2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[godlameroso]

Lando this year has taken a massive step so far. He is like another driver and shows that we might have a new Lewis Hamilton.

He's like last lap Lando, every lap long.

[SmallSoldier]

Still going through the emotions of Qualifying, but can’t avoid to feel pretty optimistic after today’s showing by the team.

A key thing to consider for tomorrow’s race is that the team was very fast in Sector 1, this hopefully will give the team some chances for overtaking tomorrow.

It sounds silly, but I hope that Lando can get ahead of Dani early in the race, he definitely has the pace this weekend and if we are going to bring the fight to both Gasly and Leclerc in front of us, he is our best bet tomorrow based on what we have seeing so far... Getting stuck behind Dani may be detrimental for the team overall.

More than pace tomorrow, I guess that the tires will play a more important role during the race and of course, we still don’t know if there will be rain during the race!


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[SmallSoldier]

Lando’s deleted lap:




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[Emag]

Same man, can't get over how sad this quali was (only the result, because there's obviously plenty to be happy about). Daniel is definitely not happy with the car yet, and this is a confidence track. He probably hasn't felt that good with the car compared to Lando. 0.3s (what the difference would have been) is not crazy bad though. Lando was on fire today, and there have been instances where Carlos as well has been outqualified by more than that when Lando was on a good day.

If they can carry this pace over tomorrow then I have a feeling the race will be quite enjoyable. Finger's crossed there's no first lap troubles and they have the pace to fight with the other P3 contenders.

[mwillems]

But apart from the front suspension, what other steps can the team take, from an aero point of view to improve the front end?

Not too much. Aero is doing its job very well, it's a very strong package. It's the kinematics of the suspension geometry that's not giving the car enough grip as the car rolls at slow-mid speeds. It causes scrubbing which generates understeer.

Merc had the same problem for a few years. Their solution involved them losing some speed in high speed corners, whatever it was.

Red bull manage a pointy front end by having the front wing practically licking the tarmac under rake.

[SmallSoldier]

Same man, can't get over how sad this quali was (only the result, because there's obviously plenty to be happy about). Daniel is definitely not happy with the car yet, and this is a confidence track. He probably hasn't felt that good with the car compared to Lando. 0.3s (what the difference would have been) is not crazy bad though. Lando was on fire today, and there have been instances where Carlos as well has been outqualified by more than that when Lando was on a good day.

If they can carry this pace over tomorrow then I have a feeling the race will be quite enjoyable. Finger's crossed there's no first lap troubles and they have the pace to fight with the other P3 contenders.

I’m just glad that Lando is showing what some here already knew, he is a pretty fast driver and Daniel is not “destroying” him... I’m just hoping that when Lando has a bad weekend, some won’t forget his performance so far... He definitely has speed!

Long race tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how strategy place a role... The biggest challenge will probably be trying to perform the undercut since the field is very much bunched up, which means that there is a real probability to come out in traffic after the first pitstop and with a challenging track to overtake, you could lose a lot of time in traffic.

Trying to go long and either wait for cars behind to stop first and have fresher rubber towards the end would be my preferred strategy option, probably not the fastest.

I still think that the MCL35M is a very slippery car, which could play to our advantage in the first couple of laps after the start before DRS is enabled... Getting ahead of myself though, a clean start is the most important thing tomorrow... Even if the team finishes the way they start (P6-P7) and behind Leclerc and Gasly, the fact that Tsunoda starts last and Carlos out of the top 10 is positive towards the WCC


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[_cerber1]

Lando: And yet I am satisfied, but not with my work, but with the work of the team. At the beginning of the weekend, we had serious problems, but we managed to significantly improve the car, because we have largely understood the peculiarities of its behavior, and understand how to achieve higher speeds from it.

We know which settings are more suitable for her - we realized this after Bahrain, where we had some difficulties. But this weekend we are already working more efficiently. "

[SmallSoldier]

Lando: And yet I am satisfied, but not with my work, but with the work of the team. At the beginning of the weekend, we had serious problems, but we managed to significantly improve the car, because we have largely understood the peculiarities of its behavior, and understand how to achieve higher speeds from it.

We know which settings are more suitable for her - we realized this after Bahrain, where we had some difficulties. But this weekend we are already working more efficiently. "

Thanks for the quote! That’s key in a season where the field is so close together... Not chasing a solid setup could be the biggest asset for Mclaren in 2021.


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[101FlyingDutchman]

You can just tell that the team as whole is starting to fire on all cylinders. If we can get pit stops sorted out and low speed suspension kinematics for ‘22, I can only see improvement. Part of me doesn’t want a wholesale rule change now. When seasons are like this, close and tense, why try to reinvent the wheel...

