Team: Eric Boullier (RD), Tim Goss (TD), Simon Roberts (OD), Matt Morris (Engineering Director), Peter Prodromou (CTO), Guillaume Cattelani (HA), Richard Frith (HVP), Stephen Watt (Head of Electronics), Marianne Hinson (Aerodynamic Process Manager), Christian Schramm (Head of Racing Technology), Hiroshi Imai (CRE), Mark Ingham (Head of Design), Kari Lammenranta (CM), Paul James (TM), Jonathan Neale (COO), Neil Oatley (Director of Design & Development) Drivers: Fernando Alonso (14), Stoffel Vandoorne (2) Team name: McLaren Honda
A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
"We will not come under three hours with more practice," regrets Boullier. This is the price to pack the components in the tail in the smallest possible space. The problem also has other teams. Their cars just do not break that often.
The many defects have McLaren a weakness of the car shown. The MCL33 is too complicated under the fairing. "It was really mostly just small problems. But they always cost us a lot of time, "task manager Matt Morris admits.
Good news or bad news?
McLaren sees himself on a par with Renault and HaasF1. "Had Fernando not had to break the lap, he would have driven 1.18,6 minutes. On old Hypersoft tires, "calculates Boullier. His impression: "Front drive Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. The group behind it has moved closer together. And we're in the middle of it all. "Renault had released the performance for the first time on the last day, which will also be available in Melbourne. That should be questioned after the turbocharger defect again.
Strange that it says that considering Vandoorne claims that they never run low fuel or highest PU setting, also i am not sure if this is true or not but some say Alonso was still 15km/h down on speed trap at the end of testing.
"I have no idols. I admire work, dedication & competence."
"We will not come under three hours with more practice," regrets Boullier. This is the price to pack the components in the tail in the smallest possible space. The problem also has other teams. Their cars just do not break that often.
The many defects have McLaren a weakness of the car shown. The MCL33 is too complicated under the fairing. "It was really mostly just small problems. But they always cost us a lot of time, "task manager Matt Morris admits.
Good news or bad news?
McLaren sees himself on a par with Renault and HaasF1. "Had Fernando not had to break the lap, he would have driven 1.18,6 minutes. On old Hypersoft tires, "calculates Boullier. His impression: "Front drive Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. The group behind it has moved closer together. And we're in the middle of it all. "Renault had released the performance for the first time on the last day, which will also be available in Melbourne. That should be questioned after the turbocharger defect again.
This shouldn't really surprise anyone at all. The car was pretty much designed with the original Honda PU in mind and then very late a switch was made to the Renault. Most of what's under the skin had to be redesigned and as such probably isn't optimal. Wouldn't be surprised to see various coolers and ancillaries moved around throughout the season to neaten up the space.
Doesn't anyone remember how long engine changes took when McLaren first switched to Honda? A long time is the answer. I'm sure as the McLaren engineers and technicians get more used to installing the Renault the engine change times will drop.
Last edited by trinidefender on 11 Mar 2018, 22:49, edited 1 time in total.
This is the right kind of problem for McLaren to be having at this stage of the season, in my view. If they were to design a very reliable but middle of the road car pace-wise, what would be the benefit?
They - and any team that has ambitions of winning races - need to push the boundaries. If you design your chassis and PU under the same roof (whether literally in Ferrari’s case or figuratively in Mercedes’, Renault’s) it’s easier to ensure the two mate perfectly, with no issues, even if boundaries are being pushed; this is harder for teams like Red Bull and McLaren and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that both have faced a reasonable amount reliability issues - you have to push your design to the limits but, no matter the high level of cooperation with your engine supplier, you cannot design the two to work hand-in-glove - and they really have no other option than to ride this kind of knife edge if they want to succeed.
Red Bull have had longer with the Renault engine, so it doesn’t surprise me at all that McLaren are facing comparatively more issues during testing. The irony of shifting away from Honda but having more reliability issues than the new incumbent means it’s tempting to lay all the blame with McLaren, but I suspect you’ll see these much more quickly overcome.
so last year i made a comparisson between merc and the mclaren on a straight where you could really see the difference when running high rake, this is from testing, i know i know, its not exact same spot etc. but all pics more or lees show the same, mclaren is able to really lower the fw when under load, there was rumors some teams were playing tricks with steering position combined with suspension layout and scarbs mentioned mclarens design once again this year, i remember Brawn once stating that every mm you could get the fw closer to the ground had a huge impact https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYJ7wilWkAAahWo.jpg:large
Interesting to see that the height of the inside FW endplate (closest to the kerb in the above photos) above the track is roughly the same on all three cars but the outside edge (closest to the camera) is noticeably closer to the track on the McLaren.
The cars are all in mid fast corner by the looks of it (T3 Barcelona?) - McLaren running a softer/more compliant front suspension set-up than their rivals?
Interesting to see that the height of the inside FW endplate (closest to the kerb in the above photos) above the track is roughly the same on all three cars but the outside edge (closest to the camera) is noticeably closer to the track on the McLaren.
The cars are all in mid fast corner by the looks of it (T3 Barcelona?) - McLaren running a softer/more compliant front suspension set-up than their rivals?
If it's a suspension difference, it would be the opposite of that. Softer suspension would result in more roll, not less. McLaren do have a history of running very stiff front suspension though.
to me it looks like the merc is setup more soft judging by the main plane angle
EDIT
Maybe turn 2 judging by the run of area next to it which look similar to the end of straight
mclarens run the hardest suspension cars in f1, and i belive they did not run the S-duct because of the added drag.. they have a big issue with it at the moment, its not well balanced, they have a lot of downforce but its ´´dirty downforce´´
mclarens run the hardest suspension cars in f1, and i belive they did not run the S-duct because of the added drag.. they have a big issue with it at the moment, its not well balanced, they have a lot of downforce but its ´´dirty downforce´´
and by what calculated data are you deriving the dirty downforce from, pictures?
