2019 Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[Lucky]

Are they 9th place though? If that's the case, why is Carlos putting out that he'll be aiming for a top 10 in qualy? If you're 9th, the best you can realistically hope for, with a large chunk of luck, is to make it to Q2.

these are just words, Alonso in 2018 was also often going to fight for the top 10.

Fernando only made Q3 twice,

but he said that he would fight for the top 10 a lot more.
That's when Sainz will be in the top 10 then I will believe, post to Instagram there is no.

[Ground Effect]

Like Ron Dennis said, you're not going to move from 9th place to fighting the top 3 over one winter, in a season of restructuring. The MCL34 was put together without a recognized TD. Of course they still have people there with experience, but still it's not an ideal situation. The plan was to put out a car that has no major flaws, and one that will respond to upgrades. We should put more attention on the delta to the upper midfield and then the top 3. While the gap from Mercedes to the rest of the top 3 grew in FP2, it was pretty much the same to Carlos, as our reference point. I'm not saying that there's a definite pattern and we're currently 1.5secs from the top, but it's better than falling further behind in FP2, and they still had some issues. Let's not forget, it's a 5 year project, whether we like it or not. Even if they line up 17th and 18th tomorrow, we'll still be hoping for progress. p

[SmallSoldier]

Mclaren are exactly where I've been saying they were aiming for all winter - middle of the midfield pack and aiming to be at the front of it come Summer break, whilst that might have upset those that have hyped themselves up over Winter, they're bang on target.

First of all nobody bas announced where they were aiming. Secondly you might want to hold that thought since we want to see what the car can do without problems hampering it. Thirdly you should not make quick assumptions yet cause you might be forced to take them back.

With all seriousness some of you here claim to be fans of Mclaren but you are acting like you aren't.

So a Mclaren fan can’t be critical of the team? Since when being a fan means to have a “blind” look at reality?

To your point, all through Winter (Break and Testing) the team has stated that want to be in the midfield and move towards the front of it... That’s the initial goal... Probably to lower expectations (which is the right thing to do based on previous seasons).

Yes, the car had issues (suspension and engine) and they didn’t run Qualy simulations at the end of the session when there was more rubber at the track... And I believe that Norris was extra cautious trying to get used to the track and avoiding rookie mistakes (as Albon did).

The good thing is that they are in the mix in the midfield... It is extremely tight and a few tenth will make the difference tomorrow, I believe they will miss Q3 and hope that they can be between P11-P14 come race day... Now, if they do better than that, it will be amazing and I’ll be extremely happy for them!


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[Darth-Piekus]

Mclaren are exactly where I've been saying they were aiming for all winter - middle of the midfield pack and aiming to be at the front of it come Summer break, whilst that might have upset those that have hyped themselves up over Winter, they're bang on target.

First of all nobody bas announced where they were aiming. Secondly you might want to hold that thought since we want to see what the car can do without problems hampering it. Thirdly you should not make quick assumptions yet cause you might be forced to take them back.

With all seriousness some of you here claim to be fans of Mclaren but you are acting like you aren't.

So a Mclaren fan can’t be critical of the team? Since when being a fan means to have a “blind” look at reality?

To your point, all through Winter (Break and Testing) the team has stated that want to be in the midfield and move towards the front of it... That’s the initial goal... Probably to lower expectations (which is the right thing to do based on previous seasons).

Yes, the car had issues (suspension and engine) and they didn’t run Qualy simulations at the end of the session when there was more rubber at the track... And I believe that Norris was extra cautious trying to get used to the track and avoiding rookie mistakes (as Albon did).

The good thing is that they are in the mix in the midfield... It is extremely tight and a few tenth will make the difference tomorrow, I believe they will miss Q3 and hope that they can be between P11-P14 come race day... Now, if they do better than that, it will be amazing and I’ll be extremely happy for them!


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On the contrary.Critisism is allowed. Senseless critisism with Doom and Gloom isnt.

[mwillems]

First of all nobody bas announced where they were aiming. Secondly you might want to hold that thought since we want to see what the car can do without problems hampering it. Thirdly you should not make quick assumptions yet cause you might be forced to take them back.

With all seriousness some of you here claim to be fans of Mclaren but you are acting like you aren't.

So a Mclaren fan can’t be critical of the team? Since when being a fan means to have a “blind” look at reality?

To your point, all through Winter (Break and Testing) the team has stated that want to be in the midfield and move towards the front of it... That’s the initial goal... Probably to lower expectations (which is the right thing to do based on previous seasons).

Yes, the car had issues (suspension and engine) and they didn’t run Qualy simulations at the end of the session when there was more rubber at the track... And I believe that Norris was extra cautious trying to get used to the track and avoiding rookie mistakes (as Albon did).

