2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[FittingMechanics]

I'm intrigued by Lando's pace before the safety car and I decided to analyze.

Lando was catching Verstappen after Perez went to pits, he reduced the gap from 11s to 9.5s at VSC time.
Verstappen exited about 10.5-10.6s behind Lando.
Lando increased this to 11.5s when SC came but he was lapping 0.3-0.4s faster than Verstappen in those laps. His laps were consistent 1:32:1 and there were no messages to use the tyre. I believe Lando would extend further.

Notable drivers behind Norris at that time are:
Verstappen 11.5s
Leclerc 14.1s
Piastri 15.3s
Sainz 18.2s
Perez 23.1s

When Piastri pit, his total time loss in pit was about 20s. So if Norris pit without SC he would have ended up behind VER, LEC, PIA and SAI. A tough job. We don't know times SAI and PIA would do after their pitstops but even if they are losing 0.5s per lap, it would be hard to overcut PIA but SAI was maybe possible (if he was 0.5s slower than Lando). What is interesting is that no one really had much of degradation. Piastri lap times were similar to Sainz but Leclerc was slightly gaining on them.

Who knows how long those mediums could have lasted. It is quite surprising Verstappen opted to pit, he was still 2-3 seconds ahead and undercut was not strong. His lap times did not fall off the cliff and by doing his pitstop, he opened himself up to a lot of risk due to potential SCs. Looking at it now it does seem like a strategy blunder from Red Bull. PIA and SAI almost got SC pitstop as well.

On McLaren strategy - it is easy to be a general after the battle but I am not sure if pitting Piastri made sense. His laptimes were decent and he was already undercut by Leclerc while Sainz was not that close and effect of undercut wasn't that significant. It is likely they could have waited and saw whether Sainz lap times improve. It would have given Piastri more tyre delta toward the end and it would have opened an opportunity for a lucky SC or VSC.

That being said, I think it is good that Lando won before Oscar. Imagine how frustrated he would feel to lose out on a win if the reason for it was Perez divebomb in T1 that shuffles him to P6.

[FittingMechanics]

Stellar race but I think we need to be ready for Red Bull to bounce back. Their pace was too similar to Ferrari without upgrades to be a realistic representation.

[mwillems]

...

After Oscar's collision with Carlos, at the pit stop Oscar was fitted with a front wing of the previous specification. What does it mean? Is this possible in racing? Or is this possible when there are no spare parts of the same specification?

It's possible they had one car plus spares, but the benefit of the nose was so much that they put it on both cars with no spares.

[LionsHeart]

...

After Oscar's collision with Carlos, at the pit stop Oscar was fitted with a front wing of the previous specification. What does it mean? Is this possible in racing? Or is this possible when there are no spare parts of the same specification?

It's possible they had one car plus spares, but the benefit of the nose was so much that they put it on both cars with no spares.

That's quite likely to be the case as well. I just remember that from the beginning of qualifying the specification cannot be changed until the start of the race. I don’t know how things are going there during the race.

[mclaren111]

[Tomsky]

...

After Oscar's collision with Carlos, at the pit stop Oscar was fitted with a front wing of the previous specification. What does it mean? Is this possible in racing? Or is this possible when there are no spare parts of the same specification?

It's possible they had one car plus spares, but the benefit of the nose was so much that they put it on both cars with no spares.

That's quite likely to be the case as well. I just remember that from the beginning of qualifying the specification cannot be changed until the start of the race. I don’t know how things are going there during the race.

Different wings can be used during the race.

[CjC]

Stellar race but I think we need to be ready for Red Bull to bounce back. Their pace was too similar to Ferrari without upgrades to be a realistic representation.

Damn straight.
Ferrari are certainly due some updates, which we think are coming in Imola and surely Red Bull are due something too, probably in Imola as well.

I know I was insufferable over this weekend and had my balls battered at times but I’ve been watching the sport long enough to know that it’s now not a given that McLaren are going to be the fastest package going forward. Knowing how ruthless the sport is and how ruthless they need to be to capitalise on any opportunity for a ‘result’ on the day.
It looked like Lando had a great opportunity for a result on Friday and as it started to go against him as the weekend progressed I got more and more frustrated.
Thank goodness it went his way on Sunday and he managed to capitalise on it and take his overdue win

To be honest, it’s mission complete for this season for me, Lando has that monkey off his back and what ever happens, happens for the rest of the season

[CjC]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GM5E8saXAAA ... =4096x4096

Mark Hughes implied that Lando could only match Perez’s non-DRS top speed by the end of the straight with Lando using DRS, don’t know if that was a misunderstanding by me but it doesn’t seem quite righ?

