This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Sainz mentioned that they had a balance issue, so hopefully with some set-up work they can dial the car in and well see car get quicker as week goes on, Hopefully Lando get's plenty of laps 2morrow as you feel he needs them more than Sainz!
Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?
Kimi Raikkonen: I can only drive one car, obviously.
@2018 Singapore Grand Prix drivers press conference.
Based on Sainz comments I think they will have a car that can mix it up in the midfield, probably at the front of the other guys, but likely a second behind the benchmark. If they make inroads on that gap it'll be a good season.
"Engineers who went to the edge of the track spying on rivals speak in an uneven balance. But I also heard that McLaren is worse than expected and, of course, we did not see Williams. It would not be surprising to see these two teams at the back of the grid in Melbourne"
Sainz: "I think there is a lot to improve on the car still. Today we managed to learn a lot of things, we managed to see the underlying balance issues with the car, what we need to improve, “ he said.
“Now we have the directions. Once we have identified the balance issues and where we want to go, we will start working.”
To me it doesn't seem that bad, obviously the car needs fine tuning, since it's such a radical departure from what they had last year. It'll take them a while to get enough data to get a clear plan of how to develop and set up the car. I think they can gain a fair bit of time once they understand the car and can set it up properly.
I do prefer a fast car with an erratic behaviour (like we saw in Sainz best lap today) than a slow and docile car without speed at any speed trap at all.
Too soon to know, but til now I am satisfied.
To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone. ― Bruce McLaren
I think there's a fair bit of potential, but it will take developing the car, fine tuning it. The performance is there, it's just rough around the edges, if they improve the balance they can attack with more confidence which will let the natural speed of the car show.
I do prefer a fast car with an erratic behaviour (like we saw in Sainz best lap today) than a slow and docile car without speed at any speed trap at all.
Too soon to know, but til now I am satisfied.
That was actually a long run, so it could be unstable because of the full tank. In my opinion it's most important that they have fixed the fundamental flaw and according to Sainz that has been the case, which means they should be able to develop this car quickly, like McLaren has been doing before 2018.
So basically, word from someone stood at one corner, on day one of testing, and went - that car is twitchy there, back of the grid!
It's too early to say yes but it looks like she "heard" it from the engineers. FWIW, Alberta Fabrega has been saying the car is sluggish but I have a inkling feeling he is purposely not giving McLaren much attention because of his public spat with Zak Brown last year.
Let's be realistic, a heavily fueled car(which would make sense seeing lap times in the 23's) is by definition harder to drive, especially seeing as this is essentially a shakedown. McLaren have only driven this car virtually, furthermore this is day one, obviously the car is lacking pace at the moment, and I'm sure it'll improve as they get the balance right.
