2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[mwillems]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

[F1NAC]

Apologies for the botched up colours (I guess some minor issue with F1insightshub), but we can still crudely see the 'program' each team ran (even if we can't see the tyres).
Seems like three out of the big four had race sims.
Can't understand what Redbull were trying (probably experiments) because there are no race sims today.

https://i.ibb.co/ccCMCPpN/Bahrain-practice-day3.png

Sorry, but why post same post in multiple threads? This is why 2026 comparison thread exist…

Can such lap/stint-charts be posted in 'car threads' ? I thought those 2026 comparison threads (two of them) are exclusively to discuss the car details. If not, will post there and delete from here.

I can’t see why not. It is comparison between cars. Preformance comparison.

[AR3-GP]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

I prefered the cartoon dog.

[LionsHeart]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

[LionsHeart]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBDvk6iXsAA ... name=large

Best laps & deficit to fastest team in testing this week

Mercedes: 1:33:669
Ferrari: 1:34:209
McLaren: 1:34:549
Red Bull: 1:34:798
Haas: 1:35:394
Alpine: 1:35:806
Audi: 1:36:291
Williams: 1:36:793
Racing Bulls: 1:36:808
Cadillac: 1:36:824
Aston Martin: 1:38:165
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBDXLGwWcAA ... ame=medium
*Aston Martin is something bad. I thought McLaren Honda 2015 days are over.

And another proof that Honda (1 team) is miles away from Mercedes (4 teams): 272 laps vs 2579 laps
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBDiuMBWMAI ... name=large

Top lap count. It's been a while since that happened. Interestingly, only the top teams broke 1 minute and 35 seconds. Yeah, yeah, tests don't mean anything.

P.S. Honda repeats its life cycle.

[SmallSoldier]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

And they aren’t wrong… Last year Mercedes finished first, Williams was actually third and Alpine 5th coming out of testing… and that couldn’t be more different than the actual pecking order during the season.

Bahrain is also a very particular track, not necessarily representative of the whole season… Doing well at Bahrain isn’t necessarily something that correlates to most races in the season.

Not only will doing well (or poorly) in a particular race won’t create correlation to other races, this season in particular will be one of rapid development for most teams and a potential constant change of the pecking order… It should be a fun one

[mwillems]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

It’s true that many of the factors that will make cars successful here will be highly circuit specific.

We saw a similar effect in the DRS era, some cars were simply more efficient in the low-drag (open) state than others. Teams that achieve lower drag in the open aero configuration will naturally have an advantage at circuits where the FIA enables more active aero usage. The Red Bull isn't fast just because of deployment.

The move to smaller rear tyres also increases the importance of traction and rear tyre management. Cars that can preserve the rears while maintaining traction will have more freedom to deploy energy aggressively on corner exit.

Teams that are harsh on rear tyres may find those deployment strategies less accessible, even if they are theoretically desirable.

But to be honest I posted that having observed many quick reactions to each article and quote about pecking order that contradicts the last. It's politics, and media taking advantage making sure every team fan has multiple articles to lift them up and pull them down

They must absolutely make a killing on ad revenue during testing

[mwillems]

Having posted all those articles, Sky now helpfully publishes another overlong article about why they should be taken with a pinch of salt due to politics.


https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433 ... hrain-test

[Emag]

With that said, and while it is still difficult to accurately identify the order of performance, it is clear that Mercedes and Ferrari are currently more competitive than us. We have some work to do to find performance ahead of the second test next week and the first race in Melbourne.

Testing day 3 report : https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula- ... g-1-day-3/

[CjC]

Yea, I was encouraged at the end for day 2 of testing but once I started to hear what the team started to say- it seems that Mclaren are third quickest at best.

As Vasseur said, it’s going to be a development race to win the championship.
Mclaren has good pervious in this regard however they have been suffering from the ATR restrictions for some time now. We have seen with Red Bull that winning back to back constructors can hinder future development.

Not trying to be doom and gloomy or anything, just trying to throw a potential theory out there IF Mclaren aren’t top of the pile in Melbourne/ Abu Dhabi.

[Darth-Piekus]

Guys have in mind that there is a huge possibility that even if Mclaren arent the best the top 4 might be very close to each other so every race can offer us a different winner.

For now lets wait for the second test and see if we make changes or tweaks to the car to unlock more potential.

[LionsHeart]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

And they aren’t wrong… Last year Mercedes finished first, Williams was actually third and Alpine 5th coming out of testing… and that couldn’t be more different than the actual pecking order during the season.

Bahrain is also a very particular track, not necessarily representative of the whole season… Doing well at Bahrain isn’t necessarily something that correlates to most races in the season.

Not only will doing well (or poorly) in a particular race won’t create correlation to other races, this season in particular will be one of rapid development for most teams and a potential constant change of the pecking order… It should be a fun one

Yes, I agree with that statement. But that's the way it goes year after year. Therefore, the test results can be taken as facts in themselves, and within these tests, one can simply speculate. The second and third races are Shanghai and Suzuka. These tracks will reveal a lot about the reality.

[LionsHeart]

Everyone is faster than everyone else

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... mgv9vmxwxo

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

It’s true that many of the factors that will make cars successful here will be highly circuit specific.

