2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[SmallSoldier]

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[McL-H]

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Looking forward to seeing some long run comparisons!

[SmallSoldier]

Regardless of lap times, which are very hard to draw conclusions from without the background data to analyze them, the highlight of Testing for me was not only the reliability of the Merc PU (which was to be expected), but how seem less the transition to the new PU has been for the team.

A lot of people expected Mclaren to struggle with the integration of the PU and at least during testing there were no signs of any issues coming from the installation, that’s the biggest positive I can draw from the last 3 days.


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[FittingMechanics]

Regardless of lap times, which are very hard to draw conclusions from without the background data to analyze them, the highlight of Testing for me was not only the reliability of the Merc PU (which was to be expected), but how seem less the transition to the new PU has been for the team.

A lot of people expected Mclaren to struggle with the integration of the PU and at least during testing there were no signs of any issues coming from the installation, that’s the biggest positive I can draw from the last 3 days.


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You make a great point. Testing went without issue and the team is happy.

One more thing that needs to be remembered is that Norris did a 1:30.7 on C2 during the morning. This is a great lap.

[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?

You are really young aren't you?
What is the chance of McLaren to leapfrog Mercedes? It is close to zero. Why? Mercedes was the first team to focus on 21 car. They are months ahead of the competition. Times in testing mean nothing.
May I give you a friendly advice? Please try to read more and write less. And when you write make sure that you write something worth reading.
Please don't get me wrong.

Any time there is a jump (or fall) in performance of one team, there were probably people (like you) saying it can't happen. Sure, it's not likely to happen here as the cars are mostly carry over but you don't need to be rude about it.

It's possible their fancy lasagna floor is not working as expected. Maybe they need to go toward a simpler solution.

[kfrantzios]

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?

You are really young aren't you?
What is the chance of McLaren to leapfrog Mercedes? It is close to zero. Why? Mercedes was the first team to focus on 21 car. They are months ahead of the competition. Times in testing mean nothing.
May I give you a friendly advice? Please try to read more and write less. And when you write make sure that you write something worth reading.
Please don't get me wrong.

Any time there is a jump (or fall) in performance of one team, there were probably people (like you) saying it can't happen. Sure, it's not likely to happen here as the cars are mostly carry over but you don't need to be rude about it.

It's possible their fancy lasagna floor is not working as expected. Maybe they need to go toward a simpler solution.

Sorry if I got misinterpreted as rude. I said "please don't get me wrong" to avoid such comments. If Darth Piekus finds my comment offensive I will remove it. I would give the same advice to my child.

[Darth-Piekus]

You are really young aren't you?
What is the chance of McLaren to leapfrog Mercedes? It is close to zero. Why? Mercedes was the first team to focus on 21 car. They are months ahead of the competition. Times in testing mean nothing.
May I give you a friendly advice? Please try to read more and write less. And when you write make sure that you write something worth reading.
Please don't get me wrong.

Any time there is a jump (or fall) in performance of one team, there were probably people (like you) saying it can't happen. Sure, it's not likely to happen here as the cars are mostly carry over but you don't need to be rude about it.

It's possible their fancy lasagna floor is not working as expected. Maybe they need to go toward a simpler solution.

Sorry if I got misinterpreted as rude. I said "please don't get me wrong" to avoid such comments. If Darth Piekus finds my comment offensive I will remove it. I would give the same advice to my child.

I would propose before saying anything you should have checked my profile. I'm 36 and we are from the same country. I would advice you not to dismiss my theory as from 1988 that I happen to watch F1 there are countless examples of a team screwing the design of a car. While Mercedes is a good team they are all human and humans make mistakes. Secondly why are you bothered of the possibility that McLaren might have done a better job this time? Maybe it's all a fluke and Mercedes will destroy everyone in 14 days but what if it isn't?

[kfrantzios]

Any time there is a jump (or fall) in performance of one team, there were probably people (like you) saying it can't happen. Sure, it's not likely to happen here as the cars are mostly carry over but you don't need to be rude about it.

It's possible their fancy lasagna floor is not working as expected. Maybe they need to go toward a simpler solution.

Sorry if I got misinterpreted as rude. I said "please don't get me wrong" to avoid such comments. If Darth Piekus finds my comment offensive I will remove it. I would give the same advice to my child.

I would propose before saying anything you should have checked my profile. I'm 36 and we are from the same country. I would advice you not to dismiss my theory as from 1988 that I happen to watch F1 there are countless examples of a team screwing the design of a car. While Mercedes is a good team they are all human and humans make mistakes. Secondly why are you bothered of the possibility that McLaren might have done a better job this time? Maybe it's all a fluke and Mercedes will destroy everyone in 14 days but what if it isn't?

Your theory? That is not a theory. You said if "this" then could "that" be? Well of course it can. It's common sense. It's like asking "if it stops raining could it get dry?"
I am not bothered at all by the fact that McLaren could have made a better job. I am a McLaren fan since the 80's...

[proteus]

The car ran smoothly, and that is great news. I am a bit bothered about race simulations, since they never really went full distance (or am i mistaken?).

Expceting they are better than Mercedes, or even RedBull is far too optimistic. It would be a great achievement if they would manage to defend 3rd, which is also highly unlikely. Aston is an evolved design with more collaboration from Mercedes under the table (since i doubt both teams managed to design the same floor layout without sharing information). Ferrari aparently regained their grunt and there are Alpine and Alpha Tauri to worry about too...Overall it looks there will be an interesting season.

[Darth-Piekus]

The way you worded the whole post sounded like immediate dismissal and being bothered. Of course it's a theory which happened many times in the past. I don't see why it won't happen again.

[FittingMechanics]

The car ran smoothly, and that is great news. I am a bit bothered about race simulations, since they never really went full distance (or am i mistaken?).

