2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[godlameroso]

It'll be better than this year, for sure, lets not kid ourselves though, they will have a good midfield car, good enough to fight FI Haas, AR, and Renault for best of the rest. They'd need a chassis miracle to get into the real championship fight.

[PhillipM]

I'm hoping they go to at least what they were expecting from their second year with the Renault - at the forefront/clear of the midfield pack, otherwise it's going to be a long road even when they get the new staff and structures in place.

[restless]

outrunning renault? I don't think this will be possible.
Ricciardo&Hulk vs Sainz&Noris?
Safe bet. Not even considering who is the engine supplier.

[M840TR]

outrunning renault? I don't think this will be possible.
Ricciardo&Hulk vs Sainz&Noris?
Safe bet. Not even considering who is the engine supplier.

Norris is bit of blank but the team thinks he's faster than Stoffel so. Sainz though is giving Hulk a run for his money. If they have a good car they can do it.

[diffuser]

A lot of big talk again. Rule changes favouring McLaren. Blah-blah-blah.

It will be the same as it has been for 6 damn years! This team is finished and will never recover. They are walking the same road Williams did, and it’s a shame. Thank you, Mansour Ojjeh, for destroying everything Ron Dennis built.

It doesn't favor McLaren. But if you're 2.5 seconds behind on aero and they change the aero rules significantly you're all back at zero or atleast a hell of a lot closer.

You know Ron hasn't been gone that long ...his hands aren't exactly clean in this. Just this year they've started to dismantle the house that Ron built. You could argue that the car on the track this year was built by his people.

[Big Tea]

outrunning renault? I don't think this will be possible.
Ricciardo&Hulk vs Sainz&Noris?
Safe bet. Not even considering who is the engine supplier.

Norris is bit of blank but the team thinks he's faster than Stoffel so. Sainz though is giving Hulk a run for his money. If they have a good car they can do it.

Also Renault are fighting to years end while Mclaren have dumped this season to work on next years car. May give them that slight edge, if they use the time properly.

[Chicane]

Lol Hulkenberg is decent but the bloke has been around for nearly a decade and failed to achieve a single podium which his teammate managed and funnily enough even this season Sainz after getting used to the car has been really strong after summer break and retired while ahead in Mexico.

Norris is talented and has been with the team so they know how good he is. Norris is doing free practice sessions to learn the tracks in addition to his F2 season. Mclaren need a good car, drivers are the least of their issues.

Does not take a rocket scientist to figure out MCL33 is fundamentally flawed and Mclaren switched focus to 2019 from German GP. 2019 regulation change may appear minor from outside but clearly it will provide some sort of opportunity to catchup.

[godlameroso]

France.

[Raleigh]

Hulkenberg is the guy who almost won a race for Force India, he collided with Hamilton's McLaren while trying to pass him for the lead towards the end of the race. Which handed Jenson his last race win (and McLaren's last to date). He hasn't massively outperformed Sainz, there is some back and forth over who is quicker at any given race but Hulkenberg has the edge overall.

I would pick Hulkenberg over Sainz and expect him to at least run Ricciardo close.

As for Norris, there was a lot of hype around his early season F2 lead but since then he hasn't won a race and has faded in the championship, beaten by fellow rookie Russell.

McLaren has a solid lineup, Sainz is good and Norris has promise as a rookie but I don't think they match up to Renault.

[Jackles-UK]

I would go so far as to say Renault have one of the very top driver lineups in F1 next year. Not just in raw pace but in two drivers who will consistently bring it home to score points (as long as the reliability is there).

McLaren can’t match them on paper but we all know the drivers are just the final piece in the puzzle; say a driver is 0.2-0.3s quicker than every other driver out there (Hamilton, Alonso etc.), it’s useless in a car that might be two full seconds off pole on a Saturday. Make no mistake, after 4-5 desperate years, the team at Woking have far more pressure on them than the drivers do for 2019.

[RonDennis]

A lot of big talk again. Rule changes favouring McLaren. Blah-blah-blah.

It will be the same as it has been for 6 damn years! This team is finished and will never recover. They are walking the same road Williams did, and it’s a shame. Thank you, Mansour Ojjeh, for destroying everything Ron Dennis built.

So according to you a team can never improve once they have a bad period? People in here are so sour. Yeah I'm not expecting that much in 2019, but saying that the team is finished is just BS.

Most of the problems (nearly all of them) were caused by Ron Dennis, but I guess everything that's gone always looks better.

[diffuser]

Night and day. But it means Mclaren will be at least one year behind in terms of development on the barge boards and sidepod areas. They'll need to be aggressive with development over the course of the season.

Bargeboards are changing next year. It's quite a significant aero revision. Mclaren have a head start on most teams on development and mechanical lessons are worth many tenths as well so it won't be that bad.

Not sure the lowering of the height of the bardgeboards will have a big effect. However, RBR, have to fit a Honda PU that takes up alot of space above the PU that they're gonna have to make room for somewhere else. They're ahead of the game in that they probably have their own people working with the STR people heading up that project for this year.

Obviously, whoever downvoted me never saw what the mcl32 PU packaging looked like in comparison to the mcl33. Or that the Honda PU's Compressor is on the front of the PU while the Renault's is at the back.

Not sure why we allow anonymous downvotes for basically not agreeing with someone. If you don't agree with what I say respond.

If not, f off! What's the point of going on a forum to anonymously tell members you think they're full of it but yet not say why?

[M840TR]

Bargeboards are changing next year. It's quite a significant aero revision. Mclaren have a head start on most teams on development and mechanical lessons are worth many tenths as well so it won't be that bad.

Not sure the lowering of the height of the bardgeboards will have a big effect. However, RBR, have to fit a Honda PU that takes up alot of space above the PU that they're gonna have to make room for somewhere else. They're ahead of the game in that they probably have their own people working with the STR people heading up that project for this year.

Obviously, whoever downvoted me never saw what the mcl32 PU packaging looked like in comparison to the mcl33. Or that the Honda PU's Compressor is on the front of the PU while the Renault's is at the back.

Not sure why we allow anonymous downvotes for basically not agreeing with someone. If you don't agree with what I say respond.

If not, f off! What's the point of going on a forum to anonymously tell members you think they're full of it but yet not say why?

They could also glance at the TR for comparison.

[McG]

Bargeboards are changing next year. It's quite a significant aero revision. Mclaren have a head start on most teams on development and mechanical lessons are worth many tenths as well so it won't be that bad.

Not sure the lowering of the height of the bardgeboards will have a big effect. However, RBR, have to fit a Honda PU that takes up alot of space above the PU that they're gonna have to make room for somewhere else. They're ahead of the game in that they probably have their own people working with the STR people heading up that project for this year.

Obviously, whoever downvoted me never saw what the mcl32 PU packaging looked like in comparison to the mcl33. Or that the Honda PU's Compressor is on the front of the PU while the Renault's is at the back.

Not sure why we allow anonymous downvotes for basically not agreeing with someone. If you don't agree with what I say respond.

If not, f off! What's the point of going on a forum to anonymously tell members you think they're full of it but yet not say why?

Don't worry about it mate. The voting system is bull and immature. I've never gave a feck about it since I joined.

[restless]

Obviously, whoever downvoted me never saw what the mcl32 PU packaging looked like in comparison to the mcl33. Or that the Honda PU's Compressor is on the front of the PU while the Renault's is at the back.

Any chance to get a real-world size comparison of renault and Honda engines?
We do have RW Honda PU ... but Renault?
Or maybe comparison of TR 2017 vs 2018?