[mwillems]

Lando: And yet I am satisfied, but not with my work, but with the work of the team. At the beginning of the weekend, we had serious problems, but we managed to significantly improve the car, because we have largely understood the peculiarities of its behavior, and understand how to achieve higher speeds from it.

We know which settings are more suitable for her - we realized this after Bahrain, where we had some difficulties. But this weekend we are already working more efficiently. "

Thanks for the quote! That’s key in a season where the field is so close together... Not chasing a solid setup could be the biggest asset for Mclaren in 2021.


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And very early in the season to have an apparent strong understanding of the car. Particularly with such a shortened test schedule.

Mighty impressive from everyone in the team.

[SmallSoldier]

You can just tell that the team as whole is starting to fire on all cylinders. If we can get pit stops sorted out and low speed suspension kinematics for ‘22, I can only see improvement. Part of me doesn’t want a wholesale rule change now. When seasons are like this, close and tense, why try to reinvent the wheel...

One more year with the current regulations, similar token system and 2022 could be a hell of a season... I’m afraid that like with every regulation change, 2022 will spread the field again, some will get it right, some will get it wrong and it will take several years for the field to bunch up again.


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[Mansell89]

Some really promising speed today.

Danny Ricc has posted on his Instagram to say the car has great potential.

In Bahrain they were suggesting we had better race pace than quali- any reason why that would be any different this weekend? It would be fantastic if we were stronger tomorrow.

Daniel took a long time to find pace today but he’s got himself within 4 tenths of pole and feels there is more to come- that has to be a good sign.

Lando had it hooked up all day long, and I’m delighted to see that. He and Ricciardo could really push each other further forward through the season.

[SmallSoldier]

Lando: And yet I am satisfied, but not with my work, but with the work of the team. At the beginning of the weekend, we had serious problems, but we managed to significantly improve the car, because we have largely understood the peculiarities of its behavior, and understand how to achieve higher speeds from it.

We know which settings are more suitable for her - we realized this after Bahrain, where we had some difficulties. But this weekend we are already working more efficiently. "

Thanks for the quote! That’s key in a season where the field is so close together... Not chasing a solid setup could be the biggest asset for Mclaren in 2021.


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And very early in the season to have an apparent strong understanding of the car. Particularly with such a shortened test schedule.

Mighty impressive from everyone in the team.

Indeed! The biggest highlight might be the fact that the team didn’t showed up to Imola with a bunch of updates that were the reason for the change in performance, it is for the most part still the same car that run at Testing... Wondering if there is an upgrade package in the horizon, my guess is yes, since the production team won’t be sitting idle and the 2022 car is still probably in design phase and therefore no parts are been made for it yet.


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[mwillems]

Thanks for the quote! That’s key in a season where the field is so close together... Not chasing a solid setup could be the biggest asset for Mclaren in 2021.


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And very early in the season to have an apparent strong understanding of the car. Particularly with such a shortened test schedule.

Mighty impressive from everyone in the team.

Indeed! The biggest highlight might be the fact that the team didn’t showed up to Imola with a bunch of updates that were the reason for the change in performance, it is for the most part still the same car that run at Testing... Wondering if there is an upgrade package in the horizon, my guess is yes, since the production team won’t be sitting idle and the 2022 car is still probably in design phase and therefore no parts are been made for it yet.


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The team have spoken of upgrades in the pipeline for sure. But I havent heard from the team, or anywhere else, when they might be.

Given that when James Key was discussing the Mclaren diffuser, he said it would take 4-5 weeks to copy and produce that part effectively, if teams wished to. So I guess then that if you are doing a cut and paste job, as well as a little bit of modelling to ensure it works with your car, then that is the minimum time before updates would arrive at the track.

It has been 5 weeks since testing so I would think that you'll see updates arrive sometime in the next few races, and I'll guess it will be Barcelona again.

Bear in mind that the teams now have CFD and wind tunnel budgets based on last years finishing positions, so manufacturing capacity is not the issue, but how much design to use and where.

[Ground Effect]

You can just tell that the team as whole is starting to fire on all cylinders. If we can get pit stops sorted out and low speed suspension kinematics for ‘22, I can only see improvement. Part of me doesn’t want a wholesale rule change now. When seasons are like this, close and tense, why try to reinvent the wheel...

One more year with the current regulations, similar token system and 2022 could be a hell of a season... I’m afraid that like with every regulation change, 2022 will spread the field again, some will get it right, some will get it wrong and it will take several years for the field to bunch up again.


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So true, common sense would indicate that there’s always eventual convergence under stable rules. I guess the FIA felt it was taking to long and a continued Mercedes dominance would be bad for overall business.