Vodafone McLaren Team 2012

[wesley123]

what the crew did ?? problem was with the wheelnut...

Yeah, jsut like it was last race, the first race and multiple times in the years before. Actually they seem to screw up at least 1 pit stop every 2 races. Once a year okay, but this is just too often, way too often. Cant wait to see McLaren lose out on a championship due to their great pit crew

[QLDriver]

If the stud threads are damaged, then putting new nuts on won't fix it. I suppose it would make sense to make hard studs and slightly softer nuts so that the nuts would be 'sacrificial' and the nuts themselves could be replaced.

Perhaps going for a coarse thread would work better.

[boyracer94]

Does anybody know if they have the integrated wheel nuts. If not, do we think we could see this system as a development at some point? Their stops recently have been dreadful.

[Owen.C93]

Does anybody know if they have the integrated wheel nuts. If not, do we think we could see this system as a development at some point? Their stops recently have been dreadful.

They don't and I think wheel may be homologated for the season now. Maybe.

[Vasco]

It pretty obvious now that the race pace of this car is quite far off from RBR and Lotus. The Renault powered cars seem to be enjoying a fuel advantage at the start.

Qualifying pace is still their strong point.

[Pierce89]

The car didn't even seem that much better than the pit crew today. Hamilton spent the last stint on Alonso's gearbox and never made any impression.

[myurr]

The car didn't even seem that much better than the pit crew today. Hamilton spent the last stint on Alonso's gearbox and never made any impression.

I think the pace is okay but the car is particularly sensitive to other airflow around it. So when running in dirty air or in gusty conditions (like much of this weekend) the pace doesn't seem that good.

[Jef Patat]

It pretty obvious now that the race pace of this car is quite far off from RBR and Lotus. The Renault powered cars seem to be enjoying a fuel advantage at the start.

Qualifying pace is still their strong point.

You got me a bit confused. Qualifying pace of Renault or of McLaren? Mercedes engine has outqualified Renault in every race except the last one. This time RB did well, but Lotus was 7 and 11th.

[myurr]

It pretty obvious now that the race pace of this car is quite far off from RBR and Lotus. The Renault powered cars seem to be enjoying a fuel advantage at the start.

Qualifying pace is still their strong point.

You got me a bit confused. Qualifying pace of Renault or of McLaren? Mercedes engine has outqualified Renault in every race except the last one. This time RB did well, but Lotus was 7 and 11th.

I think the pace both in qualifying and the race comes down to tyre usage and temperature, probably even more so that aerodynamics this year. Sure you need a balanced car with decent aero, but we've seen the relative pace shift so much from race to race despite the aero performance remaining fairly static.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

Does anybody know if they have the integrated wheel nuts. If not, do we think we could see this system as a development at some point? Their stops recently have been dreadful.

They have them in development but don't currently use them. Whitmarsh said they're not necessarily better than what they currently use & pointed to Mercedes(SCHU) mistake last week. I suspect we'll see them soon though.

[ringo]

The car doesn't have spectacular race pace. It's quite sluggish in the heat.
Doen't have the surge like the redbull or the Lotus.

Mclaren need to be careful they don't lose touch. They're gonna be in trouble once ferrari get the suaber exhuasts.

I feel the fact that the nose isn't high is still a performance hindrance. When all things are equalized on the rest of the cars in due time, the nose will be a performance differentiator.

[QLDriver]

Ferrari seem to have the wheel nuts right.

[Nico]

Mclaren setup/balance maybe too much biasd towards single lap pace? as RB becomes more comfortable with the new exhaust regs I think thye will be stronger in quali and still maintain race pace. Mclaren needs to really focus on maintaining care balance over the whole race, no use setting the car to operate in a small optimal band.

[Owen.C93]

McLaren with Merc power is too heavy in the early part of the race to challenge and too hard on it's tyres at the late stage.

[ringo]

Ferrari seem to have the wheel nuts right.

Yes this is the thing that sticks out the most. Too much time lost in the pits.
They need to have the wheel nuts built into the wheels.
It's something they should give dull priority for the upcoming races.
They simply cannot afford to be losing so many places on track.

As for tyre degradation, theirs is a bit too average.

And finally exhausts, I wonder if a suaber style exhaust is an improvement on what they currently have?