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark ... ning-pace/

[FittingMechanics]

Damn straight.
Ferrari are certainly due some updates, which we think are coming in Imola and surely Red Bull are due something too, probably in Imola as well.

I know I was insufferable over this weekend and had my balls battered at times but I’ve been watching the sport long enough to know that it’s now not a given that McLaren are going to be the fastest package going forward. Knowing how ruthless the sport is and how ruthless they need to be to capitalise on any opportunity for a ‘result’ on the day.
It looked like Lando had a great opportunity for a result on Friday and as it started to go against him as the weekend progressed I got more and more frustrated.
Thank goodness it went his way on Sunday and he managed to capitalise on it and take his overdue win

To be honest, it’s mission complete for this season for me, Lando has that monkey off his back and what ever happens, happens for the rest of the season

Red Bull already brought upgrades in Japan. I haven't seen much mention of upgrades in Imola but it is possible. I doubt it will be a big update though. Ferrari is talking about 0.2s update in Imola. Not sure if they brought updates already this season but I would assume so. McLaren was a bit strange in bringing updates this late.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GM5E8saXAAA ... =4096x4096

Mark Hughes implied that Lando could only match Perez’s non-DRS top speed by the end of the straight with Lando using DRS, don’t know if that was a misunderstanding by me but it doesn’t seem quite righ?

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark ... ning-pace/

Don't know about your question but Norris clearly did this intentionally. At first he saved the tyres and then started to come forward and pressure Perez. Then just as he got close enough for an overtake Perez goes to pit (probably meant to undercut Norris).

[Mostlyeels]

Stellar race but I think we need to be ready for Red Bull to bounce back. Their pace was too similar to Ferrari without upgrades to be a realistic representation.

I'm always wary of Red Bull Verstappen suffered a lot from balance issues; I thought at first it was just the last stint, but it looks like it was all stints (and so all tyres). Very atypical.

Good to see the car isn't a slow-poke on the straights in this configuration; when followed by Ferrari with DRS, it could still keep ahead.

Very interesting to see the car neck-and-neck in race pace with Ferrari and Red Bull on this track (with a slight delta), which is very promising. Also that the upgrades worked, and so correlation is good.

[taperoo2k]

If this is true then the assumptions that Lando only got part of the ‘Imola’ update in Miami were correct. (I have no idea if more updates will arrive in Imola apart from Oscar getting the full package Lando ran in Miami).

I find it hard to believe they can deliver back to back large packages like this on the budget cap. These aren't small tweaks.

I don't think there will be anything more in Imola.

Every update will be planned and accounted for in terms of the budget cap. It's the R&D, testing and manufacturing that will dictate how fast upgrades appear on the McLaren. They might have some minor updates to the car in Imola or they might have nothing.

[LionsHeart]

It's possible they had one car plus spares, but the benefit of the nose was so much that they put it on both cars with no spares.

That's quite likely to be the case as well. I just remember that from the beginning of qualifying the specification cannot be changed until the start of the race. I don’t know how things are going there during the race.

Different wings can be used during the race.

On the same chassis? It's good if so.

[LionsHeart]

In general, it’s very interesting how McLaren turned everything 180 degrees in exactly one year. Last season they were the slowest in the race pace and were overtaken by everyone. Now Papaya had the fastest car on the track.

[mwillems]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GM5E8saXAAA ... =4096x4096

Mark Hughes implied that Lando could only match Perez’s non-DRS top speed by the end of the straight with Lando using DRS, don’t know if that was a misunderstanding by me but it doesn’t seem quite righ?

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark ... ning-pace/

Looking at the data, when both were in clean air, Norris was gaining a few tenths on each straight vs Perez. The difference is not the straight line speed per se, but that following in the dirty air slowed down Norris' exit to the straights and so he wasn't making that much ground up by just getting a tow, but he was still making ground. And so that is why it appears like we were struggling for speed until DRS opened, but in fact we are a little faster on the straights than the RB, including Verstappen, at Miami.

I'll add something to the mix. We were also able to brake a little later too, whereas before the upgrade we'd typically shed speed earlier than others at the end of the straight.

I suggested that the car might not like trail braking with the previous nose (Braking on turn in) and I think that might have been the case.

Mclaren clearly did have the speed to pass as Piastri got past a slippy Ferrari very nicely early on.

[mclaren111]

In general, it’s very interesting how McLaren turned everything 180 degrees in exactly one year. Last season they were the slowest in the race pace and were overtaken by everyone. Now Papaya had the fastest car on the track.

Well Done Peter Prod and his team...