2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[SilviuAgo]

Qualifying fastest laps between Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren

Mercedes is basically the only one of the top teams that don't have any moments where they starve for energy. Very powerful & efficient.

That deployment is quite ahead of the rest of the pack.

Red Bull might be second best in terms of deployment tbh. At least until McLaren figure out the new spec Mercedes PU they apparently got this weekend.

[johnnycesup]

McLaren has the same engine, but it doesn't harvest/deploy the same way, does it? It's pretty shocking to be honest.

[Ben1980]

Mercedes always likely to romp it. The issue is being a customer team at the start of the regs. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bullx2 will be more developed around the engine. Even Audi, who are looking positive.

Its going to be all about learning.

But, im not so negative on the cars, I can live with it all

[Slahinki]

Mercedes always likely to romp it. The issue is being a customer team at the start of the regs. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bullx2 will be more developed around the engine. Even Audi, who are looking positive.

Its going to be all about learning.

But, im not so negative on the cars, I can live with it all

The cars are great, the PUs belong in the bin.

[De Wet]

It is not a defiency of the PU. It is a feature. You can't have 350 kW motor and only a 4MJ battery but allow to use 8MJ per lap.

And certainly not while simultaneously cutting power allowed from the ICU by a third or what it is. These PU regulations are fundamentally broken. It has been talked about for years, but now we can see it with our own eyes.

Yip... Sh*tshow...

[Badger]

Mercedes is demonstrating what complete chassis, powertrain, and software integration can be worth. When the engine fits into the envelope of the car like a glove suddenly it looks like they are driving with a different spec PU compared to their customers.

Their chassis is the strongest point in this equation.

[terefere]

Arrogance has a new name: GR

You can call it arrogance, but I don't mind him admiting he has a great car. What I don't like is always downplaying a clear advantage that we are used to hearing.

[CjC]

In Q3, Norris ran over a piece of debris shed by Antonelli, who was sent out on track with cooling devices still attached to the Mercedes. And according to the Briton, the fact he had to focus on his dashboard meant he didn't see the debris until it was too late.

"I'm looking at my steering wheel," he explained. "It's why I don't see the debris, because I have to look at the speed I'm going to get at the end of the straight and know if I need a brake 30 metres earlier, 10 metres later. That's also the problem.

"You have to look at the steering wheel every three seconds to see what's going to happen, otherwise you're going to end up off the track."

pitiful regulations.

This is a serious concern if you ask me.

At the end of the day if we don’t like these current PU regs we can just stop being fans… no one of forcing us to watch. It’s just a pity that I’ve spent such a considerable amount of money to go to Silverstone this season.

[De Wet]

I expected for us to be 3rd or 4th team, that is fine, we had less time and CAD allowance do develop so all good for now. But this new cars, what a shame....all of the drivers do the lift and coast 100 meters before the braking zone, its ridiculous and it is counter intuitive, this new cars are insult to the F1 world and to motorsport in general, what a disaster.

F1 = Sh*tshow Now...

[CjC]

From a result side of things… I’m a tad disappointed, although we have to acknowledge the good job that the team have done to be in the mix with the other works team as a customer.

We’ve witness Mclaren doing a tremendous job back at Woking to deliver great performance on track over the last 2 and half years. I just fear an 8ths gap is insurmountable with in season development because Mercedes will be trying to move further away as well

[jacme22]

Nobody can deny Merc is not just the engine, they have an overall very very mature package. They were already testing power mapping and doing race sims in Barcelona. They are just 6 months ahead of anyone. Not particularly worried with the team, they'll eventually will figure out the energy management as the races move on and I believe that to be largest differentiator with Mercedes. I think we can be 2nd team by mid season, fighting with RB. Merc won't be catched until 28.

edit: Btw, I'm 90% sure Merc is still sandbagging.

[johnnycesup]

Nobody can deny Merc is not just the engine, they have an overall very very mature package. They were already testing power mapping and doing race sims in Barcelona. They are just 6 months ahead of anyone. Not particularly worried with the team, they'll eventually will figure out the energy management as the races move on and I believe that to be largest differentiator with Mercedes. I think we can be 2nd team by mid season, fighting with RB. Merc won't be catched until 28.

edit: Btw, I'm 90% sure Merc is still sandbagging.

I'm not usually in favour of rash decisions, but there's no way these regulations get to 2028 without some pretty fundamental changes.

[FittingMechanics]

0.8s is exaggarated as Norris could have been closer without damage and with more laps. Let's say maybe 0.5s. This means probably fight with Max.

For a car with no big upgrades, that is running new spec engine as a customer, that is not that bad.

If (big if) they can develop well then it will be interesting championship. We all remember 2023 and 2024 with how fast they improved.

I just hope we are not super slow in the race. Being P5-P6 and bad in race would be dreadful.

[mwillems]

Exactly, we are fighting for 2nd fastest team here. Wether long run pace is podium worthy I dont know, but single lap pace was decent.

Mercedes have likely got a few tenths from.understanding the engine. A finger in the air guess is that the difference otherwise is 3 to 4 tenths.

Nothing to be disheartened about, it's a long season and the designers have been in the kitchen cooking for a little while now.

[FittingMechanics]

Exactly, we are fighting for 2nd fastest team here. Wether long run pace is podium worthy I dont know, but single lap pace was decent.

Mercedes have likely got a few tenths from.understanding the engine. A finger in the air guess is that the difference otherwise is 3 to 4 tenths.

Nothing to be disheartened about, it's a long season and the designers have been in the kitchen cooking for a little while now.

Yeah. We enjoyed two great years, it can't last forever but this is not catastrophic. I think Norris was faster in Q3 then Piastri but damage hurt him.

Btw both Norris (few corners) and Russell (IIRC) started their laps before red flag. If Russell used the same set again then he might have even a bit more pace