2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Mclarensenna]

The Hard was clearly faster and Mclaren split the strategy at the beginning. Yet Ric was faster and told to stay behind in the first stint holding him up when they were on completely different strategies. Then Lando was told to hold station when he had the faster tyre later on. IMHO Ric and Lando would have both finished ahead of Alonso if not for this terrible split strategy that had both cars holding each other up. Mclaren strategy today was an absolute joke.

[Nivedanm]

I think they expected a safety car/virtual safety car when Leclerc's engine blew. Ofc that's natural, considering Baku is always full of incidents. They were waiting for that and called Lando in; if there was a safety car, it would have put him well in front of slower cars (maybe not Alonso). Unfortunately, Leclerc drove straight into the pits and retired. And a slow pit stop meant Lando lost his advantage.

[djos]

I don't know what else to say. Daniel I'm going to critisice you now. Lando Norris has tyres older than yours and you have mediums compared to Alonso and Norris. You should be able to catch and pass Alonso like nothing at this point.

The hard tires were just the better tire today, both drivers were much faster on the hard. As frustrated as I was that McLaren didn’t release Daniel while he was on the hard ties, at least they were fair when the situation was reversed.

Anyway good team really to bring home double points, especially considering they both missed Q3.

[djos]

Lando making very very clear on the last lap that he had the pace to get past
Nice job by the Team , just wondering what could have been if the car wasn’t so draggy

And Daniel had the same pace advantage in the first half of the race. Please stop being so one eyed, this is a team sport!

[mclaren111]

I’m actually more worried by the fact in previous interviews we’ve said there’s not anything fundamentally wrong with this years car.

It looks - rather conclusively-pretty draggy at this stage!!

Draggy as Hell... The question is how big a job is it to fix it... Can it be done this year ??

[mclaren111]

It wasn't a bad result at all. I'm happy that the car is good in the corners, it'll serve us well over the season.

Car is draggy but this is more likely to do with the floors outwash needing to be refined.

Can the floor outwash design cause this much drag ?

[mwillems]

It wasn't a bad result at all. I'm happy that the car is good in the corners, it'll serve us well over the season.

Car is draggy but this is more likely to do with the floors outwash needing to be refined.

Can the floor's outwash design cause this much drag ?

Outwash is one of the crucial aspects of this formula and the drag penalty that can occur because of it is large.

There is of course aero around the bargeboard too but that's not too hard to shape. You'd think if there was a real issue here it would have been addressed.

[Stig14]

The Hard was clearly faster and Mclaren split the strategy at the beginning. Yet Ric was faster and told to stay behind in the first stint holding him up when they were on completely different strategies. Then Lando was told to hold station when he had the faster tyre later on. IMHO Ric and Lando would have both finished ahead of Alonso if not for this terrible split strategy that had both cars holding each other up. Mclaren strategy today was an absolute joke.

I disagree- I don't think McLaren had the straightline speed to pass Fernando on track. They were hopelessly slow in comparison and would have likely lost more on the run towards the DRS zone as they would have gained from DRS. Hamilton in a much faster race car with stronger straightline speed was barely able to overtake Ocon (taking several laps to even have a realistic attempt). 8th and 9th was the maximum, only the order of Lando and Daniel would have (potentially) changed IMO.

[makecry]

The Hard was clearly faster and Mclaren split the strategy at the beginning. Yet Ric was faster and told to stay behind in the first stint holding him up when they were on completely different strategies. Then Lando was told to hold station when he had the faster tyre later on. IMHO Ric and Lando would have both finished ahead of Alonso if not for this terrible split strategy that had both cars holding each other up. Mclaren strategy today was an absolute joke.

I disagree- I don't think McLaren had the straightline speed to pass Fernando on track. They were hopelessly slow in comparison and would have likely lost more on the run towards the DRS zone as they would have gained from DRS. Hamilton in a much faster race car with stronger straightline speed was barely able to overtake Ocon (taking several laps to even have a realistic attempt). 8th and 9th was the maximum, only the order of Lando and Daniel would have (potentially) changed IMO.

