dia6olo wrote: ↑13 May 2024, 16:39
LionsHeart wrote: ↑13 May 2024, 16:29
BMMR61 wrote: ↑13 May 2024, 14:19
Last season as the car became a more competitive beast and Oscar got the full upgrades he started to put together some very good drives. He clearly has a high ceiling of performance - speed, temperament, intelligence and hard work are hallmarks that will mark him as at least a top six driver once he has learned the craft of Pirelli tyre management. In fact he's nearly there now, the timing of the safety car and the clash with Carlos were very unfortunate - he could realistically been the driver to collect the win. I'm glad it was left for Lando though as it will prolong a healthy team rivalry.
Much of the media have been falling all over McLaren after rubbishing them and their prospects - how quickly some change their tune. I think we should, Like Stella, not be quick to judge the Miami win as being a sign that McLaren are now fully competitive with RedBull. It was a very good start for the upgrades on a track that has not been a McLaren friendly one, my expectations are that Max will be back on top but we, and probably Ferrari, are going to be getting closer to him. Maybe very tight in qualifying and a couple of tenths off in the race, but I'm guessing. The front definitely seems to be stronger and the top speed more competitive.
I only found data from formula.uno that the team added 4 tenths of a second. It's hard to say for sure, but the team knows the exact figures, and Stella didn't tell us exactly how much. For the first 5 grands prix, the average gap in the race was 6 tenths. So we shouldn't be surprised if further down the line we see Red Bull pull away. The good thing to consider is that now Red Bull won't be so far ahead of Ferrari and McLaren. Maybe you remember, even before the weekend in Miami I wrote that if the team reduces the gap in the race by at least 3 tenths, in that case at the finish McLaren will be 15-16 seconds behind Red Bull Verstappen. So, in the Miami race at the end of 19 laps Oscar was 3.6 seconds behind Max. Extrapolating that to the whole race, one would have hoped for an 11 second gap at the finish. That's a decent figure, considering Oscar's car had the old underbody, sidepods and engine cover.
Be that as it may, and the updated parts have already proven to be effective. New computing power, wind tunnel, simulator and other tools have proven to work.
Stella reported that they had gotten exactly the numbers they had calculated at the base.
I don't think even Stella can say that based on one weekend, a sprint weekend at that on a track that is not the most representative.
I think that while the teams bringing an upgrade will have an expected gain or expected range based on their computers, I can't see how anyone including McLaren themselves could possibly conclude it is worth x amount based on one weekend.
I think ultimately it'll take 2 or 3 weekends on different tracks and temperatures before the real gain can be measured.
Don't you understand? Stella himself said that based on sensors that measure downforce in the front wing and front suspension. That effort and suspension travel that turns out to be on the chassis. They have plenty of chassis spec data from Australia when the rear wing was exactly the same.
Fortunately for us fans and even more fortunate for the team engineers, the data on the track was completely confirmed against the background of the data that they themselves calculated on the basis of the simulator and other other computer systems.
It is unknown to us fans what the increase in downforce is and how much time we managed to play on the track. The same Will Joseph said after the race that these updates should work even better on other tracks. I remain calm because by my inner nature I have realistic expectations. And for now I’m extremely happy for the team if they are so happy that they received confirmation on the track.
Lando was happy with the settings he had on Friday and was unhappy with the car's performance on Saturday during qualifying. The beam wing was installed loaded, which was previously used at other Grand Prix, including Jeddah, Albert Park and Shanghai. Of course, everything was great in the race. But who knows what pace Lando would have had if they hadn't changed the settings?
Perhaps he would have gone even faster, and perhaps he would have worn out the tires faster and the pace would have been worse. In any case, I hope that in Imola they will select the fastest possible settings. At Imola, qualifications are important.
I’ll also add that the beam wing on Friday gave an increase in speed on straight sections. But on Saturday the speed decreased because a beam with a higher downforce was installed. At Imola there is a long stretch on the starting straight. Maximum speed is very important there. Therefore, I hope the team will choose the option with the least downforce.