McLaren MCL33

[makecry]

so it seems under some circumstances the car is not to bad... where is the flaw buried, you guys think?
i have to say, the pace was surprisingly good

From what I have noticed, they are not able to improve as much as other cars from Q1--->Q2-->Q3(if they reach there lol). Makes me think it's packaging/unable to use PU fully and then there is the drag issue which I feel is more internal aero than external. Of course, this is my arm chair deduction and I might be talking out of my ass lol.

[Big Tea]

so it seems under some circumstances the car is not to bad... where is the flaw buried, you guys think?
i have to say, the pace was surprisingly good

From what I have noticed, they are not able to improve as much as other cars from Q1--->Q2-->Q3(if they reach there lol). Makes me think it's packaging/unable to use PU fully and then there is the drag issue which I feel is more internal aero than external. Of course, this is my arm chair deduction and I might be talking out of my ass lol.

Completely 'out of the blue', but Renault seem to have this thing about cooling with their engine in other cars, I wonder if it is because that is where their own problems lay?

[Jolle]

so it seems under some circumstances the car is not to bad... where is the flaw buried, you guys think?
i have to say, the pace was surprisingly good

From what I have noticed, they are not able to improve as much as other cars from Q1--->Q2-->Q3(if they reach there lol). Makes me think it's packaging/unable to use PU fully and then there is the drag issue which I feel is more internal aero than external. Of course, this is my arm chair deduction and I might be talking out of my ass lol.

Completely 'out of the blue', but Renault seem to have this thing about cooling with their engine in other cars, I wonder if it is because that is where their own problems lay?

Well, more that both non-works teams are pushing aero to the limits. Newey is of course always looking at what's possible with a history of overheating cars throughout his career and McLaren had the same reputation the last few seasons, not just with Renault. With these PU's and the integration that the works teams can manage, it's a fight for millimeters.

[restless]

so it seems under some circumstances the car is not to bad... where is the flaw buried, you guys think?
i have to say, the pace was surprisingly good

How do you get this impression?!
The car lacks topspeed/cornering ability
Its ok in race trim - because its "light" on tyres.
But they simply can't tune it for qualy-performance
Its the same thing all year long. On tracks where overtaking is impossible they can hold position and get points with good tactics, thats it.

[Jackles-UK]

I’m not getting carried away with this weekends performance. Singapore is a very particular circuit with a set of specific quirks that I think managed to negate some of the major flaws with the car. Singapore has one of the slowest average speed laps of the year which reduces the penalty for cars with lots of drag along with every other team loading on drag for extra downforce anyway. There are a lot of traction zones but they generally only precede short runs to the next corner; the longer straights are mostly preceded by faster corners (T5 onto Raffles, T8, T23 onto the pit straight for example) which again helps hide the poor traction of the car. Faster upcoming tracks such as Suzuka/Austin will result in much more pain.

[Chicane]

so it seems under some circumstances the car is not to bad... where is the flaw buried, you guys think?
i have to say, the pace was surprisingly good

How do you get this impression?!
The car lacks topspeed/cornering ability
Its ok in race trim - because its "light" on tyres.
But they simply can't tune it for qualy-performance
Its the same thing all year long. On tracks where overtaking is impossible they can hold position and get points with good tactics, thats it.

1] Fernando was not pressured by any car behind. He was not defending from anyone. He was comfortably ahead of the Renaults and had enough pace in reserve which he showed by posting the fastest lap at one point and Alonso in Mclaren was the only midfield car to finish on the lead lap.

2] Just being kinder on the tire you cannot do well.

3] Cornering ability? That is such a loose term. What type of corners? low speed, medium or high speed?

4] Alonso was able to cut the gap to Bottas train by 10 seconds.

5] According to Mclaren the car has an aerodynamic issue which cannot be fixed this year. The car performs on par with their fellow midfield rivals, may be even better, in maximum downforce configuration. In Singapore without a responsive front end you simply cannot post competitive lap times. Mclaren have struggled in traction zones this season but they seem to have found a way to minimize that by setting up the car in a different way in Singapore?

