2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[Lucky]

Alpha Tauri will probably trouble Mclaren too

AT also has problems in slow turns

[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).


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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.

You're right. We did benefit from RP not putting weekends together on occasion last season. I beleive Ferrari with this driver pairing will be tough. We just have to keep our consistency, which helped us last season and maximize weekends where we aren't as competitive, Like this weekend.

[nevill3]

Daniel made an insightful remark in an interview, he attributed some of his increased performance this weekend due to the Spanish track that he knows so well due to all the testing that he has done there. His intimate knowledge of the track enabled him to have a solid reference as to where the McLaren is stronger or different to his previous cars. This has enabled him to become more comfortable with changing the setup etc to get the car balanced in such a way he can then extract more performance. It also helped him nail the differences the McLaren has and feels he now knows what to expect and how to improve. This is all good news for the rest of the season

[Emag]

He did say though that he is not quite there yet, as there were certain laps that he did not drive the car to its potential (according to him). I hope him beating Lando gives him a confidence boost going onto the next races now. Even though he did not show it, I bet he was quite frustrated internally, especially for Imola, where Lando was on average almost a second quicker than him in the race.

[CjC]

Alpha Tauri will probably trouble Mclaren too

AT also has problems in slow turns

Oh I thought they were strong in the slow stuff but actually now you’ve said it they have stronger weekends when Mclaren do so they must share similar strengths

[CjC]

I’d be very surprised (but pleased) if we were able to get Row 3 in Monaco- I suspect Ferrari will be mighty there.

Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Alpin will definitely be faster.

Alpha Tauri will probably trouble Mclaren too

That's a tad pessimistic don't you think?

We're fighting Haas and Williams then....

I’ll take my comment back, I thought Alpha were strong in the slow stuff.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Alpine are marginally ahead of Mclaren at Monaco though. Mclaren have an inherent weakness in the slow stuff since the ‘19 season at least

[djos]

Monaco now in two weeks. What do we expect from this race?

Daniel is epic at Monaco, he’ll drag the car up the grid for sure. I’d say row 2 start is achievable.

Not in a car he's not comfortable in yet he won't. Monaco is all about absolute faith in where the car will end up when you commit.

He made a big leap forward at Barcelona (as I predicted he would), so I fully expect to see Daniel back to his full Honey Badger ways (or really close to) at all the tracks he knows well.

It'll be interesting to see how Daniel goes at Barcelona - he knows this track incredibly well from many, many years of testing and racing there. Imo it should really help him fine-tune his driving style to extract the most out of the car. I would not be at all surprised to see him at least out-qualify Lando and possibly beat him in the race.

[adrianjordan]

Going into Monaco if I was the team I’d think about slapping on as much downforce as possible and focusing on quali performance as we all know overtaking is next to impossible at monaco

I mean, that is exactly what every team on the grid will be doing!!

[diffuser]

Track position has cost McLaren dearly, worst still Leclerc’ pace has been rather enviable

Ferrari simply had more pace... Lando should get ahead of OCO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was a Track that played to Ferrari's strengths. So will Monaco. Azerbaijan will see the return of a track favouring McLaren. The switch from Montreal to Turkey replaces a McLaren track with a Ferrari track, I realise Turkey is still on shaky ground.

[diffuser]

Going into Monaco if I was the team I’d think about slapping on as much downforce as possible and focusing on quali performance as we all know overtaking is next to impossible at monaco

I mean, that is exactly what every team on the grid will be doing!!

Yep, the edge comes down to chassis in lower speeds.

Will be interesting to see how all the drivers in their new teams do. Monaco's so much about trusting and believing in the car and how much the car makes the driver feel comfortable in it. Then there is Norris, Ocon, Stroll that have only been at this track once before or never with their current team.

[SmallSoldier]

Track position has cost McLaren dearly, worst still Leclerc’ pace has been rather enviable

Ferrari simply had more pace... Lando should get ahead of OCO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was a Track that played to Ferrari's strengths. So will Monaco. Azerbaijan will see the return of a track favouring McLaren. The switch from Montreal to Turkey replaces a McLaren track with a Ferrari track, I realise Turkey is still on shaky ground.

It will be a fun fight all through the season, I do believe that just like last year, with the teams been so close, the drivers will make a difference and both driver pairings are very strong.

Luckily for Mclaren, I believe that tracks like Istanbul Park, even when it won’t play to their strengths, it won’t make them suffer as much as Barcelona or Monaco... Hungary should be a difficult one... But there are more tracks in the calendar that should play to Mclaren’s strengths than the other way around.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[charliesmithhd]

[the EDGE]

Well that’s the most intriguing news I’ve read all year... any guesses? Or inside info?

Must be something pretty big if it effects the whole McLaren group... and I assume it’s a step forward, not backwards!

Entering new series?
B-team tie-up, like Ferrari/Haas?
Wind tunnel complete ahead of schedule?
In house Riccardo Pu? - unlikely!

[the EDGE]

Seems it is at least true...

[charliesmithhd]

Media event for it, must be big