2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

Qualifying is better than race pace in part due to the tyres and we are often at the edge of Q3.

Unfortunately we don't translate the starts into good points as often as we should.

Can't blame the tyres... Eveyone has the same tyres... Let's see after the updates...

Not too sure about how good our suspensions are either...

I mean to say the way we handle the tyres, not that it is Pirellis fault

Re: Suspension... not as good as Red Bulls, for sure! Certainly Stella has been spekaing about the Yaw of the car and the Aero.

[inzomnia365]

Pace in the wet and cold has proven there is pace in the car, but it just doesnt work 'correctly' in "normal" / hot conditions. If they can understand why theyre so much faster when its cold and damp (amongst the quickest on the grid), then they could hopefully translate that. Some of it might be downforce/drag, which hurts more in the dry - but its not just in wet / dry, its also in dry conditions after rain, or when the track is dry but cold. So downforce doesnt explain it all.

[LionsHeart]

I will explain. The chassis is good in cool and rainy conditions because the suspension warms up the tires quickly and turns them on. Also in cool conditions, the risk of tire overheating is lower, also in cool conditions, the grip is much higher, which hides the weaknesses of the McLaren. In qualifying, when the tires are fresh, we have good speed, provided there are fast corners, hard braking and no long straights. In racing conditions in warm weather, working with tires is difficult. And I have never seen Stella say that they have a fundamental problem in the front or rear suspension. I can only assume that the problem lies in the lack of downforce and aerodynamic balance of the chassis, well, let's add here the high drag. If the upgrades work properly, then McLaren could make a big jump up. Stella has already said at the presentation that they know the chassis problems and that they are unhappy with it. And the problems were clarified in the winter, when it was decided to go in another direction, whose first fruits we saw only in Baku. The second update package will arrive soon, and it will be clear there whether everything is fine. I also dare to assume that the new wind tunnel is already in operation and that the third update package will be developed in the same place, this will allow us to understand the overall effectiveness of new tools, correlation and so on. All updates that will be used this season will be used on the 2024 chassis, so the development of the chassis for 2024 can be a little delayed.

[Lucky]

"It's not just that we're missing 20 points of downforce on the front, 20 points of downforce on the rear, it's the actual handling characteristics of the car that we also need to fix, because there are feelings I have in the car that we've had for the last five years, and haven't changed.....
https://racingnews365.com/norris-downbe ... k-suits-us

[mwillems]

And to add, Stella has mentioned that the car doesn't have an issue generating downforce. It has downforce.

On the straights.

But we need it in the corners

This is when he mentioned the yaw of the car and the way the Aero works. You'd think that if the suspension can't be kept flat, we also can't go as low as we'd like, so this may be an additional issue. Less peak downforce, downforce loss in corners due to yaw, tires get hot too quickly... Plus the magic anti dive that will help us on corner entry and exit.

To be fair, corner entry and exit look OK in comparison to most teams, perhaps our pitch management is OK?

Anyway with one magic Suspension update we have the potential to be faster than Red Bull if they were towing a caravan with furniture and just a few tins of beans.

[mclaren111]

And to add, Stella has mentioned that the car doesn't have an issue generating downforce. It has downforce.

On the straights.

But we need it in the corners

This is when he mentioned the yaw of the car and the way the Aero works. You'd think that if the suspension can't be kept flat, we also can't go as low as we'd like, so this may be an additional issue. Less peak downforce, downforce loss in corners due to yaw, tires get hot too quickly...

With one magic Suspension update we have the potential to be faster than Red Bull if they were towing a caravan.

[mwillems]

And to add, Stella has mentioned that the car doesn't have an issue generating downforce. It has downforce.

On the straights.

But we need it in the corners

This is when he mentioned the yaw of the car and the way the Aero works. You'd think that if the suspension can't be kept flat, we also can't go as low as we'd like, so this may be an additional issue. Less peak downforce, downforce loss in corners due to yaw, tires get hot too quickly...

With one magic Suspension update we have the potential to be faster than Red Bull if they were towing a caravan.

Damnit I just edited it lol

[SmallSoldier]

Mika is right. McLaren has the potential to make a big leap forward. I don’t understand why there always have to be so much pessimism about the team. They can jump Mercedes and Aston this year. Maybe not fight Red Bull yet, but if they can do so next year at some races, then in 2025 McLaren can really make a challenge for the title as Zak promised they would.

Everyone has the potential to take a big leap forward, but the bigger the leap the harder it is to reach that potential.
Leaping Mercedes and Aston would be a huge leap. I mean, if we gained upwards of a second in the upgrades this year and Red Bull stood still, we'd be challenging them (Unless they are hiding speed). But I doubt we will gain upwards of a second and I doubt Red Bull will stand still.

Given that other teams would make time, I'd estimate we'd need to make .7s-.8s to be thinking about being reliably ahead of Aston after all of their upgrades.

