2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[CjC]

I thought they overestimated the smoothness of the track from the resurfacing and that’s why they were running quite stiff, but it’s probably a balance thing and they can’t go softer without sacrificing speed, otherwise it would have changed for quali.

Car was so bouncy and edgy at some bumps, one little mistake under braking and you’re screwed.

Maybe it will be a bit better with more fuel onboard, but if it remains like that it’s hard for the driver to be consistent.

At the moment, it just looks like the car doesn’t like this track that much. Let’s see how they will do in Mexico with presumably more significant upgrades too.

I’m half expecting to look at my phone tomorrow morning and see that one/ both of the Mclarens have been disqualified for excessive plank wear

If pessimism had a long lost relative....

Hellooo darkness my old friend

[CjC]

Stella confirming what we are thinking, that this track isn’t best suited to the Mclaren- I guess there aren’t many medium speed corners in Austin is there? Mainly low and high speed ones?

Stella
‘But Norris nevertheless hailed how McLaren had “improved the car quite a bit” with its post-sprint set-up changes. This centres on how the team has “understood how to adapt to the wind”, per team principal Andrea Stella.
This was something that had left the Italian fearing Austin would be the track of the remaining six venues in the 2024 title run in where he had expected the MCL38 to “struggle most”.’

Actually the whole article is good, there are some positives about McLarens prospects too, how lando has the chance to run in free air and look after his tyres more than the sprint, his mediums in the sprint had done an extra push but aborted lap in sprint quali which would have increased tyre deterioration.

Also I didn’t know Verstappen had gone for a bigger rear wing- no wonder he’s mega in S1.

Full article:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/what- ... /10664841/

[FittingMechanics]

From the race:
"But would Verstappen have pipped Norris for pole had Russell not crashed? His time up to the end of sector 2 (mid-way between Turns 12-13) was still 0.014s shy of Norris’ first run. In fact it was slightly slower at that point than Max’s own first run. But he was beginning to gain time in the remaining long corners which follow just before the yellow flags. It’s feasible he could have made that deficit to Norris up in the final sector. But not certain. "

if they are using fastf1 data or f1-tempo for this (which they are of course), unfortunately it's not THAT reliable because Max went to the pits at the end of the lap instead of the start line which changes the length of track and will change the overlaps for the entire lap. The only thing you can really say for certain is that he was +0.014s after S2.

Exactly.

Hard to say where it would end up but VER was worse by about 0.06s on his second run in first two sectors. So he needed to earn at least 1 tenth compared to his previous S3. Might be possible but not a sure thing.

Sainz would be surely behind Norris.

[chrisc90]

From the race:
"But would Verstappen have pipped Norris for pole had Russell not crashed? His time up to the end of sector 2 (mid-way between Turns 12-13) was still 0.014s shy of Norris’ first run. In fact it was slightly slower at that point than Max’s own first run. But he was beginning to gain time in the remaining long corners which follow just before the yellow flags. It’s feasible he could have made that deficit to Norris up in the final sector. But not certain. "

if they are using fastf1 data or f1-tempo for this (which they are of course), unfortunately it's not THAT reliable because Max went to the pits at the end of the lap instead of the start line which changes the length of track and will change the overlaps for the entire lap. The only thing you can really say for certain is that he was +0.014s after S2.

Exactly.

Hard to say where it would end up but VER was worse by about 0.06s on his second run in first two sectors. So he needed to earn at least 1 tenth compared to his previous S3. Might be possible but not a sure thing.

Sainz would be surely behind Norris.

Max was up on his own time on his 2nd run in Q3. Max was 0.039 up on himself.

[FittingMechanics]

Has anybody delved in to will Joseph's radio message to lando just before q3? He was telling him to just push and trust the car ( something along those lines)

First time in a long while norris hasn't felt like he can trust the car? Perhaps the new wing has changed things in that regard.

Will Joseph said don't overload the combine. I've seen said that it means to do less turning while braking.

[Joel709]

From the race:
"But would Verstappen have pipped Norris for pole had Russell not crashed? His time up to the end of sector 2 (mid-way between Turns 12-13) was still 0.014s shy of Norris’ first run. In fact it was slightly slower at that point than Max’s own first run. But he was beginning to gain time in the remaining long corners which follow just before the yellow flags. It’s feasible he could have made that deficit to Norris up in the final sector. But not certain. "

if they are using fastf1 data or f1-tempo for this (which they are of course), unfortunately it's not THAT reliable because Max went to the pits at the end of the lap instead of the start line which changes the length of track and will change the overlaps for the entire lap. The only thing you can really say for certain is that he was +0.014s after S2.

Exactly.

Hard to say where it would end up but VER was worse by about 0.06s on his second run in first two sectors. So he needed to earn at least 1 tenth compared to his previous S3. Might be possible but not a sure thing.

Sainz would be surely behind Norris.

See my image above, he was over a tenth up before he had to lift

[Ground Effect]

I’m half expecting to look at my phone tomorrow morning and see that one/ both of the Mclarens have been disqualified for excessive plank wear

If pessimism had a long lost relative....

Hellooo darkness my old friend

[FittingMechanics]

if they are using fastf1 data or f1-tempo for this (which they are of course), unfortunately it's not THAT reliable because Max went to the pits at the end of the lap instead of the start line which changes the length of track and will change the overlaps for the entire lap. The only thing you can really say for certain is that he was +0.014s after S2.

