2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[_cerber1]

Not great tbh. I still think they're hiding some pace, but I'd really like to see a competitive run this week.

Isn't a narrow delta a good sign of race pace?

[Seanspeed]

Not great tbh. I still think they're hiding some pace, but I'd really like to see a competitive run this week.

Isn't a narrow delta a good sign of race pace?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBdIeLlWwAA ... =4096x4096

Nothing is a sign of much unless it's a specific race sim where we can have a good idea of fuel loads and whatnot. The length of a stint also obviously plays a huge part.

[the EDGE]

Hows the race pace?

Not great tbh. I still think they're hiding some pace, but I'd really like to see a competitive run this week.

did anyone actually run race sims, or just individual stints today? There's not much point in comparisons otherwise

[Emag]

Hows the race pace?

Not great tbh. I still think they're hiding some pace, but I'd really like to see a competitive run this week.

did anyone actually run race sims, or just individual stints today? There's not much point in comparisons otherwise

I would say in general, comparisons are useless for today. Nobody ran a true race sim so you can't even guess the fuel loads. There's maybe something to get from consistency and deg in each car's stints, but even that has 100 caveats considering how different some teams were from stint to stint.

[organic]

Tomorrow the race runs hopefully

[Juzh]

Piastri's fastest lap of the day 1.33.469

https://streamable.com/r60q54

[AR3-GP]

I would say in general, comparisons are useless for today. Nobody ran a true race sim so you can't even guess the fuel loads. There's maybe something to get from consistency and deg in each car's stints, but even that has 100 caveats considering how different some teams were from stint to stint.

I think that race sim or not, you want to see consistent laps where it looks like the tire deg is under control.

[LionsHeart]

I already mentioned this last week. The difference between race and qualifying pace will be greater than before. Even now, during testing, it's 5.5-6 seconds.

That's actually LESS than usual.

It's normally more like 7 seconds or even more on tracks with plenty of faster corners(ala Barcelona).

Remember that max fuel these days is only 70kg rather than the 100kg of years past. That's a really big difference in starting fuel weight.

True. The difference in weight between empty and full fuel cars will be smaller now. But I'm still inclined to believe there's some reserve after just one fast lap. As for the difference, Barcelona has nothing to do with it. Only Bahrain is included in the calculation. The fact that this delta varies on different tracks is beyond discussion. And the new generation of cars has nothing to do with it.

[bluechris]

Piastri's fastest lap of the day 1.33.469

https://streamable.com/r60q54

This cars are much much slower in turns, im not speaking for McLaren only but all. Nice rules.

[venkyhere]

Bahrain test2 Day2 morning :
C4 tyres, combining three purple sectors by Norris, theoretical time = 1:32.995 , actual fastest lap = 133.453
C3 tyres, Vertappen with all three slower than Norris sectors = 1:33.584 (+ 0.131) , slower by ~0.6s to theoretical fastest.

[Seerix]

NOR also tried push on C3 like VER, Lando was ~0.4s (1.33.9) slower than Max

[mwillems]

I already mentioned this last week. The difference between race and qualifying pace will be greater than before. Even now, during testing, it's 5.5-6 seconds.

That's actually LESS than usual.

It's normally more like 7 seconds or even more on tracks with plenty of faster corners(ala Barcelona).

Remember that max fuel these days is only 70kg rather than the 100kg of years past. That's a really big difference in starting fuel weight.

True. The difference in weight between empty and full fuel cars will be smaller now. But I'm still inclined to believe there's some reserve after just one fast lap. As for the difference, Barcelona has nothing to do with it. Only Bahrain is included in the calculation. The fact that this delta varies on different tracks is beyond discussion. And the new generation of cars has nothing to do with it.

I think there will be clear daylight between race pace of race 1 and race 8, for instance, whilst they get their heads around the formula, even without upgrades.

I initially thought Q to R gaps would be closer, but time will tell.

It is interesting that Mclaren are not using 1st and 2nd gear like many other teams, as is reported on f1t.

Bahrain gap between.pole and winners average lap in 2016 was 8s, I think?

[Emag]

NOR also tried push on C3 like VER, Lando was ~0.4s (1.33.9) slower than Max

Didn’t Oscar set a 33.4 with C3s yesterday? Track conditions were not wildly different either, he set it early in the afternoon session.

Lando lost about 2.5 tenths to Oscar’s lap in S3 so maybe he had a mistake somewhere. Can’t see him gain more than that because other losses are battery related.

It seems like the top 4 can all do 32s here at the very least. The question is, who is holding back the most.

[Ground Effect]

Is the medium C3 or C4?

[FittingMechanics]

Is the medium C3 or C4?

All 5 compounds are available here. C1-C5.
Last week only C1-C3 was available.

Pirelli C3 and C4 have yellow markings, C1 and C2 white, C5 (McLaren has none) is red.