So, uh. I watched the onboard of Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen and Lando. For McLaren fans and supporters, I have some very good news. Lando drove very confidently and didn't make a single driving mistake from the beginning to the end of the race. The chassis balance is neutral in all corners. There is no understeer or oversteer. Just as impressive is how easily Lando hits the apex in turns 7 and 17. The front end has good grip. There are no problems on corner exit either, the traction on exit is very high. Given that there were no problems with top speed either, this is the first race so far where the McLaren chassis has performed exemplarily well.
If we analyze Verstappen's race, he constantly had problems at the entrance to turn 7, he could not get to the apex. The same with Turn 17, but I dare to suggest that it was more to do with the braking balance. He had those problems for the first two thirds of the race. And only in the last 16-18 laps Max didn't have any visible balance problems.
Back to Lando: he was easily able to get to the apex of Turn 16, no extra steering wheel to be done. The same can be said for the long right turn 12. Absolutely no problems during the whole race. Frankly speaking, remembering all onboard from the races of last season, I can not believe how McLaren were able to turn the situation in their favor.
I have assumptions about this:
Firstly, there is a high probability that the reason lies in the road surface. Smooth asphalt without bumps suits McLaren well. In addition, the surface is not abrasive, if compared to Bahrain and Suzuka. By the way, this year it is in Bahrain and Suzuka McLaren performed the weakest in relation to Red Bull and Ferrari.
Secondly and in continuation, this effect is possible if the tire wear is high. And in Bahrain and Suzuka, tire wear is always high. Perhaps this condition affects the grip in the front, which causes the manifestation of understeer.
Thirdly, in Australia, the McLaren chassis was the fastest on the third leg of the race, Lando was faster than both Ferrari and Red Bull Checo. If I remember correctly, the conditions were warm then too and what's more, the asphalt at Albert Park looks just as smooth without any bumps. But in Melbourne the main effect was tire grit. The granulation limited the capabilities of the Red Bulls.
So I'm coming to certain conclusions: the McLaren chassis can handle high temperatures quite adequately if the abrasiveness of the asphalt is low. Smooth asphalt and the absence of bumps allows you to set the ground clearance lower, which contributes to greater downforce throughout the range, including in slow corners. Conversely, the presence of bumps requires the chassis to be raised, losing some of the downforce needed in slow corners. Abrasive asphalt quickly wears tires, which leads to understeer, which prevents drivers from confidently get on the apex and eventually leads to loss of time on the lap.
Yes, the McLaren chassis warms up the tires easily and performs much better than Ferrari in that regard. That was particularly noticeable in Shanghai. But in the hot weather I did not see any visible problems. I repeat, Lando throughout the race did not make a single mistake in the corners. Absolute neutral corner entrances in all corners both with full tanks and empty.
I almost forgot, there is no bouncing on straight lines, no sounds of any kind. But you can clearly hear bumps in turn 4 and 5 during the whole race.
And lastly, look at the part where the control bar rubs against the roadbed. You can see in the photo that it is the front part. Remembering similar photos under the Red Bull floor, it was the whole length of the control bar. I think McLaren were able to add downforce at the front by shifting the pressure gradient under the floor. But that's just a guess.
Some quality ‘answers’ in this from the pre-race show before Miami is anyone missed it.
