2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Ground Effect]

I'm honestly confused by some of the Oscar bashing. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated, but it has exceeded that. No matter your expectations of him, or the hype that was surrounding him, he's still in his 2nd year in F1. Does anyone remember Lando's second F1 season? He was still struggling with consistency in the races. The speed was there, you could tell he had potential, but he found it difficult to perform at a high level over race distance. He struggled with tyre management, first laps (clean start, but got bullied by those around him). But the most important quality he had, and Oscar has it as well, is bringing the car home. I'm happy with Oscar, has a lot to learn, but in my opinion, he's still very much on a positive trajectory, and over performing, if we look at the data, based on nbr of races he's competed in. It's because of this, it's very much game on in the constructors. There are some things you can only fix with experience.

[CjC]

...and yet Oscar in the last 5 races(prior to this race) has the most points out of everybody

With the fastest car on the grid, yes. How many times did he beat Max in that duration? Alonso used to beat Webber in the fastest car while Vettel used to lead comfortably in those years.

He's beaten Max more than Lando has, and beaten Max in 3 of the last 5 races, vs 2 out of 5 for Norris. Oscar is the driver who has finished ahead of Max more than anyone else this season, 5 times to Lando's 4.

There's always going to be a confirmation bias in here. It runs counter to actual results and events, and always the reason is strategy, Lando is shafted by strategy, as if Oscar has not been subjected to the same strategic calls, which is just nonsense, we know full well Oscar has suffered in a similar way to Lando.

Over the last 8 Races:

Max 159
Lando 142
Oscar 138

It is not 8 races where Lando has been shafted by strategy and Oscar has not. it is 8 races where Lando has not been able to pull away from Oscar (Under the same circumstances by and large) and 8 races in which Max has extended his championship lead. Lando is obviously a better driver than Oscar and has shown that over the 15 races so far.

Don't got me wrong, I want Lando to go on and smash it. But it pains me that this forum is so averse to using reality as an actual basis for opinions, let alone watching the stupid bi-polar knee jerk reactions. It's just typical put 'em on a pedestal and knock em down rubbish all the time.

Let's see Norris string together a dominant run of wins, and I think he has it in him and he definitely has a car to do it. Even better, Max to get desperate, tangle with a non Mclaren driver and lose some serious points.

Mate… he’s Webber 2.0

I’m looking forward to the back flip crash in Baku

[CjC]

I'm honestly confused by some of the Oscar bashing. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated, but it has exceeded that. No matter your expectations of him, or the hype that was surrounding him, he's still in his 2nd year in F1. Does anyone remember Lando's second F1 season? He was still struggling with consistency in the races. The speed was there, you could tell he had potential, but he found it difficult to perform at a high level over race distance. He struggled with tyre management, first laps (clean start, but got bullied by those around him). But the most important quality he had, and Oscar has it as well, is bringing the car home. I'm happy with Oscar, has a lot to learn, but in my opinion, he's still very much on a positive trajectory, and over performing, if we look at the data, based on nbr of races he's competed in. It's because of this, it's very much game on in the constructors. There are some things you can only fix with experience.

Nailed it

[Elite]

Oscars had great races this year, it was only last race he won

One bad race doesn't justify this bashing...

However when your teammate wins by that margin, it is a little eyebrow raising but as long as he finds his form again

[mclaren111]

I'm honestly confused by some of the Oscar bashing. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated, but it has exceeded that. No matter your expectations of him, or the hype that was surrounding him, he's still in his 2nd year in F1. Does anyone remember Lando's second F1 season? He was still struggling with consistency in the races. The speed was there, you could tell he had potential, but he found it difficult to perform at a high level over race distance. He struggled with tyre management, first laps (clean start, but got bullied by those around him). But the most important quality he had, and Oscar has it as well, is bringing the car home. I'm happy with Oscar, has a lot to learn, but in my opinion, he's still very much on a positive trajectory, and over performing, if we look at the data, based on nbr of races he's competed in. It's because of this, it's very much game on in the constructors. There are some things you can only fix with experience.

100% Agree...

[Tvetovnato]

Oscar was not as bad as the timing screens suggested at the end. Had he not lost P3 to Russell, things would look different. He had very strong pace once he was free, but suffered in dirty air. That is part of his learning curve to become better at, which he surely will. He hasn’t even driven two full seasons yet…The important thing is that the pace is there for both McLarens, which one should be happy about.

[bluechris]

Oscar is great but as a rookie imo the team must decide now to give Norris priority. Next year they can be equal or in favour of Oscar but from now on if Oscar is in front, he must let Norris pass. This is my take IF and only IF there is a chance to steal the championship from Verstappen.

[Emag]

Oscar is just a little bit inconsistent and he struggles when following in the dirty air. The car is bad with handling dirty air in general but Lando deals with it quite a bit better.

Anyway, looking forward to Monza now. A very important test for the car and the team. If they remain in the hunt for the win at a track like that, then there’s no reason why they can’t be competitive in all of the remaining races.

