2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[RonDennis]

The delta to Mercedes was anywhere from 1.2 to 2.4 seconds depending on the type of track. Improving by one second gets you much closer in certain tracks, but still off the pace. I imagine the top 3 will take a step forward of around 1 to 1.5 seconds over last year. But even if the 2018 Renault is worth 2 seconds, it's still not enough, McLaren need to find at least 1.5 seconds from the chassis alone to fight for wins. My guess is they achieve half of that by Melbourne, so they'll be roughly .4-.7 off the pace.

If McLaren is only 0,4 away of the fastest in Melbourne, they have done a great, great job.

[godlameroso]

At most tracks being 1.2 seconds off the pace ensures you'll get lapped in the race, so even if the gap is half that, they'll still be finishing 20-40 seconds off the lead. Probably enough for Alonso to take the championship to the last race

[McHonda]

http://en.f1i.com/news/291797-mclaren-t ... e-way.html

Renault claims however to have made significant progress with its package overall, positive news which McLaren can't wait to put into effect.

"In terms of power and reliability, they are happy with where they are at and what has been happening on the dyno," said McLaren boss Zak Brown at a media lunch in Woking this week.

"And specifically the reliability – they think they are on top of it.

"Last year they had the power, and it was when they turned it up that the reliability issues kicked in. So they had their issues in Mexico but they also dominated the race, so we are feeling good."

More music to McLaren's years is the news that Renault may well integrate into their 2018 engine a "qualifying mode", a welcome power bonus which Mercedes has typically put to good use on Saturday afternoon's.

[Nicktendo86]

Sky F1:

But while McLaren may have surprised themselves at the speed at which they put the MCL33 design on a more sensible footing, the complexity of the change from Honda to Renault ought not to be underestimated.

"Architecturally, the engines are very different," explained Goss. "There are two families of engines in Formula 1 at present: the Mercedes and Honda approach with the turbocharger split across the engine and then the Renault-Ferrari approach with the turbocharger at the back and the MGUH in the 'V' of the engine."

And the split from one family to the other has necessitated some 'minor changes' to the MCL33 but little in the way of fundamental alterations to the chassis design. The Renault engine's layout also allows McLaren to retain their beloved, aerodynamically advantageous, 'size-zero' rear bodywork.

"The major challenge has been dealing with the architecture in a packaging sense internally rather than changing our aerodynamic philosophy," said aerodynamics chief Peter Prodromou. "Very little in terms of the car concept has had to be compromised."

"Expect to see something quite evolutionary conceptually at launch," advised Prodromou.

But by the season start in Australia, the MCL33 will look different. "In truth, we have spent the last two or three months focusing on a race one upgrade," added the former Red Bull designer.

Sky's take on McLaren for 2018 and some interesting quotes.

So, although "architecturally, the engines are very different", the "split from one family to the other has necessitated" just some "minor changes" and "little in the way of fundamental alterations to the chassis design", which allows "McLaren to retain their beloved, aerodynamically advantageous, 'size-zero' rear bodywork". Yeah, right

Why yeah right? The McLaren concept is similar to Red Bull (not surprising with Prod's influence) and RBR are able to run a small rear end with the Renault engine. What's so hard to believe?

[Lucky]

One or two sponsors before the start of the season
http://www.motorsport-total.com/formel- ... r-18021006

[ollandos]

for new season ...i have only one aspect from pre season test about performance ...the straight line top speed....
from the test you can have clear picture only for very bad thinks or very very good ...i dont give any other aspect even mclaren best lap is 5 sec slower from top time ...for 1st race i want to be optimistic ..the team needs more money and i give predict ...podium finish ..win for red bull and podium for mclaren and mercedes... i wish this results...i think mclaren has 1st race like cyclone on target ..
ferrari and renaylt rumors for they winter work speeking for good step and hit mercedes 2017 standars ..on other hand from mercedes for small gains here and there..and not a similar steps like previous winters ..the results looks like closer and closer gap...the bad side is on chassis develop for mercedes and ferrari ..they have one year with new rules and they know the mistakes...i hope for good starting point for the season ...less than 0.5sec from top..

