2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Mclarensenna]

<------ You are downplaying how unique the Mclaren is to drive. Norris and Sainz and Ric have repeatedly said it has unique traits never seen on any race car they have driven before.
This makes it a unicorn when that rare they have never been seen before.
hence the term "unicorn"
You can argue all you like and repeat the same thing over and over again but sorry i will ALWAYS take the word of Norris over posters here who have never driven the Mclaren F1 car.

You keep sending that article. I read when it came out. Doesn't change anything.

Also, no one said specifically said "never seen".

Regardless of these traits its up to the driver to get the most out of the car.

Its obvious Ricciardo hasn't figured out how to do that. That's the main issue for this season and for Ricciardo's career in general.

We also seem to be forgetting that in reality, Norris hasn’t driven any other F1 cars before McLaren, so his reference point is F2 cars which are way different in every aspect to F1 cars.

No one is asking for Daniel to be a Champion with this particular since it is unrealistic… But, there is an expectation to be close to his team mate and why not beat him every once in a while… To add to the team’s point haul, which ultimately means a heft amount of prize money depending on where they finish… With a very high price tag, comes an expectation of performance to match.

https://thef1clan.com/2020/06/03/the-di ... er-sports/
That is the latest constructors prize money i can find and it seems IMHO anyway that no hefty extra prize money exists ( IMHO when looking at the grand scheme of things and current budget and sponsorship deals)

The difference in 2019 between 4th and 5th was only 3 million pounds
4th and 6th only 6 million pounds
But you gain wind tunnel time and CFD time for next year which means a better 2023 car
My personal opinion is that the 3-6 or so million pound sacrifice is worth it just to gain that extra performance edge in 2023!

[runningmanz]

You keep sending that article. I read when it came out. Doesn't change anything.

Also, no one said specifically said "never seen".

Regardless of these traits its up to the driver to get the most out of the car.

Its obvious Ricciardo hasn't figured out how to do that. That's the main issue for this season and for Ricciardo's career in general.

We also seem to be forgetting that in reality, Norris hasn’t driven any other F1 cars before McLaren, so his reference point is F2 cars which are way different in every aspect to F1 cars.

No one is asking for Daniel to be a Champion with this particular since it is unrealistic… But, there is an expectation to be close to his team mate and why not beat him every once in a while… To add to the team’s point haul, which ultimately means a heft amount of prize money depending on where they finish… With a very high price tag, comes an expectation of performance to match.

https://thef1clan.com/2020/06/03/the-di ... er-sports/
That is the latest constructors prize money i can find and it seems IMHO anyway that no hefty extra prize money exists ( IMHO when looking at the grand scheme of things and current budget and sponsorship deals)

The difference in 2019 between 4th and 5th was only 3 million pounds
4th and 6th only 6 million pounds
But you gain wind tunnel time and CFD time for next year which means a better 2023 car
My personal opinion is that the 3-6 or so million pound sacrifice is worth it just to gain that extra performance edge in 2023!

Yeah that prize money is a drop in the ocean really, when we have sponsors now coming out the wazoo anyway. The main focus has to be the car, no amount of extra money is going to really make a big difference with the cap its all about working smarter and getting the right people to develop a better car now. Obviously easier said than done.

Even Jesus Christ himself driving isn't going to bridge the gap, so having a driver merry-go round isn't going to make a dent in the problem of a substandard car designs which is the big problem and has been ongoing for years now. Conversely keeping Ricciardo and Norris who are now working well together and asking for the same things in the car and also Dan's experience in different teams (including one of the best in RBR) is a logical continuity on that front given how early in the design phase their combined input is for this new reg car.

Podromou does seem to be a weak link though given how long he has been at the team and the car not making the hole in the gap to the front required to this point in time. Look at the massive jump Ferrari made since last year.

[SmallSoldier]

You keep sending that article. I read when it came out. Doesn't change anything.

Also, no one said specifically said "never seen".

Regardless of these traits its up to the driver to get the most out of the car.