Expceting they are better than Mercedes, or even RedBull is far too optimistic. It would be a great achievement if they would manage to defend 3rd, which is also highly unlikely. Aston is an evolved design with more collaboration from Mercedes under the table (since i doubt both teams managed to design the same floor layout without sharing information). Ferrari aparently regained their grunt and there are Alpine and Alpha Tauri to worry about too...Overall it looks there will be an interesting season.

It's good to be cautious but I disagree that it's highly unlikely McLaren is 3rd. I'll wait for more analysis to be published, but from the timing data I saw, McLaren is solidly ahead of "lower midfield" and probably ahead of all competitors for 3rd (Ferrari, Aston, Alpine, Alpha Tauri).

Ricciardo did a first stint of 1:37 today and second stint in 1:36, last "shortened" stint was in 35s or 34s. Obviously the conditions were good and teams that ran early in the day are probably faster than their times show.

[PhillipM]

Looks more like the whole midfield is closer to the top 3 and Mclaren are squarely at the front of that midfield this time around from the off. Even fake-Merc don't seem to worry them this year.

[FittingMechanics]

Quick data analysis.

Ricciardo did two stints later in the day that are probably first two stints of the race. Third stint is less clear, it's shorter and has several entries to pit as I'm assuming they are testing procedures. If the first two stints are representative of a two first stints in the race, we can compare to some cars that ran full race sims (or similar mini sim like Alpine).

I've taken liberty to take out some of the major outliers for all drivers, like driving 2-3 seconds off the pace of the stint average (probably due to mistake or traffic). For record, these outliers did not happen to Ricciard, they happened to others.

Ricciardo and Sainz did the exactly the same length first and second stints. Ricciardo, Sainz and Alonso also did first stint on C4, others were C3 in first stint, all used C2 in second stint. It's possible Ferrari/McLaren/Alpine are simulating Q3 entry with starting on suboptimal tyre due to use of softs in Q2.

1st stint
Ricciardo 1st stint average 1:37:222 - lap times were consistent, run of 13 clean laps.
Sainz 1st stint average 1:38:379 - lap times showed significant degradation, he finished this stint with high 1:38s and 1:39 while Ricciardo held low to mid 1:37s at the end of the stint.
Tsunoda 1st stint average 1:38:167 - lap times very consistent - run of 14 clean laps
Alonso 1st stint average 1:37.578 - lap times consistent - run of 16 clean laps

2nd stint
Ricciardo 2nd stint average 1:36:049 (with two 1.5s slower laps at the end) - stint with mostly improving lap times - total of 18 clean laps
Sainz 2nd stint average 1:36:895 (removed a 2s outlier) - stable laptimes - 17 clean laps
Tsunoda 2nd stint average 1:37:121 (removed an outlier) - improving laptimes - 14 clean laps
Alonso 2nd stint was very short, average 1:36:545 - metronomic laptimes (in the same lap count Ricciardo did 4 tenths better average).

I am not sure of the exact times each did their stints. I think that Sainz and Tsunoda were in the same ballpark when Ricciardo did his sim, not sure about Alonso. To conclude, to me it looks very promising sim if our initial theory is correct, that McLaren simulated two first stints of the race. I'll look if we can find some Red Bull or Mercedes long runs (especially in the evening) to compare.

[JIGARCIA]

Brilliant post!! Thanks for the analysis!!

[CjC]

Quick data analysis.

Ricciardo did two stints later in the day that are probably first two stints of the race. Third stint is less clear, it's shorter and has several entries to pit as I'm assuming they are testing procedures. If the first two stints are representative of a two first stints in the race, we can compare to some cars that ran full race sims (or similar mini sim like Alpine).

I've taken liberty to take out some of the major outliers for all drivers, like driving 2-3 seconds off the pace of the stint average (probably due to mistake or traffic). For record, these outliers did not happen to Ricciard, they happened to others.

Ricciardo and Sainz did the exactly the same length first and second stints. Ricciardo, Sainz and Alonso also did first stint on C4, others were C3 in first stint, all used C2 in second stint. It's possible Ferrari/McLaren/Alpine are simulating Q3 entry with starting on suboptimal tyre due to use of softs in Q2.

1st stint
Ricciardo 1st stint average 1:37:222 - lap times were consistent, run of 13 clean laps.
Sainz 1st stint average 1:38:379 - lap times showed significant degradation, he finished this stint with high 1:38s and 1:19 while Ricciardo held low to mid 1:37s at the end of the stint.
Tsunoda 1st stint average 1:38:167 - lap times very consistent - run of 14 clean laps
Alonso 1st stint average 1:37.578 - lap times consistent - run of 16 clean laps

2nd stint
Ricciardo 2nd stint average 1:36:049 (with two 1.5s slower laps at the end) - stint with mostly improving lap times - total of 18 clean laps
Sainz 2nd stint average 1:36:895 (removed a 2s outlier) - stable laptimes - 17 clean laps
Tsunoda 2nd stint average 1:37:121 (removed an outlier) - improving laptimes - 14 clean laps
Alonso 2nd stint was very short, average 1:36:545 - metronomic laptimes (in the same lap count Ricciardo did 4 tenths better average).

I am not sure of the exact times each did their stints. I think that Sainz and Tsunoda were in the same ballpark when Ricciardo did his sim, not sure about Alonso. To conclude, to me it looks very promising sim if our initial theory is correct, that McLaren simulated two first stints of the race. I'll look if we can find some Red Bull or Mercedes long runs (especially in the evening) to compare.

Good effort
The Merc one will be interesting as Andrew Shovlin reckons they are slower than Red Bull and there are ‘far too many cars ahead of us on pace’
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/merce ... g/5729945/