2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[diffuser]

I kind of agree but I'm leaning more towards the reg freeze. Most teams choose to work on the back of the cars and not the front in the off season, as they were not allowed to make structural change in both areas. So whatever inherit limits they had on the front last year, they're still there this year. Meaning that they've probably clawed back most of last years rear DF, all be it with a little more drag as they've had to use the rear wing a little more.
I would also add that they may never have clawed back all the front wing DF after the change to the front wing regs of a couple of years ago that forced simplification of the front wing and outlawed the double stacking...RBR racing's "hard to drive car" seemed to coincide with that reg change, which also opened the barge board area for development. They had seemed to find something late last year to make the car more stable.

The McLaren current car traits could probably be traced back to those same front wing/barge board reg changes.

All speculation of course...

[SmallSoldier]

I agree that they need a better car overall to be title contenders, but let’s not forget that the car isn’t slow in Lando’s hands… Could it be faster if they would improve this aspect of the car? No one really knows since clearly Lando can get the speed out of it… It’s like the Red Bull car of the last couple of seasons, is it an slow car? Not at all… Is it a title contender? At least this season that’s for sure… But it seems that with the exception of Max, extracting the most out of the car is challenging for other drivers (Gasly, Albon and Perez are seemingly proof of this)… There isn’t a lot of talk on why those drivers couldn’t extract the maximum out of the car, probably because their top driver can and the gap to his team mates is attributed more to talent / skill than quirkiness of the car.

The thing I find interesting is that Daniel was able to match or beat Max in Qually and outscore Max in the RedBull fairly consistently, even in their final year together when Daniel had horrific reliability issues in the 2nd half. So in my mind, that proves he can drive a knife-edge car fast. The RBR car of the following year was an evolution and Gasly couldn't get to grips with it. You can bet that if Daniel stayed at Redbull he would have had no issues.

https://e0.365dm.com/18/05/768x432/skys ... 304629.png

Like McLaren have admitted, their car is at the opposite end of the spectrum, from a handling PoV, from the Merc and RBR cars.

I wouldn’t call the 2019 cars evolutions of the 2018 cars… Not only where the regulations in regards to front wings and rear wings particularly big in regards to their impact on cars performance (eliminating the outwash from the front wings) in Red Bull case in particular, they also had their change from Renault to Honda, which made the RB15 a potentially very different car to the RB14 (considering how complex the front wings were in the 2018 cars).

But I maintain the point that we are scrutinizing the McLaren’s car behavior because of who is struggling with it, not because it is a bad trait on the car… Apparently that trait has been there for the last couple of years and neither Sainz nor Norris were complaining about it (and they were arguably equally matched performance wise, specially last season).

[ScottR267]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... a/6654251/

[mclaren111]

Sponsorship display changes on the car...

[mwillems]

I kind of agree but I'm leaning more towards the reg freeze. Most teams choose to work on the back of the cars and not the front in the off season, as they were not allowed to make structural change in both areas. So whatever inherit limits they had on the front last year, they're still there this year. Meaning that they've probably clawed back most of last years rear DF, all be it with a little more drag as they've had to use the rear wing a little more.
I would also add that they may never have clawed back all the front wing DF after the change to the front wing regs of a couple of years ago that forced simplification of the front wing and outlawed the double stacking...RBR racing's "hard to drive car" seemed to coincide with that reg change, which also opened the barge board area for development. They had seemed to find something late last year to make the car more stable.

The McLaren current car traits could probably be traced back to those same front wing/barge board reg changes.

All speculation of course...

Yes I agree, the front wing was the beginning of this trait, which may not have been a dominant trait, but with this years regs, the loading of the front wing has become more crucial to the drivability of the cars.

And not just Mclaren, but the Red Bull and the Aston Martin have a similar trait it seems as Lando/Max/Seb are all attacking the corners in a similar manner, whereas the slower drivers in the team are not.

This year has been a real learning curve for me in terms of driver styles and the aero of the car.

[mwillems]

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... 5-04-7.jpg


Sponsorship display changes on the car...

I absolutely love Spa, one of my favourite circuits of all time, and the Mclaren looks great here.

