2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

Well, what a fun few days. F1 is back, the car looks poised on track, and responsive, and seems to have less back end issues than other teams.

I still hope and think, as I did before pre season, that we have caught RB a little but, but I do think that the teams around us will fight just as hard, so as optimistic as I am, this still looks to be a tough year.

Any thoughts that we are clear third fastest should probably go out of the window, Im not sure there will be many to disagree with that.

But we might be able to fight to be third fastest car (not team) on merit by the end of the season by the looks of it.

In any case, so far it looks like another step forward. And guess what, next year we have quick wins with more compact packaging and adapting to the merc style rear suspension layout, so it seems like we are onward and upward for some time yet

Edit: I posted that after some delay, and it seems folks in here do think we are clear third fastest. Yikes, hope that is correct.

[FittingMechanics]

Edit: I posted that after some delay, and it seems folks in here do think we are clear third fastest. Yikes, hope that is correct.

I'm hopeful. The data seems to point in that direction. I did similar analysis in previous years and I wasn't negatively surprised by the pace we showed in the season. This year there is more uncertainty as they didn't run a full race sim so it's possible they were not really using proper fuel loads and the comparison is wrong.

[Emag]

Holy ---, I know it's just two weeks, but this test was quite promising compared to previous years. I just can't wait for quali (and obviously the race too) to find out where everyone stands.

[101FlyingDutchman]

Testing here makes the pecking order FAR harder to predict then at a traditional circuit like Barcelona. We look v decent but don’t all of a sudden expect to jump the gap to Mercedes and the Bulls. That chasm is still big. I reckon most of the midfield has got closer to the front end, and that’s good news, but don’t expect massive shifts. I’m just exceptionally glad, that the transition to the Merc power unit has so far gone smoothly. The car looks very much like the MCL35. Assured, stable under braking, good traction and high speed stability. We haven’t seen enough low/medium work at Bahrain to really tell where we are at on various layouts

[SmallSoldier]

Mclaren with a few quickest times in the subsectors on the straights... Interesting that Norris managed to get a few even though he run in the AM portion of the day when the track is slower




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[FittingMechanics]

I'd love to see Tsunodas lap. From a photo I saw he was opening DRS before the DRS line (there is no rule against it in testing) so it would explain why he is fastest at the beginning of the pit straight, maybe even the straight before.

Crazy to see so many names on there. What concerns me about this picture is that McLaren is fast on the traction parts, does this indicate higher power mode?

[ScottR267]

Martin Brundle on Sky’s day 3 review reckons McLaren are the third in the pecking order! Bodes well for the season!

[SmallSoldier]

I'd love to see Tsunodas lap. From a photo I saw he was opening DRS before the DRS line (there is no rule against it in testing) so it would explain why he is fastest at the beginning of the pit straight, maybe even the straight before.

Crazy to see so many names on there. What concerns me about this picture is that McLaren is fast on the traction parts, does this indicate higher power mode?

Actually is a good thing... Mclaren’s traction out of the corners is more related to mechanical grip than PU modes.

What we still need to keep in mind is that this type of layout compliments the Mclaren’s package


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[SmallSoldier]

Martin Brundle on Sky’s day 3 review reckons McLaren are the third in the pecking order! Bodes well for the season!

This is Formula1’s assessment on Short Pace:




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[FittingMechanics]

I'd love to see Tsunodas lap. From a photo I saw he was opening DRS before the DRS line (there is no rule against it in testing) so it would explain why he is fastest at the beginning of the pit straight, maybe even the straight before.

Crazy to see so many names on there. What concerns me about this picture is that McLaren is fast on the traction parts, does this indicate higher power mode?

Actually is a good thing... Mclaren’s traction out of the corners is more related to mechanical grip than PU modes.

What we still need to keep in mind is that this type of layout compliments the Mclaren’s package


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So am I understanding it correctly. Early part of the straight is traction limited (mechanical grip, suspension, ...) and the late part of the straight is power limited (when you hit the drag "wall").

You are right. We need to remember that McLaren often runs well in Bahrain. We can't compare these results with Barcelona tests. Time to temper my expectations.

[SmallSoldier]

I'd love to see Tsunodas lap. From a photo I saw he was opening DRS before the DRS line (there is no rule against it in testing) so it would explain why he is fastest at the beginning of the pit straight, maybe even the straight before.

Crazy to see so many names on there. What concerns me about this picture is that McLaren is fast on the traction parts, does this indicate higher power mode?

On the other hand, Race Pace is more a function of cornering speed than straight line speed... Cars with a cornering speed advantage can carry more speed during lift and coast situations (as they normally do during the race)... I haven’t found any information on cornering speed, but the RBR has “owned” the corners during testing


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[f1rules]

anything from ted?

[FittingMechanics]

Martin Brundle on Sky’s day 3 review reckons McLaren are the third in the pecking order! Bodes well for the season!

This is Formula1’s assessment on Short Pace:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202103 ... e13f4c.jpg


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Sadly they don't mention based on what did they get that chart (probably C4 run Ricciardo did). Norris did an extremely good 1:30:700 lap on C2 with 4-5 laps of fuel (so not a complete glory run). And this was done during the warm part of the day. I reckon this is probably the most impressive lap McLaren did in this test.

[Emag]

Martin Brundle on Sky’s day 3 review reckons McLaren are the third in the pecking order! Bodes well for the season!

This is Formula1’s assessment on Short Pace:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202103 ... e13f4c.jpg


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Hard to believe this graph to be honest. Just two weeks to find out, but it feels quite extraordinary. Not just for McLaren, but some other teams seem miss-placed too.

[kfrantzios]

After plotting some stint times, what i find interesting is the downward trend of RIC's lap times compared to others. This could mean that MCL35M is really nice on tires.