2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[haza]

Horner: Mclaren could be an ongoing threat

https://t.co/AkGyXdVqTR

[BMMR61]

Knowing it is “doable” translates to higher aspirations and confidence. Much of race craft in this tyre dominated era is driving to a delta. Another is protecting/enhancing projected positions after upcoming pitstop. When McLaren focuses on its target seen as for example, Ferrari, then that colours aspirations. When the gap ahead to for example, a Mercedes, isn’t great then that aspiration can become an aggressive undercut, or an overcut. I think as much as any recent leap in performance, the confidence to take on a Mercedes increases the competitiveness of McLaren.

Now to doable, confidence and aspiration, add much improved qualifying strength. Recall how McLaren qualifying until breakthrough at Austria had been poor relative to race competitiveness. Now that has been addressed we have reasserted the advantage over Ferrari and found that any weaknesses at Mercedes and RedBull at certain circuits can be exposed. Monza has been an MCL35 track since Carlos was slower than only Hamilton last year. The ease of being able to defend with a slippery aero there and at Sochi was another area building confidence. Confidence, confidence, confidence - we may see some more excellent race performances before the season ends.

[CjC]

Probably late to the show here regarding the fall out from Sochi but if Ric didn’t have a slow first stop for slick tyres then Lando would more than likely have won the race having pitting for intermediate tyres.
Without the slow stop Ric would covered Hamilton and Norris could have continued to build his lead over Ric and the field in his second stint to then allow him a very safe pit stop to cover the other intermediate pitters.

It's really crazy how many coincidences needed to happen in order to lose the lead. But to be fair, we were lucky to get the pole in first place (Verstappen penalty, top teams late to change the tyres).

Yea almost anything that could have gone against Lando did
That’s why the only thing I said post race till now is that Lando deserves a really lucky, really ugly, most flukiest win ever.

Not sure about Verstappens penalty being lucky though if Mclaren start at the back of the grid due to a penalty will the pole sitter for that race be lucky?

[CjC]

Horner: Mclaren could be an ongoing threat

https://t.co/AkGyXdVqTR

High praise indeed- especially off Horner

[blastdoman]

Confirmed. Sainz will change the PU. He will start from end of the grid.

[BMMR61]

Just got to say with the exceptional performance of the team , particularly over the last two race weekends, that I’ve been avidly a fan since Bruce McLaren painted his cars in beautiful papaya. There have been times when the pain of long, bad days were too much to watch. The decline after Hunt’s magnificent 1976 led to the Ron Dennis MP4 buyout. With John Barnard in 1982 with the very first carbon chassis and Niki and Alain’s great years through to the awful in team squabble with Ayrton and the shameful Suzuka crashes…. but I won’t speak ill of the dead here. Mika brought glory with the silver cars, Lewis and Jenson with the pretty Vodafone livery. Then the slump which has been well documented.

The Zak Brown era started shakily albeit from a very, very low base. The uptake of Renault PU did one thing - it calibrated where McLaren stood. The dismal MCL33 which even Fernando couldn’t translate into a podium challenger was replaced with 2019’s 34. Encouraging but unlucky early season form developed with upgrades into a car which by midseason Carlos could deftly massage into a regular top 6 result. The late season podium at Brazil was reward for a sustained period of methodical teamwork. Clearly, new appointments Seidl and Key were bringing stuff that wasn’t flash in the pan, in some ways the results didn’t truly do justice to the progress being made. The 35 was a nice evolutionary step but the real improvement was in team efficiency. Reliability, strategy and pitstops improved and Carlos and Lando were recognised as one of the best lineups on the grid - better in retrospect than almost anyone imagined. 2021 revealed that Carlos belonged near the top shelf of driver with his competitive run against the star that is Charles, Lando took the next step. Mercedes PU, perfect reliability and making most of the calls right, are key new ingredients to add to the mix in 2021. Like 2019 and 2020, McLaren built towards best performances in the second half. Hold onto your seats McLaren fans, we could be seeing a great run through to the finish line at Abu Dhabi! Beginning of the year I was predicting 3rd in WCC with 350-400 points across 24 scheduled races. It’s still on.

[BMMR61]

Horner: Mclaren could be an ongoing threat

https://t.co/AkGyXdVqTR

High praise indeed- especially off Horner

Yep, Horner was in the “there’s only two teams” corner until now. McLaren’s difficult to overtake characteristics make it a likely decider of fortunes for the Max v Lewis main event.

[univex]

Tough weekend coming up for McLaren relative to the recent successes. Corners are not the MCL35M's friend.

[FittingMechanics]

Tough weekend coming up for McLaren relative to the recent successes. Corners are not the MCL35M's friend.

I think that McLaren does well in high speed corners but it's not good on slow speed corners, except maybe if it is point and shoot style like Austria. I'm no expert but I don't see Turkey is going to be very bad or very good for the car.

[Marc.W]

Other than T4, T5, T12 and T13 everything else is relatively medium/high speed which should play to the 35Ms strengths no?

[godlameroso]

All of sector 3 is low speed turns.

[CjC]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... hZoME.html

40% chance of rain everyday- redemption for Lando already??

[bauc]

[billamend]

I saw this week an interview with a McLaren employee from my country. The interview was very informal so he said a few interesting things:

• Sochi was entirely fault of the team, not the driver. He made the right call with the info he was given;

• Already working 100% on the 2022 car. Been working on the 2022 car for a *long* time. At the moment is more about understanding the current car and optimize it with setup. No more updates;

• Alonso gave really good and very technical feedback;

• Norris is the driver that surprised him the most: "his humility, the way he interacts with us (very different than any other driver). He is a kid who is a pleasure to work and be with".

[mwillems]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... hZoME.html

40% chance of rain everyday- redemption for Lando already??

Well each time it's rained it all got messed up for him, so pray for too much rain