2025 McLaren F1 Team

[CjC]

Yeah i think so. I'd mentioned the same previously.

I wonder how much time in the floor, surely it must be small margins now.

Just by eye balling it from a far, with one eye closed and cocking my head to the right with my mouth slightly open I’d say 4 tenths of a second per lap

[BMMR61]

I guess this test the floor the race before is not just about evaluating, before running

Having to treat both drivers equally means they need to have built enough floors to allow for damage, which takes time

But a soon as you have built enough for a test, then it would be foolish just to sit and wait, when you could be testing it… to evaluate it

The luxury of having a car which already has an edge over it's competitors makes this approach responsible. Just keep developing with sufficient checking of all the data before risking taking a backward step or going down a dead end development path. The team look like breaking Red Bull's record WCC points from 2023 (860) if they keep the dominance going.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

I like it.
The current f1 livery could be nice but … it cannot because there are too many sponsors.

With less sponsors it would be better

Personally I don't think the sponsors are the problem, for me the problem is the huge areas of black. And this is not just a problem on the McLaren, its a general problem with all the cars since 2022 regulations. Saving weight has been too big of a focus.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _-_FP1.jpg

I personally think they could make a really cool livery with the mastercard sponsor colors, with the orange/red.
Kinda like the Honda Repsol liveries
https://cdn-6.motorsport.com/images/mgl ... very-1.jpg https://theraceweekend.com/wp-content/u ... 24x597.jpg

Is it just weight? The cars have been at minimum weight for at least 3 years. I suspect cost is as much to do with it. But ultimately it is the same point at the end. But here's a very interesting article.

https://www.raceteq.com/articles/2024/0 ... -an-f1-car

Worth bearing in mind the Mclaren is not painted but Vinyl wrapped which is purportedly better for Aero. The article talks about pushing for 75% coverage of the cars in the 26 regs, but I can't see anything suggesting that in the docs published so far.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... car-build/

I don't mind black on the car, but I don't like so much that the budget cap means teams need to save every penny they can to put towards development or that they might still be struggling for weight saving.

Cars with Black can look good. The Lotus cars for instance, especially the iconic JPS Black and Gold livery. As you say, its the fact that these cars can't be individually styled the way we'd like because of either weight or budget.

I think part of the visual issue with the current black cars is that they're not black paint, but bare carbon fibre, plus they have a matt/satin finish.

The Merc and Sauber last week almost looked dirty as a result lol

[mwillems]

Id not noticed this article before. Its talking about many of the technical aspects of the Mclaren, including this year's extreme anti dive solution and how Mclaren might have tried to address it in the Canada update for Norris.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... 6CoaaAEK3G

[Zaamy]

Some interesting comments from Fallows on Marshall's influence on the car

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-i ... /10744210/

[Lazy]

New rear wing
https://x.com/thomasmaheronf1/status/19 ... 8599072144

[BMMR61]

Oscar's times looking very strong even if the speed traps are very slow, affecting sector 1 in particular. They must be counting on not needing to overtake.

[Seerix]

Yeah, I hope this is the right approach, they are losing a bunch on straights 0.3s in S1, 0.2 in S3 but are mighty quick in S2 with 0.8s (rough numbers). Starting on pole is not safe at all with high DF and overtaking would be difficult. Curious about all the competitive sessions. These were long 3 weeks of waiting .

[FittingMechanics]

Not sure how Red Bull betting on a super low downforce setup can work on a weekend where rain is expected? They tried that in Silverstone and we got a Max making a costly mistake.

I'm sure the team can trim out some downforce and handle this. Looks quite good so far.

EDIT: Looks like risk of rain is much lower than I thought.

[Macklaren]

I wouldn't be surprised if Lando and Oscar were running different DF setups looking at the lap time gap.
Oscar is 1 SECOND faster than any other car in S2 and 0.5 sec slower in S1 and S3. I think they need to choose a setup between Lando and Oscar for Sprint at least

[De Wet]

New rear wing
https://x.com/thomasmaheronf1/status/19 ... 8599072144

Great looking RW... Post it in the MCL39 Tread...

[search]

I wouldn't be surprised if Lando and Oscar were running different DF setups looking at the lap time gap.
Oscar is 1 SECOND faster than any other car in S2 and 0.5 sec slower in S1 and S3. I think they need to choose a setup between Lando and Oscar for Sprint at least

didn't Norris just make a mistake towards the end of S2?

[Seanspeed]

They must be counting on not needing to overtake.

High downforce hurts defending far more than overtaking at a place like this.

DRS will still be plenty sufficient to help overtaking with such an incredibly long effective straight.

[BMMR61]

Ran two wheels into the gravel......

[Macklaren]

I wouldn't be surprised if Lando and Oscar were running different DF setups looking at the lap time gap.
Oscar is 1 SECOND faster than any other car in S2 and 0.5 sec slower in S1 and S3. I think they need to choose a setup between Lando and Oscar for Sprint at least

didn't Norris just make a mistake towards the end of S2?

Yes but his second lap was clean and 0.5s off Oscar's