2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[AJI]

mclaren messed up their aero in 2013. from that year onwards, they couldnt get it right. they would need someone like adrian newey to turn thing around for them.

Frankly I think it's water under the bridge at this point, if McLaren wanted to run Honda engines again they could, they just wouldn't get any of the perks they had before.

no it will never happen. surely honda learnt a lesson with mclaren. they cant repeat the same again.

And for the first time since 2015 there will be a distribution of PU manufacturers amongst teams that falls in line with what the FIA mandated.
McLaren couldn't take a Honda unless STR went back to Renault

[Alonso Fan]

I think Alonso's had enough

http://sport.bt.com/f1/mclaren-consider ... 4280495584

[radosav]

I think Alonso's had enough

http://sport.bt.com/f1/mclaren-consider ... 4280495584

Well i don't believe this. Journalists try to make story when they dont have one.
And about Alonso qoute when he says he doesn't care much, well FOM didn't say that he actually ment he doesnt care much about Grosjean, cause team reported him about Grosjeans position and that he is racing him. FOM left that part out cause this way is much more interesting.

[Alonso Fan]

I think Alonso's had enough

http://sport.bt.com/f1/mclaren-consider ... 4280495584

Well i don't believe this. Journalists try to make story when they dont have one.
And about Alonso qoute when he says he doesn't care much, well FOM didn't say that he actually ment he doesnt care much about Grosjean, cause team reported him about Grosjeans position and that he is racing him. FOM left that part out cause this way is much more interesting.

Oh yes absolutely FOM butchered that radio message to make it seem more dramatic.

I was referring to mclaren approaching Ricciardo and now raikkonen. Seems to me Alonso is off and they're trying to fill his seat with some genuine talent rather than going the Williams route

[godlameroso]

mclaren messed up their aero in 2013. from that year onwards, they couldnt get it right. they would need someone like adrian newey to turn thing around for them.

Frankly I think it's water under the bridge at this point, if McLaren wanted to run Honda engines again they could, they just wouldn't get any of the perks they had before.

no it will never happen. surely honda learnt a lesson with mclaren. they cant repeat the same again.

That's a strange comment, how do you know their aero has been bad since then? The current car is actually very good, except for two crucial details, if they fix that the car will come good. Will it be good enough to win? Hard to say, but it'll definitely be faster than Renault or Haas.

[Jackles-UK]

Let’s be honest, the absolute “worst case” scenario for McLaren if Alonso leaves is pairing Vandoorne with Norris. Both could be GP2/F2 Champions by year out (if Norris can stay the course) and Stoffel has only been about a tenth behind Alonso most weekends - I guarantee a lot of drivers on the grid would struggle being as close as that, Kimi included! Hardly reason to panic, rush out and get someone in quick for the sake of it.

As much as I would love to see Kimi back at McLaren, I feel that unless they get a truly world class driver like Alonso/Ricciardo in, dumping £10m on a drivers salary just for the sake of it is unwise; put it towards hiring a few top-class aero/powertrain people instead.

[makecry]

Let’s be honest, the absolute “worst case” scenario for McLaren if Alonso leaves is pairing Vandoorne with Norris. Both could be GP2/F2 Champions by year out (if Norris can stay the course) and Stoffel has only been about a tenth behind Alonso most weekends - I guarantee a lot of drivers on the grid would struggle being as close as that, Kimi included! Hardly reason to panic, rush out and get someone in quick for the sake of it.

As much as I would love to see Kimi back at McLaren, I feel that unless they get a truly world class driver like Alonso/Ricciardo in, dumping £10m on a drivers salary just for the sake of it is unwise; put it towards hiring a few top-class aero/powertrain people instead.

lolwut. Apart from Canada and France where car's performance ceiling was so low, they have never been within a tenth of each other. Their average gap is ~0.25%.

[Thunder]

Some OT was removed. Let's keep it at least roughly about McLaren in here.