Its obvious Ricciardo hasn't figured out how to do that. That's the main issue for this season and for Ricciardo's career in general.

We also seem to be forgetting that in reality, Norris hasn’t driven any other F1 cars before McLaren, so his reference point is F2 cars which are way different in every aspect to F1 cars.

No one is asking for Daniel to be a Champion with this particular since it is unrealistic… But, there is an expectation to be close to his team mate and why not beat him every once in a while… To add to the team’s point haul, which ultimately means a heft amount of prize money depending on where they finish… With a very high price tag, comes an expectation of performance to match.

https://thef1clan.com/2020/06/03/the-di ... er-sports/
That is the latest constructors prize money i can find and it seems IMHO anyway that no hefty extra prize money exists ( IMHO when looking at the grand scheme of things and current budget and sponsorship deals)

The difference in 2019 between 4th and 5th was only 3 million pounds
4th and 6th only 6 million pounds
But you gain wind tunnel time and CFD time for next year which means a better 2023 car
My personal opinion is that the 3-6 or so million pound sacrifice is worth it just to gain that extra performance edge in 2023!

Prize money will be different this year since this will be the highest revenue earning season for F1 in history and prize money is a percentage of FOM’s season revenue… But, it is your opinion in regards to that sacrifice, I don’t share it since there is no guarantee that the additional WT and CFD will net you a big improvement, while most probably you will have negative effects from it as I explained in a previous post… I would do things different if I had a say.

Since it isn’t realistic to come in 2023 with a car that is WCC material (if they make a big jump next year, it will potentially be in 2024), I would go for a cheaper driver and save 20+ million a year… There is no point in having a Championship winning capable driver if you won’t have a car capable of fighting for that… In addition, from a longevity stand point, I would focus on Norris and make sure that whichever car is developed suits him, since ultimately he is the foreseeable future of the Team… I would invest the 40+ million that I would save during the next 2 seasons in keep upgrading the Infrastructure and resources in the Team.

On the mean time, I would keep focusing on the car as you very well put it, since Sponsors don’t pay big money for a team that finishes in at the back of the grid, they pay money for Teams making noise in the sport, since that’s what puts the car on TV week in - week out… And they get positive exposure when decent results come in (like what the team experienced in 2019 and 2020)… From a driver perspective, I would look for someone young that can do the job of bringing the car home hopefully close to Lando (and who knows, surprising everyone and maybe even in front of Lando)… There are several drivers with good marketing potential, whether because of their nationality (like Herta) or their age (like Piastri) or making a lot of noise in a huge sponsorship driven and target market like Pato, for a fraction of the cost of Daniel.

But I don’t make those calls… So my opinion (like all of us) really doesn’t matter in the end… As a fan, all I can do is cheer for the team and hope they make the right calls, whichever those are.

[Lucky]

It's funny to read excuses for Ric.
Everything is much simpler, Lando just has more talent.

[Mclarensenna]

We also seem to be forgetting that in reality, Norris hasn’t driven any other F1 cars before McLaren, so his reference point is F2 cars which are way different in every aspect to F1 cars.

No one is asking for Daniel to be a Champion with this particular since it is unrealistic… But, there is an expectation to be close to his team mate and why not beat him every once in a while… To add to the team’s point haul, which ultimately means a heft amount of prize money depending on where they finish… With a very high price tag, comes an expectation of performance to match.

https://thef1clan.com/2020/06/03/the-di ... er-sports/
That is the latest constructors prize money i can find and it seems IMHO anyway that no hefty extra prize money exists ( IMHO when looking at the grand scheme of things and current budget and sponsorship deals)

The difference in 2019 between 4th and 5th was only 3 million pounds
4th and 6th only 6 million pounds
But you gain wind tunnel time and CFD time for next year which means a better 2023 car
My personal opinion is that the 3-6 or so million pound sacrifice is worth it just to gain that extra performance edge in 2023!

