2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[Ben1980]

4th and 5th, that's OK.

[CjC]

He’s something special is Alonso, McLaren will be in a massive scrap with him and the Mercedes tomorrow.
Good laps from the boys there though

Also let’s not forget the Aston has had a decent upgrade already this season so they have stepped in the McLaren territory

[Emag]

Ferrari will probably finish 3-4 tomorrow either through strategy or through pure pace alone, but I am hoping we can fend off Russell and get ahead of Alonso.

[Darth-Piekus]

I think 4-5 are a surprise on a GP that doesnt suit the car and in front of Ferrari. I dont think that Aston will be able to hold in terms of tyre deg but I dont know if they fixed that on their upgrade.

[MCLvamos]

If we can get ahead of Fernando at the start he could perhaps do us a job with his straight line speed against the Ferraris. Conversely we could also end up stuck behind him, so start is crucial I guess.

[Dimond]

Yeah, once we lose out on position it seems practically impossible to regain it with the way our DRS works.

This was in Norris' mind today at Turn 1

[f1rules]

Exactly, that will be my quess also. AM normally has horible race pace

Ferrari will probably finish 3-4 tomorrow either through strategy or through pure pace alone, but I am hoping we can fend off Russell and get ahead of Alonso.

[mwillems]

Exactly, what did people expect. Mclaren succeeded in the rain cause they could keep temperature in the tires. In dry they have no chance at this track. Qual maybe ok cause new soft tires mask the cars weaknesses, but reality will hit again in the race

I'll be surprised if the car doesn't do well in all the sprints. Its not just tyres but low fuel. The car is one of the best in race pace when it has shed over half its fuel. It was the conditions that got us to 1st though.

Will be good in Q here too before we get destroyed in the race.

So we made a last years Ferrari?

Ahahaha

Luckily, not quite. There's 60kg between us and wins. In downforce or in weight loss. Naturally its easier to find this in the floor than weight loss.

We aren't as far away as it looks right now.
Mechanical grip is sound, it's just that a problem at the front can affect everything.

[_cerber1]

Now in Shanghai it’s +22 degrees, tomorrow during the race they promise +18, maybe this will help us with tire consumption.

[LionsHeart]

Racing pace available, that's a fact. If Lando had given up first position right away, he would have easily finished in third position. Aston can't match McLaren's pace yet. One Red Bull, two Ferrari and one McLaren were faster than Alonso. But it was difficult to overtake because Sainz could not pass immediately. In general, at the moment I am happy with the pace itself, but I remain dissatisfied with the first lap from Lando.

I agree, certainly that we had top 4 pace here, won't argue with 3rd if we'd had a clean race.

But you think we will have good pace here on Sunday? I'm hoping top 6 for our drivers in Qualification today, maybe even top 4. But you know what I think of the race pace tomorrow.

Even before the start of the weekend I had the feeling that the car was capable of being third fastest here, just based on the results of Jeddah, Albert Park and Suzuka. In general, the overall pace corresponds exactly to a car with a third speed. Tomorrow the Ferraris will start behind us, which means the threat will come from there. I hope the pace is enough to overtake Alonso.

[mwillems]

Racing pace available, that's a fact. If Lando had given up first position right away, he would have easily finished in third position. Aston can't match McLaren's pace yet. One Red Bull, two Ferrari and one McLaren were faster than Alonso. But it was difficult to overtake because Sainz could not pass immediately. In general, at the moment I am happy with the pace itself, but I remain dissatisfied with the first lap from Lando.

I agree, certainly that we had top 4 pace here, won't argue with 3rd if we'd had a clean race.

But you think we will have good pace here on Sunday? I'm hoping top 6 for our drivers in Qualification today, maybe even top 4. But you know what I think of the race pace tomorrow.

Even before the start of the weekend I had the feeling that the car was capable of being third fastest here, just based on the results of Jeddah, Albert Park and Suzuka. In general, the overall pace corresponds exactly to a car with a third speed. Tomorrow the Ferraris will start behind us, which means the threat will come from there. I hope the pace is enough to overtake Alonso.

Interesting. I Hope you are right, but I think 6 and 7 might be the best we can do with a concern that we might be even 9th and 10th.

In any case I don't care too much if we don't do well tomorrow, I'm looking forward to Miami already.

[BMMR61]

I agree, certainly that we had top 4 pace here, won't argue with 3rd if we'd had a clean race.

But you think we will have good pace here on Sunday? I'm hoping top 6 for our drivers in Qualification today, maybe even top 4. But you know what I think of the race pace tomorrow.

Even before the start of the weekend I had the feeling that the car was capable of being third fastest here, just based on the results of Jeddah, Albert Park and Suzuka. In general, the overall pace corresponds exactly to a car with a third speed. Tomorrow the Ferraris will start behind us, which means the threat will come from there. I hope the pace is enough to overtake Alonso.

Interesting. I Hope you are right, but I think 6 and 7 might be the best we can do with a concern that we might be even 9th and 10th.

In any case I don't care too much if we don't do well tomorrow, I'm looking forward to Miami already.

According to the form book, the Aston will struggle even more than McLaren on full tanks. But finding a way past the wily fox will take more than Oscar could manage last week. I fear that will drop us into the clutches of both the Ferraris but there's always room for surprises. Miami and the major upgrade can't come quickly enough! Just keep banking the points and grabbing every opportunity boys!