The good thing is that they are in the mix in the midfield... It is extremely tight and a few tenth will make the difference tomorrow, I believe they will miss Q3 and hope that they can be between P11-P14 come race day... Now, if they do better than that, it will be amazing and I’ll be extremely happy for them!


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On the contrary.Critisism is allowed. Senseless critisism with Doom and Gloom isnt.

Your post was relevant to many in here crying over milk that hasn't even been bought yet, let alone opened or spilt.

But not to PhilipM who's post was quite reasoned and with some optimism.

[Darth-Piekus]

All I can say is that lets not make assumptions yet

[LeClerc]

Mercedes success has Mclaren written all over it.

You made me laugh. Thanks!

[Emag]

It is the reputation of the team and the weight that its name carries that lifts up expectations despite the fact that the team has tried its best to lower everyone's expectations before the start of the season. They were trying very hard to downplay their opportunities to avoid this type of situation in case they underperformed. But truthfully, for the reasons I stated beforehand, it is impossible to keep the fan's expectations that low. When you look at their situation now from a team's fan point of view, there is no way you are not disappointed, if you look at it from another perspective, then that's another story. They have had problems for almost 6 years, problems that run deep within the organization, which only surfaced last year. Considering that on 2018, McLaren was on average faster only than Williams, and taking into account the massive changes that the team as an organization underwent through the season, their situation at the start of this year is realistic, and honestly, not that horrible. The car is not massively off the pace, and with the things settling in on the team in terms of the new people starting their job in the next couple of months, you can expect that the car will get better. Unfortunately, McLaren has stopped operating like one of the big teams for some years now, and it will take time to get back to the old days status. A plan is in the action. Zack thinks it will take 5 years, I think it will take less. The team is on the right track. 2019 is not an "all or nothing" year for the team. They need to consolidate the changes, so they can start operating better as a team in the next couple of years. When the "transformation" is complete, that's when we should start expecting more from McLaren.

[ThePapayaJaguar]

Not sure if you guys saw these interviews:

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/ ... ng%27.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/ ... today.html

[diffuser]

Just be clear Zak expects McLaren to be more competitive in 2021 cause he expects budgets to be more comparable across the board.

[f1rules]

so norris admits poor balance due to insufficient df, but dont tell if they are front or rear limited, lets hope rear as that will be easier to solve just bolt on a merc, fer, renault style wall rearwing, but since they didnt do that, im afraid its the front limiting them,

Not sure if you guys saw these interviews:

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/ ... ng%27.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/ ... today.html

[makecry]

so norris admits poor balance due to insufficient df, but dont tell if they are front or rear limited, lets hope rear as that will be easier to solve just bolt on a merc, fer, renault style wall rearwing, but since they didnt do that, im afraid its the front limiting them,

Not sure if you guys saw these interviews:

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/ ... ng%27.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/ ... today.html

It won't be hard to deduce if my arm chair knowledge and a bit of sim racing that I indulge in once a while has taught me anything lol. If they struggling with front, it would be horrible understeer, if it's rear the car would have an unstable rear.

But if the car has unstable rear, it might mean that they are still struggle with rear downforce like last year which does NOT translate well.

[101FlyingDutchman]

Sector 3 is getting better but everyone else is improving massively. HAAS is scary quick

[DiogoBrand]

I know it's really really early to say this, since we don't know for sure how good the car will be until qualifying and we don't know who are the responsibles for its performance. But isn't it a good time to let Prodromou go? I mean, he came as a big promise, but ever since he arrived McLaren has only made shitboxes.

[SmallSoldier]

I know it's really really early to say this, since we don't know for sure how good the car will be until qualifying and we don't know who are the responsibles for its performance. But isn't it a good time to let Prodromou go? I mean, he came as a big promise, but ever since he arrived McLaren has only made shitboxes.

I don’t agree with that statement... Last year’s car had an issue in the manufacturing of the car, not in the design... The cars in 2015-2017 seemed to be well balanced/planted cars only limited by the lack of power and reliability from the Honda engine with good performances at circuits that weren’t power sensitive.

This year’s car is a new concept for the team in regards to the aero philosophy (pretty much a completely different car from an aero perspective compared to last year) and not only in regards to the regulations for the front and rear wings, which means that they will have a learning curve when it comes down to what works in the car and what doesn’t or where they need to push development.

Furthermore, Australia is really not a representative track and the car not performing here, doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t perform in other circuits... If you build a new concept, you aim that concept to be suitable to the most amount of races as possible and maximize it for those and then work yourself into a more “complete” car that can perform in more types of circuits (for example, Mercedes struggling in certain circuits in the past)... With a big bunch of races that require mid to low downforce (at least surpassing the amount of races that require high downforce), it would be sensible for the team to build the car thinking about those races first.


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