2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[SmallSoldier]

Saw Leclerc's pace but he was in clear air. There is a huge difference when you are in clear air and when you are chasing someone going behind his dirty air causing your breaks to overheat. Perez who had a much faster car than Leclerc had so many problems to pass here.

Daniel was also in free air, and he was losing about 0.2-0.3s per lap compared to Charles in the soft stint before his tires dropped off in the end (and the difference went to above 0.5s per lap). In the second stint it was a bit closer, but Charles was still a bit faster.

I think you'd be as well talking to a brick wall. Those orange tinted glasses are firmly glued on over there! Just be prepared for this result to link it's way back to spygate, somehow.

Don’t give him ideas! Lol


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[SmallSoldier]

True but people are missing what I am saying all this time. We would have the chance to finish in front because they wouldn't have been able to overtake. If it wasn't for circumstances in Q3 Norris would have started in front and probably stayed in front cause its hard to overtake.

The problem is that in the “would have” / “could have” world anything is possible... If Max would have taken himself out in the first lap with Lewis, Bottas got a puncture, Leclerc had a horrible pit stop and Perez couldn’t finish because the pain in his shoulder got worst, then Daniel could have won!

That’s the issue, you have a tendency to get into fantasy world and even though things are “plausible” the facts on track show something different... Let’s discuss what actually happen instead of wondering what could have happened and start throwing every scenario possible in the table.


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[Darth-Piekus]

True but people are missing what I am saying all this time. We would have the chance to finish in front because they wouldn't have been able to overtake. If it wasn't for circumstances in Q3 Norris would have started in front and probably stayed in front cause its hard to overtake.

The problem is that in the “would have” / “could have” world anything is possible... If Max would have taken himself out in the first lap with Lewis, Bottas got a puncture, Leclerc had a horrible pit stop and Perez couldn’t finish because the pain in his shoulder got worst, then Daniel could have won!

That’s the issue, you have a tendency to get into fantasy world and even though things are “plausible” the facts on track show something different... Let’s discuss what actually happen instead of wondering what could have happened and start throwing every scenario possible in the table.


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That goes both ways.

[trinidefender]

True but people are missing what I am saying all this time. We would have the chance to finish in front because they wouldn't have been able to overtake. If it wasn't for circumstances in Q3 Norris would have started in front and probably stayed in front cause its hard to overtake.

You're acting like it would have been a surety that had Norris got in a proper Q3 lap that he would have qualified in front of Leclerc. Ferrari had the pace advantage all weekend and Leclerc is one of the best on the grid how can you say that Norris WOULD have qualified ahead of him?

Considering the above, most likely Norris and Riccardo still would have qualified behind Leclerc even if they had gotten perfect laps.

[Darth-Piekus]

I cant say that he would have for sure but he did do that in Q1 and Q2. I'm saying that if he managed to start in front he had a possibility of ending in front due to Spain being a GP that's hard to pass.

[Seerix]

Tom actually called Daniel "Carlos" during 2nd very last minute pitstop call
Also Lando was coasting after overtaking Ocon, as there was some unspecified issue with the car (from Will on Lando's radio)

Good damage limitations, I think better quali would have given us at least a chance for better positions (probably only SAI position, who knows). I hope we extract everything out of the car in Monaco quali in 2 weeks.

[Emag]

The problem is that apart from S1, I think we will struggle in Monaco. But let's see how it goes.

[Darth-Piekus]

Let's hope for the best.

[SmallSoldier]

A few interesting highlights of the weekend:

Last year in Qualifying the MCL35 was 1.5 seconds from pole, this season that was cut to 0.9 seconds from pole... (And as a few may argue, there could have been another tenth or two available with Norris)... Once again showing improvement over last season!

The pitstops today were the best of the season probably, consistent and below the 3 second mark which is what the team needs to continue their fight.

