2019 Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[GoranF1]

It's quite hilarious listening to these commentators; when Mclaren do quick laps they're glory runs but Toro Rosso's run on C5 suddenly makes them and Honda scary fast and a threat to the top 3.

How many laps did Kvyat do before pitting on his "amazing lap"? McLaren's "glory runs" were at least 7-8 laps of fuel as the guys did 3 hot laps with 1 cooldown lap in between.

Mclaren had out lap.. Fast lap...slow lap..fast lap...Inlap

[FittingMechanics]

Mclaren had out lap.. Fast lap...slow lap..fast lap...Inlap

You are right, my bad. I was thinking about the mornings where they did 3 fast laps with cooldown in between.

[RonDennis]

I think McLaren still lacks some pace and looking at the interviews, they feel the same way.

[Darth-Piekus]

I think McLaren still lacks some pace and looking at the interviews, they feel the same way.

The question is pace against who? Is it in comparison to Mercedes and Ferrari or generally to everyone?

[FittingMechanics]

I don't know what to think, when looking at data from day 1 and 2 ( viewtopic.php?p=814299#p814299 ) it does look like RB/Merc/Ferrari are still two steps ahead of the rest. I'm basing my comments on that spreadsheet, so if it is innacurate, so is my comment. I'm by no means an expert, so take this with a grain of salt (check the spreadsheets yourself)

Merc on Day 1 did a 14 lap stint around high 1:20s (C2)
Red Bull on Day 1 did a 14 lap stint around mid 1:21s. (C2)
Ferrari is a strange one, they do not appear to have a similar run. Their times are all over the place, only run that is similar is day one run on C1, about 1:22 average.

Renault had a couple of 10ish stints on C2 with roughly 1:22 average, and a 14 lap stint C3 with roughly 1:22s average.
Toro Rosso looks very good on longer runs (20ish laps on 1:23s with C2). I think that they did this with low fuel as immediately after they went to a softer tire (C3) and were doing the same times. I'm guessing they took on fuel which offsetted softer tires.
Alfa shorter runs, about 7-10 laps, times are all over the place. Their times usually drop off at the end of the stint.

Haas is not doing any sort of longer runs, almost all of their runs are quick/slow type of runs.
Racing Point is the same.
Williams is not running.

Now, where does McLaren fit in, it's really hard to say because McLaren did not do similar runs to those teams. McLaren did very short quick/slow runs in the morning, and then a 2/3rd race distance sims in the afternoon, but looking at those race sims, Renault seems similar or somewhat faster than McLaren, TR is around there but hard to tell due to probably running with less fuel, rest is impossible to tell but almost certainly Merc/RB/Ferrari are ahead.

Hopefully we get detailed spreadsheet of runs today so we can speculate further.

[FittingMechanics]

What surprises me the most is that when looking at that data, rumors that Merc/RB are ahead of Ferrari do not seem that crazy. I went into analysis thinking RB is way behind and Ferrari #1.

[Darth-Piekus]

Where do you see all this data?

[FittingMechanics]

Where do you see all this data?

I linked it in the post:
viewtopic.php?p=814299#p814299

It's originally from a Spanish website Soymotor - https://soymotor.com/articulos/analisis ... sta-960475

[Darth-Piekus]

The question is how viable are these results? Who's saying that Mclaren isn't faster than it shows or actually doing those laps with the heaviest fuel possible? What if they are only testing and aren't interested to show their real speed? Also who's to say that their upgrades till Melbourne won't bring them close to the top.

Just saying. I don't know if it happens but there is a possibility that can happen.

So far though tests are going normally with lots of laps and almost non existent problems. The car seems fast at the speed traps and in general it's the opposite than last year. Hopefully it will continue even better.

[FittingMechanics]

The question is how viable are these results? Who's saying that Mclaren isn't faster than it shows or actually doing those laps with the heaviest fuel possible? What if they are only testing and aren't interested to show their real speed? Also who's to say that their upgrades till Melbourne won't bring them close to the top.

Just saying. I don't know if it happens but there is a possibility that can happen.

So far though tests are going normally with lots of laps and almost non existent problems. The car seems fast at the speed traps and in general it's the opposite than last year. Hopefully it will continue even better.

I agree, we do not know. Teams probably have more of an idea, but they are probably guessing as well. What we need to keep in mind is that McLaren is the team that probably has the most to gain (perhaps we can include Red Bull as well), they are the only team that apparently made larger changes between seasons, moving sidepods back to solve the fundamental issue that plagued previous car, new front suspension, better PU integration, they also have two new drivers including one rookie, so lot of room to grow.

I'm quite optimistic, but I think it would be wise to temper our expectations in order to avoid disappointment if we end up 7th fastest team in Australia. McLaren will develop the car and if there are no surprises (so far so good), it will only become better.

Rome wasn't built in a day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLGJXbl6g8o

[PhillipM]

You can apply those arguements to anyone.
Mclaren themselves are aiming at being back fighting in the midfield pack and being in front of it by Summer break, I think so far all we can says is it looks like they're about on target.

[KingHamilton01]

I like the direction the team is headed, just need to keep there heads down and keep moving forward now!

[Darth-Piekus]

You can apply those arguements to anyone.
Mclaren themselves are aiming at being back fighting in the midfield pack and being in front of it by Summer break, I think so far all we can says is it looks like they're about on target.

It's true I can apply that to everyone but all I am saying is that Mclaren is a bigger team in terms of budget,history, team composition and infrastructure and at least in my opinion could have more chances to produce a faster car than the midfield teams. I am not saying that this will always happen but after 5 years I believe that we will have better chances this time.

[Jolle]

You can apply those arguements to anyone.
Mclaren themselves are aiming at being back fighting in the midfield pack and being in front of it by Summer break, I think so far all we can says is it looks like they're about on target.

It's true I can apply that to everyone but all I am saying is that Mclaren is a bigger team in terms of budget,history, team composition and infrastructure and at least in my opinion could have more chances to produce a faster car than the midfield teams. I am not saying that this will always happen but after 5 years I believe that we will have better chances this time.

Yes and no... yes the team is bigger and has a history of winning (although that is now quite some time ago) but their midfield opposition has a very good record of doing very well when having a bit of funding, Alfa/Sauber and Jordan/FI/Racing point in this case. And Enstone also has a history of producing fast cars when the dots connect. McLaren's point per buck has never been real good.

[Big Tea]

Races are not won (or podiums scored) with one fastest lap. As long as Mcleren are in the right bracket with the continual laps, that is what matters.
Being realistic, they are not going to be fighting for pole, so absolute balls out one lap pace to get in front of someone is not really relevant to race day.
A good high average, with the possibility of saving a little fuel, for weight or a late dash, are far more important to them, as will be tyre life.