2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[Ben1980]

"I think the main thing is that, of course, we just didn't come into the season as strong as we needed to," said Norris.

"How we've done since then, since the first the race, I think has been very good and strong. Considering we are still fighting for fourth in the constructors against a team which has been a lot more competitive since day one shows how good of a job we've done in many other areas.

"Our consistency, reliability in many ways, pit stops, strategy, a lot of things have been very strong. Just we didn't start as well as what we wanted, but I think we've made some good progress since then, so as long as we continue to do that after the break, then I'll be happy.

"But it's just been tough, you know - you always want to fight for more and fight for higher positions, and the gap we have to the top three teams is still a big one, so we just need to focus on closing that down."


Lando seems to think the cars fine.

[Ben1980]

So 3 F1 drivers say the Mclaren cars have undesirable traits and you tell me my tune stinks, sorry mate but that is a massive logic fail right there!

In fact your tune isn't in tune.

Your argument makes little sense. Cars can be difficult to drive, Lewis Hamilton has said it about Merc, Max Verstappen has said it more then once on the team radio this year. Seb has said the AM was a handful, over recent years the ferrari was called difficult to drive and this year sainz has said the same. Albon said the Williams is harder to drive.

F1 cars are hard to drive. But, all your claims are pointless, because the car is good enough for 5th and 4th in recent qualifying.

The car is fine.

I’ll take the word of actual F1 drivers over an armchair expert, thanks!

A lot of effort goes into making F1 cars more driveable because that makes them faster, if you don’t get this, then I’m not sure why You are here on a technical F1 forum!

I dont think you are quite right. The aim is to make the car as fast as possible. Not necessarily to make it easy to drive. I think Red Bull have showed over the years that a fast car isn't easy to drive for all drivers. Max is able to manage it, others not so much.

And, for Mclaren they have tried to build a car to be fast, and while it's not as fast as the top 3 teams in race pace, occasionally it is faster in qualifying. But, only one driver is able to get the best out of the car, but it shows that the car is built in the right direction.

I did see that Haas have said they think their car is easy to drive, I'd rather have the mclaren though.

[djos]

Drivable does not mean easy to drive, it means predictable and consistent behaviour that allows a driver to get the most out of a car.

But If you paid attention you’d know that!

[Ben1980]

Drivable does not mean easy to drive, it means predictable and consistent behaviour that allows a driver to get the most out of a car.

But If you paid attention you’d know that!

And Lando is getting the most out of the car, Daniel isn't. Max is getting the most out of red bull, Sergio, Alex, pierre, didn't. Lewis got the most out of the Mercedes and bottas didn't. Albon is getting the most of the Williams and latitfi isn't. Magnusson over Schumacher, vettell over Stroll. I'm sure you catch my drift.

Are you saying all thise cars are not predictable and consistent because one drivers was dominating the other?

I know you love tge arguments, even though your thinking is flawed.

It's so simple, the car is fine, not good not bad. One driver is struggling with it, the other is getting the most from it. The car performance can only be based on what has been achieved by the car, which shows it can at times be on the second or 3rd row.

The drivers job is to get the best out of his machinery. Its clear Ricciardo is not doing this.

[Ben1980]

I would be made up if Ricciardo goes to Alpine and they produce a championship challenger.

The only issue I have is his underperformance with McLaren. If he leaves, good luck to him.

[hollus]

Surely time to agree to disagree. Convincing the internet of something is an exercise in futility.

[Emag]

And its a stupid assumption to make in the first place. Why would someone think that the team is hampering one of the drivers on purpose?

First of all, he was supposed to be the star driver and signed a contract which is paying him a hell of a lot of money. Why the fuk would McLaren pay millions of dollars for a driver only to purposefully hamper them?

You have gotta be a huge fanboy to look past the obvious facts of the matter to reach that sort of conclusion.

The truth is, Daniel has severely underperformed. He came into the team with great expectations of being the clear number one, and he got manhandled by someone with less tha half his experience.

That's right, manhandled. Lando has been outpacing him so hard, its actually the same level of humiliation Vandoorne got by Alonso.

Daniel has literally zero excuses for that sort of gap. I hope the Alpine suits him better and he manages to save some face next year (if he leaves). But his stint at McLaren has been absolutely horrendous. And he got nothing but himself to blame for that.

[billamend]

Norris had to adjust to 2022 McLaren F1 car that was "very unsuited for me"
...
“I don’t think you can probably in any way say the car is made around me,” Norris told Motorsport.com in an interview ahead of the summer break.

“From what I want from the car, it's like the opposite of what it’s giving me at the minute! And yeah, I would say the car I have now is completely not what I want for my driving style, and very unsuited for me.

“It’s not a bad thing, it’s just that’s what it is, and you have to adapt to it. That’s why I feel like I’ve done a reasonable job this year, adapting to something that is not quite what I want or like.

“That's one of the improvements I’ve made over the last few years.”

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norr ... /10352607/

[politburo]

Drivable does not mean easy to drive, it means predictable and consistent behaviour that allows a driver to get the most out of a car.

