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RIC’s fastest lap of the morning session... Just cruising
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wowww Ric looks like he adapted very easy to the Mclaren. He not pushing or fighting the car. Just super smooth and very fast. The Merc engine seems to have alot of power as it maxed out top speed so early on the straight.
I think the gearing needs adjusting and downforce especially as it can handle more. Like Mercedes usually does with more downforce and less top speed to get the best laptimes.
I know this is premature but what i just saw shows me this Mclaren looks like a beast and will be fighting for podiums!
Ayrton Senna: Pure driving, pure racing, that´s what makes me happy.
RIC’s fastest lap of the morning session... Just cruising
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
wowww Ric looks like he adapted very easy to the Mclaren. He not pushing or fighting the car. Just super smooth and very fast. The Merc engine seems to have alot of power as it maxed out top speed so early on the straight.
I think the gearing needs adjusting and downforce especially as it can handle more. Like Mercedes usually does with more downforce and less top speed to get the best laptimes.
I know this is premature but what i just saw shows me this Mclaren looks like a beast and will be fighting for podiums!
I’ll argue that more than RIC adjusting to the car, the car itself doesn’t seem to be fighting him... The “smoothness” at this stage is more car related than driver related.
But it is actually a great start for him in the team!
RIC’s fastest lap of the morning session... Just cruising
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
wowww Ric looks like he adapted very easy to the Mclaren. He not pushing or fighting the car. Just super smooth and very fast. The Merc engine seems to have alot of power as it maxed out top speed so early on the straight.
I think the gearing needs adjusting and downforce especially as it can handle more. Like Mercedes usually does with more downforce and less top speed to get the best laptimes.
I know this is premature but what i just saw shows me this Mclaren looks like a beast and will be fighting for podiums!
I’ll argue that more than RIC adjusting to the car, the car itself doesn’t seem to be fighting him... The “smoothness” at this stage is more car related than driver related.
But it is actually a great start for him in the team!
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yes i agree the car Mclaren itself looks easy to drive for sure as it seems like a great car based on the onboards. For sure its more car related than driver. Compare that to when Ric joined Renault initially he struggled as the Renault was a lot more difficult to drive and get comfortable with and on a knife edge to quote Ric. Took Ric along time to get comfortable with it. He really only became comfortable with the Renault in 2020. So the Mclaren looks like it has some big potential so far based on just 1 session!
Ayrton Senna: Pure driving, pure racing, that´s what makes me happy.
Mclarensenna wrote:
wowww Ric looks like he adapted very easy to the Mclaren. He not pushing or fighting the car. Just super smooth and very fast. The Merc engine seems to have alot of power as it maxed out top speed so early on the straight.
I think the gearing needs adjusting and downforce especially as it can handle more. Like Mercedes usually does with more downforce and less top speed to get the best laptimes.
I know this is premature but what i just saw shows me this Mclaren looks like a beast and will be fighting for podiums!
I’ll argue that more than RIC adjusting to the car, the car itself doesn’t seem to be fighting him... The “smoothness” at this stage is more car related than driver related.
But it is actually a great start for him in the team!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
yes i agree the car Mclaren itself looks easy to drive for sure as it seems like a great car based on the onboards. For sure its more car related than driver. Compare that to when Ric joined Renault initially he struggled as the Renault was a lot more difficult to drive and get comfortable with and on a knife edge to quote Ric. Took Ric along time to get comfortable with it. He really only became comfortable with the Renault in 2020. So the Mclaren looks like it has some big potential so far based on just 1 session!
I’m with you... The fact that the car is not showing any big issues from the get go is really positive!
At the same time, the cars are still to be driven in anger and that’s were certain negative characteristics could show up.
Personally, I don’t like that the tests are performed in Bahrain, which is a track that has suited Mclaren for the last couple of years (both the MCL34 and MCL35 had relatively good performance at Bahrain) and it isn’t a track that penalizes lack of front end and slow speed performance (which was the previous car’s weaknesses), so testing this weekend could flatter the car’s performance and not let the team assess if they have improved those areas the MCL35M
I’ll argue that more than RIC adjusting to the car, the car itself doesn’t seem to be fighting him... The “smoothness” at this stage is more car related than driver related.