Prize money will be different this year since this will be the highest revenue earning season for F1 in history and prize money is a percentage of FOM’s season revenue… But, it is your opinion in regards to that sacrifice, I don’t share it since there is no guarantee that the additional WT and CFD will net you a big improvement, while most probably you will have negative effects from it as I explained in a previous post… I would do things different if I had a say.

Since it isn’t realistic to come in 2023 with a car that is WCC material (if they make a big jump next year, it will potentially be in 2024), I would go for a cheaper driver and save 20+ million a year… There is no point in having a Championship winning capable driver if you won’t have a car capable of fighting for that… In addition, from a longevity stand point, I would focus on Norris and make sure that whichever car is developed suits him, since ultimately he is the foreseeable future of the Team… I would invest the 40+ million that I would save during the next 2 seasons in keep upgrading the Infrastructure and resources in the Team.

On the mean time, I would keep focusing on the car as you very well put it, since Sponsors don’t pay big money for a team that finishes in at the back of the grid, they pay money for Teams making noise in the sport, since that’s what puts the car on TV week in - week out… And they get positive exposure when decent results come in (like what the team experienced in 2019 and 2020)… From a driver perspective, I would look for someone young that can do the job of bringing the car home hopefully close to Lando (and who knows, surprising everyone and maybe even in front of Lando)… There are several drivers with good marketing potential, whether because of their nationality (like Herta) or their age (like Piastri) or making a lot of noise in a huge sponsorship driven and target market like Pato, for a fraction of the cost of Daniel.

But I don’t make those calls… So my opinion (like all of us) really doesn’t matter in the end… As a fan, all I can do is cheer for the team and hope they make the right calls, whichever those are.

1. You replied to me saying there was hefty prize money at stake. Previously it was 3 million pounds, hardly hefty IMHO. Now you speculating this year will be more ie hefty again? how much more? 5 million pounds?
Hardly hefty in the grand scheme of things so I politely completely disagree with your hefty statement no matter how you spin it.

2. You also claim extra CFD and wind tunnel time is not worth a 3 million pounds or more possibly sacrifice. Again i completely disagree due to how far off the pace Norris was from Max in France. 1.5 - 2 seconds off the pace is dire critical! Half a second off the pace is dire. 2 seconds there should be flashing warning sirens at the Mclaren factory. It is beyond dire. I cannot understand how any Mclaren fan would not think it is absolutely dire critical to gain every extra wind tunnel and CFD time to turn this car around. 2 seconds off the pace is a joke for a team like Mclaren. And this is Lando;s lap time compared to Max who is definately more on top of this driving style than Ric is.
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/

3. " In addition, from a longevity stand point, I would focus on Norris and make sure that whichever car is developed suits him, since ultimately he is the foreseeable future of the Team… " <----- I said last year to the countless posters who said they should 100% fully focus next years car on Lando's driving style and not Ric's would be a disaster. I argued Ric has driven the redbull and knows how a fast F1 car should behave so it is competetive on most tracks. Lando does not have this experience as he never driven anything bar this unique Mclaren.

i said very clearly if they focus on Lando's preference over Rics then next years car will be a turtle. Everybody argued and many disagreed but its evident who was right and who was wrong now.
Lando was a MASSIVE 1.5-2 seconds off the race pace in France. This year is the proof.
This is the result of focusing on landos style for this year. The proof is here right in front of you.
The proof is below clear as day. Reality as they call it!
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/

Yet quite a few and you yourself somehow keep wishing for the same thing next year when already we saw the result this year and how wrong this approach is???
No worries wish for the same thing next year you are entitled to wish for whatever you want. As Eisntein said insanity is doing the exact same thing but expecting a different result!

[Stig14]

I find it incredible that some people on here actively want the team to finish lower down in the standings. That's simply not how racing works. You go out there for 20+ weekends a year and give your very best to produce the best results possible. Currently, with this car, that means fighting Alpine for 4th but some people would rather we just threw in the towel and allowed ourselves to finish lower in a tactical move that may or may not benefit next year (prize money vs slight extra wind tunnel/CFD time)? Incredible. Imagine if all the teams took this approach- you'd have RB and Ferrari fighting for the championship and the rest actively trying to finish last. Fortunately the teams don't share this view and want to perform well regardless of whether it's for a win, a podium or some points scoring positions.