Slow corners are still an issue for the MCL35M, maybe not as much as last year, but still behind main rivals this season (Ferrari)... That will be problematic in races as Monaco, Hungary and Singapore, but on the other hand, the team could have great performance in faster circuits... With more circuits favoring the MCL35M than the other way around, we could be in for a long and fun fight with Ferrari season all year long.

What seems to be clear that even though the midfield is tight, the car is ahead of the rest of the rest of the midfield, with more performance than Aston Martin, Alpine and Alpha Tauri (although, there will be a few races where those could potentially be ahead of Mclaren)... The biggest advantage might be that the Team has the better driver pair against those in my opinion (with the exception of Ferrari, where they have drivers pretty much on par with Mclaren).


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[trinidefender]

One thing about today which will be good for the working relationship between Lando and Daniel is that when team orders were given to swap places there didn't seem to be any argument about it from Lando. It can be argued that this extra lap or two of breathing room of Lando slowing down Sainz behind is what allowed Sainz to scrub his tyres enough that he didn't have enough pace to overtake Daniel when he did catch up. Prior to the second stop Sainz was well within DRS range for a while and was almost able to make an overtaking manoeuvre stick a few times. Good teamwork there.

In a previous race this season the team told Daniel to move over for Lando and now they did the opposite so it shows parity on how they treat their drivers.

A good team and driver relationship will be vital for McLaren to make progress up the constructors championship in the future so this bodes well.

Point No.2 to take away from the race is the generally good pitstops that we had. Wasn't class of the field by any stretch of the imagination but definitely an improvement over the season average so far.

[Darth-Piekus]

One thing about today which will be good for the working relationship between Lando and Daniel is that when team orders were given to swap places there didn't seem to be any argument about it from Lando. It can be argued that this extra lap or two of breathing room of Lando slowing down Sainz behind is what allowed Sainz to scrub his tyres enough that he didn't have enough pace to overtake Daniel when he did catch up. Prior to the second stop Sainz was well within DRS range for a while and was almost able to make an overtaking manoeuvre stick a few times. Good teamwork there.

In a previous race this season the team told Daniel to move over for Lando and now they did the opposite so it shows parity on how they treat their drivers.

A good team and driver relationship will be vital for McLaren to make progress up the constructors championship in the future so this bodes well.

Point No.2 to take away from the race is the generally good pitstops that we had. Wasn't class of the field by any stretch of the imagination but definitely an improvement over the season average so far.

The question is what happens if next year with the reset the team produces a championship winning car and our drivers are in a position to go for the championship. Will they show team spirit?

[Emag]

Daniel definitely showed some signs of progress today. Given how tight the battle with Ferrari is, it is absolutely crucial that both drivers outperform the Ferrari's when the track favors our car. Hopefully Daniel will be more on top of it from now on. Would be cool to see him have a good quali in Monaco, as he has always been very strong there.

[proteus]

One thing about today which will be good for the working relationship between Lando and Daniel is that when team orders were given to swap places there didn't seem to be any argument about it from Lando. It can be argued that this extra lap or two of breathing room of Lando slowing down Sainz behind is what allowed Sainz to scrub his tyres enough that he didn't have enough pace to overtake Daniel when he did catch up. Prior to the second stop Sainz was well within DRS range for a while and was almost able to make an overtaking manoeuvre stick a few times. Good teamwork there.

In a previous race this season the team told Daniel to move over for Lando and now they did the opposite so it shows parity on how they treat their drivers.

A good team and driver relationship will be vital for McLaren to make progress up the constructors championship in the future so this bodes well.

Point No.2 to take away from the race is the generally good pitstops that we had. Wasn't class of the field by any stretch of the imagination but definitely an improvement over the season average so far.

The question is what happens if next year with the reset the team produces a championship winning car and our drivers are in a position to go for the championship. Will they show team spirit?

[elldizzle]

A few interesting highlights of the weekend:

Last year in Qualifying the MCL35 was 1.5 seconds from pole, this season that was cut to 0.9 seconds from pole... (And as a few may argue, there could have been another tenth or two available with Norris)... Once again showing improvement over last season!

