2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[LionsHeart]

I’d agree. The issue I have is that the degree of flex is now becoming a ridiculous topic. How much is too much? All wings flex & depends where hinge points are etc surely the flex/rigidity test should be sorted by now in terms of what they’re looking for

That's why RB are asking for clarification. Clearly there's a varying amount across the grid and RB is asking the FIA if this is all allowed.

Relatively speaking, they made a large clampdown on this region recently, at the end of last season. But we're not privy to exactly what the contents of TD018 are

RB could be thinking that if FIA tells them the flex is allowed then they will build it. They can be asking for FIA to investigate and see if teams have found ways around TD018 using previous methods. Or they can also be asking FIA to clamp down on new ways of skirting the flexing rules that may require a new TD altogether.. a lot we dont know and just have to wait for more to come out. Last year there were rumours of Aston Martin flexi wing being actioned upon and it took almost 6 months until the TD018 was put in publicly so we might be waiting a while

RB use the flexi wing themselves

[Emag]

I’d agree. The issue I have is that the degree of flex is now becoming a ridiculous topic. How much is too much? All wings flex & depends where hinge points are etc surely the flex/rigidity test should be sorted by now in terms of what they’re looking for

That's why RB are asking for clarification. Clearly there's a varying amount across the grid and RB is asking the FIA if this is all allowed.

Relatively speaking, they made a large clampdown on this region recently, at the end of last season. But we're not privy to exactly what the contents of TD018 are

RB could be thinking that if FIA tells them the flex is allowed then they will build it. They can be asking for FIA to investigate and see if teams have found ways around TD018 using previous methods. Or they can also be asking FIA to clamp down on new ways of skirting the flexing rules that may require a new TD altogether.. a lot we dont know and just have to wait for more to come out. Last year there were rumours of Aston Martin flexi wing being actioned upon and it took almost 6 months until the TD018 was put in publicly so we might be waiting a while

RB use the flexi wing themselves

Everybody's wings flex to various degrees. The complain is seemingly because McLaren's front wing bends quite a bit more compared to the rest.

From what you can see from onboards, they are not wrong.

[mwillems]

I’d agree. The issue I have is that the degree of flex is now becoming a ridiculous topic. How much is too much? All wings flex & depends where hinge points are etc surely the flex/rigidity test should be sorted by now in terms of what they’re looking for

That's why RB are asking for clarification. Clearly there's a varying amount across the grid and RB is asking the FIA if this is all allowed.

Relatively speaking, they made a large clampdown on this region recently, at the end of last season. But we're not privy to exactly what the contents of TD018 are

RB could be thinking that if FIA tells them the flex is allowed then they will build it. They can be asking for FIA to investigate and see if teams have found ways around TD018 using previous methods. Or they can also be asking FIA to clamp down on new ways of skirting the flexing rules that may require a new TD altogether.. a lot we dont know and just have to wait for more to come out. Last year there were rumours of Aston Martin flexi wing being actioned upon and it took almost 6 months until the TD018 was put in publicly so we might be waiting a while

RB use the flexi wing themselves

Is this looking at the inner elements? They are flexing but the area we see flexing on the Mclaren is the outer elements and it's substantially more.

[Ground Effect]

Has there even been any complaints about the McLaren front wing? I saw a report that Red Bull have made an unofficial enquiry about the Mercedes front wing, but no mention of McLaren.

[mwillems]

The FIA were in the Mclaren garage looking at it. Same guys as were looking at Mercs wing.

Nothing official so far.

[BMMR61]

I'd like to pose a question regards the Canadian race. I still struggle to resolve why both McLarens came alive on the first set of intermediates after nearly 20 laps. Lando in particular started to close rapidly to the point where he and Oscar were up to 2 seconds faster than Max and George. It has been said that it was that Lando and Oscar didn't monster the tyres in the opening laps and that gave them greater life on the semi dry track. To me it felt too big a gain to swing the race that quickly towards McLaren. Other ideas I had included McLaren setting up the cars more for semi wet conditions. I really didn't see any speculation for the incredible advantage both McLarens had for a brief period of the race.

