2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[proteus]

yap agree... they are around 10 place give and take

They are 3rd in the championship, give or take. By youre definition Vettel is a number 2 and he got 2 undeserved wins so far, to me he is first due to the fact he seized what it was given to him.

I really dont get why do u have to post same claims over and over again? Everyone who is able to think and see can tell they are in low top 10. And jet some of u people are in need to become all philosophical and wisdomus about it.

I will go and check if u have ranted on the Ferrari page that Vettel got 2 undeserved wins in a row....

its called freedom of expression.... plus i dont know were im doing the same post over and over, i posted 2 times today.. lol... obviously because of the race.. and yes i guess they are p10 , what can i say, its true.. its were they really are. Im glad they are taking extra points , and hope they do better after barcelona.
PS- i dont do rants....

U wrote it twice for the Bahrain race, and how many times before? I definetly recall u shared the same opinion during testing as well.

Freedom of speech is one thing, posting same stuff over and over again is just annoying. Let me make it easier for u: We get what u a re saying, but the almighty question is, are u going to finally stop posting the same thing again?

[ferkan]

Pace wise, no doubt McLarens form is alarming. With RB you have a feeling they can easily win race on pure pace (not quali, race) and with McLaren its ok if they are therbouts with STR.

Vettels win here was lucky in a sense, but it was mainly because of good strat move by Merc and Kimi DNFing. Ferrari put their cars on front row, while McLaren barely scrapped through Q3. Their form, compared to STR and budget they have, is artrocious. That car looked like it was driving last years honda, even compared to other Renault powered cars. Makes me wonder about their aero efficiency and claims about Honda power last year.

All in all, more then underwhelming.

[Bisonas]

So when both McLaren cars finish above both STR cars that´s one point for McLaren, but when one STR car finish above both McLaren cars and second STR car is dead last, that´s equally one point for STR???

Sorry but no, that´s biased at least

And no, there´s an official standing wich is called Constructor Standings for a reason, wich I posted above and at wich McLaren has scored almost double point to STR.

I am not biased at all. And if i am at some extend, trust me when i say that i am in favor of Mclaren.
In a previous post i made today i said :
"And when i mean on top, i mean on performance level. Not on official standings. Since i am not economicaly involved with the teams, as a F1 fan, i value, Car performance and Driver performance. Not place on the standings."

And this is true for me. Its how i see things. If i am disappointing with something, looking at the standings won't make me feel any better. that isn't working for me any more. It may be still working for you. Your perspective may be different.
And yes, if there is a game between Mclaren and TR that has a score, then the score is 1-1 for me. Even if Gasly had a DNF in the last lap , I would still give that point to TR.
Valuating Car and Driver performance for the whole weekend, i would give the point to TR for Bahrain.
I take into consideration the Performance for the fastest TR and the Fastest Mclaren
And yes,
I fully acknowledge Alonso may had similar or better race pace than Gasly and was stuck in traffic for the whole race.
Yes, Mclarens bad qualifying may have been an one off and had to do with track characteristics. (rear-limited, stop and go nature, etc)
Yes, there is a chance that the game may end up 20-1 in favor of Mclaren by the end of the year.
But Nevertheless Bahrain point in my eyes goes to TR.
I also said before, as a fan i will be harsh with Mclaren this year. I expect to see certain things from the team this year. I expect to see constant progress. I personally don't care about standings. The progress must have to do with the general Performance. On standings Mclaren is Third, on performance its 4th, 5th or 6th
I expect them to be "de facto" 4th on performance soon, and from then on try to progress towards the top three.
If that doesn't happen, i will criticize them. I won't excuse them.

[fellowhoodlums]

I am 100% pro McLaren, have been since the days of Hunt when i was ..... well young.

My approach is not to bash bash bash but to make sure everything is in context. Cut through the bull that's fed to us through the PR machine and keep looking at only relevant facts.

I think the Honda partnership was a great step. I was then totally disheartened when Honda hadn't delivered, however I also think it was a mistake to move to Renault at that moment. Lastly, in my view, McLaren F1 under current management is a lesser raw racing team than before.

McLaren must do better or they will become mid table mediocre, and i don't apologise for being impatient or critical when we've heard so much spin from them about the chassis.

So......China....don't think there will be much change, but..... the 2018 target must be.....a deserved couple of podiums before year end and fourth in championship.

[Alonso Fan]

I am 100% pro McLaren, have been since the days of Hunt when i was ..... well young.

My approach is not to bash bash bash but to make sure everything is in context. Cut through the bull that's fed to us through the PR machine and keep looking at only relevant facts.

I think the Honda partnership was a great step. I was then totally disheartened when Honda hadn't delivered, however I also think it was a mistake to move to Renault at that moment. Lastly, in my view, McLaren F1 under current management is a lesser raw racing team than before.

McLaren must do better or they will become mid table mediocre, and i don't apologise for being impatient or critical when we've heard so much spin from them about the chassis.

So......China....don't think there will be much change, but..... the 2018 target must be.....a deserved couple of podiums before year end and fourth in championship.

I agree. All except the point about switching to Renault being bad. In hindsight yes perhaps so. But at the time it looked like Honda was lost. Perhaps if they'd introduced spec 4 and not cared about penalties then that may have swayed the decision. But as I said it's all in hindsight

[fellowhoodlums]

I agree. All except the point about switching to Renault being bad. In hindsight yes perhaps so. But at the time it looked like Honda was lost. Perhaps if they'd introduced spec 4 and not cared about penalties then that may have swayed the decision. But as I said it's all in hindsight

Some folks wanted Honda gone, I didn't. But that was a healthy debate at the time.