Exactly.

Hard to say where it would end up but VER was worse by about 0.06s on his second run in first two sectors. So he needed to earn at least 1 tenth compared to his previous S3. Might be possible but not a sure thing.

Sainz would be surely behind Norris.

Max was up on his own time on his 2nd run in Q3. Max was 0.039 up on himself.

We can be sure about times until end of S2. In that time he did not improve on his time.

Q3 Sector Times:
Lap 1: Nor: 1:32.330
S1: 24.992
S2: 36.887
S3: 30.451
Ver: +.031
S1: 24.868
S2: 36.986
S3: 30.507
Lap 2:
Ver:
S1: 24.820
S2: 37.073

So S1+S2 for Lando on lap 1 is 61.879.
S1+S2 for Max on lap 1 is 61.854.
S1+S2 for Max on lap 2 is 61.893.

In first two sectors on his last lap he was 0.039s slower than on his first run. It is possible and likely his mistake in S3 that lost him more than that so if he did a good last S3 he may have had pole. He needed 30.436 on his S3 to get pole. That is 0.071 faster than his first S3.

Btw surely when we say "up on his time" we mean he was better in laptime? I'm not a native speaker so maybe I am using it wrong. I see you said 0.039 up on his time which is the number I got but to me.he was down on his time (slower). Can a native speaker clear up what use is correct.

[Ben1980]

Could Max have been faster, maybe. Maybe not. He didn't have a clean run first time, he nay not be clean second time, especially as he was having to push. Russell was up on Lando, they said, but was having to push so hard he lost it

All we do know, is everyone had a chance and Lando was quickest.

( the race will be different I'm sure)

[Mcl_G10]

I'm not quite sure where optimism levels lie with the race later today.
Surely, if the setup changes made have improved the car to be close enough to max then perhaps finding the 1-2 tenths in race pace is not too much to find to bridge the gap and fight for victory?

There seems to be alot of expectation dampening from the team but the margins are so fine and we also have the unknown of hard tyre pace which can vary between teams.
On the other hand it seems most are resigned to max getting away and us trying told ferrari back and not succeeding and bringing it home in p4 and p5.
We will see.

[FittingMechanics]

That is an overreaction like often here. One good race and we are best in the world, one challenging sprint and we are fourth best.

I think we just don't know enough. It is possible Lando runs away or he struggles a lot. But why not be optimistic? On a weekend where they struggle with setup they have P3 in sprint and pole?

[Macklaren]

Like Piastri said in Hungary.... Clean air is king. Critical for Lando to stay in front of Max through the first 5 laps

[Szabi1112]

Like Piastri said in Hungary.... Clean air is king. Critical for Lando to stay in front of Max through the first 5 laps

It's gonna be very very tough :/

[mwillems]

The car looks a lot better than in Sprint. The car has a clear top speed deficit to Ferrari but is comparable to Red Bull. Otherwise it looks pretty capable. Whichever of Lando or Max ended up in front wouldn't change the fact that the cars are evenly matched here in Q and neither can have any confidence of shrugging off the other.

Max and Lando will fight hard in the race and ultimately the drivers can make the difference again. Hopefully strategy will help us and not hinder. Ferrari, if the general trend remains true, will be strong in the race with low deg and to me at least are slight favourites for the win.

Very important to keep Max behind and make him the buffer to Ferrari and use the clean air to help tyre management.

The car is definately stiff and it causes it to suffer a little bit in the snake, but benefit us in the single rotation sections. With both corners preceding the straights being favourible to Mclaren, it means that passing us won't be easy with our better exits. Mid corners also look very strong. The car does look set up to attack the straights, if not with outright speed due to the downforce we are carrying, being 2-3 kph slower vs Ferrari.

Every reason to be optimistic, looks like a good setup that should protect the lead and the tyres if the snake section doesn't take too much out of them.

[proteus]

The car looks a lot better than in Sprint. The car has a clear top speed deficit to Ferrari but is comparable to Red Bull. Otherwise it looks pretty capable. Whichever of Lando or Max ended up in front wouldn't change the fact that the cars are evenly matched here in Q and neither can have any confidence of shrugging off the other.

Max and Lando will fight hard in the race and ultimately the drivers can make the difference again. Hopefully strategy will help us and not hinder. Ferrari, if the general trend remains true, will be strong in the race with low deg and to me at least are slight favourites for the win.

Very important to keep Max behind and make him the buffer to Ferrari and use the clean air to help tyre management.

The car is definately stiff and it causes it to suffer a little bit in the snake, but benefit us in the single rotation sections. With both corners preceding the straights being favourible to Mclaren, it means that passing us won't be easy with our better exits. Mid corners also look very strong. The car does look set up to attack the straights, if not with outright speed due to the downforce we are carrying.

Every reason to be optimistic, looks like a good setup that should protect the lead and the tyres if the snake section doesn't take too much out of them.

Im afraid Max will walk past. The latest at lap 3 when DRS opens. Ferraris also look like they will get past... Hopefully Perez stays in no mans land and Lando and Piastri take P4 and P5. Damage limitation at best. Would be good if Ferrari duo take Max and demote him to third.