2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[LionsHeart]

Good qualification, high pace, strong times. I was quite pleased with what I saw. Well, at least here in Suzuka McLaren is second in pure speed. Let's see what the pace will be tomorrow, since tire wear here is very high.

[BMMR61]

When upgrades are overrated. Lance carried the upgrade package for AM, even though he's been going well lately this is what happens if you don't nail the upgrade. McLaren haven't made a lot of false steps or overplayed their ambitions. I'm very proud of the guys even if Oscar was a little underwhelming today. Our non-upgraded McLaren MCL38 carved 3 tenths off the qualifying advantage Max had over us last year. Now lets wait for a real upgrade, one that works, Miami? Imola?

[Tomsky]

When upgrades are overrated. Lance carried the upgrade package for AM, even though he's been going well lately this is what happens if you don't nail the upgrade.

Alonso also received new items and showed a good result. Stroll has no place in F1.

[Emag]

I think Miami remains the target, but before that we will have to endure China where I think we will not be good at all with all those long corners.

[mwillems]

Lando drove his lap very badly last year.

As far as I recall they both did good laps with minor mistakes at the final corners that cost each a tenth.

If Lando drove worse than Oscar, then this is clearly not his best lap.

I'm assuming that's a joke because assuming that a driver has little to no capability of putting a fast lap together would be both damning and ridiculous. It's no basis for any conclusion.

[CjC]

Apart from Bahrain, they've had great deg pretty much everywhere else and they were the best (or very close to) when it comes to tire wear in Australia. They did great here last year and now the prediction for rain in sunday is gone as well, so that removes another potential mixer.

I think they should do well here. It depends if the teams around make a big jump in terms of race pace, but this car has been good on maintaining the same relative pace from quali to race so I am slightly optimistic.

Yea you are right.
I’m just basing it on how it looked on track in FP3, I think they might loose the rear tyres quicker than the other do

FP3 is generally not representative and it highly depends on what the teams use it for. It is indeed the closest session to qualifying but it's rarely indicative of the real performance because track/weather conditions are also quite different to both the race and quali.

Lando said that podium was definitely in his target in the post quali interviews, but I understand your cautious approach. It's been a looong time since McLaren last started the season with a relatively decent car.

Is that what Lando said? I didn’t have time to watch the post quali interviews.
If that’s what he’s said than I’m a little more optimistic

[CjC]

I think Miami remains the target, but before that we will have to endure China where I think we will not be good at all with all those long corners.

More thought exactly. Hopefully they can bring at least one package to China

[FittingMechanics]

Look at the big picture. This is a long game. It is much more important to get the best bang for your buck than to bring updates as soon as possible. Cost cap changed how things need to be done, you need to be cost efficient. Making parts that bring you marginal gains while you see plenty of further potential for development is a bad idea. This is why Stella said that they have several things in the works but they will bring them when they mature.

I have no issues if the team is slow to bring updates, but then when they bring them they are big and propel them forward. Kind of like it was last year. We waited until Austria and then got a big jump.

From the last info I saw, the upgrade will be there in Miami.

[CjC]

For clarification I mean the update that is penned for Miami… try and bring one package worth of parts to one of the cars like they did last season.

[mwillems]

Look at the big picture. This is a long game. It is much more important to get the best bang for your buck than to bring updates as soon as possible. Cost cap changed how things need to be done, you need to be cost efficient. Making parts that bring you marginal gains while you see plenty of further potential for development is a bad idea. This is why Stella said that they have several things in the works but they will bring them when they mature.

I have no issues if the team is slow to bring updates, but then when they bring them they are big and propel them forward. Kind of like it was last year. We waited until Austria and then got a big jump.

From the last info I saw, the upgrade will be there in Miami.

I agree. We are budget limited not development limited, so we prioritise finding as much time as possible for the money we have.

Lando did subsequently say there were some areas they were struggling with though, but I wasn't sure if the context was over the past few years or with these developments.

[Ground Effect]

So was there any indication of long run pace? It appears a few teams did a race sim during FP3, did McLaren? Also, did the team use the hard tyre in any of the FP sessions?

[LionsHeart]

So was there any indication of long run pace? It appears a few teams did a race sim during FP3, did McLaren? Also, did the team use the hard tyre in any of the FP sessions?

McLaren certainly didn’t use hard tires in practice.

[mwillems]

Pretty much halved the one lap deficit to Max since last Japan GP. And that's not basing against a non upgraded car. That's pretty impressive.

It's cooler conditions, it favours our car a little more than last year but yes, we do look like we have reduced the deficit to RB in Q. However, let's wait to see if they have simply set it up for the race, which I think they have.

I mean last year was pretty cool too. Excited for the upgrades, ideally we can truly challenge for poles at some upcoming circuits! Hopefully can secure the podium tomorrow to consolidate P3 in the constructors for now.

True, it was similar.

It does seem like we are a couple of tenths from pole, which is where we were for several of the last races of the previous season. Ferrari have got ahead a bit, Merc dropped back and despite the points on the board so far, we are probably very close to being the second fastest car. Miami could be very exciting. But I do wonder how much Ferrari and RB are set up for the race. Hopefully not.

Still curious to see if we struggle in the first half of the race in those sub 170kph longer corners.

[De Wet]

Planet F1:

[BMMR61]

This may be as good as it gets for qualifying until McLaren get significant updates, given this is, with Qatar, our best track. To be fair to Red Bull the limited FP running may have made it hard getting the best out of their upgrade package but <0.3 is decent after 0.58 last year.