[Mclarensenna]

I find it incredible that some people on here actively want the team to finish lower down in the standings. That's simply not how racing works. You go out there for 20+ weekends a year and give your very best to produce the best results possible. Currently, with this car, that means fighting Alpine for 4th but some people would rather we just threw in the towel and allowed ourselves to finish lower in a tactical move that may or may not benefit next year (prize money vs slight extra wind tunnel/CFD time)? Incredible. Imagine if all the teams took this approach- you'd have RB and Ferrari fighting for the championship and the rest actively trying to finish last. Fortunately the teams don't share this view and want to perform well regardless of whether it's for a win, a podium or some points scoring positions.

The point i was making is some people here insunuate it is the end of the world and the sky will fall if Ric costs Mclaren 4th and drop back to 5th in the championship this year.

I am merely showing the "reality" that you gain wind tunnel and CFD time doing this so it does have its positives.
People can scream and kick and argue all they like but the fact is clear and the positive is there.

Mclaren in 2018 sacrificed the entire year basically to focus more on next years car. So to claim teams do not share this view is 100% false i am afraid. Its happened even with Mclaren and many teams and it will happen even more in the future with the current budget cap and extra wind tunnel and CFD time available so it is actually even more advantagous as a strategy going forward!

[aran.vtec]

The list of excuses for riccardo is now almost as long as the list for Mclarens poor performance,

The real disappointment here is Norris a world championship driver locked into a long term contract in a midfield team with no sign of that changing.

[djos]

Ric is certainly a polarised figure in these parts.

My 2 cents - Have never really been a fan of Ric, but thought of him being a good on his day type.

“Good on his day” types are like Bottas who only win from the front row. Daniel won most of his 9 races despite not claiming pole in qually, and despite not having the fastest car on the grid that season.

Bottas, for example, has only 1 more race win than Daniel despite driving the most dominant cars we’ve seen in F1 for decades.

[Ben1980]

Trying to work out how the team sacrificed 2018 when they had a hefty jump in points and performances. I don't think dumping Honda was in anyway a sacrifice it was a blessing!

But I understand teams purposely cut back development on cars so as to prepare for these new ones, such as Haas and Alpine.

I really want Mclaren to carry on pushing as much as possible to finish as high as possible. And I dare say this extra alloted time will make little difference anyway.

[SmallSoldier]

1. You replied to me saying there was hefty prize money at stake. Previously it was 3 million pounds, hardly hefty IMHO. Now you speculating this year will be more ie hefty again? how much more? 5 million pounds?
Hardly hefty in the grand scheme of things so I politely completely disagree with your hefty statement no matter how you spin it.

2. You also claim extra CFD and wind tunnel time is not worth a 3 million pounds or more possibly sacrifice. Again i completely disagree due to how far off the pace Norris was from Max in France. 1.5 - 2 seconds off the pace is dire critical! Half a second off the pace is dire. 2 seconds there should be flashing warning sirens at the Mclaren factory. It is beyond dire. I cannot understand how any Mclaren fan would not think it is absolutely dire critical to gain every extra wind tunnel and CFD time to turn this car around. 2 seconds off the pace is a joke for a team like Mclaren. And this is Lando;s lap time compared to Max who is definately more on top of this driving style than Ric is.
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/

3. " In addition, from a longevity stand point, I would focus on Norris and make sure that whichever car is developed suits him, since ultimately he is the foreseeable future of the Team… " <----- I said last year to the countless posters who said they should 100% fully focus next years car on Lando's driving style and not Ric's would be a disaster. I argued Ric has driven the redbull and knows how a fast F1 car should behave so it is competetive on most tracks. Lando does not have this experience as he never driven anything bar this unique Mclaren.

i said very clearly if they focus on Lando's preference over Rics then next years car will be a turtle. Everybody argued and many disagreed but its evident who was right and who was wrong now.
Lando was a MASSIVE 1.5-2 seconds off the race pace in France. This year is the proof.
This is the result of focusing on landos style for this year. The proof is here right in front of you.
The proof is below clear as day. Reality as they call it!
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/

Yet you keep wishing for the same thing next year when already you saw the result this year and how wrong this approach is???
No worries wish for the same thing next year you are entitled to wish for whatever you want. As Eisntein said insanity is doing the exact same thing but expecting a different result!

