2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[geogate]

well, the rumour is we are decent amount over weight, and that merc and Ferrari arnt. To me, that would account for most of that 0.6. Weight is free upgrade lap time

[SilviuAgo]

Again an excellent start from Lando, but those Ferrari's are another league.



P4 I think is better than expected, cause to be honest, for now, best of the rest is P5, if we count that Mercedes and ferrari are ahead.

[SilviuAgo]

Imo Antonelli missed the corner at the restart, so a little bit hard on Oscar to be asked to give that place back.

[SilviuAgo]

AVERAGE RACE PACE IN CHINA SPRINT RACE

1 - Mercedes: 1:37.251
2 - Ferrari: 1:37.580 (+0.328s)
3 - McLaren: 1:37.853 (+0.601s)
4 - Racing Bulls: 1:39.060 (+1.808s)
5 - Red Bull: 1:39.225 (+1.973s)
6 - Audi: 1:39.381 (+2.129s)
7 - Haas: 1:39.413 (+2.162s)
8 - Williams: 1:39.422 (+2.170s)
9 - Alpine: 1:39.574 (+2.323s)
10 - Aston Martin: 1:39.774 (+2.522s)
11 - Cadillac: 1:40.532 (+3.280s)

Laps after the SC restart are ignored, as some drivers pitted and others stayed out.

[Darth-Piekus]

I think Norris has been performing exceptionally well this weekend bringing the 3rd best car higher than it should be and shutting up all those who claimed him to be mediocre. What do you think of his performances so far?

[SilviuAgo]

I think Norris has been performing exceptionally well this weekend bringing the 3rd best car higher than it should be and shutting up all those who claimed him to be mediocre. What do you think of his performances so far?

Lando is back on 2021 mood, to do magic with a midfield car
Not much to do by Lando and Oscar in this phase of the season but we are not looking as bad as RBR.

[Mcl_G10]

We need to lose the weight and bring those upgrades and we can fight at the front.
How many races will we need to wait?

[willmesquita]

We need to lose the weight and bring those upgrades and we can fight at the front.
How many races will we need to wait?

Maybe until Barcelona?

[SilviuAgo]

Perhaps this pause with Baharain and Saudi off will allow McLaren to fully focus on this weight reduction and upgrades.
P5 and P6 in quali, the place where McLaren is at the moment. Not good but also not bad.

[Darth-Piekus]

Silviu I dont think you could go higher. Mercedes and Ferrari are in another league but all that may change with the first upgrade.

[Emag]

On that last lap Lando dropped 5 tenths on the last sector alone. Huge for just 2 braking zones and a long straight. McLaren also only gets up to 327, whereas Merc goes up to 335. So, yeah, the drag issue is confirmed again.

[SilviuAgo]

+0.5 vs Mercedes in the second race, and +0.2 vs Ferrari, is not a really bad starting point of the new regs era. We could have been in RBR position to be >+1.0 and behind Alpine.
I know Mercedes and Ferrari will not stand still, but I consider that McLaren had a better rate of development working on track that those two.

[jacme22]

Oscar found a more balance setup for the qualy, slower than lando in S1 but recovered in S3.

I think racepace is more worrying than quali pace. If we are indeed the only one car of the top 3 with a significant overweight (6-8kg), I'm optimistic that we may be able to fight with ferrari soon. Mercedes, imo, are still hiding, that car is just on rails, still has so much more to give if you push it closer to the edge.

Regarding the race, this car just eats the tyres. Our only hope is a crash or a mechanical malfunction.

[Avocado]

+0.5 vs Mercedes in the second race, and +0.2 vs Ferrari, is not a really bad starting point of the new regs era. We could have been in RBR position to be >+1.0 and behind Alpine.
I know Mercedes and Ferrari will not stand still, but I consider that McLaren had a better rate of development working on track that those two.

Indeed. I don't see the situation as bad at all. We are close and that's without any real upgrades.

But honestly, I hate the new regs. This is not F1.

[_cerber1]

On that last lap Lando dropped 5 tenths on the last sector alone. Huge for just 2 braking zones and a long straight. McLaren also only gets up to 327, whereas Merc goes up to 335. So, yeah, the drag issue is confirmed again.

I don’t see anything critical here, they are +/- at the level of leaders.