But it is actually a great start for him in the team!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
yes i agree the car Mclaren itself looks easy to drive for sure as it seems like a great car based on the onboards. For sure its more car related than driver. Compare that to when Ric joined Renault initially he struggled as the Renault was a lot more difficult to drive and get comfortable with and on a knife edge to quote Ric. Took Ric along time to get comfortable with it. He really only became comfortable with the Renault in 2020. So the Mclaren looks like it has some big potential so far based on just 1 session!
I’m with you... The fact that the car is not showing any big issues from the get go is really positive!
At the same time, the cars are still to be driven in anger and that’s were certain negative characteristics could show up.
Personally, I don’t like that the tests are performed in Bahrain, which is a track that has suited Mclaren for the last couple of years (both the MCL34 and MCL35 had relatively good performance at Bahrain) and it isn’t a track that penalizes lack of front end and slow speed performance (which was the previous car’s weaknesses), so testing this weekend could flatter the car’s performance and not let the team assess if they have improved those areas the MCL35M
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Yes i agree i guess we will find out after Bahrain how the Mclaren performs on different circuits.
I compared Rics onboard to Verstappens above who ran a very similar time and noticed Max had to work a lot harder in the Redbull. Mclaren looking very good so far!
Ayrton Senna: Pure driving, pure racing, that´s what makes me happy.
Mclarensenna wrote:
yes i agree the car Mclaren itself looks easy to drive for sure as it seems like a great car based on the onboards. For sure its more car related than driver. Compare that to when Ric joined Renault initially he struggled as the Renault was a lot more difficult to drive and get comfortable with and on a knife edge to quote Ric. Took Ric along time to get comfortable with it. He really only became comfortable with the Renault in 2020. So the Mclaren looks like it has some big potential so far based on just 1 session!
I’m with you... The fact that the car is not showing any big issues from the get go is really positive!
At the same time, the cars are still to be driven in anger and that’s were certain negative characteristics could show up.
Personally, I don’t like that the tests are performed in Bahrain, which is a track that has suited Mclaren for the last couple of years (both the MCL34 and MCL35 had relatively good performance at Bahrain) and it isn’t a track that penalizes lack of front end and slow speed performance (which was the previous car’s weaknesses), so testing this weekend could flatter the car’s performance and not let the team assess if they have improved those areas the MCL35M
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Yes i agree i guess we will find out after Bahrain how the Mclaren performs on different circuits.
I compared Rics onboard to Verstappens above who ran a very similar time and noticed Max had to work a lot harder in the Redbull. Mclaren looking very good so far!
The RBR actually looks very planted on that video... But, we shouldn’t read too much yet, the teams are not only going through all the checks they have to do on systems and parts during testing, it will also be a long process of trying the effect on setup changes... The testing program will probably include changes in ride height, roll bar stiffness, differential settings, brake bias, etc in addition to aero correlation tests and tire models to understand the new tire construction behavior... So for the next couple of days the teams will be looking at understanding how all of those changes have an effect on car performance beyond what the best setting for the car at Bahrain will actually be.
The advantage may be that some of the parts are carried over (suspension) for example, therefore the knowledge gained last year will be useful this year.
That’s why everyone says to take the lap times with a grain of salt, because even though we (the fans) want to understand the pecking order, want to think that the teams are going for outright performance, it is the team’s priority... It’s critical at this stage to try and run in a similar way lap after lap (to a target lap time... that’s why it’s not advisable to push too hard, since that brings a whole different set of factors into the analysis) in order to understand how the car behaves to different changes.
I’m with you... The fact that the car is not showing any big issues from the get go is really positive!
At the same time, the cars are still to be driven in anger and that’s were certain negative characteristics could show up.
Personally, I don’t like that the tests are performed in Bahrain, which is a track that has suited Mclaren for the last couple of years (both the MCL34 and MCL35 had relatively good performance at Bahrain) and it isn’t a track that penalizes lack of front end and slow speed performance (which was the previous car’s weaknesses), so testing this weekend could flatter the car’s performance and not let the team assess if they have improved those areas the MCL35M
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Yes i agree i guess we will find out after Bahrain how the Mclaren performs on different circuits.
I compared Rics onboard to Verstappens above who ran a very similar time and noticed Max had to work a lot harder in the Redbull. Mclaren looking very good so far!