In regards to prize money been hefty… The link you posted has no actual sources for it, I would be careful in the choice of information you are using, since most of them are actually speculating… If you can find an official source of information for prize money please share it, since it would be very interesting to see.

As a reference on why you need to be careful, the following link:

https://www.totalsportal.com/f1/formula ... ize-money/

Lists Mclaren making more on “Prize Money” than Red Bull for the 2021 season (while RBR finished second in Championship and McLaren 4th)

While the following post from Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comme ... ize_money/

List 4th Team making twice the amount than what your link showed “9 years ago”… Unluckily, publications like the one you shared use sources of information such as reddit to create those articles without validating it or quoting / linking any source related to FOM, FIA or even a reputable publication like for example AMUS… So, as politely as you, without a reputable source, those numbers are meaningless… But even then, several million are a heft amount… I would argue that the Teams don’t make the effort they make to finish 3rd, 4th or 5th if there wouldn’t be a solid financial reason behind it… @mwillems had a very good point when he said that McLaren may have made a mistake pushing as much as they did last year fighting Ferrari for P3 (arguably compromising this season)… If there wouldn’t be a solid reason to do so, the Team wouldn’t have prioritize that battle as they did.

Regardless of the above, as I explained earlier, the finishing position not only affects prize money, it has an effect on sponsorship income, quality of sponsorship, what the “book value” of the team is and other intangibles like team morale.

Regarding how much value the additional CFD / Wind Tunnel Time yields… I argue that is not as much as you think… Williams had the biggest amount of both for this season and isn’t leading the midfield, Haas is in a similar situation… Aston Martin, Alpha Tauri and Alfa Romeo had more time than Mclaren for both and are not performing any better than McLaren… Alpine had more time than McLaren also and even when they prioritized this season versus the previous one, they haven’t really out performed McLaren this season (performances are very close in reality)… CFD and Wind Tunnel time are important, but are not the only factor to consider… On the other hand, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari had less time than Mclaren and the 3 of them are doing better… The facts dictate that “only” having more time in the Wind Tunnel and CFD data than can be processed isn’t the ultimate driver for performance on track.

Regarding your third point (and this is where unluckily for both of us it becomes just opinions and therefore we will never agree… Maybe we can agree that we disagree?)… Driver input on car design is way overestimated and over magnified… The drivers Do Not Design Cars… Yes, they provide input, they are part of the process, but ultimately they have way lesser impact on the design of a car that we give them credit for… A couple of cases to illustrate my point:

- Hamilton has been the most successful driver in Formula 1 for the last decade, way more successful than Daniel by any metric, haven driven faster and more successful cars than Daniel… Nevertheless, the Mercedes is miles behind the Red Bulls and Ferraris this season… Since the Daniel apologetics like to bring up that Daniel is an 8 time Gran Prix winner… Let’s keep in mind that Hamilton is a 103 Gran Prix winner.

- Vettel follows Hamilton as the second most successful driver of the Hybrid era (and second most successful in the current grid)… How much of his input is making Aston Martin a Championship contender? I mean, his 53 Gran Prix wins overshadow Daniel’s by a significant margin.

And we could continue with Fernando Alonso at 32 wins and not driving the design of a race winning Alpine, or Bottas in Alfa Romeo who drove a faster car than Daniel and has more wins than him… At the end, a fast driver doesn’t necessarily means that is a driver that provides good feedback and most certainly doesn’t design the car they drive… Even if they have a decade worth of races in a Team.