These times are plucked guesstimates, but there really just to illustrate the gap and what would be required to achieve what you say. It could happen, but I highly doubt it. The fan in me hopes so though.

Not sure why anyone would suggest disrespect because you have unrealistic hopes though, I suspect Mercedes and Aston, if bothered, would laugh and ask you for some of what you're smoking

I mean, could... I...? Have some of what you're smoking?

You are just no seeing the 4D chess McLaren is playing… They are delaying the upgrades on purpose in order to be 5th-6th before the next allocation of wind tunnel time is defined so that they can maximize the use of the new wind tunnel.

I’m joking

[mwillems]

Mika is right. McLaren has the potential to make a big leap forward. I don’t understand why there always have to be so much pessimism about the team. They can jump Mercedes and Aston this year. Maybe not fight Red Bull yet, but if they can do so next year at some races, then in 2025 McLaren can really make a challenge for the title as Zak promised they would.

Everyone has the potential to take a big leap forward, but the bigger the leap the harder it is to reach that potential.
Leaping Mercedes and Aston would be a huge leap. I mean, if we gained upwards of a second in the upgrades this year and Red Bull stood still, we'd be challenging them (Unless they are hiding speed). But I doubt we will gain upwards of a second and I doubt Red Bull will stand still.

Given that other teams would make time, I'd estimate we'd need to make .7s-.8s to be thinking about being reliably ahead of Aston after all of their upgrades.

These times are plucked guesstimates, but there really just to illustrate the gap and what would be required to achieve what you say. It could happen, but I highly doubt it. The fan in me hopes so though.

Not sure why anyone would suggest disrespect because you have unrealistic hopes though, I suspect Mercedes and Aston, if bothered, would laugh and ask you for some of what you're smoking

I mean, could... I...? Have some of what you're smoking?

You are just no seeing the 4D chess McLaren is playing… They are delaying the upgrades on purpose in order to be 5th-6th before the next allocation of wind tunnel time is defined so that they can maximize the use of the new wind tunnel.

I’m joking

You've been smoking it too To be fair you are from near Vegas so that stuff is probably like water to many out there

[mwillems]

"It's not just that we're missing 20 points of downforce on the front, 20 points of downforce on the rear, it's the actual handling characteristics of the car that we also need to fix, because there are feelings I have in the car that we've had for the last five years, and haven't changed.....
https://racingnews365.com/norris-downbe ... k-suits-us

This, if I recall correctly, may be in part down to the way the tyres deform and if I recall there was something to do with the way the tyres handle and deform in the corners that cannot be tested for in Cologne, but can in the new tunnel. In fact I'm not totally sure we have ever been able to do much around testing the cars cornering performance in the cologne wind tunnel. I wonder if that is why we had issues with the MCL33/32 (?) whose wheels were too close to the wing, but only in the corners... due to the fact that the airflow changed in such a way that a bigger spacing was required. They only realised on track and had to do a lot of testing of parts on track, I'm guessing because they couldn't test for it in the tunnel.

[SmallSoldier]

Everyone has the potential to take a big leap forward, but the bigger the leap the harder it is to reach that potential.
Leaping Mercedes and Aston would be a huge leap. I mean, if we gained upwards of a second in the upgrades this year and Red Bull stood still, we'd be challenging them (Unless they are hiding speed). But I doubt we will gain upwards of a second and I doubt Red Bull will stand still.

Given that other teams would make time, I'd estimate we'd need to make .7s-.8s to be thinking about being reliably ahead of Aston after all of their upgrades.

These times are plucked guesstimates, but there really just to illustrate the gap and what would be required to achieve what you say. It could happen, but I highly doubt it. The fan in me hopes so though.

Not sure why anyone would suggest disrespect because you have unrealistic hopes though, I suspect Mercedes and Aston, if bothered, would laugh and ask you for some of what you're smoking

I mean, could... I...? Have some of what you're smoking?

You are just no seeing the 4D chess McLaren is playing… They are delaying the upgrades on purpose in order to be 5th-6th before the next allocation of wind tunnel time is defined so that they can maximize the use of the new wind tunnel.

I’m joking

You've been smoking it too To be fair you are from near Vegas so that stuff is probably like water to many out there

Edibles my friend… Only edibles, lol

[101FlyingDutchman]

No pics yet?

[mwillems]

You are just no seeing the 4D chess McLaren is playing… They are delaying the upgrades on purpose in order to be 5th-6th before the next allocation of wind tunnel time is defined so that they can maximize the use of the new wind tunnel.

I’m joking

You've been smoking it too To be fair you are from near Vegas so that stuff is probably like water to many out there

Edibles my friend… Only edibles, lol

Good, I'd hate to see you go hungry!

[mwillems]

No pics yet?

[mwillems]

Zak brown discussing our success timeline and the infrastructure upgrades.

https://racingnews365.com/exclusive-bro ... s-timeline