2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[restless]

Starting P12 after Nico's gearbox penalty is not so bad. P11 would have been the best for Alonso, but P12 works fine. He can start on the SS tyres and if he can pick a few places up at the start he'll be right up there if anything goes wrong up front .

Yea, startin 11th is best... And Eric "****" Boulier claiming 13&16 in qualy is "solid"
what next? We' should be happy if one car goes to Q2 ?

[godlameroso]

Qualy a bit worse than expected to be honest.

I was hoping they wold go very low drag wings to try and mitigate things but i guess not. worse than Williams... what a shame.

Hoping for Super Alonso to do his thing and maybe a few crashes up ahead can help ( safety car etc also )

Not a surprise honestly given the extra power mode the Merc engine cars have for qualifying this race. With McLaren's better race pace and no extra power boost i expect Alo to jump both Williams and Force Indias in the race.

PS: Hul p9 so Alo picks up a spot

How was their long run pace compared to Renault, FI & Haas?

McLaren is the faster car in the race, I don't think McLaren is allowed to criticize Renault, so they make excuses as to why they're a second slower than the factory team in quali but are a tenth or two ahead in the race. Alonso was the only midfielder that could do 46's, in clean air he should be best of the rest.

[Nuvolari]

He just did one lap in the 46s!

One swallow does not a summer make.

Perez & Grosjean did a 46s lap too.

[nirvaand]

Not a surprise honestly given the extra power mode the Merc engine cars have for qualifying this race. With McLaren's better race pace and no extra power boost i expect Alo to jump both Williams and Force Indias in the race.

PS: Hul p9 so Alo picks up a spot

How was their long run pace compared to Renault, FI & Haas?

McLaren is the faster car in the race, I don't think McLaren is allowed to criticize Renault, so they make excuses as to why they're a second slower than the factory team in quali but are a tenth or two ahead in the race. Alonso was the only midfielder that could do 46's, in clean air he should be best of the rest.

Yeah, but also no point really discussing this all now, all teams will bring upgrades to Spain, so that will change the pecking order, let's just hope McLaren make a bigger gain than the rest of the teams.

[RonDennis]

Losing against Force India and Williams, it shows how --- the current chassis is. They were even slower than yesterday.

[zoroastar]

Losing against Force India and Williams, it shows how --- the current chassis is. They were even slower than yesterday.

I agree sort of. But i dont think much has changed since the last 3 races except for a 2 km pit straight. The mercedes teams were always going to have that advantage here.

[RonDennis]

Losing against Force India and Williams, it shows how --- the current chassis is. They were even slower than yesterday.

I agree sort of. But i dont think much has changed since the last 3 races except for a 2 km pit straight. The mercedes teams were always going to have that advantage here.

That upgrade package better be good. Imagine how the shareholders must feel after listening to their team talking about having one of the best chassis out there.

[Ground Effect]

Losing against Force India and Williams, it shows how --- the current chassis is. They were even slower than yesterday.

I agree sort of. But i dont think much has changed since the last 3 races except for a 2 km pit straight. The mercedes teams were always going to have that advantage here.

Mercedes power was always going to give FI and Williams an added advantage. But at least Fernando was quicker than Haas. But that said, they're really shockingly slow! I don't think they actually broke into the 1:43's at any point this weekend.

[RonDennis]

Losing against Force India and Williams, it shows how --- the current chassis is. They were even slower than yesterday.

I agree sort of. But i dont think much has changed since the last 3 races except for a 2 km pit straight. The mercedes teams were always going to have that advantage here.

Mercedes power was always going to give FI and Williams an added advantage. But at least Fernando was quicker than Haas. But that said, they're really shockingly slow! I don't think they actually broke into the 1:43's at any point this weekend.

Alonso did a 1.43.7 on Friday. Probably with a tow.

[Nuvolari]

The car had more time in it than showed today. Alo didn't have the best preparation for his lap in Q2.

[mrluke]

So, how do we think the car will go in Baku? Is it Q3 material here? Lots of corners between 90-120 km/h, but good that they don't go on for long.

Traction seemed alright in China.

Between 2.5% and 3.0% slower than the pole time

I'm going to be slightly more optimistic and say around 2 seconds off pole.

About 0.4s/km deficit. Seeing how there is a nice downward trend from the the three races so far, I'm predicting they'll close the gap further to near 2% off pole time. If they get the tyres wrong, all bets are off.

2.47% for Alonso
2.95% for Vandoorne

[Nuvolari]

Between 2.5% and 3.0% slower than the pole time

I'm going to be slightly more optimistic and say around 2 seconds off pole.

About 0.4s/km deficit. Seeing how there is a nice downward trend from the the three races so far, I'm predicting they'll close the gap further to near 2% off pole time. If they get the tyres wrong, all bets are off.

2.47% for Alonso
2.95% for Vandoorne

Happy to be wrong now, if the Spain update will let them close the gap to within 1.5%.

[godlameroso]

The race pace gap is not the same as the qualifying gap, I fear McLaren will be lousy at qualifying all year despite the performance of their chassis. If the chassis gains over a second from the chassis they'll easily have the ability to fight for podiums, even if they're starting 8th or 7th.

[nirvaand]

McLaren were practicing tows on Friday, I think they were planning tows for each other in Q2, much like China, but that plan was ruined after Stoffel was knocked out in Q1. Fernando did a 1:43.7 in practice yesterday with a tow, he could have done a 1:43.5 today with the tow.

Had that been the case he would have qualified P11 and would be starting P10 on fresher tyres from the two FI's and Carlos up front.

[skwdenyer]

From autosport forum:

Wow, if this is a reliable source... can´t be a coincidence if one month later Goss is fired

Joe is reliable. joeblogsf1.com

He has been to over 500 Grand Prix as a journalist

Joe has suggested today that Goss is not the mystery TD in question, FWIW.