But If you paid attention you’d know that!

So you’re the only one paying attention here?. You really do yourself and your statements a huge disservice with all your pettiness sir/madam. Especially since you’re not as objectively right as you think you are - all the pettiness is just unnecessary and childish.

What are you doing on a technical forum if all your posts end with such snarky remarks?

[Stig14]

Drivable does not mean easy to drive, it means predictable and consistent behaviour that allows a driver to get the most out of a car.

But If you paid attention you’d know that!

So you’re the only one paying attention here?. You really do yourself and your statements a huge disservice with all your pettiness sir/madam. Especially since you’re not as objectively right as you think you are - all the pettiness is just unnecessary and childish.

What are you doing on a technical forum if all your posts end with such snarky remarks?

Whilst I agree, I think the admins have just had a well-needed clean up of this thread so I suggest we move on from here.

How do the drivers approach the summer break? Daniel has been quite open with needing a week or two to recharge before refocussing. I haven't seen anything about how Lando approaches things but he obviously has plenty of other interests so one would imagine he finds "switching off" from F1 for the summer relatively easy?

[Ground Effect]

First full car in the new wind tunnel will be 2025

New developments in place for 2023

As part of this, McLaren are in the process of developing a new wind tunnel and simulator, which Seidl hopes will soon reap benefits for the British outfit.

"We plan to have the wind tunnel ready [by the] middle of next year, which means part of the '24 car development will benefit from the new wind tunnel already," Seidl revealed.

"The first full car that [will be] developed in the tunnel is the '25 car. On the driving simulator side, we are planning to complete a new one [at the] end of this year/beginning of next year, where we then hopefully see some benefits already next year, or [at the] latest in '24."

Other developments are also in the works.

"On CFD [computational fluid dynamics], we made big upgrades as well," Seidl added.

"We are heavily looking into updating all our production facilities as well, which needs to happen in parallel to [us] becoming better as a team."

Full article

https://racingnews365.com/the-secret-we ... ext-season

[McL-H]

First full car in the new wind tunnel will be 2025

New developments in place for 2023

As part of this, McLaren are in the process of developing a new wind tunnel and simulator, which Seidl hopes will soon reap benefits for the British outfit.

"We plan to have the wind tunnel ready [by the] middle of next year, which means part of the '24 car development will benefit from the new wind tunnel already," Seidl revealed.

"The first full car that [will be] developed in the tunnel is the '25 car. On the driving simulator side, we are planning to complete a new one [at the] end of this year/beginning of next year, where we then hopefully see some benefits already next year, or [at the] latest in '24."

Other developments are also in the works.

"On CFD [computational fluid dynamics], we made big upgrades as well," Seidl added.

"We are heavily looking into updating all our production facilities as well, which needs to happen in parallel to [us] becoming better as a team."

Full article

https://racingnews365.com/the-secret-we ... ext-season

When did the work on that wind tunnel start? 2018? It dazzles me how the Stroll outfit started works on a new factory and wind tunnel in 2021 and the wind tunnel will be finished next year (so basically it takes them 1.5 years). Yet, McLaren windtunnel is taking ages.Last month I read it were to be finished (finally) at the end of this year. Now it’s mid-2023. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear same time next year it has been delayed to 2024.

[PhillipM]

If you read it here people told you it would be finished this year but not calibrated, tested, etc, 'till May.

[Slahinki]

Yeah, it was already known the first car made fully with the new wind tunnel would be the '25 car.

[MrGapes]

First full car in the new wind tunnel will be 2025

New developments in place for 2023

As part of this, McLaren are in the process of developing a new wind tunnel and simulator, which Seidl hopes will soon reap benefits for the British outfit.

"We plan to have the wind tunnel ready [by the] middle of next year, which means part of the '24 car development will benefit from the new wind tunnel already," Seidl revealed.

"The first full car that [will be] developed in the tunnel is the '25 car. On the driving simulator side, we are planning to complete a new one [at the] end of this year/beginning of next year, where we then hopefully see some benefits already next year, or [at the] latest in '24."

Other developments are also in the works.

"On CFD [computational fluid dynamics], we made big upgrades as well," Seidl added.

"We are heavily looking into updating all our production facilities as well, which needs to happen in parallel to [us] becoming better as a team."

Full article

https://racingnews365.com/the-secret-we ... ext-season

When did the work on that wind tunnel start? 2018? It dazzles me how the Stroll outfit started works on a new factory and wind tunnel in 2021 and the wind tunnel will be finished next year (so basically it takes them 1.5 years). Yet, McLaren windtunnel is taking ages.Last month I read it were to be finished (finally) at the end of this year. Now it’s mid-2023. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear same time next year it has been delayed to 2024.

It’s also important to factor the constraints due to the mtc. The entire building is built around the wind tunnel. I’m sure excessive planning and building certification took time and obviously covid delays.

Provided the team had a car fully developed by the new wind tunnel for 2024, I don’t think they’d be challenging for wins or a championship. 2024 will help them learn the new tools, and refine their workflow etc.