[adrianjordan]

Let’s be honest, the absolute “worst case” scenario for McLaren if Alonso leaves is pairing Vandoorne with Norris. Both could be GP2/F2 Champions by year out (if Norris can stay the course) and Stoffel has only been about a tenth behind Alonso most weekends - I guarantee a lot of drivers on the grid would struggle being as close as that, Kimi included! Hardly reason to panic, rush out and get someone in quick for the sake of it.

As much as I would love to see Kimi back at McLaren, I feel that unless they get a truly world class driver like Alonso/Ricciardo in, dumping £10m on a drivers salary just for the sake of it is unwise; put it towards hiring a few top-class aero/powertrain people instead.

I think Mclaren would be wary of having 2 relatively inexperienced drivers giving feedback on the car. They may want someone who isn't perhaps the absolute fastest in raw pace, but who can help guide the engineers in terms of setup and developing updates etc.

Other names I wouldn't be surprised to see them approaching - Perez, Sainz, K Mag. That's not to say that I think any of those will go there.

Here's a left-field idea.... Kubica on a 1 year deal 🤪

[Andres125sx]

Both Alonso and McLaren are screwed, but Alonso can always do something outside F1, McLaren OTOH.... Without Alonso you just need to look at Vandoorne results to instantly notice how deep they can go next season without Alonso


I don´t know if he´ll quit, but I´ve always believe him when he says he will only continue if he has a competitive car. That obviously is not going to be the case with MCL34

[JonoNic]

I would love to see an internal Mclaren poll on who thinks they are safe from axing and who is not. This will reveal the Mclaren team mindset.

You can't fix issues if you constantly looking over your shoulder when the company is in disarray.

[techman]

The current car is actually very good, except for two crucial details, if they fix that the car will come good. Will it be good enough to win? Hard to say, but it'll definitely be faster than Renault or Haas.

you reckon their aero is good. then why are they slower to renaults.? let be honest. if you take alonso out of that mclaren , its basically another williams. alonso is getting the best of it and still struggles to match the renaults. that show how bad the car is . the car has not one issue , so many issues. so for them to beat renault this season will be a suprise to me. what mclaren need to do completely focus their attention to 2019 season early

[RonDennis]

The current car is actually very good, except for two crucial details, if they fix that the car will come good. Will it be good enough to win? Hard to say, but it'll definitely be faster than Renault or Haas.

you reckon their aero is good. then why are they slower to renaults.? let be honest. if you take alonso out of that mclaren , its basically another williams. alonso is getting the best of it and still struggles to match the renaults. that show how bad the car is . the car has not one issue , so many issues. so for them to beat renault this season will be a suprise to me. what mclaren need to do completely focus their attention to 2019 season early

Don't you never get tired of yourself? Repeating the same post every single time?

[JonoNic]

He's (techman) trying to control the conversations on these threads. He completely ignores topics that doesn't push his agenda. It's always an , "I think..." conversation with him.

[kasio]

The current car is actually very good, except for two crucial details, if they fix that the car will come good. Will it be good enough to win? Hard to say, but it'll definitely be faster than Renault or Haas.

you reckon their aero is good. then why are they slower to renaults.? let be honest. if you take alonso out of that mclaren , its basically another williams. alonso is getting the best of it and still struggles to match the renaults. that show how bad the car is . the car has not one issue , so many issues. so for them to beat renault this season will be a suprise to me. what mclaren need to do completely focus their attention to 2019 season early

In monaco they were ahead of reanault in Q same in barcelona Q so really depends on track characteristics. Considering they struggle with correlation issues it might be reason they do not find optimal setups.
Also it might be they struggle with something (which in general does not look like slow corner issue).
Actually i read about Vandorne: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vett ... w-1052460/ unfortunately its prime.
But there is information that new nose solved back end instability issues, not completely but they are on it and its better for Vandoorne style now.

Barcelona	MCL		RENAULT
S1		22.048		21.990
S2		28.913		29.074
S3		26.689		26.681
Quali		1:17.721	1:17.790		
Monaco
S1		18.780		18.929
S2		33.936		33.828
S3		19.141		19.170
Quali		1:12.110	1:12.130