2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Ben1980
Ben1980
1
Joined: 19 Jun 2022, 10:11

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

FittingMechanics wrote:
03 May 2026, 20:49
1-2 in the sprint and 2-3 in the race. Not a bad haul.

I didn't expect as good of a race as this after that disappointing qualifying. Great job by the drivers.

I can't complain about the strategy, they did the opposite last race and it didn't work out. This time Kimi did his job perfectly by catching at the end of the stint.

Oh and 2.8 stop didn't help. That could have been the difference.
Yep, it was the end of stint pace that won it gor Kimi. Getting the gap from over 3 seconds to under 2. Obviously decent tyre management by Kimi.

Macklaren
Macklaren
14
Joined: 23 Feb 2014, 16:26

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

We have closed the gap to Mercedes. That was Goal #1 for this weekend. Both Mercedes and McLaren will have upgrades in Canada. It's going to be a shootout between both teams for the rest of the season.

Will also be interesting when McLaren and Mercedes both get rotisserie rear wings as well

Ben1980
Ben1980
1
Joined: 19 Jun 2022, 10:11

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Piastri was slightly disappointing. 20 odd seconds behind on pure pace.

JoeE
JoeE
2
Joined: 26 Dec 2009, 15:36

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Macklaren wrote:
03 May 2026, 20:55
We have closed the gap to Mercedes. That was Goal #1 for this weekend. Both Mercedes and McLaren will have upgrades in Canada. It's going to be a shootout between both teams for the rest of the season.

Will also be interesting when McLaren and Mercedes both get rotisserie rear wings as well
I'm not a fan so I hope they don't but if everyone else does then I guess we will need to also

Overall not a bad result, hopefully next batch of upgrade and track lead into our favour

billamend
billamend
15
Joined: 02 Sep 2019, 22:45

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.

Emag
Emag
135
Joined: 11 Feb 2019, 14:56

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

billamend wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:46
Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.
To be fair, he was, but its not Lando’s fault as his pace was dropping steadily for 4 laps or so at that point. Tires were going. Should have pit him when the gap got down to 2.5.
Developer of F1InsightsHub

CjC
CjC
20
Joined: 03 Jul 2012, 20:13

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

billamend wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:46
Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.
When did he say that??
Just a fan's point of view*

*statement was relevant when the forum had a high level of intelligence. Now we are just equals.

FittingMechanics
FittingMechanics
23
Joined: 19 Feb 2019, 12:10

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

billamend wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:46
Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.
Stella didn't say anything Lando doesn't know, he also acknowledges the slow stop.

It is not a blame game. He says Kimi had a stellar outlap and just managed to undercut Lando.

I don't know why everyone thinks these guys are snowflakes, he obviously lost out to an undercut because Kimi was faster on that outlap/inlap situation.

FittingMechanics
FittingMechanics
23
Joined: 19 Feb 2019, 12:10

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Emag wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:47
billamend wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:46
Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.
To be fair, he was, but its not Lando’s fault as his pace was dropping steadily for 4 laps or so at that point. Tires were going. Should have pit him when the gap got down to 2.5.
Yes but with risk of rain if they pitted and there was rain that means a very likely SC and Kimi get another cheap lead like in Japan.

Strategy was fine with the situation as it unfolded. With a 2.1s stop instead of 2.8s Lando stays ahead and wins.

Scorpia
Scorpia
0
Joined: 01 Feb 2021, 13:21

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Good job by the whole McLaren team! I’m very pleased with how the weekend went. Also I’m gonna stick with what we’ve seen. McLaren making a step forward with their upgrade. We still don’t know what the Mercedes will look like. It might be faster, it could also be the same/trickier. Remember Imola upgrade last year. But as for now we know McLaren has gotten closer. Let’s keep pushing!

Emag
Emag
135
Joined: 11 Feb 2019, 14:56

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

FittingMechanics wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:56
Emag wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:47
billamend wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:46
Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.
To be fair, he was, but its not Lando’s fault as his pace was dropping steadily for 4 laps or so at that point. Tires were going. Should have pit him when the gap got down to 2.5.
Yes but with risk of rain if they pitted and there was rain that means a very likely SC and Kimi get another cheap lead like in Japan.

Strategy was fine with the situation as it unfolded. With a 2.1s stop instead of 2.8s Lando stays ahead and wins.
Yeah but a 2.1s is not a "normal" pitstop, it's a very competitive one. Last year, only Ferrari showed great consistency in their pit stops. McLaren did get the fastest ones, but they were all over the place, so it's maybe unwise to rely on it when their standard deviation is quite big.

In any case, I think this was far from a "disaster" from the pitwall. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't bad. I can understand the logic behind trying to extend at least. I suppose they thought Lando might have had a little bit on the pocket when asked for an in-lap to cover the undercut.
Developer of F1InsightsHub

User avatar
AR3-GP
594
Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Double podium in both events is a good job. Good constructor points.
Beware of T-Rex

Macklaren
Macklaren
14
Joined: 23 Feb 2014, 16:26

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Emag wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:47
billamend wrote:
03 May 2026, 21:46
Stella _really_ hates Lando, damn. According to him, Lando was too slow in his inlap, that's why he lost the position.
To be fair, he was, but its not Lando’s fault as his pace was dropping steadily for 4 laps or so at that point. Tires were going. Should have pit him when the gap got down to 2.5.
Also Kimi benefited from being within Overtake range of Max to beat Lando's in-lap with his outlsp

Seerix
Seerix
0
Joined: 14 Nov 2020, 19:55

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Well done team, good to see them back on podium and back on form. Interesting to see both drivers quite critical of the regs in post race press conference "step in the right direction, but only so much you can do with the hardware we have.. huge closing speeds.. unpredictable", Lando even went as far as hoping to getting rid of battery completely in couple of years.

User avatar
AR3-GP
594
Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: 2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

Post

Seerix wrote:
03 May 2026, 23:20
Well done team, good to see them back on podium and back on form. Interesting to see both drivers quite critical of the regs in post race press conference "step in the right direction, but only so much you can do with the hardware we have.. huge closing speeds.. unpredictable", Lando even went as far as hoping to getting rid of battery completely in couple of years.
If hybrids are dropped for 2030 (or greatly reduced in power), I will bet the house that Mclaren registers as a PU manufacturer.
Beware of T-Rex