2019 Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[Chicane]

“Good confidence” in McLaren after no ‘big problems’ so far - Norris

Norris drove McLaren’s 2018 challenger during seven practice sessions last year and is confident the team has made a step forward with its MCL34, though he stressed it is “not a perfect car”.

“Some things we’ve improved on from a car perspective,” Norris explained.

“But there’s a lot to work on - a lot of stuff that we’ve learned over the last couple of days that we need to fairly quickly develop and improve on for the rest of the test and going into the first race.

“It’s hard to say if all the problems are gone. There are still some things that we struggle with. It’s not a perfect car, for sure. But I think so far, so good, and between Carlos [Sainz] and myself, we’re reasonably happy with how everything felt so far.

“These next few days, the car is probably never going to look perfect. We’re trying to explore every area we can to make sure by the end of this test, we know the correct direction to work and develop the car in.

“So throughout the season, we know where to push the car or what areas we really have to develop to become better or make the car faster.”

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/913290/1/ ... ems-norris

[RonDennis]

“Good confidence” in McLaren after no ‘big problems’ so far - Norris

Norris drove McLaren’s 2018 challenger during seven practice sessions last year and is confident the team has made a step forward with its MCL34, though he stressed it is “not a perfect car”.

“Some things we’ve improved on from a car perspective,” Norris explained.

“But there’s a lot to work on - a lot of stuff that we’ve learned over the last couple of days that we need to fairly quickly develop and improve on for the rest of the test and going into the first race.

“It’s hard to say if all the problems are gone. There are still some things that we struggle with. It’s not a perfect car, for sure. But I think so far, so good, and between Carlos [Sainz] and myself, we’re reasonably happy with how everything felt so far.

“These next few days, the car is probably never going to look perfect. We’re trying to explore every area we can to make sure by the end of this test, we know the correct direction to work and develop the car in.

“So throughout the season, we know where to push the car or what areas we really have to develop to become better or make the car faster.”

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/913290/1/ ... ems-norris

Thank god, they have finally learned not to hype themselves.

[bauc]

Fair and honest interview from Lando, most important for Mclaren now is to stable platform to build upon and to gather data as much as possible.

[PhillipM]

They have a bit more understeer than they expected, especially when heavy - hence the front tyre cams/IR sensors and in-out runs for a while this afternoon. May be something that gets sorted once the race spec front wing goes on though, might just be temp + new tyres.

[KingHamilton01]

More Laps = More progress can't beat progress!

[McL-H]

“Good confidence” in McLaren after no ‘big problems’ so far - Norris

Norris drove McLaren’s 2018 challenger during seven practice sessions last year and is confident the team has made a step forward with its MCL34, though he stressed it is “not a perfect car”.

“Some things we’ve improved on from a car perspective,” Norris explained.

“But there’s a lot to work on - a lot of stuff that we’ve learned over the last couple of days that we need to fairly quickly develop and improve on for the rest of the test and going into the first race.

“It’s hard to say if all the problems are gone. There are still some things that we struggle with. It’s not a perfect car, for sure. But I think so far, so good, and between Carlos [Sainz] and myself, we’re reasonably happy with how everything felt so far.

“These next few days, the car is probably never going to look perfect. We’re trying to explore every area we can to make sure by the end of this test, we know the correct direction to work and develop the car in.

“So throughout the season, we know where to push the car or what areas we really have to develop to become better or make the car faster.”

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/913290/1/ ... ems-norris

In McLaren terms, this pretty much means they are all over the place. And in modern F1, if you are behind in testing, you’ll be behind the entire season. I don’t know about you guys, but after 6 awful years, I am not satisfied any longer with anything less than podiums right now. Enough with the excuses and ask for unconditional support.

This season it’s time for McLaren to repay its fanbase for all the crap they’ve had to put up with. Show us you did good when you chose to fire Ron, Jost Capito, Goss. Convince us we have drivers that can let us forget about Hamilton, Button and Alonso. I no longer accept anything else than what does justice to the McLaren name.

So far it’s not looking good.

