2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Sphere3758]

Did Lando not do a long run simulation today? I am a bit confused, but did not find any long run data for him

[mwillems]

A full second is an impressive improvement. Still not enough to catch RB, but still very good. Sadly McL is one of the slowest cars in the speedtrap, indicating they still got a bit too much drag.

If you look at our fast laps, there wasn't much in it in Q3 in terms time lost/gained on the straights.

In fact, on the straights we didn't really lose time, nor much in the slower speed corners. We lost more time vs Red Bull consistently on corner exists. Related perhaps to the struggles with the rear that both Oscar and Lando had this weekend?

We even only lost 5 hundredths of a second in the hairpin.

[BosF1]

If you look at our fast laps, there wasn't much in it in Q3 in terms time lost/gained on the straights.

In fact, on the straights we didn't really lose time, nor much in the slower speed corners. We lost more time vs Red Bull consistently on corner exists. Related perhaps to the struggles with the rear that both Oscar and Lando had this weekend?

We even only lost 5 hundredths of a second in the hairpin.

Thanks for the insights. I was thinking about it after qualifying, but it seems McLaren has been able to extract more performance out of the current package in the last few races, relative to its competitors and their cars. Given that we did not lose a significant amount of time in the slower speeds corners during Q, reinforces this thought.

In my opinion the understanding of the current iteration also bodes well for future development and updates. The team really seem on top of things the last couple of years.

[mwillems]

If you look at our fast laps, there wasn't much in it in Q3 in terms time lost/gained on the straights.

In fact, on the straights we didn't really lose time, nor much in the slower speed corners. We lost more time vs Red Bull consistently on corner exists. Related perhaps to the struggles with the rear that both Oscar and Lando had this weekend?

We even only lost 5 hundredths of a second in the hairpin.

Thanks for the insights. I was thinking about it after qualifying, but it seems McLaren has been able to extract more performance out of the current package in the last few races, relative to its competitors and their cars. Given that we did not lose a significant amount of time in the slower speeds corners during Q, reinforces this thought.

In my opinion the understanding of the current iteration also bodes well for future development and updates. The team really seem on top of things the last couple of years.

Ferrari is behaving much like us at this track and they have a good strong Italian nose, so unless they bodged their setup, then it just feels like the RB has more speed at the corner exits than everyone. But I'm curious as to why we aren't struggling in the places we would normally expect to struggle.
You may be right in that they may have found something in the setup, or maybe it is track specific, it will be interesting to find out.

[LionsHeart]

If you look at our fast laps, there wasn't much in it in Q3 in terms time lost/gained on the straights.

In fact, on the straights we didn't really lose time, nor much in the slower speed corners. We lost more time vs Red Bull consistently on corner exists. Related perhaps to the struggles with the rear that both Oscar and Lando had this weekend?

We even only lost 5 hundredths of a second in the hairpin.

Thanks for the insights. I was thinking about it after qualifying, but it seems McLaren has been able to extract more performance out of the current package in the last few races, relative to its competitors and their cars. Given that we did not lose a significant amount of time in the slower speeds corners during Q, reinforces this thought.

In my opinion the understanding of the current iteration also bodes well for future development and updates. The team really seem on top of things the last couple of years.

Ferrari is behaving much like us at this track and they have a good strong Italian nose, so unless they bodged their setup, then it just feels like the RB has more speed at the corner exits than everyone. But I'm curious as to why we aren't struggling in the places we would normally expect to struggle.
You may be right in that they may have found something in the setup, or maybe it is track specific, it will be interesting to find out.

Wait until tomorrow and see how much McLaren will lose in slow corners in relation to Red Bull and Ferrari.

[mwillems]

What you can see is that RB are attacking the corners earlier than we are. If you see our delta spike at a corner, it means we are getting into it the cornering phase earlier (Even if that just means braking and not turning), if you see it drop down and come back up, it means we are cornering later (And braking later), plus or minus some interference in the data. But you can see it clearly that RB are getting into some of the corners, hitting the apex and exiting earlier, without paying for it on the entry to the corner. This was a good amount of their advantage here. It was quickly reigned in fortunately and the cars all carried about the same speeds everywhere expect for immediate corner exists and the 1st and only DRS zone.

What you can also see is that until the DRS is activated, the difference in speeds was minimal. Those headline speeds are interesting, DRS efficiency is important, but it really isn't that much of a problem except on really long straights like at Jeddah. There isn't anything like that at most places. Don't be deceived by those numbers being peddled by a ton of sites it barely makes a difference to our lap times.

[mwillems]

Thanks for the insights. I was thinking about it after qualifying, but it seems McLaren has been able to extract more performance out of the current package in the last few races, relative to its competitors and their cars. Given that we did not lose a significant amount of time in the slower speeds corners during Q, reinforces this thought.

In my opinion the understanding of the current iteration also bodes well for future development and updates. The team really seem on top of things the last couple of years.

Ferrari is behaving much like us at this track and they have a good strong Italian nose, so unless they bodged their setup, then it just feels like the RB has more speed at the corner exits than everyone. But I'm curious as to why we aren't struggling in the places we would normally expect to struggle.
You may be right in that they may have found something in the setup, or maybe it is track specific, it will be interesting to find out.

Wait until tomorrow and see how much McLaren will lose in slow corners in relation to Red Bull and Ferrari.

Yes I am thinking that a full belly is too much for this car to cope with in those corners. My comments are more surprise that we even got around the hairpin well in Q.

Another hypothesis: If we are confident with tyre deg, might we be able to set the car up more for Qualifying configuration?