[SmallSoldier]

Team Report for Practice:

Lando Norris:

“I’m happy with the first day back. Obviously, everyone’s getting back into it a little bit, but it was a positive day. We made some good improvements with the car, we tried some things between sessions and I think we have a good direction to explore overnight so we can go into FP3 and qualifying with a slightly better car. It’s been tricky, especially with the weather, but I’m confident that we have a good enough car to bring the challenge to the competition tomorrow and get a good result in qualifying.”

Daniel Ricciardo:

“Firstly, good to be back out there. It’s sometimes a little hard after a holiday but it was really nice to be back in the car. I enjoyed it, and I think this track is fun as well, so that helps me get excited. Our performance on the Soft tyre wasn’t great but I think we have a good understanding why, so I wouldn’t say I’m concerned about today’s times. It was pretty decent on the Hard.

“We made some steps with set-up, so we’ll try to make a bit more of a step tonight and learn a bit more. It was a steady day. We avoided the rain for the most part, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Andrea Stella:

“Overall, we’ve had a positive Friday, even though the day was disrupted by red flags and a little bit of rain at the start of each session. It looks like we’re in the midfield mix as usual, and tonight we’ll be analysing the data we’ve gathered to make sure we optimise all the details to be as competitive as possible in qualifying and in the race.

“Spa is always an interesting and challenging circuit. You have the weather, the low downforce set-up and some very high-speed corners that put a lot of load on the car. It’s a tough place to race but we’re looking to score good points this weekend.”

[mwillems]

Newey has stated what we all knew, high take is gone next year and the time is to be found in keeping the cars as close to the ground as possible, for as much as possible..

[Emag]

Team Report for Practice:

Lando Norris:

“I’m happy with the first day back. Obviously, everyone’s getting back into it a little bit, but it was a positive day. We made some good improvements with the car, we tried some things between sessions and I think we have a good direction to explore overnight so we can go into FP3 and qualifying with a slightly better car. It’s been tricky, especially with the weather, but I’m confident that we have a good enough car to bring the challenge to the competition tomorrow and get a good result in qualifying.”

Daniel Ricciardo:

“Firstly, good to be back out there. It’s sometimes a little hard after a holiday but it was really nice to be back in the car. I enjoyed it, and I think this track is fun as well, so that helps me get excited. Our performance on the Soft tyre wasn’t great but I think we have a good understanding why, so I wouldn’t say I’m concerned about today’s times. It was pretty decent on the Hard.

“We made some steps with set-up, so we’ll try to make a bit more of a step tonight and learn a bit more. It was a steady day. We avoided the rain for the most part, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Andrea Stella:

“Overall, we’ve had a positive Friday, even though the day was disrupted by red flags and a little bit of rain at the start of each session. It looks like we’re in the midfield mix as usual, and tonight we’ll be analysing the data we’ve gathered to make sure we optimise all the details to be as competitive as possible in qualifying and in the race.

“Spa is always an interesting and challenging circuit. You have the weather, the low downforce set-up and some very high-speed corners that put a lot of load on the car. It’s a tough place to race but we’re looking to score good points this weekend.”

Team Report looks quite positive. Let's hope for a good rest of the weekend.

[SmallSoldier]

It’s going to be an interesting weekend… Nailing the setup for a potential wet race without adding too much downforce / drag for qualifying will be key… I’m sure most teams are looking at their best options for Sunday, since even if you qualify a bit out of position, you can make some positions on track during the race… If the race ended up been wet as expected, it could be anyone’s guess how things would end

[runningmanz]

Early days yet, could be just the usual Friday for McLaren, they don't seem worried. Good interview from Seidl backing Dan in for the long haul and that Dan and Lando want the same things in terms of the car development. Was interesting to note Horner said that they believe next years car will be more driveable due to the reg reset, so that could be a good thing particularly for Dan next year if its the same for McLaren.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/vide ... 51946.html

[Chicane]

Seidl saying some characteristics get carried over irrespective of regulations.

[mclaren111]

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... 5-04-7.jpg


Sponsorship display changes on the car...

I absolutely love Spa, one of my favourite circuits of all time, and the Mclaren looks great here.

My favourite too... I have done double the laps on PS1 to PS4 than any other circuit...

[Darth-Piekus]

So any predictions of where the team can finish today's qualifying?

[MrGapes]

So any predictions of where the team can finish today's qualifying?

I feel a yellow may come out because someone will overdo it and someone will be out of place because they won't be able to do a lap.