No one was passing Alonso on the straight unless they had the overall advantage front running cars did. Everyone was losing to Alonso on straights even with DRS open.

[Xero]

The Hard was clearly faster and Mclaren split the strategy at the beginning. Yet Ric was faster and told to stay behind in the first stint holding him up when they were on completely different strategies. Then Lando was told to hold station when he had the faster tyre later on. IMHO Ric and Lando would have both finished ahead of Alonso if not for this terrible split strategy that had both cars holding each other up. Mclaren strategy today was an absolute joke.

I disagree- I don't think McLaren had the straightline speed to pass Fernando on track. They were hopelessly slow in comparison and would have likely lost more on the run towards the DRS zone as they would have gained from DRS. Hamilton in a much faster race car with stronger straightline speed was barely able to overtake Ocon (taking several laps to even have a realistic attempt). 8th and 9th was the maximum, only the order of Lando and Daniel would have (potentially) changed IMO.

Me either. Alonso was pulling 0.6s on the McLarens even with decent slipstream and DRS. Only option was to use the tyres out of T2 down into T3, as Lando managed to pull off, but even that was with a huge tyre wear differential.

[Mclarensenna]

The Hard was clearly faster and Mclaren split the strategy at the beginning. Yet Ric was faster and told to stay behind in the first stint holding him up when they were on completely different strategies. Then Lando was told to hold station when he had the faster tyre later on. IMHO Ric and Lando would have both finished ahead of Alonso if not for this terrible split strategy that had both cars holding each other up. Mclaren strategy today was an absolute joke.

I disagree- I don't think McLaren had the straightline speed to pass Fernando on track. They were hopelessly slow in comparison and would have likely lost more on the run towards the DRS zone as they would have gained from DRS. Hamilton in a much faster race car with stronger straightline speed was barely able to overtake Ocon (taking several laps to even have a realistic attempt). 8th and 9th was the maximum, only the order of Lando and Daniel would have (potentially) changed IMO.

I disagree with your disagreement. Ric was much faster on hards than Norris but was told not to pass Norris on the radio at the beginning. Why did Mclaren do this i am perplexed as when Norris since last year has been faster and behind Ric being held up Mclaren would ask Ric to get out of the way and he would say understood, not complain and play the team game as no point holding up your team mate in the earlier part of the race when on different tyres.
This time the situation was reversed but instead of Mclaren allowing him through they literally did the complete opposite and said stay behind and lose time on a different, faster hard tyre???
Completely absurd as its a team sport and Mclaren generally played the team game until sunday.

Ric had great confidence and pace on the hards could have put alot of pressure on Alonso in the earlier laps.
on The mediums like quite a few drivers he was nowhere with no confidence at all. Night and day
Overtaking on the main street would have been difficult but not impossible but in the other DRS zones getting a better exit which we saw a few drivers do had a greater chance of success.

Also With Ric behind putting pressure Alpine might have pitt Alonso earlier or later or burnt his tyres up quicker defending as the mediums did not last long before going off. That extra pressure changes the dynamic and situation dramatically. Also possibly got ahead due to strategy. so yes IMHO it was definitely possible Ric ended up ahead of Alonso with multiple scenarios playing out. Lets hope Mclaren does not make this terrible team order mistake again of ordering a faster car on a better tyre behind in the earlier laps as we all left here wondering what could have been.

[A.J.O]

I disagree with your disagreement. Ric was much faster on hards than Norris but was told not to pass Norris on the radio at the beginning. Why did Mclaren do this i am perplexed as when Norris since last year has been faster and behind Ric being held up Mclaren would ask Ric to get out of the way and he would say understood, not complain and play the team game as no point holding up your team mate in the earlier part of the race when on different tyres.
This time the situation was reversed but instead of Mclaren allowing him through they literally did the complete opposite and said stay behind and lose time on a different, faster hard tyre???
Completely absurd as its a team sport and Mclaren generally played the team game until sunday.