[AR3-GP]

Mclaren has a really good tire allocation for this race i think (2x Hard, 1x Medium, softs). While they may not be the outright fastest, the better tire allocation could make them faster than others in the race.

[mwillems]

Mclaren has a really good tire allocation for this race i think (2x Hard, 1x Medium, softs). While they may not be the outright fastest, the better tire allocation could make them faster than others in the race.

It feels like you're suggesting a Mclaren win

[MTudor]

The team did fantastic considering everyone else brought small or big upgrades. We could have had pole without the huge Red Bull upgrade. We were I would say comfortably faster than the upgraded Aston and from Ferrari this time.

No we couldn't have pole,RBR is miles ahead of everyone,Australia was a error in the Matrix

[LionsHeart]

https://i.ibb.co/xzy5Rwq/Suzuka.png

What you can see is that RB are attacking the corners earlier than we are. If you see our delta spike at a corner, it means we are getting into it the cornering phase earlier (Even if that just means braking and not turning), if you see it drop down and come back up, it means we are cornering later (And braking later), plus or minus some interference in the data. But you can see it clearly that RB are getting into some of the corners, hitting the apex and exiting earlier, without paying for it on the entry to the corner. This was a good amount of their advantage here. It was quickly reigned in fortunately and the cars all carried about the same speeds everywhere expect for immediate corner exists and the 1st and only DRS zone.

What you can also see is that until the DRS is activated, the difference in speeds was minimal. Those headline speeds are interesting, DRS efficiency is important, but it really isn't that much of a problem except on really long straights like at Jeddah. There isn't anything like that at most places. Don't be deceived by those numbers being peddled by a ton of sites it barely makes a difference to our lap times.

Nice graphics. Thanks for comparing lap times. The team is doing a good job and this is clearly visible here in Suzuka.

[MTudor]

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?

My thoughts exactly on the team,I'm so proud of the boys&girls in this team and we should not forget Andrea's role,for a newbie TP he is doing fantastic!

[LionsHeart]

Ferrari is behaving much like us at this track and they have a good strong Italian nose, so unless they bodged their setup, then it just feels like the RB has more speed at the corner exits than everyone. But I'm curious as to why we aren't struggling in the places we would normally expect to struggle.
You may be right in that they may have found something in the setup, or maybe it is track specific, it will be interesting to find out.

Wait until tomorrow and see how much McLaren will lose in slow corners in relation to Red Bull and Ferrari.

Yes I am thinking that a full belly is too much for this car to cope with in those corners. My comments are more surprise that we even got around the hairpin well in Q.

Another hypothesis: If we are confident with tyre deg, might we be able to set the car up more for Qualifying configuration?

To be honest, I think not. If we look at the first four weekends and collect average data from qualifying, even offhand from memory McLaren was consistently 3-4 in speed, and in the race on average the pace was like the 3rd fastest car. The team may have put more emphasis on the race as the main problems in the race appear when entering the slow corners.

The chassis does not yet have enough reserve to place more emphasis on qualification. And there’s no reason for it. Points are still awarded in the race.

This season the tire degradation looks good, but still a little below the level of Red Bull and Ferrari. Last year it was noticeable that McLaren worked well with the harder sets of tyres, while Ferrari did better with the soft ones. By the way, this is also one of the reasons that McLaren could not use the full potential of soft tires in one fast lap. On the other hand, the chassis quickly warms up hard tires and easily keeps them in the working window. In general, I think the reason lies somewhere here.

[LionsHeart]

Mwillems, regarding the telemetry that you posted: look at the acceleration graph after the Spoon turn and how Max and Lando drag the straight line before turn 130R. There is a drop in speed visible there. Apparently this is the zone where the electrical power begins to decline. In front of this zone, you can see that Lando is winning back quite a bit, but then he begins to lose again in relation to Max. Perhaps this is what we were talking about. Perhaps the McLaren actually expends more energy during acceleration, but then hits the peak power cut-off point earlier.

-here is a graphic for clarity

[mwillems]

Wait until tomorrow and see how much McLaren will lose in slow corners in relation to Red Bull and Ferrari.

Yes I am thinking that a full belly is too much for this car to cope with in those corners. My comments are more surprise that we even got around the hairpin well in Q.

Another hypothesis: If we are confident with tyre deg, might we be able to set the car up more for Qualifying configuration?

To be honest, I think not. If we look at the first four weekends and collect average data from qualifying, even offhand from memory McLaren was consistently 3-4 in speed, and in the race on average the pace was like the 3rd fastest car. The team may have put more emphasis on the race as the main problems in the race appear when entering the slow corners.

The chassis does not yet have enough reserve to place more emphasis on qualification. And there’s no reason for it. Points are still awarded in the race.

This season the tire degradation looks good, but still a little below the level of Red Bull and Ferrari. Last year it was noticeable that McLaren worked well with the harder sets of tyres, while Ferrari did better with the soft ones. By the way, this is also one of the reasons that McLaren could not use the full potential of soft tires in one fast lap. On the other hand, the chassis quickly warms up hard tires and easily keeps them in the working window. In general, I think the reason lies somewhere here.

Hey did you insert a smiley into my quote...?

You are probably right, it is a long shot of a thought, but I wonder if we do have some tyre deg in the Bank of Suzuka savings account and can afford to sacrifice looking after the race tyres via the setup and allowing us to have a better one lap pace.

I will be interested to know how tomorrow pans out, because whilst I want to believe that we have just taken another step, it feels like it's probably either track or setup specific and it won't carry over to other races. It's also just a huge surprise not to see us struggle in those corners we normally struggle in.