The RBR actually looks very planted on that video... But, we shouldn’t read too much yet, the teams are not only going through all the checks they have to do on systems and parts during testing, it will also be a long process of trying the effect on setup changes... The testing program will probably include changes in ride height, roll bar stiffness, differential settings, brake bias, etc in addition to aero correlation tests and tire models to understand the new tire construction behavior... So for the next couple of days the teams will be looking at understanding how all of those changes have an effect on car performance beyond what the best setting for the car at Bahrain will actually be.
The advantage may be that some of the parts are carried over (suspension) for example, therefore the knowledge gained last year will be useful this year.
That’s why everyone says to take the lap times with a grain of salt, because even though we (the fans) want to understand the pecking order, want to think that the teams are going for outright performance, it is the team’s priority... It’s critical at this stage to try and run in a similar way lap after lap (to a target lap time... that’s why it’s not advisable to push too hard, since that brings a whole different set of factors into the analysis) in order to understand how the car behaves to different changes.
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Look at Max at the 35 second mark. He definately working a lot harder at the wheel. The other thing i notice is Ric maxes out the top speed on the straights earlier than Max does so Mclaren can defianately add more downforce and improve gearing to further improve the lap time. The Mclaren seems to have more in it even though yes its only testing i agree. Positive nevertheless!
Ayrton Senna: Pure driving, pure racing, that´s what makes me happy.
The McLaren floor compared to Redbull or Mercedes is underdeveloped as it looks now, i think they might have some solutions for remaining two days to test new ones. Why i am telling is because they only had flowvis test on the front end of the car and not on floor or barge boards area, also aero rake was used for diffuser only.
I did see flowviz on the right rear of the floor yesterday while watching on Sky... No pictures of it yet...
I’ll argue that more than RIC adjusting to the car, the car itself doesn’t seem to be fighting him... The “smoothness” at this stage is more car related than driver related.
But it is actually a great start for him in the team!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
yes i agree the car Mclaren itself looks easy to drive for sure as it seems like a great car based on the onboards. For sure its more car related than driver. Compare that to when Ric joined Renault initially he struggled as the Renault was a lot more difficult to drive and get comfortable with and on a knife edge to quote Ric. Took Ric along time to get comfortable with it. He really only became comfortable with the Renault in 2020. So the Mclaren looks like it has some big potential so far based on just 1 session!
Personally, I don’t like that the tests are performed in Bahrain, which is a track that has suited Mclaren for the last couple of years (both the MCL34 and MCL35 had relatively good performance at Bahrain) and it isn’t a track that penalizes lack of front end and slow speed performance (which was the previous car’s weaknesses), so testing this weekend could flatter the car’s performance and not let the team assess if they have improved those areas the MCL35M
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I agree, testing might flatter Mclaren this year.
Karun reckons we still have understeer although the commentators seem to be saying a lot of cars have.
We should still be encouraged with what Lando did yesterday to be so close to the Red Bull nonetheless
I think the Mclaren must be one of the few cars whose rear end hasn't slipped out yet. I'm watching the testing today as I didn't catch it yesterday. It's windy, but not particularly different to normal conditions at Bahrain according to the commentary team.
DR is flicking the car into the corners and as Karun says, it does have some understeer, but he also said he thinks they have set it up for understeer intentionally to help the tyres.
But I am continuing to think that this new floor arrangement is going to make the cars more sensitive to conditions.
It's good to see that at this point the Mclaren doesn't appear any more sensitive than it did last year, not that it appears sensitive at all to be honest.
So this is just my personal opinion based on the onboards I saw but the mcl35m is by far the best looking car in terms of balance it seems to work the tyres really really well. (I am not saying it is the fastest car)
Last edited by DarthPlagueisTheVise on 13 Mar 2021, 12:26, edited 1 time in total.
So this is just my personal opinion based on the onboards I saw but the mcl35m is by far the best looking car in terms of balance it seems to work the tyres really really well.
Its a shame they don't show much of it on the sky coverage. Ricciardo just had a long-ish stint on C4 and they barely showed him on tv, let alone ride onboard with him.
So this is just my personal opinion based on the onboards I saw but the mcl35m is by far the best looking car in terms of balance it seems to work the tyres really really well.
Its a shame they don't show much of it on the sky coverage. Ricciardo just had a long-ish stint on C4 and they barely showed him on tv, let alone ride onboard with him.
Standard coverage for Mclaren then by the F1 broadcast
