2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[fellowhoodlums]

Alonso struggled getting past Lestlerc even with DRS. If he got past earlier then Sainz could have been caught/passed at the pit stop.

Single biggest issue at the moment is top speed, that whole ‘draggy’ argument.

Monaco makes it an irrelevance so should be interesting.

[PhillipM]

Botta's couldn't get past Vettel for a long time with 1.2+ second a lap advantage either. Welcome to Spain. The top speeds weren't too bad IIRC.

[mwillems]

Too many variables right now. Different tyres and a radical new philosophy with only the beginning of the understanding of the setup.

But I'm still heartened by their best Qualy performance of the year, and without the poor start we might not be so disappointed about today. That said, I noticed after the start through turns 1 and 2, both Alonso and Vandoorne were really struggling with rear traction and sliding around, way more than I would expect with cooler tyres from a start.

Time will tell, but nothing happened today that told me that the updates didn't work, the race just didn't work out the way we wanted. We rode our luck for four races, started behind and finished ahead. Today we started ahead, and pulled ourselves back from behind. Not the best outcome, but not the worst. If you ignore the hype that so many people added to this race and look at the pace of the car, it has improved relatively, and I suspect that on a more Mclaren friendly tyre, the car will demonstrate that, as we clearly struggled more than or competitors.

[max_speed]

my take on Race weekend:
a) quali was great , just lost out to Mag by small margin.
b) first lap is main culprit. alonso had to to take evasive action and costed him places.
c) worst tires in first stint and still he managed to score points , not bad.
d) my faith in updates come from the fact that all team , who are gentle in tire management , suffered here ( nferrari/Redbull/mclaren) none of them could switch on Tires properly. Mercedes just blew everyone because thet are the only one who got it right. if you see in last leg of race "ric" managed to get tires working and he was setting purples after purple.
e)i am optimistic about race. after in season test. if this car was supposed to be in australia andnow they can bring updates fast then my summer break they should be clear of mid fields and can focus on closing gap to redbull.

[GhostF1]

Ignoring the Honda factor here. But looking at a team who brought no updates (TR) to McLaren who brought a significant update.

Qualifying:
Gasly (TR) - 1:18.463
Vandoorne (McL) - 1:18.323

Probably worth acknowledging considering its Quali and everyone will be running their ideal one lap setup..
I think we need another GP or two to see what this update has brought. At the moment. Kind of hard to be super impressed which sucks. We've been hearing about this thing since Australia.

The problem with the Honda wasn't 1 lap pace, but efficiency.

I wasn't specifically talking about Honda at all, as per my first sentence, interesting how you mention it though.
I'm saying over 1 lap, without Alonso at the wheel, the cars potentials are similar. Whether that says anything of McLaren's update compared to TR who didn't bring any updates, is what I was getting at.

[diffuser]

Ignoring the Honda factor here. But looking at a team who brought no updates (TR) to McLaren who brought a significant update.

Qualifying:
Gasly (TR) - 1:18.463
Vandoorne (McL) - 1:18.323

Probably worth acknowledging considering its Quali and everyone will be running their ideal one lap setup..
I think we need another GP or two to see what this update has brought. At the moment. Kind of hard to be super impressed which sucks. We've been hearing about this thing since


Don't forget there are significant upgrades coming in the next 2 races.

[GhostF1]

Ignoring the Honda factor here. But looking at a team who brought no updates (TR) to McLaren who brought a significant update.

Qualifying:
Gasly (TR) - 1:18.463
Vandoorne (McL) - 1:18.323

Probably worth acknowledging considering its Quali and everyone will be running their ideal one lap setup..
I think we need another GP or two to see what this update has brought. At the moment. Kind of hard to be super impressed which sucks. We've been hearing about this thing since Australia.

Don't forget there are significant upgrades coming in the next 2 races.

Yes definitely keen to see how these react with the updates so far, it is possible the whole package won't work without other corresponding components. So fingers crossed they are mixing it up there at Monaco!!

[diffuser]

You can make data lie if you want,
Vandoorne (McL) - 1:18.323
HULKENBERG - 1:18.923

Wow Stoffle with upgrade smashed the Hulk!

[rogazilla]

That is not a lie... vandoorne did smashed the hulk on that one lap pace...

Hulk did have lots of problem with fuel pressure but yes vandoorne with the upgrade is faster than hulk. Fact.

[ecodelta]

Maybe is not the chassis butvengine cooling being too draggy.

[GoranF1]

You can make data lie if you want,
Vandoorne (McL) - 1:18.323
HULKENBERG - 1:18.923

Wow Stoffle with upgrade smashed the Hulk!

That is not realistic...did you hear Hulk's engine?
Hulk would be faster than Sainz if not for problem, in fact his and Grosjean retirement still trows a shadow on Mcalren's true pace.

Quali sector 3 times of midfield as a reference point for Monaco

Sainz 26.6
Alonso 26.6
Magnussen 26.7
Grosjean 26.8
Vandoorne 26.8
Hulk 26.9

[Andres125sx]

I really think the step forward this upgrade brought was smaller than expected but:

1- Top speed (drag) looks solved now, pretty similar to other Renault teams
2- A new concept does need some time to extract its full potential
3- If we believe Newey words, PP is a very methodical person who makes small steps at once. EB is saying they will bring updates in next two races, so I´d say what we saw in Spain (Spain bastards, what the hell are you doing playing the catalonian anthem??? This people can´t differ between sport and politics...) was just the base, not the whole new car and we should expect similar steps forward in next GPs

[Pany]

McLaren is MacLaren. Im sorry but fighting with Sauber is not acceptable, even that some excuses can be found. The Team level is indicated by Vandoorne performance. Is not question of money; the engine is good, im afraid the engineering power is a little bit lost and it will take all the season plus 2019 season to recover up to fight for podiums. The Delta against Ferrari and Mercedes is enormous. In my opinion as McLaren and Alonso fan is focus on 2021. But this means Alonso can not wait and will probably stop carreer this year unless Redbul or Merceds take him. Without Alonso Mclaren is gonna find Williams destiny. therefore first goll right now is immediately replace Vandoorne with better driver; possibly a more experienced one

[Pany]

I don't give a s. about 4th position and fighting with Haas and Renault. Mclaren should aim to podium as soon as possible; is in the DNA. Stop discussing about midfield competition; even that Mclaren gets 4° and wins midfield competition this year it will be total default

[RonDennis]

I don't give a s. about 4th position and fighting with Haas and Renault. Mclaren should aim to podium as soon as possible; is in the DNA. Stop discussing about midfield competition; even that Mclaren gets 4° and wins midfield competition this year it will be total default

You can forget about that.