[ 2020 ] Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[diffuser]

Norris seems to always go into this tire saving mode. He waits for the car ahead tires to fade, then start looking at passing. He's fast but I think there is more in him that needs to be unleashed.

That will happen when he gets points and podiums in the bank. He still suffers from new boy syndrome, don't crash

I hope that is true. No guarantee that he'll loose "new boy syndrome".

[diffuser]

Yeah, still 3rd with a decent points cushion.

Indeed 3rd in constructors & 4th in drivers is a tremendous place to be in going into what is effectively the second half of the season

Carlos Has been driving awesomely, he’s had some tough luck so far this season, he’s been driving far better than his points tally would suggest & Lando seems to have made progress with his starts over the last few races, still seems to lack the pace to get within DRS of the car in front which is hurting, but otherwise he’s been pretty solid in the race

The car has not been the quickest most of the season, but it’s been in the mix all year, if we can develop in the right direction at the right pace I still think 3rd is on the cards

It’s really going to come dow to track characteristics and whether RP can hold themselves together or whether the imminent demise of Perez will destabilise them

Agree fully.

I'm disappointed that Lando couldn't pressure more at the end.

A great start to the season for him but Carlos has since shown his class.

I guess I see past the trophies. I don't understand the Vettel over Perez deal. The way Vettel has driven at Ferrari this year just shows how bad he is or how much of a cry baby he is.

[mwillems]

Indeed 3rd in constructors & 4th in drivers is a tremendous place to be in going into what is effectively the second half of the season

Carlos Has been driving awesomely, he’s had some tough luck so far this season, he’s been driving far better than his points tally would suggest & Lando seems to have made progress with his starts over the last few races, still seems to lack the pace to get within DRS of the car in front which is hurting, but otherwise he’s been pretty solid in the race

The car has not been the quickest most of the season, but it’s been in the mix all year, if we can develop in the right direction at the right pace I still think 3rd is on the cards

It’s really going to come dow to track characteristics and whether RP can hold themselves together or whether the imminent demise of Perez will destabilise them

Agree fully.

I'm disappointed that Lando couldn't pressure more at the end.

A great start to the season for him but Carlos has since shown his class.

I guess I see past the trophies. I don't understand the Vettel over Perez deal. The way Vettel has driven at Ferrari this year just shows how bad he is or how much of a cry baby he is.

I think you didn't mean to reply to me.

But I agree. He seems to be a good driver in a car set up just so for him, but outside of that he seems to struggle.
I think I read before that he said he needs a car to have a planted back end in order to extract performance otherwise he struggles.

Can't see him being better than Perez, but I think he will be OK, and his name will add to the Aston Martin F1 brand. No doubt they roped him in to doing a certain amount of road car promotion in return for his deal. Perez is not someone you look at and think... hmmm... there's an Aston Martin driver right there.

And I think that was a large part of their motivation.

[proteus]

Norris seems to always go into this tire saving mode. He waits for the car ahead tires to fade, then start looking at passing. He's fast but I think there is more in him that needs to be unleashed.

That will happen when he gets points and podiums in the bank. He still suffers from new boy syndrome, don't crash

I hope that is true. No guarantee that he'll loose "new boy syndrome".

To show his true potential, he needs a capable car first. Mcl35 is a decent machine, but in all fairness it is not a podium contender (except in Monza - damn shame there arent 2 GPs ) and is somewhere between 4th and 6th from track to track. Renaults engine is still valnureable to wear and tear, which holds them up a bit more.

If we draw the line overall, the car is a step better than the previous one which bodes well for the future. Hopefully they manage to retain momentum with new engine supplier and make another step up.

[SmallSoldier]

Norris seems to always go into this tire saving mode. He waits for the car ahead tires to fade, then start looking at passing. He's fast but I think there is more in him that needs to be unleashed.

That will happen when he gets points and podiums in the bank. He still suffers from new boy syndrome, don't crash

I hope that is true. No guarantee that he'll loose "new boy syndrome".

Are we forgetting that is only his second season in Formula 1? Still a lot of time for him to keep improving and he is doing better than last season... He has good speed in qualifying, he is fast and giving Carlos (a very quick driver in his own right and way more experienced) a run for his money... He is keeping the car safe, getting points for the team and actually 4th in the WCC... I wouldn’t be too critical of him... At least in my opinion he is doing very well and has still a lot of room to get even better.


