2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[techman]

vandorne was leading alonso till the last two races and bad luck made alonso take advantage. if alonso is struggling to beat vandorne the rookie. just imagine vandorne with more experience this year. alonso might even consider retire, if vandorne beats him 2018

[Sieper]

That just isn't very likely. Van Doorne made a few mistakes in the beginning of the year that made me raise my eyebrows, but he certainly is a very accomplished driver otherwise, able to be fast and to stay out of trouble. Very mature although I did see him react a bit spiky on questions which weren't necessarily meant derogatory but which he took that way anyway. To me that is a bad sign, I feel Van Doorne is confident enough but he should have to confidence also to not go out from the negative standpoint, always trust in yourself if you want to be the best.

However (you knew that was coming) Alonso showed more brilliance and I can't remember any mistakes (I can remember some questionable mechanical issues where he also just seemed to park the car) and I didn't see Van Doorne improve by leap and bounds (he always was already very good to begin with) so I think he will be close again, but not overshadowing Alonso.

[RedNEO]

vandorne was leading alonso till the last two races and bad luck made alonso take advantage. if alonso is struggling to beat vandorne the rookie. just imagine vandorne with more experience this year. alonso might even consider retire, if vandorne beats him 2018

Alonso led vandoorne all year and would have finished further infront if reliability and hadn’t affected him more than vandoorne when running in the points. Also in Singapore he would was on course for a podium finish before getting punted out by the Vettel shenanigans. Vandoorne scored that race due to the carnage but Alonso was still able to come back and beat him despite having a bigger share of the bad luck. This year atleast the god awful Honda reliability will not be a factor and you will see Alonso even further ahead.

[f1universe]

Just a little bit of info on how good Vandoorne is, last season Alonso's car was regularly superior (as expected) but it shows that either Vandoorne is a lot better than most give him credit for, or Alonso isn't quite as good as some have you believe.

https://thejudge13.com/2018/01/22/mclar ... vandoorne/

Often they only had one set of upgrades and they went for Alonso but Stoffel got them in the new race, there is nothing to read here, is just Brown trying to support Stoffel.

[proteus]

Vandoorne was good enough for his first full season in an underperforming car. The question is what will happen if this year the package will be competitive enough for top 10 in every race, and if he starts to rival Alonso in terms of results.

[Joseki]

vandorne was leading alonso till the last two races and bad luck made alonso take advantage. if alonso is struggling to beat vandorne the rookie. just imagine vandorne with more experience this year. alonso might even consider retire, if vandorne beats him 2018

Oh yeah the annual "Alonso this year finished ahead because reason X, next year he's going to be beaten" that we read on the internet since 2009 with Massa, then Raikkonen, then Button and then Vandoorne.

[RonDennis]

vandorne was leading alonso till the last two races and bad luck made alonso take advantage. if alonso is struggling to beat vandorne the rookie. just imagine vandorne with more experience this year. alonso might even consider retire, if vandorne beats him 2018

Oh yeah the annual "Alonso this year finished ahead because reason X, next year he's going to be beaten" that we read on the internet since 2009 with Massa, then Raikkonen, then Button and then Vandoorne.

Exactly, there is a reason why he always get's the new parts, because he's one of the best out there. Seems like those comments were placed to give Vandoorne a small boost for the upcoming season.

[Mikey05021984]

Today i readed a post about the fact that McLaren will have a filmday (100km) with the new car on 23 february ! But the official presentation of the car will only be at 26 february. So this means they will have the chance to test some things allready on this filmday, so they can start the testdays in a better condition.
But this also means they know the Renault engine will be ready on time.
Source : https://www.f1today.net/nl/nieuws/f1/23 ... -barcelona

[McHonda]

There were races like China(Mgu-H) and Baku that Vandoorne had upgraded parts that Alonso didn't get. Also due to unreliability Vandoorne had spec advantages in Austria and Italy. Alonso had bargeboards in Australia and floor+front wing package advantage in Malaysia/Mexico and USA because they only had one. I imagine that's the stretch of the season Zak is talking about.

Then thejudge exaggerates it as usual and it's now a regular advantage when it was 4 or 5 in a 21 race season with Vandoorne having an advantage in nearly just as many with his engine.

Nothing to see here.

[McHonda]

vandorne was leading alonso till the last two races and bad luck made alonso take advantage. if alonso is struggling to beat vandorne the rookie. just imagine vandorne with more experience this year. alonso might even consider retire, if vandorne beats him 2018

Bad luck and a trip to Indy for Alonso is the only reason Vandoorne had the lead anyway you forget to mention. Alonso was running in the points in several races at the start of the year before reliability issues hit while Vandoorne was fighting Saubers for last place.

[techman]

according to alonso , the mclaren renault is going to be competitive., and i hope for his sake and his future that he doesnt end up behind vandorne who has bit more experience now under his belt. Alonso could not beat lewis in his ROOKIE year and got beat by jenson in 2015. so i hope he ups his performance in 2018. alonso making a trip to indy did not cost him any points because vandorne had an accident in monaco.

[McHonda]

according to alonso , the mclaren renault is going to be competitive., and i hope for his sake and his future that he doesnt end up behind vandorne who has bit more experience now under his belt. Alonso could not beat lewis in his ROOKIE year and got beat by jenson in 2015. so i hope he ups his performance in 2018. alonso making a trip to indy did not cost him any points because vandorne had an accident in monaco.

No-one has a 100% record against team mates so I wouldn't worry about it as Alonso's is better than most. Vandoorne has an excellent junior record, debuted in really tough circumstance and I thought overall he handled it well and according to both Eric and Zak he is only a tenth or so away from Alonso so together with Alonso's age it wouldn't shock my world if Vandoorne did indeed end up ahead as he has the potential to be a top F1 driver.

It cost Alonso the chance of good points was the reason I mentioned Indy and Monaco. (And yes I'm perfectly aware it was his choice to go just as I was aware Vandoorne blew his own chance to score by binning it)

[Redragon]

Could ot be the second sponsor City Bank? It is sponsoring Alonso and Zack team at Daytona, announced today?

[McHonda]

Could ot be the second sponsor City Bank? It is sponsoring Alonso and Zack team at Daytona, announced today?

Personal sponsor like in Indy I think.

[diffuser]

Not sure what people have been watching. Vandoorne was OK because he was a rookie. He was very good for about 4 races.

If he has a repeat of last year, I will be very disappointed.