2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[crapu7]

I'm sorry, but the so called "strategy" by this team slightly exceeded my imagination. There is no defending this when also the drivers pushed for the inters.

You would have bearly justify this if they were starting out of the points and tried something different but with 3-4 on hand this is another generational fumble. Judging on this and the previous bad strategy decisions Mclaren had over the years has me thinking that there will be more to come this season unfortunately.

On to the next!

[AR3-GP]

There is no way in which pitting on lap 4 and coming out at the back of the field was a better option than starting from pit lane on warm softs and being at the back of the pack on lap 1

Lando rejoined around P14. He would have rejoined in last if he boxed on the formation lap.

[Ben1980]

There is no way in which pitting on lap 4 and coming out at the back of the field was a better option than starting from pit lane on warm softs and being at the back of the pack on lap 1

Regardless of what else happened, the wrong tyre choice was a mistake, sticking with it was just utter stupidity

Lando came out in 14th after 2 laps. If the race had started as usual I would have expected him nearer 10th after a few laps.

They made the mistake, but then had to make the most of it. Going in the pit, changing tyres and coming out well behind probably wouldn't have helped much more.

[Ben1980]

There is no way in which pitting on lap 4 and coming out at the back of the field was a better option than starting from pit lane on warm softs and being at the back of the pack on lap 1

Lando rejoined around P14. He would have rejoined in last if he boxed on the formation lap.

A distant last aswell assuming they cant change tyres until lights are out.

[FittingMechanics]

I guess they expected tire warmup to be much worse and many more cars slide off/crash. If that happened then maybe it would work out for them, but it was a huge gamble.

If they didn't expect more rain I just don't get the idea they had. It is not like they are backmarkers gambling, they were on second row and matched Mercedes in the sprint.

[Emag]

This is a team which operates on a WCC level in almost every area and then the pitwall operates like they're 9th fastest and trying to get into the points.

[Ben1980]

But..I still think, that had the race gone off first time. Lando finishes top 5 at worst.

[Gillian]

I guess they expected tire warmup to be much worse and many more cars slide off/crash. If that happened then maybe it would work out for them, but it was a huge gamble.

If they didn't expect more rain I just don't get the idea they had. It is not like they are backmarkers gambling, they were on second row and matched Mercedes in the sprint.

Tire warmup actually was difficult, but when the track is literally dry then inters are of no use! Piastri was right about pitting for new warm softs. It was sad he did not have the balls to just box.

[FittingMechanics]

I guess they expected tire warmup to be much worse and many more cars slide off/crash. If that happened then maybe it would work out for them, but it was a huge gamble.

If they didn't expect more rain I just don't get the idea they had. It is not like they are backmarkers gambling, they were on second row and matched Mercedes in the sprint.

Tire warmup actually was difficult. Piastri was right about pitting for new warm softs. It was sad he did not have the balls to just box.

I understand the warmup issue, Norris did run away for a bit on his hot inters, but I just don't get how it would work unless there is a big incident (red flag or safety car) in first lap or if there is more rain. It just seemed they were unable to adapt to these changing conditions.

Stellard told Piastri that the rain is going away, so why not bail out of it as soon as they aborted the first start? It's all very strange.

[Gillian]

I guess they expected tire warmup to be much worse and many more cars slide off/crash. If that happened then maybe it would work out for them, but it was a huge gamble.

If they didn't expect more rain I just don't get the idea they had. It is not like they are backmarkers gambling, they were on second row and matched Mercedes in the sprint.

Tire warmup actually was difficult. Piastri was right about pitting for new warm softs. It was sad he did not have the balls to just box.

I understand the warmup issue, Norris did run away for a bit on his hot inters, but I just don't get how it would work unless there is a big incident (red flag or safety car) in first lap or if there is more rain. It just seemed they were unable to adapt to these changing conditions.

Stellard told Piastri that the rain is going away, so why not bail out of it as soon as they aborted the first start? It's all very strange.

Yes totally agreed, it makes no sense at all.

[the EDGE]

Tire warmup actually was difficult. Piastri was right about pitting for new warm softs. It was sad he did not have the balls to just box.

I understand the warmup issue, Norris did run away for a bit on his hot inters, but I just don't get how it would work unless there is a big incident (red flag or safety car) in first lap or if there is more rain. It just seemed they were unable to adapt to these changing conditions.

Stellard told Piastri that the rain is going away, so why not bail out of it as soon as they aborted the first start? It's all very strange.

Yes totally agreed, it makes no sense at all.

The cars would’ve flown past the backmarkers on the first lap

[Macklaren]

But..I still think, that had the race gone off first time. Lando finishes top 5 at worst.

He was headed for a top 5 finish given his pace and LEC/HAD troubles anyway until his gearbox gave out

[AR3-GP]

Mclaren says their strength is slow corners. Weak in medium and high speed.

Looking at the GPS data, you can clearly see that Ferrari is very competitive in the corners. You could see that here in Montreal too, in the first sector. It also comes down to handling the kerbs well. Ferrari mainly loses time on the straights. But there aren't many of those in Monaco. That's why Lando is right to see Ferrari as the favourite for pole position in Monaco. At the current stage of development, the McLaren is better suited to slow corners than to medium- and high-speed corners. Ferrari and Mercedes are superior to us there. That should put us in a good position for Monaco

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... n-analyse/

[FittingMechanics]

Stella said in his post race video that they felt the track was still greasy/wet when they had to make the call, and that additional formation laps further hurt their chances as it allowed the track to dry even more.

That is true but even without that it is hard for me to see how they would gain with this strategy other than through pure luck of red flag. Even then it's quite possible they would have overtaken Mercedes if they started on softs.

[Ben1980]

Stella said in his post race video that they felt the track was still greasy/wet when they had to make the call, and that additional formation laps further hurt their chances as it allowed the track to dry even more.

That is true but even without that it is hard for me to see how they would gain with this strategy other than through pure luck of red flag. Even then it's quite possible they would have overtaken Mercedes if they started on softs.

It was raining when they made the call, and the track was greasy and wet. All teams were worried about tyre warmup. The strategy only really worked if it rained a bit more, didnt even need to rain for long, just long enough.

Then it stopped and dried quickly.

The 2 extra laps, did hamper them, in trying to make the most out of the balls up though. Lando was up 2 seconds in lap one. If there was 3 more on a damper track, he could have got more in.

Alas, its just a bad call. But, they are all owning it.