2019 Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[RonDennis]

How do u explain the fact that Mclaren for past few years always had the best S3 times compared to competiton with the same stiff suspension?

They were slow in S3 last year too, the rear of the car was all over the place. The year before that they did have much better mechanical grip, they built a really decent chassis that year, hence the better times. I can agree with what you allude to though, McLaren can afford to slap on more downforce than they currently have. You have to look back to the Mercedes days since they could afford the luxury, gives them good scope this season, a proper solid base to build upon.

The pace drop off after few laps is alarming, compare Albons lap to Lando on same tyre. Albon had a much longer stint so was probably fully loaded with fuel.

If you take the last long run there was zero drop off over 26 laps, with really competitive times. Before that run, yes, the pace could have been seen as concerning. Factor in setup work and building an understanding of the car, it's improving all the time. Let's not be too haste to judge.

That wasn't caused by the suspension, but by the flawed design. They miscalculated the gap between the front tyres and sidepods (too small), which resulted in an unstable rear.

[Enstone]

All I can say is people should cheer up cause I see people not satisfied. We are moving on the right way for once after all these bad years and I have a pretty good feeling we are faster than we look.

I have this feeling too.
But feel a bit frustrated because they don't have push the limits today, i'm pretty sure they can do arround 1,17s with C5 tyres on a hot lap !
Battle will be intense between : McLaren/Haas/Sauber i think !

Mario Isola from pirelli said:
"Plus the C5 is not the compound for this circuit, so the C5 struggles a little bit to guarantee a very fast lap.
"Also, one lap is difficult to achieve with the C5 in Barcelona, considering the circuit is more aggressive and the Tarmac is rougher than one year ago."

So C5 its not guaranteed that it will be faster than C4 on a very low fuel qualy run.
There is a chance that the C5 will lose performance before the end of that lap.
It depends on many things ofc, as track temperature etc etc, but you can see that the C5 its on the limit for Barcelona.

It will be interesting to see next week who can actually extract the most performance from the C5, because that would mean that the car that managed it, is more kind to the tires than others.

+1

We are focused on hot laps timing... but there's one huge factor who will determine who has a good chassis, the tyre degradation.
Seems like this Mcl34 is not that bad on that point, when we're looking at long stints !

[McMika98]

We are focused on hot laps timing... but there's one huge factor who will determine who has a good chassis, the tyre degradation.
Seems like this Mcl34 is not that bad on that point, when we're looking at long stints !

Looks like someone needs their eyes tested, you must be reading the wrong column. The initial pace is good but the drop off after few laps is terrible. Its only testing and they prolly are testing low drag configuration which doesnt help. Next week cant come earlier.

[Ground Effect]

We are focused on hot laps timing... but there's one huge factor who will determine who has a good chassis, the tyre degradation.
Seems like this Mcl34 is not that bad on that point, when we're looking at long stints !

Looks like someone needs their eyes tested, you must be reading the wrong column. The initial pace is good but the drop off after few laps is terrible. Its only testing and they prolly are testing low drag configuration which doesnt help. Next week cant come earlier.

OUT
24.106
23.205
23.665
24.210
23.487
23.413
23.280
23.334
23.253
23.325
23.371
23.213
22.952
24.240
23.043
23.415
23.468
23.372
23.542
23.757
23.426
23.649
23.530
23.709
23.682
24.144

Where is the terrible drop off after a few laps?

[McMika98]

Where is the terrible drop off after a few laps?

Seriously what is the point, no fooling here. Where are the times of two previous stints before this? Oh wait u dont want to show it.

https://soymotor.com/articulos/analisis ... les-960646

1 seconds off after 5 laps is a lot.

[Macklaren]

Fire in the team garage!! Good to see no major injuries but hope the car is OK for next week

[ALO_Power]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mcla ... FvB8qvFD_4

[Xero]

Where is the terrible drop off after a few laps?

Seriously what is the point, no fooling here. Where are the times of two previous stints before this? Oh wait u dont want to show it.

1 seconds off after 5 laps is a lot.