[organic]

I'd like to pose a question regards the Canadian race. I still struggle to resolve why both McLarens came alive on the first set of intermediates after nearly 20 laps. Lando in particular started to close rapidly to the point where he and Oscar were up to 2 seconds faster than Max and George. It has been said that it was that Lando and Oscar didn't monster the tyres in the opening laps and that gave them greater life on the semi dry track. To me it felt too big a gain to swing the race that quickly towards McLaren. Other ideas I had included McLaren setting up the cars more for semi wet conditions. I really didn't see any speculation for the incredible advantage both McLarens had for a brief period of the race.

Think it's been heavily speculated that mercedes and RB expected it to be wetter than it was, and consequently were running higher pressures in the first stint than McLaren.

Mark Hughes has said it outright and Horner has alluded to it.

Mark Hughes:

Norris was by now well into his groove. He and Piastri had run the early laps conservatively in third and fourth and were 10s behind Russell and Verstappen after 10 laps. But that was the plan. From the second row but potentially just as fast as the Mercedes and Red Bull on the front row, they’d opted for stealth. Part of that was a fairly low tyre pressure, whereby you’ll struggle in the wet initially but get more longevity and come on ever-stronger the longer the stint goes on.

Once the weather conditions were more known RB/Merc had the car set up more similarly to McLaren for the second stint on inters and the pace difference was much smaller in the drying conditions

[CjC]

Oscars improving race and quali pace.
https://www.racefans.net/2024/06/17/pia ... p-mclaren/

[CjC]

Quite optimistic:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10624451/

Stella won’t elaborate where the low speed gains come from because the front wing is flexing

He’s also still saying that there is a line of development for further upgrades and the 2025 car

[LionsHeart]

Quite optimistic:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10624451/

Stella won’t elaborate where the low speed gains come from because the front wing is flexing

He’s also still saying that there is a line of development for further upgrades and the 2025 car

As I expected earlier, if the team finds out the reason for the big speed increase in slow corners, they won’t tell us why, and that’s right. Nobody has cancelled intellectual property. The main thing that Stella said is that this package was a success and that it can still be further developed and improved. This cannot but please. Let’s see what the top teams bring to Barcelona. Let’s see what strengths and weaknesses the leading cars have. The long turn 10 was very difficult last year. I even seem to remember that in this turn alone 2 or 3 tenths were lost.

If the team is able to continue to develop, then who knows, maybe before the summer break McLaren will be first in pure speed. Dreams, yes, dreams. But there is no harm in dreaming. In the last five races McLaren have consistently entered the top 2 in pure pace over the race distance.

Papaya team, let’s go!

[mwillems]

It's good to hear the team are confident of fighting the leaders at Barcelona. The car has already shown it can be set up for a range of tracks but Barcelona should remove any doubt.

Plenty of mid and high speed with a little low speed thrown in, with a mix of corner profiles should make this an exciting race with plenty of hard fought action at turn 1.

[MrGapes]

Quite optimistic:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10624451/

Stella won’t elaborate where the low speed gains come from because the front wing is flexing

He’s also still saying that there is a line of development for further upgrades and the 2025 car

As I expected earlier, if the team finds out the reason for the big speed increase in slow corners, they won’t tell us why, and that’s right. Nobody has cancelled intellectual property. The main thing that Stella said is that this package was a success and that it can still be further developed and improved. This cannot but please. Let’s see what the top teams bring to Barcelona. Let’s see what strengths and weaknesses the leading cars have. The long turn 10 was very difficult last year. I even seem to remember that in this turn alone 2 or 3 tenths were lost.

If the team is able to continue to develop, then who knows, maybe before the summer break McLaren will be first in pure speed. Dreams, yes, dreams. But there is no harm in dreaming. In the last five races McLaren have consistently entered the top 2 in pure pace over the race distance.

Papaya team, let’s go!

I remember some laps losing 7-8 tenths into T10-11, I think loses will still be there and the hairpin but its too hard to tell these days.

[LionsHeart]

Quite optimistic:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10624451/

Stella won’t elaborate where the low speed gains come from because the front wing is flexing

He’s also still saying that there is a line of development for further upgrades and the 2025 car

As I expected earlier, if the team finds out the reason for the big speed increase in slow corners, they won’t tell us why, and that’s right. Nobody has cancelled intellectual property. The main thing that Stella said is that this package was a success and that it can still be further developed and improved. This cannot but please. Let’s see what the top teams bring to Barcelona. Let’s see what strengths and weaknesses the leading cars have. The long turn 10 was very difficult last year. I even seem to remember that in this turn alone 2 or 3 tenths were lost.