[ALO_Power]

“Good confidence” in McLaren after no ‘big problems’ so far - Norris

Norris drove McLaren’s 2018 challenger during seven practice sessions last year and is confident the team has made a step forward with its MCL34, though he stressed it is “not a perfect car”.

“Some things we’ve improved on from a car perspective,” Norris explained.

“But there’s a lot to work on - a lot of stuff that we’ve learned over the last couple of days that we need to fairly quickly develop and improve on for the rest of the test and going into the first race.

“It’s hard to say if all the problems are gone. There are still some things that we struggle with. It’s not a perfect car, for sure. But I think so far, so good, and between Carlos [Sainz] and myself, we’re reasonably happy with how everything felt so far.

“These next few days, the car is probably never going to look perfect. We’re trying to explore every area we can to make sure by the end of this test, we know the correct direction to work and develop the car in.

“So throughout the season, we know where to push the car or what areas we really have to develop to become better or make the car faster.”

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/913290/1/ ... ems-norris

In McLaren terms, this pretty much means they are all over the place. And in modern F1, if you are behind in testing, you’ll be behind the entire season. I don’t know about you guys, but after 6 awful years, I am not satisfied any longer with anything less than podiums right now. Enough with the excuses and ask for unconditional support.

This season it’s time for McLaren to repay its fanbase for all the crap they’ve had to put up with. Show us you did good when you chose to fire Ron, Jost Capito, Goss. Convince us we have drivers that can let us forget about Hamilton, Button and Alonso. I no longer accept anything else than what does justice to the McLaren name.

So far it’s not looking good.

You can't expect easy podiums from where they were last year over a winter. 4th best in constructors will be great.

[RonDennis]

“Good confidence” in McLaren after no ‘big problems’ so far - Norris

Norris drove McLaren’s 2018 challenger during seven practice sessions last year and is confident the team has made a step forward with its MCL34, though he stressed it is “not a perfect car”.

“Some things we’ve improved on from a car perspective,” Norris explained.

“But there’s a lot to work on - a lot of stuff that we’ve learned over the last couple of days that we need to fairly quickly develop and improve on for the rest of the test and going into the first race.

“It’s hard to say if all the problems are gone. There are still some things that we struggle with. It’s not a perfect car, for sure. But I think so far, so good, and between Carlos [Sainz] and myself, we’re reasonably happy with how everything felt so far.

“These next few days, the car is probably never going to look perfect. We’re trying to explore every area we can to make sure by the end of this test, we know the correct direction to work and develop the car in.

“So throughout the season, we know where to push the car or what areas we really have to develop to become better or make the car faster.”

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/913290/1/ ... ems-norris

In McLaren terms, this pretty much means they are all over the place. And in modern F1, if you are behind in testing, you’ll be behind the entire season. I don’t know about you guys, but after 6 awful years, I am not satisfied any longer with anything less than podiums right now. Enough with the excuses and ask for unconditional support.

This season it’s time for McLaren to repay its fanbase for all the crap they’ve had to put up with. Show us you did good when you chose to fire Ron, Jost Capito, Goss. Convince us we have drivers that can let us forget about Hamilton, Button and Alonso. I no longer accept anything else than what does justice to the McLaren name.

So far it’s not looking good.

You're just delusional if you expect podiums in 2019. If they end up 4th fastest at the end of the year, they have done an amazing job.

And in modern F1, if you are behind in testing, you’ll be behind the entire season.

Yeah, because teams have never improved during the year.

The decisions of Ron Dennis are one of the biggest reasons why they're in this situation.

The sport has changed, McLaren isn't financially capable of competing with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Deal with it.

[Ground Effect]

“Good confidence” in McLaren after no ‘big problems’ so far - Norris

Norris drove McLaren’s 2018 challenger during seven practice sessions last year and is confident the team has made a step forward with its MCL34, though he stressed it is “not a perfect car”.

“Some things we’ve improved on from a car perspective,” Norris explained.

“But there’s a lot to work on - a lot of stuff that we’ve learned over the last couple of days that we need to fairly quickly develop and improve on for the rest of the test and going into the first race.