Ric had great confidence and pace on the hards could have put alot of pressure on Alonso in the earlier laps.
on The mediums like quite a few drivers he was nowhere with no confidence at all. Night and day
Overtaking on the main street would have been difficult but not impossible but in the other DRS zones getting a better exit which we saw a few drivers do had a greater chance of success.

Also With Ric behind putting pressure Alpine might have pitt Alonso earlier or later. That extra pressure changes the dynamic and situation dramatically. Also possibly got ahead due to strategy. so yes IMHO it was definitely possible Ric ended up ahead of Alonso with multiple scenarios playing out. Lets hope Mclaren does not make this terrible team order mistake again of ordering a faster car on a better tyre behind in the earlier laps as we all left here wondering what could have been.

I completely agree with you .
Here is a link to the race history chart.https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... rt_v01.pdf
follow 14,4,3,31 through the chart. both teams had the same strategy. 14,4 started on med 3,31 hards.
Yes hindsight is 20/20 but the lap 4/5 orders should have been to let the #3 car past and let it play out. Not hold him back.(or just not give orders at all) By issuing the team orders the way they did, they let ALO control their race instead of using the pace on the hard to take control from him.

[runningmanz]

The Hard was clearly faster and Mclaren split the strategy at the beginning. Yet Ric was faster and told to stay behind in the first stint holding him up when they were on completely different strategies. Then Lando was told to hold station when he had the faster tyre later on. IMHO Ric and Lando would have both finished ahead of Alonso if not for this terrible split strategy that had both cars holding each other up. Mclaren strategy today was an absolute joke.

I disagree- I don't think McLaren had the straightline speed to pass Fernando on track. They were hopelessly slow in comparison and would have likely lost more on the run towards the DRS zone as they would have gained from DRS. Hamilton in a much faster race car with stronger straightline speed was barely able to overtake Ocon (taking several laps to even have a realistic attempt). 8th and 9th was the maximum, only the order of Lando and Daniel would have (potentially) changed IMO.

I disagree with your disagreement. Ric was much faster on hards than Norris but was told not to pass Norris on the radio at the beginning. Why did Mclaren do this i am perplexed as when Norris since last year has been faster and behind Ric being held up Mclaren would ask Ric to get out of the way and he would say understood, not complain and play the team game as no point holding up your team mate in the earlier part of the race when on different tyres.
This time the situation was reversed but instead of Mclaren allowing him through they literally did the complete opposite and said stay behind and lose time on a different, faster hard tyre???
Completely absurd as its a team sport and Mclaren generally played the team game until sunday.

Ric had great confidence and pace on the hards could have put alot of pressure on Alonso in the earlier laps.
on The mediums like quite a few drivers he was nowhere with no confidence at all. Night and day
Overtaking on the main street would have been difficult but not impossible but in the other DRS zones getting a better exit which we saw a few drivers do had a greater chance of success.

Also With Ric behind putting pressure Alpine might have pitt Alonso earlier or later or burnt his tyres up quicker defending as the mediums did not last long before going off. That extra pressure changes the dynamic and situation dramatically. Also possibly got ahead due to strategy. so yes IMHO it was definitely possible Ric ended up ahead of Alonso with multiple scenarios playing out. Lets hope Mclaren does not make this terrible team order mistake again of ordering a faster car on a better tyre behind in the earlier laps as we all left here wondering what could have been.

Yeah agree multiple scenarios where it's possible Dan could have got ahead. So many laps he was right behind Lando within drs wasted when he could have been applying that pressure to Alonso and having a crack out of T2 for example. Terrible strategy esp for a guy who was clearly alot faster at that stage and has complied with team orders at least 3 times at McLaren and never moaned about it once.

[Stig14]

I certainly think Daniel would have been able to apply more pressure than Lando at that stage in the race but I highly doubt that would have resulted in a pass. Fernando is a wise racer and wasn't likely to be pressured into any mistake that would be required for a pass to be made with their straight line advantage.

Looks like we will have to agree to disagree on this one though. On to Montreal!

[1m0bius1]

Baku, Makes you question if they really even attempted to alter the car to suit Ric. What an absolute joke.