2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[flmkane]

There are no magical steps, we all know that. In recent years, we have seen that the teams which had great improvement in race pace and qualifying was the teams that have brought constant upgrades all long the year, making the car faster in every single aspect.

I get extremely skeptical every single time that i read an article saying that McLaren should gain almost half a second or more with a "totally new package", because these kind of thing simply does not exist in F1.

Here's a thought though. 1 second lap time upgrades died between 2014-2016 seasons because of engine development restrictions and because of severe aero restrictions.

Between 2009 and 2013 one second lap time upgrades were rare but not impossible. Specifically thinking of Red Bull in 2012 when they had a massive mid season upgrade (but were still slower than the MP4-27). I can also recall Mclaren in 2011 and 2009, Red Bull and Ferrari in 2009 (although those were Double Diffuser upgrades)

In the NEW aero rules post 2017, in season upgrades are once more quite effective.
Just because someone HASN'T had a 1 second upgrade yet, doesn't mean it's impossible. Unlikely, but not impossible, given the less restricted aero rules. Hell if Williams gets their package working, THEY might have a massive improvement too.

[diffuser]

yap, i dont belive in magical 1 second updates. A full real 1 second is give and take a years development give and take.

if they make 0.5 second improvement that will already be huge.

however the competition is also updating, so if they make in real terms 0..250 to 0.3 seconds above the competition its already a huge step forward.

Most cars improve by 1.5 seconds over the winter. Last year both Renault, Red Bull, and FI made gains of over a second mid season when they revamped their packages. So it's not impossible for McLaren to take a similar step.

I say the Spain update is worth .6 immediately but the others gain .3 so they make up .3 relative to the leaders. This would put them under a second off the top race pace. But another .6 is dormant until France or Silverstone. Then we would see the true McLaren 2018 car. This would put them half a second off the top in race pace, enough for Alonso to do his thing.

Well ...I'd expect this update to be worth 1.5 seconds using that logic!!!


One can only hope ....

[RonDennis]

A new front wing alone can bring half a second, so 1 second isn't impossible, especially since they have been working on it for a long time.

[Vanja #66]

That's more like it, all the areas they are slightly behind compared to Top3.

[nirvaand]

According to #AMuS the MCL33 B-Spec car that we will see in Barcelona will have: new deflectors under nose, new bargeboards, new engine cover, new floor, and new rear wing.

[GoranF1]

According to AMuS the update will include:

New turning vanes under the nose, new bargeboards, new engine cover and new RW, new floor.

[_DM_]

Any news about new technical officer (on the Goss place)?

[makecry]

According to AMuS the update will include:

New turning vanes under the nose, new bargeboards, new engine cover and new RW, new floor.

No nose? Also I couldn't find it anywhere on AMuS, you got a link/source OF AMuS saying, not a random twitter guy?

[Ground Effect]

yap, i dont belive in magical 1 second updates. A full real 1 second is give and take a years development give and take.

if they make 0.5 second improvement that will already be huge.

however the competition is also updating, so if they make in real terms 0..250 to 0.3 seconds above the competition its already a huge step forward.

Most cars improve by 1.5 seconds over the winter. Last year both Renault, Red Bull, and FI made gains of over a second mid season when they revamped their packages. So it's not impossible for McLaren to take a similar step.

I say the Spain update is worth .6 immediately but the others gain .3 so they make up .3 relative to the leaders. This would put them under a second off the top race pace. But another .6 is dormant until France or Silverstone. Then we would see the true McLaren 2018 car. This would put them half a second off the top in race pace, enough for Alonso to do his thing.

Half a second may be a bit much, in my opinion, even for Fernando. Possibly 0.3secs and he could do the business. But unfortunately, Mclaren are about 1 sec slower on pit stops than the top teams. We rarely see a sub 3 secs stop from them. That could prove costly in a race. They really, really need to improve in that area. They need to consistently do a 2.3 - 2.5 to match those at the front.

[GoranF1]

0.3(update minus others update) would mean clearly best of rest....

[diffuser]

Don't forget this is the 2nd year after aero changes. This the time when huge gains can be made.

[Ground Effect]

The Renault works team, which is one of their more direct rivals have already said their Barcelona upgrade will be restricted to aero tweaks to suit the track characteristics. Baku was a more significant upgrade. So, there's a chance, if the upgrades work, they could possibly jump Renault.
Force India seem to have gotten their swagger back, and they usually update big in Barcelona. It's really going to be interesting.

[adrianjordan]

Any news about new technical officer (on the Goss place)?

Purely speculation on my part, but I find it convenient that Jorg Zander has suddenly left Sauber...

[diffuser]

The Renault works team, which is one of their more direct rivals have already said their Barcelona upgrade will be restricted to aero tweaks to suit the track characteristics. Baku was a more significant upgrade. So, there's a chance, if the upgrades work, they could possibly jump Renault.
Force India seem to have gotten their swagger back, and they usually update big in Barcelona. It's really going to be interesting.

FI are going to struggle, they haven't figured where their pace goes when they put downforce on. No DF in Baku.

[mclaren111]

Any news about new technical officer (on the Goss place)?

Purely speculation on my part, but I find it convenient that Jorg Zander has suddenly left Sauber...

I thought exatcly the same thing. And Matt Morris also came from Sauber.