“It’s hard to say if all the problems are gone. There are still some things that we struggle with. It’s not a perfect car, for sure. But I think so far, so good, and between Carlos [Sainz] and myself, we’re reasonably happy with how everything felt so far.

“These next few days, the car is probably never going to look perfect. We’re trying to explore every area we can to make sure by the end of this test, we know the correct direction to work and develop the car in.

“So throughout the season, we know where to push the car or what areas we really have to develop to become better or make the car faster.”

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/913290/1/ ... ems-norris

In McLaren terms, this pretty much means they are all over the place. And in modern F1, if you are behind in testing, you’ll be behind the entire season. I don’t know about you guys, but after 6 awful years, I am not satisfied any longer with anything less than podiums right now. Enough with the excuses and ask for unconditional support.

This season it’s time for McLaren to repay its fanbase for all the crap they’ve had to put up with. Show us you did good when you chose to fire Ron, Jost Capito, Goss. Convince us we have drivers that can let us forget about Hamilton, Button and Alonso. I no longer accept anything else than what does justice to the McLaren name.

So far it’s not looking good.

That's an odd take, but OK....

[Shader]

from autosport Long run snippets: We saw Leclerc's first run of the afternoon start in the 1m23s on C2s before drifting way out to the 1m27s before he made a mistake and came in. Bottas put in a very interesting run that was consistently in the 1m21s on the softer C3s - but crucially we don't know how their fuel loads compared. We've also heard from Daniel Ricciardo that he was happy in the morning with the Renault being able to lap around the low 1m23s and high 1m22s. Meanwhile, right now we have Norris circulating very consistently in the 1m26s, using C2 tyres on the McLaren. It seems unlikely all three of Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault would run lighter than McLaren, so is that bad news for the British team?

looks like everyone want mclaren to be at back. it sounds good for their business , bashing mclaren and get more views on their posts. . we do not even know what the mclaren planned run is.

Haven't you heard? It's fashionable to bash McLaren, guarantees clicks and triggers their fans. McLaren are the Arsenal of F1..
I've learned to drown out all the noise. Haven't you noticed none of the pundits really say F1 needs McLaren to be competing at the front?

F1 media wants clicks(money) and most clicks comes from Ferrari fan base. They need, what Ferrari fans need. Titles like Vettel on top, McLaren on bottom. Today "thisisf1.com" published wrong results of today testing, effectively promoting all Ferrari teams (Alfa and Hass), and bashing McLaren again. When I told them those are wrong and not official they deleted my comment. (source: https://www.thisisf1.com/2019/02/19/bar ... l-results/)

[Mansell89]

It’s looked like a decent opening to testing to me at the moment.

Good lap count, potentially some okay pace on the harder tyres (fuel unknown of course).

Key thing to me is that the team are staying humble and hungry and that there doesn’t appear to be any major concern or issue, which is a big plus from the development side of things going forward.

[Del Boy]

Even last years car which had fundamental problem was not 3-4 seconds of the pace. Get real Autosport, its only testing and you are, with steady pace becoming too much drama queens like SkyF1.

Agreed. Autosport are a joke publication, I used to subscribe but got so fed up with the pop ups and adverts on their website. If it was the free version with 20+ views allowed I would understand but when you pay and the adverts cause your PC to run due “long running scripts” it’s not funny.

[Del Boy]

They have a bit more understeer than they expected, especially when heavy - hence the front tyre cams/IR sensors and in-out runs for a while this afternoon. May be something that gets sorted once the race spec front wing goes on though, might just be temp + new tyres.

Renault have quoted the PU is turned down, if that’s true less speed = less downforce = undesteer. Although the car looked good through campsa yesterday which is a high speed corner. So I’m confused, but you (Phillip M) seem to have a MCL insight.

[PhillipM]

Less power usually means more oversteer as the rear tyre run cold, not the other way around.

[godlameroso]

I'll laugh if an alignment tweak is all it takes to get .3 extra out of the chassis.