2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Macklaren]

Seidl is a pretty level headed guy but cannot seem to contain his happiness/excitement in his clip

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/vide ... 57963.html

[the EDGE]

Seidl is a pretty level headed guy but cannot seem to contain his happiness/excitement in his clip

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/vide ... 57963.html

They’ve certainly been upbeat all week

However no nasty surprises is all we can really take away from this week, and as long time McLaren fan I’m really pleased about that

The best we can really hope for is to be at the front of the midfield, if McLaren do better than that it will be a proper Brucey Bonus, but I’m not going to get carried away after a 3 day shakedown where nobody showed their hand

[elldizzle]

Seidl is a pretty level headed guy but cannot seem to contain his happiness/excitement in his clip

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/vide ... 57963.html

Interesting... 1. You can clearly see he can't keep the smile off his face. 2. She asked "Have you pushed it yet".. He replies " Its all relative to what others are doing". This seems to me like sandbagging... Hi face says they're keeping their cards close to their chest..

[billamend]

So much hidding

[Stuey]

Andreas Seidl certainly seems happy and satisfied in his demeanour. A good start to the season so far.

[Xero]

I do get the feeling McLaren took their foot off the gas after day 1, and somewhat hid their true potential. They were on the pace very early on, and going by that Seidl interview among various driver reactions, I do sense they are feeling bullish about their prospects this season, or at least in the opening phase. Car isn't showing any signs of porpoising to the degree of others cars, and initial trackside observers have been quick to praise the grip and rotation the car is able to generate. We already know a major upgrade is scheduled for Bahrain, so the smiles suggest they have validated the base car with flying colours. Cautiously optimistic!

[Emag]

I do get the feeling McLaren took their foot off the gas after day 1, and somewhat hid their true potential. They were on the pace very early on, and going by that Seidl interview among various driver reactions, I do sense they are feeling bullish about their prospects this season, or at least in the opening phase. Car isn't showing any signs of porpoising to the degree of others cars, and initial trackside observers have been quick to praise the grip and rotation the car is able to generate. We already know a major upgrade is scheduled for Bahrain, so the smiles suggest they have validated the base car with flying colours. Cautiously optimistic!

Also, the relatively slowish s3 times (only compared to Mercedes and Ferrari to be honest) could be attributed to fuel loads as well. Heavy cars suffer a lot more on slow speed corners.

As I said before, the 19:5 on C4 during the first day by Lando was indeed a good lap. Considering that knowledge with the car was little, and the stint was somewhat long (>10 laps), it doesn't seem unrealistic that McLaren could get well within 1:18's today if they wanted to.

But so could some other team as well, so in reality, we don't know what to expect. One thing we can say for sure though, this was a very good test for McLaren. Little to no reliability issues (apart from some little nibbles on day 1), relatively fast and also correlation seems to be on point considering comments from the team.

Things are looking good so far.

[Xero]

I do get the feeling McLaren took their foot off the gas after day 1, and somewhat hid their true potential. They were on the pace very early on, and going by that Seidl interview among various driver reactions, I do sense they are feeling bullish about their prospects this season, or at least in the opening phase. Car isn't showing any signs of porpoising to the degree of others cars, and initial trackside observers have been quick to praise the grip and rotation the car is able to generate. We already know a major upgrade is scheduled for Bahrain, so the smiles suggest they have validated the base car with flying colours. Cautiously optimistic!

Also, the relatively slowish s3 times (only compared to Mercedes and Ferrari to be honest) could be attributed to fuel loads as well. Heavy cars suffer a lot more on slow speed corners.

As I said before, the 19:5 on C4 during the first day by Lando was indeed a good lap. Considering that knowledge with the car was little, and the stint was somewhat long (>10 laps), it doesn't seem unrealistic that McLaren could get well within 1:18's today if they wanted to.

But so could some other team as well, so in reality, we don't know what to expect. One thing we can say for sure though, this was a very good test for McLaren. Little to no reliability issues (apart from some little nibbles on day 1), relatively fast and also correlation seems to be on point considering comments from the team.

Things are looking good so far.

Yep, spot on.

[SmallSoldier]

I do get the feeling McLaren took their foot off the gas after day 1, and somewhat hid their true potential. They were on the pace very early on, and going by that Seidl interview among various driver reactions, I do sense they are feeling bullish about their prospects this season, or at least in the opening phase. Car isn't showing any signs of porpoising to the degree of others cars, and initial trackside observers have been quick to praise the grip and rotation the car is able to generate. We already know a major upgrade is scheduled for Bahrain, so the smiles suggest they have validated the base car with flying colours. Cautiously optimistic!

Also, the relatively slowish s3 times (only compared to Mercedes and Ferrari to be honest) could be attributed to fuel loads as well. Heavy cars suffer a lot more on slow speed corners.

As I said before, the 19:5 on C4 during the first day by Lando was indeed a good lap. Considering that knowledge with the car was little, and the stint was somewhat long (>10 laps), it doesn't seem unrealistic that McLaren could get well within 1:18's today if they wanted to.

But so could some other team as well, so in reality, we don't know what to expect. One thing we can say for sure though, this was a very good test for McLaren. Little to no reliability issues (apart from some little nibbles on day 1), relatively fast and also correlation seems to be on point considering comments from the team.

Things are looking good so far.

Not only fuel loads, McLaren isn’t meeting minimum weight yet, with a lot of parts been modular for testing and experimentation, therefore still some weight to be shed before they go racing.

[Xero]

Solid lap count over the 3 days;

Ferrari: 439
Mercedes: 393
McLaren: 366
Red Bull: 358
Williams: 347
Alpha Tauri: 307
Aston Martin: 296
Alpine: 283
Alfa Romeo: 175
Haas: 160

[BosF1]

Not only fuel loads, McLaren isn’t meeting minimum weight yet, with a lot of parts been modular for testing and experimentation, therefore still some weight to be shed before they go racing.

You got a source for that?

[MrGapes]

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... udget-cap/

just referring back to this article by Amus, who are pretty solid sources, "it was heard from the McLaren camp that they are tending towards a basic package." - referring to Barcelona

[runningmanz]

Can't help but feel fairly confident after this first test in what looks like a fairly baseline package

- Lando with such a quick C4 lap on day 1 (not far off the final day glory C5 runs from Merc)
- No porpoising
- Dan reporting a well balanced and grippy car early on
- Seidl's demeanor given generally he is a low key approach guy. His coy reply about focusing on our own program when asked if we pushed the car was telling.
- Upgrades to come for next test and for the Bahrain race
- Team's positivity after the final day of testing

We didn't event try for a glory run on the last day after dialing in the car alot more where Lando was so quick on day 1. You would have to think low 1:19s or even high 1:18s could have been possible for us on a C5 given that progression to the final day.

Hope amongst being quick this season that stupid comment from Marko comes back to haunt him and we give them and also Merc and Ferrari a few headaches this season ahead of a future title tilt in the next few seasons

[DiogoBrand]

I think McLaren is most likely at least top 4 again this year, anything better than that is a bonus on my account.
The people from McLaren have realistic expectations like myself, so their happiness can mean they've achieved what they expected or that they went beyond their expectations. Only time will tell.

[djos]

I’m in the cautiously optimistic camp, I think battling for 3rd place is realistic but will be super excited if we can fight for podiums every week.