Furthermore, every single car in the grid drives completely different than what the previous set of regulations did… The way downforce is generated and where it is generated has varied significantly with the Ground Effect Tunnels, the tires are completely different in construction and their synergies with the rest of the car and how the suspension works / behaves, the front wings generated downforce in a different way and there is no outwash generated by the Front Wing, or the Front Brakes… There is no Y-250, there are no bargeboards to clean the air, rake is almost non - existent… Whatever made the previous generation of cars fast, doesn’t make them fast today… That is the reality of this new formula.

Finally, you are making your own assumption that this year’s car was designed / build to suit Lando… Weren’t you the one posting links from Lando saying that the previous generation car was a Unicorn? If you keep searching, I’m sure you will find quotes from him saying that he wanted something different from it and if I’m not wrong, at some point he even mentioned that both, Daniel and him wanted similar things from the car to be faster… So no, this year’s car wasn’t build to suit Lando… This year’s car was the fastest car that McLaren thought they could build… It was a big interrogation mark for all involved in terms of performance and both drivers came out saying how it needed a different style to drive it (as almost every single driver on the grid mentioned)… Based on what I just stated, I would argue that there isn’t anything “insane” about wishing for the team to build a car that suits the faster driver… Insanity for me is to pay 20+ million for a driver that brings 1 point for every 4 points his team mate brings.

[runningmanz]

Its ridiculous people keep banging on about Ricciardo as if firing him is going to make a difference. They are also overstating the importance of a few million in prize money in this new costcap era and given McLaren are rolling in the sponsors now anyway. Something about not seeing the forest for the trees. At least Ricciardo has an idea of what a car is like that can regularly challenge for wins the team needs that reference point even in this new reg phase. You can't understate that importance. Even Key mentioned in the previous podcasts how much the took on board from both guys input to try and engineer some of these quirks out of this years car. Obviously they still have work to do on that front as it seems they played it too safe this year. Some of you guys need to wake up and see that the car is the main issue and no amount of complaining about Ricciardo not beating Lando or giving them one higher position in the WCC is going to magically solve the issues the team have yet again with a slow car. Ricciardo's salary in 2022 is alot less than Lando's nowhere near $20 million per year. Besides that Ricciardo brings alot to the table in other areas that other drivers don't such as his experience its not all just down to track performance as to his worth to the team.

McLaren have yet to live up to the promise of giving Ricciardo a competitive,well handling car so it works both ways. He has a proven record of winning races when the car is good enough. Until the car is anywhere near the front runners which it currently isn't even close all this talk of swapping drivers around is akin to putting a bandaid on a bleeding femoral artery. Its going to make little difference in the grand scheme of winning championships when the car is nowhere near the front. Maybe getting someone else as the CTO of Aero is a good start..

[Mclarensenna]

1. You replied to me saying there was hefty prize money at stake. Previously it was 3 million pounds, hardly hefty IMHO. Now you speculating this year will be more ie hefty again? how much more? 5 million pounds?
Hardly hefty in the grand scheme of things so I politely completely disagree with your hefty statement no matter how you spin it.

2. You also claim extra CFD and wind tunnel time is not worth a 3 million pounds or more possibly sacrifice. Again i completely disagree due to how far off the pace Norris was from Max in France. 1.5 - 2 seconds off the pace is dire critical! Half a second off the pace is dire. 2 seconds there should be flashing warning sirens at the Mclaren factory. It is beyond dire. I cannot understand how any Mclaren fan would not think it is absolutely dire critical to gain every extra wind tunnel and CFD time to turn this car around. 2 seconds off the pace is a joke for a team like Mclaren. And this is Lando;s lap time compared to Max who is definately more on top of this driving style than Ric is.
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/

3. " In addition, from a longevity stand point, I would focus on Norris and make sure that whichever car is developed suits him, since ultimately he is the foreseeable future of the Team… " <----- I said last year to the countless posters who said they should 100% fully focus next years car on Lando's driving style and not Ric's would be a disaster. I argued Ric has driven the redbull and knows how a fast F1 car should behave so it is competetive on most tracks. Lando does not have this experience as he never driven anything bar this unique Mclaren.

