2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[gcdugas]

Mac could be leading the WCC in three short races, before Qatar. It's definitely on the cards if Checo keeps screwing up. By the end of the season, it is almost a certainty.

[TeamKoolGreen]

Norris is the senior driver, he has a chance at a title if everything falls apart for Red Bull, and Piastri made 2 mistakes and went off twice on his run. Plus Piastri is in a bit of a sophomore slump. In the first few races , Piastri was struggling with results.

If I was Norris, I would have told the team to pound sand.

All it would take is 2 DNFs and an engine penalty for Max for Norris to get close to the title.

But maybe this was good strategy on McLarens part. If they pitted them the opposite way , Norris probably catches Piastri and goes for a high risk pass. All passes here aren't particularly easy

[TeamKoolGreen]

Piastri is getting cut a lot of slack from the F1 community. If George Russell or even Norris went 4 wheels way off the track while leading by himself , it would be a big talking point. But for Piastri , it's as if it never happened.

That's why McLaren did what they did They did not want Norris to be on Piastri's gearbox.

[Watto]

McLarens car development in recent times is fantastic great to see, always good seeing a season where its close.

I think today was tricky for them on one hand you lave Lando as the one that looks a chance chasing down Max this season. I think Oscars mistake put him under pressure of the undercut. so I think he cops some blame, but McLaren pitting Lando first always had the potential for disaster

[BMMR61]

There's a lot of unfamiliar accounts suddenly appearing now McLaren are (a) competitive and (b) having some strategy blunders. While we should welcome new people here, some of the stuff is just ridiculous, perhaps they could be called the Netflix generation. Just as McLaren are having fantastic results, beyond predictions, the bellyaching is hard to stomach (pun intended). We're entitled to our own opinions but I need a break from here after some of the hyperbolic stuff. I remain McLaren through and through, as some old salts used to say - if you cut him he would bleed orange (papaya)!

[Ben1980]

Still think a lot has been overblown. The team did what they thought was best to get a 1 and 2 with little risk. They achieved it.

When you look at it, the Lando pit, made sense, as Lewis was fast, as was Max at that time. 1 more lap, and it would be tight, 2 more laps and he would be behind Lewis and probably Leclerc. And as shown by Max getting past them wasn't easy.

[FittingMechanics]

While it does look like the team was quite conservative in strategy, I can understand their decision, especially at a track where it is very hard to overtake. Tire delta doesn't really help a lot. Pitting the second guy first to protect against attack makes sense, I think they did this before as well but it wasn't for the race win so it got lost. They will need to think about that in the future, this caused unnecessary conflict but it was probably the safest way for the team to achieve 1-2.

For example, if the drivers are unwilling to swap back it could mean that they will have more problems defending against undercuts from drivers behind. Example: NOR P1, PIA P2, VER P3. If VER pits to undercut, without trust in the team NOR would then respond which would mean VER gets two laps to undercut PIA.

I am very happy with how Norris is carrying himself after the race. Initially he was slightly unhappy but gracious, but after a while he seems to be completely at ease with the decision. In their message to the fans, Stella, Norris and Piastri are all in good spirits and seems that there are no hard feelings. Which is great to see.

[bauc]

There's a lot of unfamiliar accounts suddenly appearing now McLaren are (a) competitive and (b) having some strategy blunders. While we should welcome new people here, some of the stuff is just ridiculous, perhaps they could be called the Netflix generation. Just as McLaren are having fantastic results, beyond predictions, the bellyaching is hard to stomach (pun intended). We're entitled to our own opinions but I need a break from here after some of the hyperbolic stuff. I remain McLaren through and through, as some old salts used to say - if you cut him he would bleed orange (papaya)!

I know what you are saying, I'm Mclaren fan since 1997, when I'm cut I bleed silver and black

Jokes a side, we all need to get used to be back in this position, its been 10+ years since we were truly competitive so lets all just give space, and we will be fine.

As for SPA, I think we can fight again for the win, especially if VER takes engine penalty as planned.

[CjC]

Looking at the cooler temperatures for Spa at the weekend I think Mercedes will be a threat.

[101FlyingDutchman]

It’s naive to think that we are all of a sudden in with a chance of WDC. We lost a lot of points before this race.
Let’s celebrate the fact there is a 1-2 for the team and a real good shout for the WCC if Perez has some more “off” races. RB20 will win races and Merc will be strong. 1-2s will be very hard to achieve at the back end of convergence.
Be happy! From where we started we’ve taken giant leaps. Some people it seems the glass is either never full enough and therefore always empty. Sad to see

[PapayaFan481]

...

All it would take is 2 DNFs and an engine penalty for Max for Norris to get close to the title.

...

This. And the way Max is driving, back to his 2021 era shenanigans, it is not unreasonable to think he may take himself out of a race or two.

There is no guarantee that McLaren have the fastest car again in 2025, so they should, IMHO, throw everything at giving Lando a shot of the title this season. If they do then there's a very real likelihood that the WCC comes with it.

This race proved to Oscar that the team supports him, but now they should be saying to him that Lando is the lead driver for the rest of the season and asking Oscar to support him.

[Emag]

Will was right though. If a title fight starts to get real somehow, Lando would need Oscar's help. What happens if Lando is x points away from the lead at some point in the future and the only way to get that lead would be by sacrificing Oscar's race to either use him as a blockade for Max, or even simply moving away to give up a position for Lando. I don't think he would have played that game if Lando had won the race yesterday in bad faith.

The WDC remains a stretch. They need to execute races perfectly, and even then, there's no guarantee the car will remain in the position to fight for wins every weekend from now until Abu Dhabi. But if it somehow becomes a real target, they would have to play the team game to make it happen.

[DDopey]

I think the decision was wrong for the simple reason that Piastri could not bring the fight to Norris. Sure, team orders around tyre savings that Piastri followed and disobeyed by Norris, but still the driver of the car decides the pace.

[Slahinki]

There is no guarantee of fighting for the WDC this year, but if the team don't start maximising the points of Norris soon, even if it comes at the cost of telling Piastri to protect Norris from the moment the lights go out, the only thing that can be guaranteed is that there won't be a fight for the WDC. And I just hope McLaren take the appropriate measures before it's a mathematical impossibility.

[FittingMechanics]

I always hated when teams would clearly favor one driver over the other, especially when it is done early in the season or when there is no need.

This is a similar situation. Verstappen is so far away and so many points are still available that I don't think destroying team unity is worth it. Norris made it harder than he should have, they obviously had an agreement before the race that they will protect against undercut by pitting the second driver first but that they will swap the positions back.

Btw what a great problem to have. What a difference a year and a half makes.