2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

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
https://i.ibb.co/2YC2CKh/9-A9567-EE-758 ... 3-FFE7.jpg

Yeah I can see what you mean, but if it is deployment then it just looks like we deploy more earlier in the straight as we overall gain and lose nothing between Spoon and Casio. We spoke about it privately before so I'll elaborate in case anyone is interested..

There are instances where the Mclaren bleeds speed before a corner whilst others continue to accelerate and this is often within a DRS zone that it is more noticeable, but not exclusive to DRS zones. I want to look at this more and see if this is a real phenomenon, but it looks entirely possible that the issues in the DRS zone could possibly belong to deployment.

However, what I have noted is that this isn't consistent from track to track, but then that makes sense because deployment and regeneration will differ from track to track. Looking at Suzuka I did not notice any early drop in speed like at Jeddah, for instance. Looking at the telemetry after spoon, it just looks like the cars balance out and that there's no advantage.

I did see this phenomenon again at Australia. Corners 9/10. Which when in the race without DRS, we were the fastest through.

Edit: and still probably fastest even dropping speed at the end of the "straight" in Q, to be honest. Monumentally fast.

[LionsHeart]

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.

Yes indeed. I accidentally added a smiley to your message. Sorry.

Regarding your reasoning: I still doubt that McLaren has such a reserve. If there is a margin in overall downforce, balance and handling, anything is possible. Lando himself is not very happy with the qualifying laps, as he is experiencing difficulties with the 18-inch tires and with the chassis itself. In the race, everything is easier for him. But in the race there are problems with corner entry, when the tires are already tired and do not have enough grip.

I recently read a long interview of his, where it was said that he was experiencing certain difficulties in qualifying. Perhaps the chassis lacks a certain stability. And when he tries to reach his limit, he makes mistakes and then after qualifying he says that he is unhappy with his lap because he lost a couple of tens. Last year this happened very often. The guys wrote about this before, that the car is controlled on a knife edge, therefore, when the limits are reached, the chassis becomes extremely nervous, loses stability, smoothness and predictability.

This means that the car requires not just an increase in downforce, which in general is already quite a lot, but the essence is in controllability, in the convenience of driving. In this case, it will simply be easier for Lando to extract speed and find the edge easier without crossing the line, which will ultimately give consistently high results.

[mwillems]

Yes I saw this. He was saying that there isn't enough feeling in the car to understand what it is doing when the car is right on the edge, and this is part of his struggles with getting the car to the edge and staying on the right side of it.

[LionsHeart]

Yes I saw this. He was saying that there isn't enough feeling in the car to understand what it is doing when the car is right on the edge, and this is part of his struggles with getting the car to the edge and staying on the right side of it.

Yes, something like that. So now I'm just patiently waiting for Miami. There are a couple of awkward long slow turns. Let's see how the update package will partially or significantly solve the problems. I want to hear comments from the drivers. Will there be significant improvements, or will the increase be small?

[mwillems]

Yes I saw this. He was saying that there isn't enough feeling in the car to understand what it is doing when the car is right on the edge, and this is part of his struggles with getting the car to the edge and staying on the right side of it.

Yes, something like that. So now I'm just patiently waiting for Miami. There are a couple of awkward long slow turns. Let's see how the update package will partially or significantly solve the problems. I want to hear comments from the drivers. Will there be significant improvements, or will the increase be small?

If this is Baku level then I will start supporting Ferrari

[LionsHeart]

Yes I saw this. He was saying that there isn't enough feeling in the car to understand what it is doing when the car is right on the edge, and this is part of his struggles with getting the car to the edge and staying on the right side of it.

Yes, something like that. So now I'm just patiently waiting for Miami. There are a couple of awkward long slow turns. Let's see how the update package will partially or significantly solve the problems. I want to hear comments from the drivers. Will there be significant improvements, or will the increase be small?

If this is Baku level then I will start supporting Ferrari

Do you mean one tenth of a second after installing the floor with a different concept? Noooo. No Mikey no, that was so not right.

[LionsHeart]

Meanwhile, it's raining in Suzuka right now. Some of the rubber will wash away. There will be less grip on the road and tire wear will be higher. The temperature for the race is expected to be approximately 20-22 degrees Celsius and cloudy. There is a chance of precipitation, but it is minimal.

[CjC]

Stella sounds optimistic too
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/how- ... /10595796/

Do the McLarens have a new medium as well?

EDIT

yes they do
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... g0uVW.html

[AR3-GP]

Stella sounds optimistic too
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/how- ... /10595796/

I think the part about the soft tire being viable is wrong. It will be significantly hotter for the race tomorrow (24C, +74F) air temperature, and clear sky (so track temp will be even further up from sunlight) compared to qualifying.

The soft tire wasn't lasting the full lap in qualifying. How does it become a good race tire tomorrow?

[CjC]

Stella sounds optimistic too
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/how- ... /10595796/

I think the part about the soft tire being viable is wrong. It will be significantly hotter for the race tomorrow (24C, +74F) air temperature, and clear sky (so track temp will be even further up from sunlight) compared to qualifying.

The soft tire wasn't lasting the full lap in qualifying. How does it become a good race tire tomorrow?

Yea I had my doubts about that too and I believe it’s rained in Suzuka since quali so you would imagine Medium will be the preferred starting tyre so most will do M/H/M with the Mclarens and Mercs doing M/H/H?

[LionsHeart]

Stella sounds optimistic too
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/how- ... /10595796/

I think the part about the soft tire being viable is wrong. It will be significantly hotter for the race tomorrow (24C, +74F) air temperature, and clear sky (so track temp will be even further up from sunlight) compared to qualifying.

The soft tire wasn't lasting the full lap in qualifying. How does it become a good race tire tomorrow?

Yea I had my doubts about that too and I believe it’s rained in Suzuka since quali so you would imagine Medium will be the preferred starting tyre so most will do M/H/M with the Mclarens and Mercs doing M/H/H?

Medium/Hard/Hard for McLaren. Having two hard drives is good. If I remember correctly, last year McLaren was driving M/H/H.

[FittingMechanics]

Let's go get them!

PIT → NOR
06:58
OK Lando. Soft starters are ALO, HUL, BOT, ALB, OCO, STR, GAS, SAR. Everyone else on new Medium.

Important to keep ALO behind us.

EDIT: Good defensive positioning by Norris to block Alonso. Very important.

[FittingMechanics]

some may go for a H-H strategy now, I guess. Although probably more likely on the 2nd half of the grid

Maybe worth gambling with Piastri?

EDIT: No changes for McLaren. Mercedes going long with hards on restart.

[mwillems]

Unfortunately the Ferrari looks more agile at this point, but the longer we keep the Ferraris behind the better. A change to hards and this race will come to us I just hope we get the undercut.

[FittingMechanics]

Unfortunately the Ferrari looks more agile at this point, but the longer we keep the Ferraris behind the better. A change to hards and this race will come to us I just hope we get the undercut.

Hards may be an advantage. We can go earlier to undercut.

I do wish we gambled with one car going Hard-Hard.