2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[Emag]

Edit: Btw, if you have contact with anyone from the paddock right now. What's the general consensus with Mercedes? Are they really struggling somewhat, or they are still expected to be top form come race day?

Nobody is writing Merc off at all, the rumour in the paddock appears to be that Merc has a decent upgrade in the line for the car anyway, all around the rear end, which is why they're not stressing too much about the rear end being a bit snappy.
What's cost Merc is the time correlating and testing setups that they've lost from the rear end/gearbox issues taking so much time up, but nobody is in any doubt Merc will get a baseline on a race weekend without any trouble.

To be fair, it's hard to write Mercedes off after these last couple of years, even if they appear to be struggling.

If you don't mine me asking, do you know if McLaren plans to push harder with Ric today, or are they leaving it for when quali comes in two weeks time?

[PhillipM]

I haven't spoken to anyone today, plan was to keep testing changes this morning then race runs after lunch and a few faster laps near the end - I wouldn't expect 100% hard pushes though, from anyone, the track's still dusty af, it's more for the drivers to get used to the car on the softer tyres.

[Emag]

I haven't spoken to anyone today, plan was to keep testing changes this morning then race runs after lunch and a few faster laps near the end - I wouldn't expect 100% hard pushes though, from anyone, the track's still dusty af, it's more for the drivers to get used to the car on the softer tyres.

Well, it's according to plan so far. Ricciardo is doing a long run and there's still 40 minutes left on the test. So they might try and go a little faster towards the end.

Cheers for the information.

[FittingMechanics]

I haven't spoken to anyone today, plan was to keep testing changes this morning then race runs after lunch and a few faster laps near the end - I wouldn't expect 100% hard pushes though, from anyone, the track's still dusty af, it's more for the drivers to get used to the car on the softer tyres.

Well, it's according to plan so far. Ricciardo is doing a long run and there's still 40 minutes left on the test. So they might try and go a little faster towards the end.

Cheers for the information.

I'd be surprised if there are more qualy runs for Ricciardo. McLaren didn't do any late qualy runs for Norris last two days. They did their qualy sim and then Norris went into first race stint until the flag. Ricciardo is on a long run on C2 so I am guessing he'll keep to the same plan.

A shame, I'd love to see a glory run just to end on a high.

[Lucky]

1 stint

[Lucky]

[FittingMechanics]

If that is a first stint, it's good pace.

[mwillems]

Wow, these runs are close to pole from last year. I'd imagine they still aren't going full beans, so, they really did get a lot of downforce back.

[Emag]

I haven't spoken to anyone today, plan was to keep testing changes this morning then race runs after lunch and a few faster laps near the end - I wouldn't expect 100% hard pushes though, from anyone, the track's still dusty af, it's more for the drivers to get used to the car on the softer tyres.

Well, it's according to plan so far. Ricciardo is doing a long run and there's still 40 minutes left on the test. So they might try and go a little faster towards the end.

Cheers for the information.

I'd be surprised if there are more qualy runs for Ricciardo. McLaren didn't do any late qualy runs for Norris last two days. They did their qualy sim and then Norris went into first race stint until the flag. Ricciardo is on a long run on C2 so I am guessing he'll keep to the same plan.

A shame, I'd love to see a glory run just to end on a high.

Yeah, time's running out now. Kind of a bummer they did not join in the fun with Max and Yuki, but oh well. Just two weeks till the first race.

[Lucky]

[Macklaren]

Good 3 days overall. For now, looks like we are in a nice spot to consolidate P3 and finish closer to RB/Merc

[Darth-Piekus]

If Mercedes is not that good this year could Mclaren be potentially 2nd best and perhaps get one or two wins using circumstances this year?

[bauc]

Good 3 days overall. For now, looks like we are in a nice spot to consolidate P3 and finish closer to RB/Merc

Only time will tell, I hope you are correct... good test, now lest go for that first race!

[Macklaren]

If Mercedes is not that good this year could Mclaren be potentially 2nd best and perhaps get one or two wins using circumstances this year?

Possibly but honestly the Mercedes needs to be a shocker of a car to consistently finish behind McLaren -- even with all our improvements. and i doubt that will be the case

[FittingMechanics]

If Mercedes is not that good this year could Mclaren be potentially 2nd best and perhaps get one or two wins using circumstances this year?

I don't really care about Mercedes. McLaren should improve by themselves so if they reduced the gap to the top teams, this will be good for us as fans. Right now I am quite optimistic, I think the team is knocking on the doors of the top 2/3. We'll see how much pace all teams kept for themselves in two weeks time.