If the team is able to continue to develop, then who knows, maybe before the summer break McLaren will be first in pure speed. Dreams, yes, dreams. But there is no harm in dreaming. In the last five races McLaren have consistently entered the top 2 in pure pace over the race distance.

Papaya team, let’s go!

I remember some laps losing 7-8 tenths into T10-11, I think loses will still be there and the hairpin but its too hard to tell these days.

7-8 tenths? My brain doesn't remember this, perhaps to save my psyche.

[BMMR61]

As I expected earlier, if the team finds out the reason for the big speed increase in slow corners, they won’t tell us why, and that’s right. Nobody has cancelled intellectual property. The main thing that Stella said is that this package was a success and that it can still be further developed and improved. This cannot but please. Let’s see what the top teams bring to Barcelona. Let’s see what strengths and weaknesses the leading cars have. The long turn 10 was very difficult last year. I even seem to remember that in this turn alone 2 or 3 tenths were lost.

If the team is able to continue to develop, then who knows, maybe before the summer break McLaren will be first in pure speed. Dreams, yes, dreams. But there is no harm in dreaming. In the last five races McLaren have consistently entered the top 2 in pure pace over the race distance.

Papaya team, let’s go!

I remember some laps losing 7-8 tenths into T10-11, I think loses will still be there and the hairpin but its too hard to tell these days.

7-8 tenths? My brain doesn't remember this, perhaps to save my psyche.

I doubt we can take any pattern for McLaren's Barcelona performance from last year. The car was the pre-updated MCL60. Effectively we are 4 major upgrades or new cars since then. I doubt the attributes of the upgraded MCL60, let alone it's horrible parent car, are an effective comparison for the current cars strengths and weaknesses. For sure, Barcelona will provide a good reference for this car, "going forward". Do we still have arguably the best mid-high speed car like Silverstone last year? I doubt it - look no further back than the slightly disappointing Suzuka performance this year. What I do think is that the reliable correlation and adaptability of 38B should put McLaren in the mix for at last a podium.

It has been pointed out that McLaren are the only team with a 100% finishing record with 100% of the laps run, and Lando is the only driver to score points in every round this year. (He would have been joined by Oscar but for Carlos's lunge at Miami!) We have 212 points compared to 17 last year! Hope that doesn't put the mockers on the team.

[LionsHeart]

I remember some laps losing 7-8 tenths into T10-11, I think loses will still be there and the hairpin but its too hard to tell these days.

7-8 tenths? My brain doesn't remember this, perhaps to save my psyche.

I doubt we can take any pattern for McLaren's Barcelona performance from last year. The car was the pre-updated MCL60. Effectively we are 4 major upgrades or new cars since then. I doubt the attributes of the upgraded MCL60, let alone it's horrible parent car, are an effective comparison for the current cars strengths and weaknesses. For sure, Barcelona will provide a good reference for this car, "going forward". Do we still have arguably the best mid-high speed car like Silverstone last year? I doubt it - look no further back than the slightly disappointing Suzuka performance this year. What I do think is that the reliable correlation and adaptability of 38B should put McLaren in the mix for at last a podium.

It has been pointed out that McLaren are the only team with a 100% finishing record with 100% of the laps run, and Lando is the only driver to score points in every round this year. (He would have been joined by Oscar but for Carlos's lunge at Miami!) We have 212 points compared to 17 last year! Hope that doesn't put the mockers on the team.

It's hard to disagree. It's just that a year ago Lando performed well in qualifying and so badly in the race. And the incident with Lewis took place. Since then the car has become much faster, but the rivals are not standing still either. So far I can only foresee that the density of results may be preserved. For Formula 1 this is good. It's a pity that the FIA ​​is not smart enough to freeze the technical regulations for, say, 8 years. Then the density of results would be impressive.

I can even add to your thought. Last season McLaren finished the season in fourth place. This year, even if there is a third place, it is fully deserved and will be done thanks to the team staff and drivers. So far the team is moving in the right direction, climbing higher and higher in the constructors' cup.