[diffuser]

The delta to Mercedes was anywhere from 1.2 to 2.4 seconds depending on the type of track. Improving by one second gets you much closer in certain tracks, but still off the pace. I imagine the top 3 will take a step forward of around 1 to 1.5 seconds over last year. But even if the 2018 Renault is worth 2 seconds, it's still not enough, McLaren need to find at least 1.5 seconds from the chassis alone to fight for wins. My guess is they achieve half of that by Melbourne, so they'll be roughly .4-.7 off the pace.

If McLaren is only 0,4 away of the fastest in Melbourne, they have done a great, great job.

I'd be really happy with .4 off the pace at a Power track on the first race of the season!

[RonDennis]

One or two sponsors before the start of the season
http://www.motorsport-total.com/formel- ... r-18021006

Like I said before. Look at the overview of partners, Castrol is no longer there, which means something will happen at that front. Castrol wasn't a sponsor, so I guess it will be completely new sponsor, like Petrobras which has been rumored for some time now.

[GhostF1]

Sky F1:



Sky's take on McLaren for 2018 and some interesting quotes.

So, although "architecturally, the engines are very different", the "split from one family to the other has necessitated" just some "minor changes" and "little in the way of fundamental alterations to the chassis design", which allows "McLaren to retain their beloved, aerodynamically advantageous, 'size-zero' rear bodywork". Yeah, right

Why yeah right? The McLaren concept is similar to Red Bull (not surprising with Prod's influence) and RBR are able to run a small rear end with the Renault engine. What's so hard to believe?

The quote: "very little of the cars concept was compromised". This is an admission. I think what Scuderia is saying is that McLaren are probably downplaying the effect changing to the Renault has had... It's unfortunate the whole rear suspension needs overhauling to accommodate, especially after that being the 2016 chassis' Achilles heel, last year it looked great. Hopefully they find a positive work around though.

[diffuser]

You're trying to read something into 2 statements.....

The fact is the Honda had a turbo in the front. The Renault on the back. The Renault allows you to move the block further forward and leaves space in behind which is then used by the compressor/turbine/MGU-H/exhaust. My interpretation of what was said is this space used by the compressor/turbine/MGU-H/exhaust is at a certain high with nothing below it which, I'm presuming, frees them up to do whatever they want on the suspension. I don't mean literally nothing, the transmission is still there but it was there before.

[Lucky]

[media]https://twitter.com/McLarenStore/status ... 6554509312[/media]

[shady]

if sponsors wont line up.. can you expect fans too? Though I believe, that there will be a mash between 1-10 in the drivers standings this year changing race to race. I _think_ ALO may have a shot if we can replicate 2012 6 races and 6 winners.. who knows, I would love to see deep competition this year.

[adrianjordan]

if sponsors wont line up.. can you expect fans too? Though I believe, that there will be a mash between 1-10 in the drivers standings this year changing race to race. I _think_ ALO may have a shot if we can replicate 2012 6 races and 6 winners.. who knows, I would love to see deep competition this year.

The page count of this thread suggests there's a large amount of interest in Mclaren still.

I don't think there's a lack of Mclaren fans out there.

[GoranF1]

if sponsors wont line up.. can you expect fans too? Though I believe, that there will be a mash between 1-10 in the drivers standings this year changing race to race. I _think_ ALO may have a shot if we can replicate 2012 6 races and 6 winners.. who knows, I would love to see deep competition this year.

The page count of this thread suggests there's a large amount of interest in Mclaren still.

I don't think there's a lack of Mclaren fans out there.

Been foolowing this forum for 12-ish years.......for which ever team Alonso drives, that team has the most pages here.

[Andres125sx]

for 1st race i want to be optimistic ..the team needs more money and i give predict ...podium finish ..win for red bull and podium for mclaren and mercedes... i wish this results...

Me too

And I can easily be blindly optimistic so I´ll join you... Why not? At some races in last part of 2017 some RBR fly passed Mercedes powered cars, with DRS, ok, but the power must be there to take advantage of the DRS, so I trully believe Renault statements about being there power wise but suffering reliability issues wich didn´t allow to fully exploit the PU potential, so if they really solved reliability as stated, and found something more meanwhile (like the rest), why not?

If perfomance in Melbourne is far from top three then we´ll have plenty of time to criticize, analize, discuss... but meanwhile, let´s be optimistic