i said very clearly if they focus on Lando's preference over Rics then next years car will be a turtle. Everybody argued and many disagreed but its evident who was right and who was wrong now.
Lando was a MASSIVE 1.5-2 seconds off the race pace in France. This year is the proof.
This is the result of focusing on landos style for this year. The proof is here right in front of you.
The proof is below clear as day. Reality as they call it!
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/

Yet you keep wishing for the same thing next year when already you saw the result this year and how wrong this approach is???
No worries wish for the same thing next year you are entitled to wish for whatever you want. As Eisntein said insanity is doing the exact same thing but expecting a different result!

In regards to prize money been hefty… The link you posted has no actual sources for it, I would be careful in the choice of information you are using, since most of them are actually speculating… If you can find an official source of information for prize money please share it, since it would be very interesting to see.

As a reference on why you need to be careful, the following link:

https://www.totalsportal.com/f1/formula ... ize-money/

Lists Mclaren making more on “Prize Money” than Red Bull for the 2021 season (while RBR finished second in Championship and McLaren 4th)

While the following post from Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comme ... ize_money/

List 4th Team making twice the amount than what your link showed “9 years ago”… Unluckily, publications like the one you shared use sources of information such as reddit to create those articles without validating it or quoting / linking any source related to FOM, FIA or even a reputable publication like for example AMUS… So, as politely as you, without a reputable source, those numbers are meaningless… But even then, several million are a heft amount… I would argue that the Teams don’t make the effort they make to finish 3rd, 4th or 5th if there wouldn’t be a solid financial reason behind it… @mwillems had a very good point when he said that McLaren may have made a mistake pushing as much as they did last year fighting Ferrari for P3 (arguably compromising this season)… If there wouldn’t be a solid reason to do so, the Team wouldn’t have prioritize that battle as they did.

Regardless of the above, as I explained earlier, the finishing position not only affects prize money, it has an effect on sponsorship income, quality of sponsorship, what the “book value” of the team is and other intangibles like team morale.

Regarding how much value the additional CFD / Wind Tunnel Time yields… I argue that is not as much as you think… Williams had the biggest amount of both for this season and isn’t leading the midfield, Haas is in a similar situation… Aston Martin, Alpha Tauri and Alfa Romeo had more time than Mclaren for both and are not performing any better than McLaren… Alpine had more time than McLaren also and even when they prioritized this season versus the previous one, they haven’t really out performed McLaren this season (performances are very close in reality)… CFD and Wind Tunnel time are important, but are not the only factor to consider… On the other hand, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari had less time than Mclaren and the 3 of them are doing better… The facts dictate that “only” having more time in the Wind Tunnel and CFD data than can be processed isn’t the ultimate driver for performance on track.

Regarding your third point (and this is where unluckily for both of us it becomes just opinions and therefore we will never agree… Maybe we can agree that we disagree?)… Driver input on car design is way overestimated and over magnified… The drivers Do Not Design Cars… Yes, they provide input, they are part of the process, but ultimately they have way lesser impact on the design of a car that we give them credit for… A couple of cases to illustrate my point:

- Hamilton has been the most successful driver in Formula 1 for the last decade, way more successful than Daniel by any metric, haven driven faster and more successful cars than Daniel… Nevertheless, the Mercedes is miles behind the Red Bulls and Ferraris this season… Since the Daniel apologetics like to bring up that Daniel is an 8 time Gran Prix winner… Let’s keep in mind that Hamilton is a 103 Gran Prix winner.

- Vettel follows Hamilton as the second most successful driver of the Hybrid era (and second most successful in the current grid)… How much of his input is making Aston Martin a Championship contender? I mean, his 53 Gran Prix wins overshadow Daniel’s by a significant margin.

