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[mcdenife]

Roland Ehnström wrote:
True, but the lap times in testing this past week suggest that McLaren are at least one second off the pace of the Ferrari, not a tenth of a second like last year.

The laptimes suggest nothing unless you know specifically what they were testing, because you might just find you are comparing apples with oranges.Anything else is mere speculation as the times are meaningless at this stage.

[kilcoo316]

The laptimes suggest nothing unless you know specifically what they were testing, because you might just find you are comparing apples with oranges.Anything else is mere speculation as the times are meaningless at this stage.

If your 2.alot seconds off the pace - you'd need to be doing some pretty weird tests to justify that gap!


As I said yesterday, thats the guts of 30 laps fuel. There is no way there is that much difference between McLaren and the rest on fuel.



There is no point testing with a heavier than 605kg car - your not loading the tyres right then...

There is no point testing a down on power engine - your not gonna find reliability issues then...

They *might* be trying out low downforce set-ups for alot later in the year - but it is hard to justify given their problems in Jerez...


McLaren's pace is a conundrum, no doubt... the simple answer may be the right answer... they have none.

[sunny1304]

mclaren has trouble and that seems to be proven true.

this is the time for testing normally.....this is the time for the drivers to find the speed and right setup....so whats the point to say they are on some other programme ??

better accept that mclaren is gonna be in the midfield this year.

[enkidu]

Hahaha, come on guys lets wait and see what happens in Aus

[axle]

PDlR has infured they are trying out parts for all types of circuits and not necessarily the ones for Barca or Jerez...so if we for a moment think about that, they could easily be running a High DF rate for say Hungary, which is sh1t slow in a straight line but bonkers quick round the corners of Barca. The laptime won't be good but the data about the cornering will be. They could then go out in low DF and do the same...repeat infinitum...

They don't race at Jerez so it's pointless getting the setup right for it (Barca is used but thy haven't finished there), instead you test the extreme's see just how fast you can go round a corner with X amount of DF. Once you have those parameters (with various configurations of wings etc) you know more about the performance envelope of the car...

Throw in some long run tyre tests using a lot of fuel and a so-so optimised package and you never see the pace of the McLaren on the stopwatch....

It's just a thought...

[kilcoo316]

they could easily be running a High DF rate for say Hungary, which is sh1t slow in a straight line but bonkers quick round the corners of Barca.

Just on that - how big a change is there between... say... a Melbourne and a Hungary any more?

Now, with the restrictions, do the teams just load the thing to get as much downforce as possible and go with that?


I suppose a better way of putting this would be: Is Monza the last of the circuits with a setup for a significantly lower percentage of the total potential downforce the car could produce?

[mcdenife]

If your 2.alot seconds off the pace - you'd need to be doing some pretty weird tests to justify that gap!

The dont have to justify anything...ITS A TEST.

As I said yesterday, thats the guts of 30 laps fuel. There is no way there is that much difference between McLaren and the rest on fuel.

There is no point testing with a heavier than 605kg car - your not loading the tyres right then...

There is no point testing a down on power engine - your not gonna find reliability issues then...

YOu must know something we dont or what their TEST PROGRAM is and WHAT SPECIFICALLY they are testing.

They *might* be trying out low downforce set-ups for alot later in the year - but it is hard to justify given their problems in Jerez...

At this point you can only speculate there MAY be a problem, not that THERE IS a problem.

McLaren's pace is a conundrum, no doubt... the simple answer may be the right answer... they have none.

Its not a connundrum unless you know for a fact their pace was not what they (Mclaren rather than Kilcoo316) expected from the test. But you are right the simple answer may be the right one, but then again who knows?

[Wilfko]

its sarting to become awefully ps3 vs xbox 360 around here lol

[joseff]

Don't forget there are also many Wiilliams supporters here as well.

[kilcoo316]

The dont have to justify anything...ITS A TEST.

No, McLaren don't.

The people saying their test program will account for such poor laptimes do.


So, any possible (sensible) explanations?

[kilcoo316]

YOu must know something we dont or what their TEST PROGRAM is and WHAT SPECIFICALLY they are testing.

Thats my point!


There is nothing I can think of where finishing over 2 and a half seconds off the pace is a gap to be comfortable with.


If their long run pace was good, then it wouldn't be a worry as you could cover it with the others doing low fuel qualifying runs at the end of the day's work... but thats not really the case is it?

[lkocev]

The times are alover the place with testing I think, but in the test in Jerez McLaren were in the 1:21's on all the dry days, other teams some times got into the 1:19's, sometimes in the 1:20's. It would appear they are definatley not testing for the ultimate "single lap" performance. At this stage, we all know very little, unless there is an engineer on McLaren's test team here to enlighten all of us, we will continue to know very little, until Melbourne that is. Ferrari fans dont get your heads too far up your asses just yet, The MP4-24 is far from buried...

[mcdenife]

The people saying their test program will account for such poor laptimes do.

I am not sure I understand but here goes, only mclaren can say their tests account for poor laptimes because only they know their test program and whether or not the results are as expected. Everything and everybody else is merely speculating. I guess we will find out one way or another come Oz.

So, any possible (sensible) explanations?

Absolutely none because I have no idea what they are doing (which can be any one of a multitude of things) and the rule changes ie re the in season testing ban, further complicates things (which kinda makes Axle's earlier point reasonable).

[Callum]

I think the testing of LDF and HDF configurations sounds like a plausable idea. Especially when they won't be able to test these packages outside of the season.

[myurr]

So, any possible (sensible) explanations?

Well McLaren stated in a much earlier test that they were working on a new interaction between the rear wing and diffuser.

My guess is that they're working on a new aerodynamic concept at the rear of the car, that they picked up on quite late, hence new floor, and that they are in the process of testing this interaction rather than working on ultimate setup and pace. New parts are on their way that will properly exploit this concept.

Knowing that they face an in season testing ban they're also testing other parts and concepts for races further down the line, making sure they interact as expected with the new rear end. So the car is not properly set up for the circuit they're on, as they're testing setups for other circuits.

Either that or they really are struggling having taken a wrong turn during development.