2025 McLaren F1 Team

[f1isgood]

Seems a plausible theory given McLaren don't suffer as much from thermal degradation as the others. On the other hand, it could also simply be explained by the fact that the car has more consistent downforce in general which will also have a similar effect I think.

[AR3-GP]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

[CjC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn-nBA-WWyU


Interesting video.

Amazing for us Mclaren fans of true.
Rob Marshall did say pre-season that the greatest innovation on the MCL39 is deeply hidden within the car.

I’m surprised the author didn’t mention Red Bull during the comparisons in the video…

[CjC]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

Heat temperature flexi ducts?

[f1isgood]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

Valid observation.

[BMMR61]

Matt Somerfield is of a similar opinion about the brake "nest" on Missed Apex Podcast yesterday.
McLaren's advantage discussed from 12 minutes.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr9SKUJtWqc

That earlier video mentioned by DeWet states that to catch up with this tech advance will not be practically viable for most teams given the cost cap and the major investments into 2026. With Red Bull though there is an urgency to "give Max a car he can win with" and of course the WDC for him is well viable. Maybe Mercedes and Ferrari will soon be turning their attentions away if the current trends continue.

[BMMR61]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

Heat temperature flexi ducts?

FIA to institute new measurements at behest of Red Bull? LOL.
Somerfield proposed that there may be some connection way back at Bahrain 2023 where McLaren had extreme issues with brake overheating. A major innovation introduced too young? Obviously a huge amount of R and D is behind this sort of advance and it's entirely independent of the normal aero considerations even if it is actually an internal aero development.

[AR3-GP]

Matt Somerfield is of a similar opinion about the brake "nest" on Missed Apex Podcast yesterday.
McLaren's advantage discussed from 12 minutes.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr9SKUJtWqc

That earlier video mentioned by DeWet states that to catch up with this tech advance will not be practically viable for most teams given the cost cap and the major investments into 2026. With Red Bull though there is an urgency to "give Max a car he can win with" and of course the WDC for him is well viable. Maybe Mercedes and Ferrari will soon be turning their attentions away if the current trends continue.

The technology carries over to 2026. Also, windtunnel time used for brake cooling is unrestricted/unlimited

[CjC]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

Heat temperature flexi ducts?

FIA to institute new measurements at behest of Red Bull? LOL.
Somerfield proposed that there may be some connection way back at Bahrain 2023 where McLaren had extreme issues with brake overheating. A major innovation introduced too young? Obviously a huge amount of R and D is behind this sort of advance and it's entirely independent of the normal aero considerations even if it is actually an internal aero development.

I imagining blow torches being fired directly down the brake ducts….. I wouldn’t want to be the scrutineer who has to hold the Vernier caliper

[Emag]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

I feel like this is a little bit disingenuous. SF24 had an inherent qualifying weakness, while being plagued with development problems throughout most of the season. Why is it even being compared to RB19 in any way? The RB19 had 14 poles. MCL39 has gone 4/6 at the moment and their biggest quali gap was Australia, the rest have been super close. In terms of ratio from the races we have seen so far, the MCL39 is not *very* different compared to the RB19, qualifying-wise. Racepace-wise it’s not even close, the RB19 made the rest of the grid look completely hopeless.

From comments like these, you get the impression that some people just look at the final standings and completely ignore the gaps.
Or maybe people forgot how dominant RB19 was. It’s literally the most dominant car of the sport, statistically.

[mwillems]

Exactly. And if you choose to look at the Qualifying in Australia, it isn't hard to see that other drivers didn't put in their bast laps. Russell had the capability to get to within 2 tenths of pole. Mclaren the only drivers to put in their 3 best sectors across Q on the same lap.

The car was fully pushed in 4 races so far, lost in Japan - because the car isn't good enough that you can get away with a mistake - and only won in Saudi because of a poor start from Max. Even then, RB were as fast as us. Australia the car's edginess helped our drivers go off track, pick up damage, lose time. China was the only dominant performance so far. In Bahrain, Russell was pushing us to the edge until he lost power steering, brakes went long and everything else he suffered from.

But yeah, ignore all that context and we are the fastest by a 3 tenths a lap at every circuit

Even if it were 3 tenths faster, it's still one strong upgrade away. But it isn't, and one small upgrade can change everything. You cannot be dominant if you can drop a tenth and lose pole. You cannot be dominant if a front wing change can put another car ahead of you.

In that video, that suggests we have crazy race pace... the data just doesn't agree. Australia, if we didn't have issues with edginess, and in China, we had better race pace. Australia more so. But in China we didn't even get that much of a gap.

I've noticed that at the end of the race the Mclaren loses some of it's pace relative to other cars, whether the gap is 3 seconds or 10 seconds. Somehow, this can only mean that the drivers are managing a gap and not that it can't actually go any faster. It's a huge assumption, one which is becoming more apparent isn't correct. I think in the coming races this will become more obvious.

[De Wet]

The RB19 and the SF24 had good tire management but they had tradeoffs. They lacked pace in qualifying trim because the car was slow to put energy into the tires (which was good for the race)

The MCL-39 seems very different. They are always very fast in qualifying and never suffer from cold tires. It is like a thermostat system where they put energy into the tires very quickly, but the heat source appears to "shut-off" once the tire reaches optimum temperature.

Heat temperature flexi ducts?