2017 Mclaren F1 Team - Honda

[Shrieker]

Pardon me, but I don't really have the time if it's been asked before (surely someone has). Is this livery for testing only ?

[ALO_Power]

Pardon me, but I don't really have the time if it's been asked before (surely someone has). Is this livery for testing only ?

I don't think they officially commented on that but probably this livery will stay for the whole season. Maybe they will do some small changes tho, dunno.

[RS200E]

"The Mercedes looks pretty reasonable on the soft tyres - still moving and with more understeer than the Ferrari - but not so good on the medium tyre, just no grip.

"Through that complex, the McLaren never looked good. Alonso couldn't get hard on the throttle out of Turn 2 - the car just starts moving - and I never saw him go into Turn 3 flat on the throttle.

"He's either having to lift big time beforehand, or just as he's coming into the corner. It's not understeer, just a lack of grip.

"McLaren can't really complain about Honda's engine, because there are still horses left in there that they're not using at the minute. It looks OK on the very softest tyres, but on softs and mediums - the most relevant tyres for this track - it's just not there."

McLaren's issues are not confined to the first complex, either.

"Up at Turn 9, the same thing," Anderson adds. "The Ferrari can commit properly on the way in, with barely a lift off the throttle. The McLaren can't do that. Obviously I don't know what the fuel loads are, but if Alonso doesn't lift and slow the car down on the way into the corner significantly, it won't go round properly. It doesn't look like it's got a horrendous balance problem, but it does look like it's got a grip problem.



"The Sauber is not a good chassis - that's one end of the scale. The Ferrari is at the other end of the scale. At the very best the McLaren is in the middle - and that would be giving it a pat on the back.

"I don't know how many McLaren people have been around the track, but I've been around it a few times, and I've never seen a McLaren driver able to commit. It's visible in both sound and vision."

How does he know that this is because of the limits of the chassis and not the driver babying the g-forces on the engine?

go and check De la Rosa, Horner comments in test thread....this from Gary is good even compared to those comments.

Anderson is great but there are so many unknown variables that it's pointless to take that moment and use it as a long term performance indicator.

Same thing happens every year I've been watching testing (long time).

Although it is very likely that Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull will have a better grip than McLaren through most if not all of the season.

[FW17]

Team is running the engine detuned. Do you really think they will load the car with fuel when trying to reduce stress?

My guess is whatever problem they had last year is still not sorted

[RS200E]

Yes I do think they would load the car with fuel at certain times, it's probably 40/30/30 split between light, medium and heavy running respectively. Don't understand why you think they would only do light fuel testing.

The Honda engine isn't as weak as you make it out to be and anyway it wouldn't be the engine that would blow due to more weight.

So again it's just guessing what fuel, tyre, tyre cycle, aero settings, test cycle etc each car was in relative to each other.

[namao]

A lot of people are saying that MCL32 is doing laps with a detuned PU. Actually, they are running with all its potencial and trying to get fast times.

This is what it is.

[adrianjordan]

A lot of people are saying that MCL32 is doing laps with a detuned PU. Actually, they are running with all its potencial and trying to get fast times.

This is what it is.

Source??

Given the reliability problems, I would think it more likely that they're avoiding stressing the PU.

[foxmulder_ms]

A lot of people are saying that MCL32 is doing laps with a detuned PU. Actually, they are running with all its potencial and trying to get fast times.

This is what it is.

Source??

Given the reliability problems, I would think it more likely that they're avoiding stressing the PU.

Ted's notebook. Eric told it himself.

[fellowhoodlums]

When was it written? First two days didn't they have to lift off before corners due to the Oil Tank issue?

[Xero]

A lot of people are saying that MCL32 is doing laps with a detuned PU. Actually, they are running with all its potencial and trying to get fast times.

This is what it is.

Source??

Given the reliability problems, I would think it more likely that they're avoiding stressing the PU.

Ted's notebook. Eric told it himself.

That's incorrect. Eric said the engine wasn't detuned because of the oil tank issue, but it was to avoid any other possible reliability issues in order to allow them to complete their test program.

I doubt any of the teams are running the PUs at full tilt at this stage.

[BrunoH]

i Think he said it was not detuned at all... they are running normal, just not on max mode to do the laps.. just like everyone else.. so yes big problems, engine seems to be further away from Mercedes and Ferrari than it was in 2016... i mean they are almost 3 seconds off pace on ultras, against softs in the Ferrari.... its going to be a pain to watch this year

[adrianjordan]

I think it's a matter of semantics. Just because an engine isn't detuned, doesn't mean they're running it at full power and making use of full power. They could quite conceivably be running in an engine mode that doesn't use the normal rev range by short shifting etc.

[BrunoH]

so Adrian, by how much do you think they are behind? 1 second? 2 seconds?

[McL-H]

i Think he said it was not detuned at all... they are running normal, just not on max mode to do the laps.. just like everyone else.. so yes big problems, engine seems to be further away from Mercedes and Ferrari than it was in 2016... i mean they are almost 3 seconds off pace on ultras, against softs in the Ferrari.... its going to be a pain to watch this year

No, Eric said they are running it detuned. Not because anything is wrong with the engine, just because they don't want to risk stressing the engine too much at this point. They can't take any risks after the first two days. That was his explanation.

[Adam_Birem]

so Adrian, by how much do you think they are behind? 1 second? 2 seconds?

They are 1,7seconds behind today. As you may have noticed, today's times are much slower than yesterday because of the green track. They also are 2 days late. You can't conclude anything right now.