Would also be interesting to see if Ferrari joins the fight at the front again with their rumored upgrade package.

[mwillems]

Yeah he's still got a bit of a journey to go on to learn how to be in a battle and look after his tyres. It's much better than last year though. It's also worth remembering this is his second time at the track as he didn't go there in F2 and F3. He is hitting much higher peaks than last year, and he has found more consistency across some race weekends, but still has a few race weekends to forgot. I think this is his third this year. Not due to outright pace, he'd have been much closer to Lando had he got past Charles. The pace is there, the racecraft isn't.

I've gone over this a million times before. Lando in his second season was racing a guy who has struggled to dominate at any team he has been in, as much as I like Sainz. Oscars performance against Lando this year is in general not a million miles away, but with some work to do for sure. But what he has done and what he has achieved during 1.5 seasons against a guy many regard as a rival in talent to Max, one of the best drivers ever... you need to get a grip. Where Oscar is at today is phenomenal, and the expectations everyone has on him are so high, unrealistically high in fact, that he must be at Lando's level or not far off every weekend. There's a reason why Lando is paid five or six times more than him.

[Ben1980]

...and yet Oscar in the last 5 races(prior to this race) has the most points out of everybody

With the fastest car on the grid, yes. How many times did he beat Max in that duration? Alonso used to beat Webber in the fastest car while Vettel used to lead comfortably in those years.

He's beaten Max more than Lando has, and beaten Max in 3 of the last 5 races, vs 2 out of 5 for Norris. Oscar is the driver who has finished ahead of Max more than anyone else this season, 5 times to Lando's 4.

There's always going to be a confirmation bias in here. It runs counter to actual results and events, and always the reason is strategy, Lando is shafted by strategy, as if Oscar has not been subjected to the same strategic calls, which is just nonsense, we know full well Oscar has suffered in a similar way to Lando.

Over the last 8 Races:

Max 159
Lando 142
Oscar 138

It is not 8 races where Lando has been shafted by strategy and Oscar has not. it is 8 races where Lando has not been able to pull away from Oscar (Under the same circumstances by and large) and 8 races in which Max has extended his championship lead. Lando is obviously a better driver than Oscar and has shown that over the 15 races so far.

Don't got me wrong, I want Lando to go on and smash it. But it pains me that this forum is so averse to using reality as an actual basis for opinions, let alone watching the stupid bi-polar knee jerk reactions. It's just typical put 'em on a pedestal and knock em down rubbish all the time.

Let's see Norris string together a dominant run of wins, and I think he has it in him and he definitely has a car to do it. Even better, Max to get desperate, tangle with a non Mclaren driver and lose some serious points.

What stands out to me, is that Oscar is still behind, even with 1 extra finish. Lando was taken out in a race, with fault on the person who took him out.

Has Lando been perfect, nope. Though not sure anyone has. But, I still think ge is better than Oscar at present.

I also think Oscar will move on, as Lando is the company man, and it will be hard to take him on as team leader.

[SilviuAgo]

Btw about the race start, it looks like this was a team issue this time around. Both cars had exactly the same bad launch.

It is possible the team did some changes to the launch trying to improve it and this had both cars execute bad launches.

In fact, the entire clean side got off to a bad start.

https://postimages.org/

An explanation based on throttle usage:
-VER used constant throttle (~20%)
-NOR, instead, quickly increased it up to 50%His rear tires likely spun (notice the rpm increase), forcing him to lift significantly over 50km/h
The battle was lost there: he could go full-throttle ONE SECOND later than VER and reached 200km/h 0.4s later

[mwillems]

With the fastest car on the grid, yes. How many times did he beat Max in that duration? Alonso used to beat Webber in the fastest car while Vettel used to lead comfortably in those years.

He's beaten Max more than Lando has, and beaten Max in 3 of the last 5 races, vs 2 out of 5 for Norris. Oscar is the driver who has finished ahead of Max more than anyone else this season, 5 times to Lando's 4.

There's always going to be a confirmation bias in here. It runs counter to actual results and events, and always the reason is strategy, Lando is shafted by strategy, as if Oscar has not been subjected to the same strategic calls, which is just nonsense, we know full well Oscar has suffered in a similar way to Lando.

Over the last 8 Races:

Max 159
Lando 142
Oscar 138

It is not 8 races where Lando has been shafted by strategy and Oscar has not. it is 8 races where Lando has not been able to pull away from Oscar (Under the same circumstances by and large) and 8 races in which Max has extended his championship lead. Lando is obviously a better driver than Oscar and has shown that over the 15 races so far.

Don't got me wrong, I want Lando to go on and smash it. But it pains me that this forum is so averse to using reality as an actual basis for opinions, let alone watching the stupid bi-polar knee jerk reactions. It's just typical put 'em on a pedestal and knock em down rubbish all the time.

Let's see Norris string together a dominant run of wins, and I think he has it in him and he definitely has a car to do it. Even better, Max to get desperate, tangle with a non Mclaren driver and lose some serious points.