And we could continue with Fernando Alonso at 32 wins and not driving the design of a race winning Alpine, or Bottas in Alfa Romeo who drove a faster car than Daniel and has more wins than him… At the end, a fast driver doesn’t necessarily means that is a driver that provides good feedback and most certainly doesn’t design the car they drive… Even if they have a decade worth of races in a Team.

Furthermore, every single car in the grid drives completely different than what the previous set of regulations did… The way downforce is generated and where it is generated has varied significantly with the Ground Effect Tunnels, the tires are completely different in construction and their synergies with the rest of the car and how the suspension works / behaves, the front wings generated downforce in a different way and there is no outwash generated by the Front Wing, or the Front Brakes… There is no Y-250, there are bargeboards to clean the air, rake is almost non - existent… Whatever made the previous generation of cars fast, doesn’t make them fast today… That is the reality of this new formula.

Finally, you are making your own assumption that this year’s car was designed / build to suit Lando… Weren’t you the one posting links from Lando saying that the previous generation car was a Unicorn? If you keep searching, I’m sure you will find quotes from him saying that he wanted something different from it and if I’m not wrong, at some point he even mentioned that both, Daniel and him wanted similar things from the car to be faster… So no, this year’s car wasn’t build to suit Lando… This year’s car was the fastest car that McLaren thought they could build… It was a big interrogation mark for all involved in terms of performance and both drivers came out saying how it needed a different style to drive it (as almost every single driver on the grid mentioned)… Based on what I just stated, I would argue that there isn’t anything “insane” about wishing for the team to build a car that suits the faster driver… Insanity for me is to pay 20+ million for a driver that brings 1 point for every 4 points his team mate brings.

1.
I googled and pasted the latest constructors prize money list i could find.
Your list is not 100% accurate either it seems. Seems it is difficult to find official data that i agree. The point i made and continue to stand by though is that the difference in prize money no matter what your source is i do not consider hefty at all in the grand scheme of things whether 3 million pounds or more.

2.
The point i made was very clear but let me re explain it again!!! sighs . Extra wind tunnel time and CFD will benefit Mclaren. If extra X amount of wind and cfd time causes Mclaren to close the gap by .3 seconds than it is an improvment for sure and much needed.
yes redbull with the same X amount of extra wind tunnel and CFD time might gain .7 seconds vs Mclarens .3 seconds due to the magic of Newey and superior facilcities and engineering depth. And a poor team like Williams might only gain .1 seconds in comparison.
That is common sense seriously. The better teams will gain more and some less we know this. Its common sense
But my point 100% stands. Mclaren is so far off the pace (we saw Norris 1.5-2 seconds off the pace in France) that extra CFD and wind tunnel time will benefit them greatly.
Its 100% they will benefit from this.
Even the FIA agree it is very valuable hence these new rules that give the top teams less and the bottom teams more wind tunnel and CFD time. This was the reason the FIA introduced this rule as it DOES make a difference.
So i disagree and the FIA disagrees, but you are entitled to your opinion and respect it if you think the opposite.

3.
"In addition, from a longevity stand point, I would focus on Norris and make sure that whichever car is developed suits him, since ultimately he is the foreseeable future of the Team…"

https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2022/gp/s9028 ... s/821-842/
This car suits Norris more than RIc and check out Norris lap times above. The stop watch doesnt lie!
I 100% disagree with focusing on Norris over Ric for the sole reason that Ric has driven the redbull for years and knows exactly what handling traits make a car fast and what makes it 2 seconds off the pace as Norris found out above with traits that suit him over Ric.

[Seerix]

Unfortunately, McLaren won't keep rolling in sponsors for long if they keep dropping in WDC each year.

[Ben1980]

Getting Rid of Ricciardo isn't going to make the car faster or slower.

Getting rid will save a hell of a lot of money. But, unless sonething miraculous happens in the second half of the season, his career has taken such a bashing, he knows that he won't get the same salary. So will have no desire to leave and I doubt tge team will pay him 20m to sit around.

So he is in for another season in all reality, unless he doesn't fancy risking another kicking.