So you're saying disregard the last run? Isn't the purpose of testing to learn about the new car and develop a setup? Surely the last stint should be taken as a result of improving the car throughout the week! There was a small gap between the 2nd and 3rd long run, who's to say they didn't do some setup work in between? Maybe the car isn't working as well on heavy fuel, we don't dispute that, but it was an impressive stint and should be considered before writing the team off already. Let's see what they can do next week!

[Mansell89]

Anyone else pleased that Gary Anderson doesn’t rate the car? Haha.

[RonDennis]

Anyone else pleased that Gary Anderson doesn’t rate the car? Haha.

He did.

As the test went on, we started to get a bit of a hint of the same rear instability that caused McLaren problems last year, although it wasn't as dramatic as it was in testing this time in 2018.

It was a solid start, and the team's in the midfield pack but not at the front of it at this stage. On the first two days, we did see some quick laps, with Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris second on Monday and Tuesday.

But we also saw Norris driving quite aggressively. At Campsa on Tuesday he was changing down an extra gear to help rotate the rear and then shifting back up 20 metres later. But by Thursday he was matching what Sainz was doing.

[McMika98]

So you're saying disregard the last run? Isn't the purpose of testing to learn about the new car and develop a setup? Surely the last stint should be taken as a result of improving the car throughout the week! There was a small gap between the 2nd and 3rd long run, who's to say they didn't do some setup work in between? Maybe the car isn't working as well on heavy fuel, we don't dispute that, but it was an impressive stint and should be considered before writing the team off already. Let's see what they can do next week!

Im saying dont disregard the first two stints which was longer and most likely heavy fuel unlike the last stint.
Nothing great to brag about in the last stint either. If u were watching the live timescreen from F1tv u would have seen the sector times, S3 was piss poor.

[Enstone]

We are focused on hot laps timing... but there's one huge factor who will determine who has a good chassis, the tyre degradation.
Seems like this Mcl34 is not that bad on that point, when we're looking at long stints !

Looks like someone needs their eyes tested, you must be reading the wrong column. The initial pace is good but the drop off after few laps is terrible. Its only testing and they prolly are testing low drag configuration which doesnt help. Next week cant come earlier.

OUT
24.106
23.205
23.665
24.210
23.487
23.413
23.280
23.334
23.253
23.325
23.371
23.213
22.952
24.240
23.043
23.415
23.468
23.372
23.542
23.757
23.426
23.649
23.530
23.709
23.682
24.144

Where is the terrible drop off after a few laps?

Yes, looks like someone needs glasses !

If we look at the tyres after long stints, we can't see major degradation as this :

[Ground Effect]

Anyone else pleased that Gary Anderson doesn’t rate the car? Haha.

Ecstatic! He said there were hidden gems on the MCL33, gushed over it like like it was the MP4/4..

[KingHamilton01]

I think McLaren have work to do, but equally they know about this! good data in the first test will mean they hopefully know which direction to take into the second test next week? Maybe even get new parts for test 2! that would be a massive bonus, but sure this time they will be able to get a package ready for Melbourne.

[Bisonas]

I dont think tyre degradation would be an issue this year for any team.
Tyres this year,except of the c3 i think, are supposed to last longer and have a wider working window than last year.
The thing is that FIA and Pirelli decided to abandon the last year philosophy of aiming for one softer than usual compound at many races.
In 2019 they will always have harder options to deal with, meaning that one stop races will be a very common thing.
The difference will be that it will be one stop races with drivers able to push the tyres much more than before.
All teams i think more or less will get on top of that and be able to push the tyres from early on.
Its a good thing that we expect to see much less Tyre saving and much less fuel saving than last year.

In general all will be about, Aero efficiency, Downforce levels, suspensions and engines.
All the above will dictate the cornering speeds, traction levels, top speeds and drivability.

I have a good feeling about the Renault engine this year, and i trust Mclaren on the Mechanical side of things.
I don't trust them so much on the Aero side, after last year, but i expect them to do much better this year.
So far it seems ok to me. Not spectacular but i haven't seen anything to make me pessimistic, yet.