More details about McLaren's technical leadership changes are becoming public as it has now become clear that Toro Rosso's highly valued technical director, James Key, is set to join McLaren in the same role.
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Very easy, it was tight in terms of timings and they've got the same problem in getting the hypersoft to work properly. They look fine on the harder tyres.
Combine that with a traction heavy circuit where they struggle and you have what most people were expecting. Their race pace looks to have taken a small step forward however.
Ye, it wasn't ideal but I didn't forget the other 1st 6 races. What is sad is that they haven't fixed the issue yet. Also, it seems that all the weaknesses together got exposed in the biggest possible way. Drag (on big straights), tyre temps (on a track that needs good traction and confidence) and that chassis still has long way to go.
I don't know what to say really. The terrible qualifying appearances just returned and are worse than ever. Also, slower than sauber? How can this be even possible. The car must be super duper draggy and this showed incredibly in Canada. This is really really unacceptable. In the race, I guess it will be better, the long runs were similar to the midfield and close to 4th best I think. That's very awkward.
Drag is not that big of a problem, traction out of slow corners and mechanical grip is. During Quali, Alonso was never more than 4 kph slower than Verstappen through any speed trap and was only 1kph slower than Verstappen through the speed trap at the end of the straight before the final chicane.
I am not too sure I buy the draggy chassis theory. If that were the case I think their qualifying performances would be better than their race pace suggested due to their lack of efficiency being exposed when given a fixed amount of energy. The contra is true for the races so far. I think it is more down to operating the tyre in the correct window over one lap.
As for their qualifying performance. It's not great by any stretch but the same thing has happened in earlier races and they have turned up with the fourth fastest car on Sunday. Let's wait and see.
Well I didn't expect them to do good, but being a second slower than Renault, they are a joke and they should get rid of Peter Pomodrou, Matt Morris and Eric Boullier. What's next? McLaren being the slowest car on track?
We've been there...
To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone. ― Bruce McLaren
Well, in team report they say they had pace on friday, but on saturday it wasn't there. So they only have to find pace and problem solved.
PS. They really said that, in different words.
The performances this year prove that last year's chassis was very decent indeed.
A combination of not getting the hypers to work plus a heavy traction dependant circuit plus rear suspension equals a difficult weekend, as Alonso mentioned before Friday practice.
Race pace is much better so hopefully Alonso gets a good start and runs long on ultras. Vandoorne also looking the best he's been in a long while
Last year Honda were still having major problems at this point, but this new car is just 8 tenths quicker.
2018. ES Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:12.856 +2.092
2017. ES Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:13.693 +2.234
Force India - 1 sec faster
Red Bull - 1,5 sec faster
Ferrari - 1 sec faster
Renault - 1,2 sec faster
Willams - 7 tenths slower
So by switching to Renault (which according to McLaren should have given them more than half a second per lap), they made just tiny gains.
It's more to do with MCL33 being a dog vs MCL32 being a very good car. MCL32 had excellent tire management and traction. It was the best car to come out of woking in a very long time, sadly the switch to Renault and a new suspension concept and banned trick suspension has screwed them. The car seems very good in medium/high speed corners but is probably one of the worst w.r.t tire heatup and mechanical grip and traction.
My opinion matches what others have already mentioned.
I'm convinced the issues come from the switch to the Renault engine and the resulting changes to the rear of the car.
I myself hadn't thought of the changes to rules and the new suspension concept. However it's still obvious that the new engine and gearbox may have required a compromised design that they didn't understand due time constraints.
Certainly, the rear suspension is totally different from last year. And tuning and set up data they had since 2015 is not exactly applicable this year.
Would explain why they have issues switching on the tyres at certain tracks, plus mechanical grip issues.
Their issue is slow speed corners, mechanical grip and working the tyres. The suspension switch because of the engine switch has totally killed them.
There's nothing wrong with aero, it's just underdeveloped in the bargeboard area because everyone had to wait until the nose could prove it could pass the crash test otherwise you waste time on bargeboard upgrades you might have to bin if it's not compatible with the nose and front wing which is what sets up the airflow. Until it passed the crash test in April no-one knew for sure what nose they'd have so obviously that slows development for aero parts behind it.
They're 3 months behind because of that NEW nose switch and the NEW rear suspension is utter crap, those are the issues. Check the traps and you'll notice they are back in the Renault ballpark since Spain.
the mclaren aero team did not change and tim gross said they brought over an evolution of the aero concept they had. they still retain the high rake concept and even managed to bring a b spec car because they have the money and man power. mclaren are bless with very good drivers and good budget, but their lack of pace was because they didnt bother to improve its aero efficiency rather they kept pilling more drag and blaming the lack of proper time to honda. now there is nowhere to hide. its good i see people change their opinions in the mclaren twitter feed this time blaming the chassis issue they had all along since 2013
the mclaren aero team did not change and tim gross said they brought over an evolution of the aero concept they had. they still retain the high rake concept and even managed to bring a b spec car because they have the money and man power. mclaren are bless with very good drivers and good budget, but their lack of pace was because they didnt bother to improve its aero efficiency rather they kept pilling more drag and blaming the lack of proper time to honda. now there is nowhere to hide. its good i see people change their opinions in the mclaren twitter feed this time blaming the chassis issue they had all along since 2013
Aero aero aero...Yawn.
Aero still isn't the problem and our aero parts are still being copied where applicable. No-one will copy the new suspension, I assure you.
Last years chassis was clearly better with regards to the competition than this year's is. The gaps to the front show it. They're the same distance away from the front of the field now as they were last year. (in monaco and Canada) considering that this year's Renault pu is undoubtedly better than the Honda unit at this time last year, then it's common sense that last year's chassis was better than this year's chassis. Just because the aero team stays the same doesn't mean they'll always find the same gains as everyone else. Even Newey designed a sh!t car in 2015, after red bull had arguably the best chassis in 2014. And Toro Rosso were as fast as red bull some times in 2015.
Drag wasn't as big of an issue as people make it out to be. Not this year and not last year. (weren't you calling for more downfrce in free practice?). The issue is traction out of slow corners. With regards to aero they're as good as Renault. You just have to look at aero dependant tracks like Spain and China. Which is decent considering Renault has more staff and a larger budget