[SilviuAgo]

I agree, certainly that we had top 4 pace here, won't argue with 3rd if we'd had a clean race.

But you think we will have good pace here on Sunday? I'm hoping top 6 for our drivers in Qualification today, maybe even top 4. But you know what I think of the race pace tomorrow.

Even before the start of the weekend I had the feeling that the car was capable of being third fastest here, just based on the results of Jeddah, Albert Park and Suzuka. In general, the overall pace corresponds exactly to a car with a third speed. Tomorrow the Ferraris will start behind us, which means the threat will come from there. I hope the pace is enough to overtake Alonso.

Interesting. I Hope you are right, but I think 6 and 7 might be the best we can do with a concern that we might be even 9th and 10th.

In any case I don't care too much if we don't do well tomorrow, I'm looking forward to Miami already.

Such an optimist man. 9th and 10th? Considering that you count already the 2 RB's and 2 Ferrari's, who are the other 4 cars in front of the McLaren?
A lot of people speak about "Lando's error" in Sprint Race, but same people were praising him for the yesterday amazing pole (biggest margin vs P2 in hybrid era). We forget so fast. As we forget where was McLaren at the start of 2022 or 2023 and from where we start this year. We are 3rd in constructors in front of Mercedes and Aston. Not 6th or 7th fighting Alpine or AlphaTauri.
I liked Andrea today after the sprint saying that not Lando has to apologize, but us as a team we must provide him and Oscar a better car. Is easy to take a pole when you have the best car on the grid (what Max is showing us right from the start of the season), but Lando is doing with this Mclaren what not many pilots can do. We saw also that "mighty" Mercedes of Hamilton is P18. I only can imagine what McL "fans" could have said if Lando had finished P18.
So I am really happy what McLaren is showing in China, with the Sprint Quali and race results, with this Quali 4th and 5th and I'm looking with optimism for tomorrow. We are where we are, with plus and minus and all we can do is to support this team as we did in the last .... 31 years for me now.
We are, as Lando said, still behind Red Bull and Ferrari. But that steps behind are not as big as they were at the season start.

Cheers mate and enjoy the journey! We are on our way back to where McLaren belongs: on top!

[Mcl_G10]

I think that overall we have to be pleased. To be where we are whilst not bringing any upgrades to the track yet unlike others around us. We can also gave confidence that when we do bring them they will have a big impact. Our correlation is very very good and with the magnitude of the upgrade we can expect a very big step forward. It may not show itself fully at miami but by the following race at imola I believe we will be closer to the redbull than at any point previously.

If the gap to redbull is around 5 tenths in qualy and 6 tenths in race pace I would say that we can reduce that to 2 tenths qualy and 2.5 tenths race pace, with confidence. This will be enough to fight for poles and race wins.

[mwillems]

Such an optimist man. 9th and 10th? Considering that you count already the 2 RB's and 2 Ferrari's, who are the other 4 cars in front of the McLaren?
A lot of people speak about "Lando's error" in Sprint Race, but same people were praising him for the yesterday amazing pole (biggest margin vs P2 in hybrid era). We forget so fast. As we forget where was McLaren at the start of 2022 or 2023 and from where we start this year. We are 3rd in constructors in front of Mercedes and Aston. Not 6th or 7th fighting Alpine or AlphaTauri.
I liked Andrea today after the sprint saying that not Lando has to apologize, but us as a team we must provide him and Oscar a better car. Is easy to take a pole when you have the best car on the grid (what Max is showing us right from the start of the season), but Lando is doing with this Mclaren what not many pilots can do. We saw also that "mighty" Mercedes of Hamilton is P18. I only can imagine what McL "fans" could have said if Lando had finished P18.
So I am really happy what McLaren is showing in China, with the Sprint Quali and race results, with this Quali 4th and 5th and I'm looking with optimism for tomorrow. We are where we are, with plus and minus and all we can do is to support this team as we did in the last .... 31 years for me now.
We are, as Lando said, still behind Red Bull and Ferrari. But that steps behind are not as big as they were at the season start.

Cheers mate and enjoy the journey! We are on our way back to where McLaren belongs: on top!

"He's the kind of guy that will tell you the glass is half empty and then steal it from you" - The bad guys.

It just depends what happens in the race. Being fast over multiple circuits isn't the same as being fast in the race, where you face DRS trains, mistakes, strategy, slow runners in front etc The problem is that when someone is past us we will struggle to get back in front of them. RBs and Ferraris as well as Alonso I expect to finish in Front which leaves us in 6th. But any issues and Hamilton or Russell get in front then I doubt we will get past them again. The first stint might well be pretty bad for Mclaren. Those awful corners leaving us exposed on straights at the first half of the race may punish us hard.

The drop off in race pace versus Qualy pace will be bigger for us here as there are more corners that will hurt us when fueled. It is a different reason for drop off compared to AM who's drop off will not be worse than ours I don't think, and so I think Alonso may not be in our sights. The kicker though is that in the last half or third of the race, we can get back on top of our game, and so a Safety Car at that point is a game changer for us. If that happens then we can turn the race on its head.

But I won't disagree with getting back to the top, and I don't think the gap is that big. The car already has the capability to produce the downforce, it is just a question of conditioning the air correctly from the front to enable the platform to work properly in all speeds and cornering angles. If they do that it will be like a magic switch where the car will be nearer Red Bull than Ferrari.