The pitstops today were the best of the season probably, consistent and below the 3 second mark which is what the team needs to continue their fight.

Slow corners are still an issue for the MCL35M, maybe not as much as last year, but still behind main rivals this season (Ferrari)... That will be problematic in races as Monaco, Hungary and Singapore, but on the other hand, the team could have great performance in faster circuits... With more circuits favoring the MCL35M than the other way around, we could be in for a long and fun fight with Ferrari season all year long.

What seems to be clear that even though the midfield is tight, the car is ahead of the rest of the rest of the midfield, with more performance than Aston Martin, Alpine and Alpha Tauri (although, there will be a few races where those could potentially be ahead of Mclaren)... The biggest advantage might be that the Team has the better driver pair against those in my opinion (with the exception of Ferrari, where they have drivers pretty much on par with Mclaren).


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Effectively what I was thinking. While we didn't have the race pace to Ferrari, we were a good step ahead of others in the midfield today. There were points after pitstops where alpha, alpine and Aston where right behind us and they had nothing.
It was interesting if you Listen to Lando's comments after the race, re the pace difference to Ferrari. He said they could lean a bit more on the rear here in the slow to medium speed corners and on this track there just wasn't enough straights or high speed corners to suit the Mclaren car. This kind of confirms what others have said. This battle will swing back and forth as we go to tracks that suit the 2 cars. See Monaco as a struggle for us, But the likes of baku, being a more highspeed power circuit suiting us. I look forward to a close battle, as we remember last year how much it swung with Racing Point.

[M840TR]

A few interesting highlights of the weekend:

Last year in Qualifying the MCL35 was 1.5 seconds from pole, this season that was cut to 0.9 seconds from pole... (And as a few may argue, there could have been another tenth or two available with Norris)... Once again showing improvement over last season!

The pitstops today were the best of the season probably, consistent and below the 3 second mark which is what the team needs to continue their fight.

Slow corners are still an issue for the MCL35M, maybe not as much as last year, but still behind main rivals this season (Ferrari)... That will be problematic in races as Monaco, Hungary and Singapore, but on the other hand, the team could have great performance in faster circuits... With more circuits favoring the MCL35M than the other way around, we could be in for a long and fun fight with Ferrari season all year long.

What seems to be clear that even though the midfield is tight, the car is ahead of the rest of the rest of the midfield, with more performance than Aston Martin, Alpine and Alpha Tauri (although, there will be a few races where those could potentially be ahead of Mclaren)... The biggest advantage might be that the Team has the better driver pair against those in my opinion (with the exception of Ferrari, where they have drivers pretty much on par with Mclaren).


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Effectively what I was thinking. While we didn't have the race pace to Ferrari, we were a good step ahead of others in the midfield today. There were points after pitstops where alpha, alpine and Aston where right behind us and they had nothing.
It was interesting if you Listen to Lando's comments after the race, re the pace difference to Ferrari. He said they could lean a bit more on the rear here in the slow to medium speed corners and on this track there just wasn't enough straights or high speed corners to suit the Mclaren car. This kind of confirms what others have said. This battle will swing back and forth as we go to tracks that suit the 2 cars. See Monaco as a struggle for us, But the likes of baku, being a more highspeed power circuit suiting us. I look forward to a close battle, as we remember last year how much it swung with Racing Point.

You bring up an interesting point actually. The team has had the upper hand for I'd say 3 out of 4 races this year and even the remainder was a bit confusing to accurately gauge real pace given quali mess. However, Ferrari is not RP/Aston; they have better drivers, better resources and better strategists. Let's not forget only 2 years ago Leclerc was snatching poles every other week.

It's not going to be easy going against this behemoth. The team can't afford slip-ups. But I believe they have what it takes. That's why Daniel's performance today was so crucial.