I read this interview yesterday and was glad to read it. Lando still believes in McLaren. That's positive news for us. Hopefully next year the team will take a couple more steps forward and Lando will extend his contract with the team.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 08:20https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... l-interest
Lando saying he'd love to extend his Mclaren contract.
McLaren’s progression this year has been exceptional. I’d have been shocked if he wanted to leave.LionsHeart wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 11:29I read this interview yesterday and was glad to read it. Lando still believes in McLaren. That's positive news for us. Hopefully next year the team will take a couple more steps forward and Lando will extend his contract with the team.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 08:20https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... l-interest
Lando saying he'd love to extend his Mclaren contract.
It's not so much about wanting to leave, but whether the year so far has been enough for him to believe they will give him a title shot and be the best place for him to drive. You'd imagine this is exactly what he does think, which is music to my ears.djos wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 11:35McLaren’s progression this year has been exceptional. I’d have been shocked if he wanted to leave.LionsHeart wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 11:29I read this interview yesterday and was glad to read it. Lando still believes in McLaren. That's positive news for us. Hopefully next year the team will take a couple more steps forward and Lando will extend his contract with the team.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 08:20https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... l-interest
Lando saying he'd love to extend his Mclaren contract.
Agreed. I think McLaren have shown they are capable of being consistently up the front, and that has to be huge motivation when you are the lead driver like Lando is.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 11:41It's not so much about wanting to leave, but whether the year so far has been enough for him to believe they will give him a title shot and be the best place for him to drive. You'd imagine this is exactly what he does think, which is music to my ears.djos wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 11:35McLaren’s progression this year has been exceptional. I’d have been shocked if he wanted to leave.LionsHeart wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 11:29
I read this interview yesterday and was glad to read it. Lando still believes in McLaren. That's positive news for us. Hopefully next year the team will take a couple more steps forward and Lando will extend his contract with the team.
I think we have the best driver line up in the sport right now, if not the best driver, but I think 2-3 years and that might change.
He was helped by a new engine, which flattered his performance a bit. But you can see that over the last 6 races they look to be fairly equal in Qualy.
Good point, I’d forgotten about the engine change. Still, it isn’t the first time he’s been quicker than Lando in a qually session.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 12:14He was helped by a new engine, which flattered his performance a bit. But you can see that over the last 6 races they look to be fairly equal in Qualy.
What Japan was able to make evident is that whilst his one lap pace is similar to Lando now, he has work to do on trying to make a smoother use of the tyres to reduce heat and wear.
I think in terms of the tyres, it just takes a little time and experience, everything else is where it needs to be though which is immense really.djos wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 12:18Good point, I’d forgotten about the engine change. Still, it isn’t the first time he’s been quicker than Lando in a qually session.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 12:14He was helped by a new engine, which flattered his performance a bit. But you can see that over the last 6 races they look to be fairly equal in Qualy.
What Japan was able to make evident is that whilst his one lap pace is similar to Lando now, he has work to do on trying to make a smoother use of the tyres to reduce heat and wear.
The raw speed is definitely there - Lando is however the more complete driver. But not too surprising given that Oscar is a rookie.
Well, it's hard to put it down to tires. Lando was consistently faster than Oscar at all times. And the average pace per lap in the difference was 6-7 tenths during the entire race. So Stella is not telling us something. Once Oscar gains experience, he will go consistently faster and will be much closer to Lando.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 13:11I think in terms of the tyres, it just takes a little time and experience, everything else is where it needs to be though which is immense really.djos wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 12:18Good point, I’d forgotten about the engine change. Still, it isn’t the first time he’s been quicker than Lando in a qually session.mwillems wrote: ↑06 Oct 2023, 12:14
He was helped by a new engine, which flattered his performance a bit. But you can see that over the last 6 races they look to be fairly equal in Qualy.
What Japan was able to make evident is that whilst his one lap pace is similar to Lando now, he has work to do on trying to make a smoother use of the tyres to reduce heat and wear.
The raw speed is definitely there - Lando is however the more complete driver. But not too surprising given that Oscar is a rookie.
Nope, it has been fairly even in Qualifying over the last 6 or 7 races and on that front you can't really put anything between them.
Edit: Adding this article, in which Stella suggests the delta between the two drivers was because of Lando's favourable pit strategy and not necessarily because of Piastris tyre wear, but I do think that is part of it.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... /10527745/
Stella thinks that the pace difference between Norris and Piastri in the Japanese GP, at the stage of the race when the team had to intervene, was exaggerated by the excessive tyre degradation.
"In a race like this, every lap of tyre that you save, so if you pit one lap later than somebody else, you gain one tenth," added Stella.
"Lando at that stage pitted six laps later, so his car is automatically six tenths quicker than the other car."