[diffuser]

It might be interesting to see what is in the wind tunnel for McLaren, what next year's car is gonna look like. On the other hand, it could be really depressing....

[M840TR]

It might be interesting to see what is in the wind tunnel for McLaren, what next year's car is gonna look like. On the other hand, it could be really depressing....

Surely not more than the past few seasons.

[restless]

1] Fernando was not pressured by any car behind. He was not defending from anyone. He was comfortably ahead of the Renaults and had enough pace in reserve which he showed by posting the fastest lap at one point and Alonso in Mclaren was the only midfield car to finish on the lead lap.

2] Just being kinder on the tire you cannot do well.

3] Cornering ability? That is such a loose term. What type of corners? low speed, medium or high speed?

4] Alonso was able to cut the gap to Bottas train by 10 seconds.

5] According to Mclaren the car has an aerodynamic issue which cannot be fixed this year. The car performs on par with their fellow midfield rivals, may be even better, in maximum downforce configuration. In Singapore without a responsive front end you simply cannot post competitive lap times. Mclaren have struggled in traction zones this season but they seem to have found a way to minimize that by setting up the car in a different way in Singapore?

Get the facts straight :/
Until lap 15 he was behind Grojan-train. 10 sec behind Perez. Then Grojan and Perez and all who started on Hypersoft had to pit and Alonso was in free air - running 7th without any overtaking.
After that he made pit 2-3 laps after Sainz, and again was in free air.
Sainz never tried to overtake, so Alonso was able to save his tyres and push when push was needed.
Perfect choice of tyres, pit time, combined with execution and some luck.
This gives some hope for 2019 - but nothing more so far.

[Andres125sx]

Sorry to say this, but Vandoorne was p12, and Alonso was hugely benfitted by the unfair tyre rule to provide some entertainment. Add to that he´s Alonso and Singapore is a track where drivers can make some difference, and you get this result.

I don´t see anything special here.

About Alonso fast lap, even spanish tv took that as a proof of how slow (tyre managment) was the race, with the leaders lapping several secons slower than possible, not like an evidence of McLaren good pace

[kasio]

1] Fernando was not pressured by any car behind. He was not defending from anyone. He was comfortably ahead of the Renaults and had enough pace in reserve which he showed by posting the fastest lap at one point and Alonso in Mclaren was the only midfield car to finish on the lead lap.

2] Just being kinder on the tire you cannot do well.

3] Cornering ability? That is such a loose term. What type of corners? low speed, medium or high speed?

4] Alonso was able to cut the gap to Bottas train by 10 seconds.

5] According to Mclaren the car has an aerodynamic issue which cannot be fixed this year. The car performs on par with their fellow midfield rivals, may be even better, in maximum downforce configuration. In Singapore without a responsive front end you simply cannot post competitive lap times. Mclaren have struggled in traction zones this season but they seem to have found a way to minimize that by setting up the car in a different way in Singapore?

Get the facts straight :/
Until lap 15 he was behind Grojan-train. 10 sec behind Perez. Then Grojan and Perez and all who started on Hypersoft had to pit and Alonso was in free air - running 7th without any overtaking.
After that he made pit 2-3 laps after Sainz, and again was in free air.
Sainz never tried to overtake, so Alonso was able to save his tyres and push when push was needed.
Perfect choice of tyres, pit time, combined with execution and some luck.
This gives some hope for 2019 - but nothing more so far.

Sainz did not have pace! Sainz never was in position to overtake.

[restless]

where had I written that Sainz had pace to overtake?!
In Singapure it was said one needs near 2sec faster lap times in order to overtake - that or severe error from the car ahead.

[mclaren111]

Can we keep this about the Car Please !!!!!!!!!!

[aral]

Agreed. There are just too many posts about the actual race for me to start removing them, but if any more appear that have no relevance to the actual MCL33, they will be zapped without warning.

[stevesingo]

Does anyone have a comparison of gear ratios run by the Renault PU users?

There is talk of McLaren getting it wron, but I don't recall seeing a comparison.

Thanks