We saw a similar effect in the DRS era, some cars were simply more efficient in the low-drag (open) state than others. Teams that achieve lower drag in the open aero configuration will naturally have an advantage at circuits where the FIA enables more active aero usage. The Red Bull isn't fast just because of deployment.

The move to smaller rear tyres also increases the importance of traction and rear tyre management. Cars that can preserve the rears while maintaining traction will have more freedom to deploy energy aggressively on corner exit.

Teams that are harsh on rear tyres may find those deployment strategies less accessible, even if they are theoretically desirable.

But to be honest I posted that having observed many quick reactions to each article and quote about pecking order that contradicts the last. It's politics, and media taking advantage making sure every team fan has multiple articles to lift them up and pull them down

They must absolutely make a killing on ad revenue during testing

I'm already used to it when they say, "Wait a couple of races, let everyone get their bearings." But this happens every year and feels like déjà vu.

By the way, yes, the rear tires are a limiting factor here in Bahrain, as the track puts a lot of strain on the rear tires. I watched the video yelinister posted. Compared to last year, there's more wheelspin, and the cars don't catapult out of slow corners as quickly. This was to be expected, but then after 170 km/h the cars quickly gain acceleration due to electric power.

Now that several top teams have race pace training, I want to look at which cars of which years are closest to that average pace. And if we assume this is close to the maximum, then there's still some headroom for qualifying pace. That means the overall pace difference between qualifying and the race could be over 6 seconds. Maybe 7. That seems like a lot. I'll need to spend a lot of time comparing everything. I'll post my observations here afterward.

[venkyhere]

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

And they aren’t wrong… Last year Mercedes finished first, Williams was actually third and Alpine 5th coming out of testing… and that couldn’t be more different than the actual pecking order during the season.

Bahrain is also a very particular track, not necessarily representative of the whole season… Doing well at Bahrain isn’t necessarily something that correlates to most races in the season.

Not only will doing well (or poorly) in a particular race won’t create correlation to other races, this season in particular will be one of rapid development for most teams and a potential constant change of the pecking order… It should be a fun one

Yes, I agree with that statement. But that's the way it goes year after year. Therefore, the test results can be taken as facts in themselves, and within these tests, one can simply speculate. The second and third races are Shanghai and Suzuka. These tracks will reveal a lot about the reality.

I am waiting for China T1-2-3 and Sector1 in Suzuka. In my mind, they are perfect benchmarks for an F1 car.

[mwillems]

As usual. And we'll hear the same thing in Melbourne. I remember a few seasons ago, one of the team principals said that testing isn't an indicator, that we should wait until the first race of the season. The first race happened, and they started saying we need to wait four or five races before we understand the balance of power.

It’s true that many of the factors that will make cars successful here will be highly circuit specific.

We saw a similar effect in the DRS era, some cars were simply more efficient in the low-drag (open) state than others. Teams that achieve lower drag in the open aero configuration will naturally have an advantage at circuits where the FIA enables more active aero usage. The Red Bull isn't fast just because of deployment.

The move to smaller rear tyres also increases the importance of traction and rear tyre management. Cars that can preserve the rears while maintaining traction will have more freedom to deploy energy aggressively on corner exit.

Teams that are harsh on rear tyres may find those deployment strategies less accessible, even if they are theoretically desirable.

But to be honest I posted that having observed many quick reactions to each article and quote about pecking order that contradicts the last. It's politics, and media taking advantage making sure every team fan has multiple articles to lift them up and pull them down

They must absolutely make a killing on ad revenue during testing

I'm already used to it when they say, "Wait a couple of races, let everyone get their bearings." But this happens every year and feels like déjà vu.

By the way, yes, the rear tires are a limiting factor here in Bahrain, as the track puts a lot of strain on the rear tires. I watched the video yelinister posted. Compared to last year, there's more wheelspin, and the cars don't catapult out of slow corners as quickly. This was to be expected, but then after 170 km/h the cars quickly gain acceleration due to electric power.

Now that several top teams have race pace training, I want to look at which cars of which years are closest to that average pace. And if we assume this is close to the maximum, then there's still some headroom for qualifying pace. That means the overall pace difference between qualifying and the race could be over 6 seconds. Maybe 7. That seems like a lot. I'll need to spend a lot of time comparing everything. I'll post my observations here afterward.

I think there's more for the teams to learn in order to refine setups, driving styles and deployment maps before we know who's really going to struggle.

I remember last year the concerns about McLaren's rear, for instance. The rear looked "edgy" at Bahrain testing, however deg was still low and the car was good with the tyres at the race, pretty good. Testing does seem to exacerbate some of the visual traits, like rear spin and peakiness.

We probably do need to get in to the season to see what is what.

I also watched a few videos and you can see deployment being administered carefully after exit, sometimes considerably after exit, in relative terms. Teams who can get a handle on that and exit early will benefit as much as someone who can deploy a bit more at the end of the straight, due to the "multiplier" effect of more power early. In the bits I saw, the Mclaren is also one being tentative on exit, for the time being - at least in the small bit of footage I saw.