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[Big Tea]

That will happen when he gets points and podiums in the bank. He still suffers from new boy syndrome, don't crash

I hope that is true. No guarantee that he'll loose "new boy syndrome".

To show his true potential, he needs a capable car first. Mcl35 is a decent machine, but in all fairness it is not a podium contender (except in Monza - damn shame there arent 2 GPs ) and is somewhere between 4th and 6th from track to track. Renaults engine is still valnureable to wear and tear, which holds them up a bit more.

If we draw the line overall, the car is a step better than the previous one which bodes well for the future. Hopefully they manage to retain momentum with new engine supplier and make another step up.

But it is the same car Sains has. I would like to see him at least closer to Carlos. Carlos seems to make much of it up in the first stretch though, so perhaps it is nervous of a prang

[CjC]

Can anyone have thoughts on what is to blame for our pace today? I mean, before friday we were assuming that Mugello suits us due to the high and medium speed corners. Did anyone from the team said anything?

The team said it’s because of the inherent car sensitivity to wind- mainly tail wind

[M840TR]

Can anyone have thoughts on what is to blame for our pace today? I mean, before friday we were assuming that Mugello suits us due to the high and medium speed corners. Did anyone from the team said anything?

Car seems to struggle with high tire pressures just like the Mercedes. The grid was basically a repeat of Silverstone 2. Renault leading the midfield with RP right behind and Mclaren on the fringes of top 10; meanwhile Redbull is suddenly closer to Mercedes who’re struggling with tire wear and kerbs.

[Jackles-UK]

... I'm disappointed that Lando couldn't pressure more at the end ...

In some ways I agree with this but, being realistic, the cars in front of him (the two Mercs, a Red Bull, a Racing Point & “driver of the day”, and probably the best driver in the whole of the midfield, Ricciardo) all qualified comfortably in front of him and probably had the legs on him in race trim too.

As always, PhilipM was spot on in calling the front tyre protection setup which was proved true by Lando’s pace at the end of his stints (which was as good as the race leaders at the time) but his outright speed on comparable rubber was noticeably slower than both the Renault and Racing Point cars. The red flags slightly cost him in that respect as it effectively took tyre wear out of the race as a differentiator.

Lando has taken some flack for being too conservative at times but staying out of trouble and being sensible has helped him finish ahead of at least five cars that would have been ahead of him today.

On the flip side, I’m running out of ways to describe the run of bad luck that Carlos is currently going through. The lap one collision was nothing more than an unfortunate racing incident with Stroll (which can always happen on lap one) but this dropped him into the melee at the restart which he was absolutely at no fault at all for, just a passenger at the wrong place at the wrong time. I really feel for him.

[PhillipM]

I haven't checked but I think the minimum pressures are dropping considerably for Sochi - having said that, it's not a circuit the car is particularly strong at and it's not really somewhere extra tyre life wins you many places in the race either so it's probably going to turn out similar to this weekend.

On the flip side, the new mechanicals should be there for Sochi even though the new nose needs more dev. So the car should have a little more low speed traction.

[_cerber1]

Last year, McLaren were the best of the rest in Sochi. They were strong in qualifying and racing. But I'm concerned about their tire pressure addiction.

[Herr_Koos]

But I'm concerned about their tire pressure addiction.

Is that like a new type of drug?

[Big Tea]

No sections were long enough for Norris to get his 'tyre bonus'. Every time he was getting settled they stopped the race.

[michl420]

I am very sure the gap of 4 sec from norris to perez was on purpose, the car hates dirty air, and the tire saving and than overtake work in the last gp´s very well. In sector 1, the car was very bad all weekend but got better and better but never good. But that is certainly something that needs to be understood.

[Emag]

This was just a bad race for the team. I mean Sainz was so pessimistic after qualifying, he didn't think he could do much on the race too. They said the car was very sensitive to the wind, not sure if it is the main reason for the performance drop to be honest. They might be hiding something. If they are hiding anything, I hope it is not very serious, because to be honest, the fact that they are doing extremely well on races they don't expect to (Monza) and quite poor on races they expect to do well (Mugello), means that they probably don't fully understand this car.

They were extremely lucky that they only lost out a couple of points to Renault on this chaotic race, because under normal circumstances I think they would have lost a lot more. Potentially they might have even lost third to RP and be on Renault's neck.