McLaren has unveiled its 2019 Formula One race car, named MCL34. As with the 2018 car, the covers were taken off at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK.
A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
translated from soymotor
they do seem pretty happy, and how it sounds, no fundamental flaws in the design, although they keep mentioning a balance problem, which i think was mentioned, that they need an update to solve, Also worth take into consideration. Mclaren are not running the highest df rw. Something that has some influence according to rb.
New fast lap of the team, 84 steps per finish line and a problem in the escapes. That was the Thursday of Lando Norris, who on Day 7 has enjoyed his last participation in the preseason tests. The next time he gets in the car will be at the Albert Park circuit on the occasion of the Australian GP, his debut in the premier class.
Norris feels prepared. Ensures that the trainings have served to gain confidence, to learn about the operation of the MCL34. Now he has a clearer idea of how tires are managed, for example, although he recognizes that he has yet to take the next step to finish extracting the last drop of performance.
And the English driver is convinced that his 1'17 "084 could still be a few tenths faster, although he assures that today he has not been too far from the limit of the car.To take the next step it will be necessary to gain experience by title staff and that the team continue its development work with the MCL34.
Everyone wonders why McLaren will fight this season. Lando also does it. Carlos Sainz said yesterday he did not dare to say it was a Q3 car and today Lando has assured that it is still early to say that they will score in all races. Even so, he profiles it as a single-seater in the middle of the grid and points out that it is "a good base", which reacts well to changes and can grow throughout the course.
DAY FAILURE
"We had what seemed to be a problem in the leaks - the team - I wanted to confirm to see what had happened, we have had some problems that have delayed us throughout the day, but they have not been very serious in the sense that They have left us out of play for days. "" The team knows or I hope you know how to fix the things we have to work in. They know exactly what the problems are, I hope they have everything ready for Australia and that we can have confidence. to do the first race without problems, the team always does a good job in their preparation. "
MORE POTENTIAL?
"It's not like there are -more- seconds, but there are still some tenths in me and in the car, we can go faster, I have no doubt about it, we are not far from our potential, we have to work a lot and then we will have much more rhythm, but, seeing where we are, I think it's been a pretty good lap. "
"It is not easy to go from being loaded with fuel to making batches with little gasoline, changing tire compounds, it is not easy to maximize it and know what each tire does, today was my first time with the C5 and it is not as simple as you have more grip everywhere, I think with a little more experience, I'll know how everything works and I'll be in a position where I know more things in the qualifying rounds, I'll use it to better manage the car. I understood better when we did it, but there are still more. "
WHERE IS MCLAREN?
"To be honest, we are not slow, but we are not the fastest car either, the three cars that were up last year are still there for quite a while, but the middle zone is very even, nobody knows the fuel loads, the potential of each one ... But we know many things, we know what areas we have to work in. If we can work on it before Australia, I think that, as a team, we will be in a position with much more confidence, but we have to wait. The car is decent here, but Australia is another game, we have to be prepared to change the set-up and try several things. "
"Because of how it has gone, we have been in a good position, we feel quite confident, we have a decent car to start the season, we have to work on many things to really trust to finish in the top ten in each race and There is a lot of work to be confident to say that, but I would like to say that we can go for points in Australia, although the track is very different and it is difficult to say if we will be better or worse. of the last seasons, see why we have been strong or weak there in the past, I do not want to dismiss it and say that we can not, but it seems that we are in a good position in the middle zone to fight for the points ".
THE MCL34, "A GOOD STARTING POINT"
"It's hard to say, we've improved our times and our runs every time we've gone out on the track, everything's better, when you get to the race it always changes, of course, without comparisons with other teams, I think we have a lot of confidence that we have a good base , a good starting point, although this circuit is very different from Australia. "
"I do not know if we will have more confidence or less when we go to Australia, but I am happy with how we have finished, compared to how we started, that we had to work on many things, I am much happier. I do some things in the simulator these two weeks, but the general feeling is that I'm ready. "
"There are changes, things we have to do in the car to have 100% confidence, but we know what the problems are and how to solve them." It is a matter of time before we have everything ready for Australia, we believe we can. It looks pretty good, I will not say we will finish all the races because I can not promise it, we have had some problems, like everyone else, but there have been no damages to the car or accidents, in that sense, I think we are in a good position " .
"If I have not done something, the engineers can see it in the data and they make their recommendations or they ask me to do it, those are things that come with experience, how to manage the tires, which is something that I have improved It has been a long time since last week, it takes time to understand how to maximize it, but I know what to do and how it affects what I do, there are still more things I can understand and understand to make the most of it. "
"With the same regulations, it would be more to say it - a comparison with the 2018 car - but there has been a very big change, we have reinforced some of the areas where we were weak, we are not perfect, there are some weaknesses, but as a team , we have a much better car to start the season, it's not perfect, we still have problems, but I think we understand them.When we changed the car, the car is positively affected compared to last year, which cost us more to move forward ".
I am very curious to see which parts of the car they want to push the most for Aus? would it be the front wing and Bargeboard the most obvious places given now they might want to follow a different concept. Narrowing packaging I don't think is an option at the moment unless they have gone to conservative on cooling which I don't think is the case right now.
Been seen in a lot of places that car still has balance issue's, I would imagine at least we will see a new front wing, bargeboard and a new floor in time for Aus but if they haven't got time then 2nd race. Obviously this is my guess as to what they will try and improve upon straight away but pure speculation and nothing confirmed.
