Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24

[ringo]

I guess De Jokke is looking on the broader picture; Heiki should of brought home some points in that race and most of the GP before this. Hamilton crashed but he finished the race. Heiki has 4 DNF since the start of the season. The sad thing is that he's a good driver and has a race win to prove it.

Hamilton botched his chance just as much as Vettel, so to insinuate Mcl should fire hamilton instead of Heiki just for 1 crash compared to all of Heiki's crashes, is like saying RBR should fire Vettel for his one incident.

[Metar]

I'm more in the direction of "cut him some slack and, for a change, don't ask for anyone to be fired."

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's the fans that keep asking to fire or replace something after every mistake. There's no use firing Heikki now, considering McLaren won't be WCC anyway this season.

[ringo]

I am on that page too, firing him is kind of extrem. He is far from Nakajima or Piquet in terms of their value to the team.
Though i was thinking he would feel more confident since Hamilton was out of this picture. Barichello would definitely make use of the opportunity if Button were to have a little accident.

[ISLAMATRON]

Heikki is having some serious problems... with the car as bad as it is it might be time to see how good De Resta is. Terrible, Horrible race strategy for Hamilton, damn good one for Heikki, but he threw it all away.

McL should try a 3 stop strategy in Turkey

[Metar]

Tron, it wouldn't surprise me... Not only did they do it last year with good results, but it might even be a necessity, now that Bridgestone offer the larger gaps. Although, Hamilton might be able to keep two sets of the too-hard compound alive long enough for a short stint on the too-soft compound.

[ISLAMATRON]

yeah but they might not be fast enuff on the conventional strategy to score points, so try something different than the norm. We know Hamilton can put together some fast laps in clear air, so try 3 stints of the option tire and a short one on the prime.

[De Jokke]

By what race do you expect mcl back on top? Or not at all this season?

[Miguel]

By what race do you expect mcl back on top? Or not at all this season?

I personally think that only serendipity on the aero team can put McLaren back to top this season. On the other hand, with constant upgrades as have happened up to now, the MP/4-24 should be strong in Singapore and Hungary. Valencia could be, too, and I wouldn't discard Abu Dhabi.

On the other hand, don't be discouraged. The Mac is much better on heavy fuel than it is on qualifying trim, and that could really help in some race scenarios.

[myurr]

My view is that they're actually better off writing off this year now and focusing on the changes to the car for next year.

Run an interim chassis with an extended fuel tank. Test on the Fridays with the heavier fuel loads and more powerful KERS. Gather data and prepare a killer car for next year.

Whilst next years cars will be more evolutionary than the change between 08/09, there's still enough changes that by starting early McLaren can make the step change required to get on top of their current problems and the reg changes, and then use their phenomenal development rate to really move ahead of the rest of the pack over the winter. Would help ensure their continued reliability level, which is one of the few redeeming features of their current car.

[Metar]

I was under the impression Friday Practice still required the car to conform with FIA regulations?

[ISLAMATRON]

hey Myurr... someone should tell Kovi that the car is reliable

[De Jokke]

team debrief after monaco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1rBP_JR ... 18#t=2m40s

[ISLAMATRON]

The .5 second he is claiming is misleading...

I assume he is stating it relative to the front running team(BGP) as there is no way to to relate Barcelona to Monaco tracks. The McMerc is clearly better suited to the Monaco track to the Barcelona one. Sowas the car clearly .5 a lap faster in Monaco... No way... did they catch up .5 a sec lap on BGP in true pace? Hell no

In reality what they were was .5 a lap not nearly as slow as they usually are reative to BGP, because of the track type.

Barcelona and Turkey are much more closely related in terms of the demands on the car(although the longest straight in turkey might be twice as long). Will they be as high up in the running order in Turkey as in Monaco? Seriously doubt it. So where did the .5 sec a lap in new pace go? Back into thin air, where it was made up from just as Alonso's famous 6 tenths in 2007.

[ISLAMATRON]

can anyone put some light into this ic so we can get a better view of this diffuser?

[timbo]

Hope this helps