I confess I am also very pro Honda....think it came from the BAR & Button days, plus I own a Honda, ha!!!.

[rogazilla]

I have been a Honda fan for a long time. Also a McLaren Fan because of Sienna era. I have not been a fan of EB since day one. Maybe we will see new management by end of the season and hopefully turn it around.

[flmkane]

Guys, I will say first that I'm both pro Mclaren and pro Honda.

But this Honda vs Mclaren vitroil is rather childish. Good for Gasly that he got P4, but also good for Mclaren that they have 22 constructors championship points by the second race, compared to 30 points total in 2017.

Lets not forget that Alonso is now ahead of Dan, Max and Kimi in the drivers championship. It's just a fleeting achievement that nobody will remember once the other guys get their acts together. However, lets enjoy it while it lasts.

Also. It was good to see Alonso pass a Mercedes engine Force India on the straight

It's just the second race guys.

[flmkane]

Am I right in thinking that teams can change the gearbox housing and change rear suspension geometry as a result?

I'd like to think that Mclaren were smart enough to build in that sort of flexibility this season.

Good point for sure. But that's not always true if I recall correctly.

Originally the Ferrari F2004 incorporated a carbon housing on the gearbox that could be changed to alter the behavior of the rear suspension. Afterwards I know for sure that concept disappeared during the V8 era.

I think in 2014, Mercedes re-introduced that idea, but I'm not sure if it's become a standard feature on F1 cars by now. Perhaps someone could enlighten me about that.

Even if Mclaren has a gearbox with a carbon housing, not sure if they are investing time into developing that area. There would be a lead time on the carbon parts, and they need to push out parts for the 'big update'

[Big Tea]

I am also a Mclaren follower of old, I am also very pro Honda, have been since Halewoods days, and was sure Mclaren were doing the wrong thing swapping, but now have changed my mind.
Things had just become unworkable and a split was the only way either was going to go forward. The 'deal' was done in the days of Ron Dennis and once he was booted out seemed to fall apart.
If this was due to factions trying to to end the Dennis era and put their own mark down, I don't know, but it just was not going to work.

Honda have had a fresh start without having to honor promises they made before they realised the scale of the problem, and Mclaren are now down looking up rather than mid table trying to tread water and go forward without falling.

Although I still have a grudge of sorts with Mclaren for kicking Ron out, I think they can hit this season and gain momentum where as before they were bogged down, and Honda can start afresh with the knowledge of what they did wrong.

[carisi2k]

I agree. All except the point about switching to Renault being bad. In hindsight yes perhaps so. But at the time it looked like Honda was lost. Perhaps if they'd introduced spec 4 and not cared about penalties then that may have swayed the decision. But as I said it's all in hindsight

Honda spec 4.0 was ready to race but the Singapore decision was made and so Honda decided to not give Mclaren access to this improved engine. There is also info in the Honda thread that with the spec 4 being a bit longer then the 3.x that it might not have fit into the mcl32.

As for explaining my thing with the Renault engine. The battery looks like the weak point in 2018 as they had several issues in testing and now Bahrain with them. Renault do not seem to have bought any performance in terms of power which is confirmed by the straight line speeds which has allowed Honda to pass them in the power stakes but they do seem to have reduced fuel usage. Look at how easy Dany was able to repass Gasly after his slow start and then was catching Kimi easily before his battery failure.

[carisi2k]

I will add that I think the MCL33 is better then the MCL32 but that the Renault is just a pathetic excuse of an engine that has the same power as last year with just a bit better fuel economy and packaging. It is already proving unreliable in the red bull which is where mclaren want to be. If Mclaren can somehow manage to get to Red Bull level of performance they will probably end up having similar reliability issues.

you do realise that renault PU is not running on full power in that car, right?

The Renault is not running full power in any Renault powered car at the moment. If the Red Bull had the 950hp as supposedly quoted by Renault it would have qualified on pole position for the opening 2 races.

[GhostF1]

There seems to be a lot of misinformation when comparisons are made... If we want it to be a level comparison, let's include all the information shall we. Hartley the "TR that was last". Had his front wing heavily damaged from Lap 1 which hurt his pace dramatically, hence the fall off + the 10 second time penalty. Yes, Gasly benefited from the RBR failures and Kimi's retirement to reach 4th, but so did McLaren, who would of, at maximum, scored 1 point with Alonso in 10th without it. The fact is, TR had the fastest car after the top 3 at this race. I'm a McLaren fan and have been since I was a child but I have no qualms about telling it like it is. They were outplayed at this GP, their points position i not reflective. I think a 3rd race will be a better indicator, so China will be good.

What is interesting is Renault claiming minor performance goals for this seasons PU, whereas Honda are claiming a big step mid season (Marko then mentioning a Canada debut).

[godlameroso]

They're really going to struggle in Baku then, that one has straights that go on forever, but China is in 3 days so maybe Alonso can redeem himself, he has to average 5th so lucky podium? The field is so tight that any mistake will lead to disaster, so far McLaren has kept it's nose clean while the updates are being worked on. I imagine we won't see the real McLaren until June, the big step comes for either Austria or France if things go according to plan(they never do)

[TheFluffy]

Listen around 1:09. It seems that the team had a clear target of trying to beat Toro Rosso, maybe trying to show the board members that changing to Renault is good?

Also 2:04, why was he suggesting to be behind Vettel? Surely not to save one lap for the engine... Get DRS to set the fastest lap? His engineer say "Yes Fernando, I am thinking the same thing" What is their intention? It seems that they are trying to set the fastest lap as the next radio message seems to say something to tell Fernando not to overdrive the car.