What stands out to me, is that Oscar is still behind, even with 1 extra finish. Lando was taken out in a race, with fault on the person who took him out.

Has Lando been perfect, nope. Though not sure anyone has. But, I still think ge is better than Oscar at present.

I also think Oscar will move on, as Lando is the company man, and it will be hard to take him on as team leader.

It's not a comparison of who is ahead. Lando is undoubtedly better on a Sunday in terms of pace, the reason Oscar is still with him is because he hasn't had quite so many mishaps. The point of the post is to show that Oscar is not really as far behind Lando as some might suggest.

Yes, you're right that Lando lost points in Austria. Looking at the season, Oscar lost points in Miami due to Sainz taking him out as well as getting hit in Monaco, lost downforce and still was better than Lando at that race.

Again, this is not suggesting Oscar is faster than Lando, just that it is short memories from people high on 1 result.

[Ben1980]

He's beaten Max more than Lando has, and beaten Max in 3 of the last 5 races, vs 2 out of 5 for Norris. Oscar is the driver who has finished ahead of Max more than anyone else this season, 5 times to Lando's 4.

There's always going to be a confirmation bias in here. It runs counter to actual results and events, and always the reason is strategy, Lando is shafted by strategy, as if Oscar has not been subjected to the same strategic calls, which is just nonsense, we know full well Oscar has suffered in a similar way to Lando.

Over the last 8 Races:

Max 159
Lando 142
Oscar 138

It is not 8 races where Lando has been shafted by strategy and Oscar has not. it is 8 races where Lando has not been able to pull away from Oscar (Under the same circumstances by and large) and 8 races in which Max has extended his championship lead. Lando is obviously a better driver than Oscar and has shown that over the 15 races so far.

Don't got me wrong, I want Lando to go on and smash it. But it pains me that this forum is so averse to using reality as an actual basis for opinions, let alone watching the stupid bi-polar knee jerk reactions. It's just typical put 'em on a pedestal and knock em down rubbish all the time.

Let's see Norris string together a dominant run of wins, and I think he has it in him and he definitely has a car to do it. Even better, Max to get desperate, tangle with a non Mclaren driver and lose some serious points.

What stands out to me, is that Oscar is still behind, even with 1 extra finish. Lando was taken out in a race, with fault on the person who took him out.

Has Lando been perfect, nope. Though not sure anyone has. But, I still think ge is better than Oscar at present.

I also think Oscar will move on, as Lando is the company man, and it will be hard to take him on as team leader.

It's not a comparison of who is ahead. Lando is undoubtedly better on a Sunday in terms of pace, the reason Oscar is still with him is because he hasn't had quite so many mishaps. The point of the post is to show that Oscar is not really as far behind Lando as some might suggest.

Yes, you're right that Lando lost points in Austria. Looking at the season, Oscar lost points in Miami due to Sainz taking him out as well as getting hit in Monaco, lost downforce and still was better than Lando at that race.

Again, this is not suggesting Oscar is faster than Lando, just that it is short memories from people high on 1 result.

Undoubtedly so, its 46 points, with 25 in Miami swinging to Lando, though a swing to Oscar in Austria. I think it's a relatively fair difference. Both are able to get consistent points from a good car.

I think Lando is better, as expected, but Oscar is driving very well aswell.

But...Oscar has got lucky that his move to Mclaren has coincided with this upturn in form. Sometimes it's easier to monitor performance when the car isn't great. And we had 2 years of seeing Lando wrestle to best out of a car that wasn't that good, while Riciardo couldn't match him.

If Oscar was 2 years into plodding an Alpine round the track he wouldn't get the same plaudits.

[LionsHeart]

Oscar is just a little bit inconsistent and he struggles when following in the dirty air. The car is bad with handling dirty air in general but Lando deals with it quite a bit better.

Anyway, looking forward to Monza now. A very important test for the car and the team. If they remain in the hunt for the win at a track like that, then there’s no reason why they can’t be competitive in all of the remaining races.

Would also be interesting to see if Ferrari joins the fight at the front again with their rumored upgrade package.

Regarding the very first sentence. The problem here is not the car, but only Oscar. He wants a lot from the tires to stay close to his rival. And thus he kills his tires, instead of taking a breather, as Lando did. Oscar also attacked aggressively to catch up first with Russell, and then with Leclerc. There were not enough tires to make another attack. The pace of the cars simply equalized. I think Oscar needs to accelerate a little smoother, and not attack with all his money at once.

[mwillems]

Sensible words.

https://www.f1technical.net/news/25345

Asked after the race whether he is now considering himself as championship contender, Norris stated that it would be “stupid” to think about the title given the enormous gap to Verstappen.

"I mean, I've been fighting for the championship since the first race of the year. There's no sudden decision of now, I need to do better. I've been working hard the whole year and I'm still 70 points behind Max.

"So it's pretty stupid to think of anything at the minute. I just take one race at a time and just keep doing what I'm doing now because there's no point to think ahead and think of the rest.