be on to somthingTed Kravitz
look a few pages ago...something to effect of "some people in the paddock" think McL is 2nd fastest behind RBR
