2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

Just poor again.
Lando won’t be in the top 3 drivers on the grid if he continues these quali balls ups

Have you really expected he is going to be? Merc and RedBull have .5 to a second faster car and you think he has a remote chance.... Bottas and Perez have far better machinery to be in top 4 and sooner or latter will start to cash the performance in.

I wasn’t literally meaning ‘on the grid’ for tomorrow’s race.

I mean the top 3 drivers on the grid for quality as a whole. Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc are the top 3 and not doubt will all be world drivers champions.
I’m struggling to see Lando in that group biased on his qualifying performances this season

Yes but look at it another way, he's still got a fair room to improve and he is also mashing his teammate so far and getting the job done on a Sunday.

I'm not going to be one of those giving Lando a hard time on here at this point as it looks like he has turned a big corner, he is delivering and there is plenty of room to go up. I don't look for perfection from him, I look for a guy who continues to learn and doesn't plateau.

Look at Hamilton, how many rookie mistakes did he make despite his huge talent, a huge amount of silly moments. But it didn't turn out so bad for him. When Lando irons out his issues some more, he could be one hell of a force in F1 and if I see him improving and still trying to improve, well then I will cheer him on.

He's also the reason we are P3 in the constructors....

[the EDGE]

In my opinion 3 Q3 mistakes in a row does drop you out of said contention.
I don’t dislike Norris, I like the lad, I just have high standards, we all make mistakes but this is a theme.

Hard or not to drive, if he does a 17.8 in Q1, a 17.6 in Q2 we shouldn’t be happy with an 18 flat in Q3.

All the cars a hard to drive, but as professional athletes and drivers to need to perform. Every driver above Norris in quali bar Perez went faster from Q1 to Q2 to Q3.

Do we even know what happens yet?

Yes!
It was the gravel!.....

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/08/nor ... ali-today/

The same gravel that lewis hamilton encountered on his pole lap....

Ah I see, actually he says the track conditions hurt him, gravel was on his used set lap

[mwillems]

In my opinion 3 Q3 mistakes in a row does drop you out of said contention.
I don’t dislike Norris, I like the lad, I just have high standards, we all make mistakes but this is a theme.

Hard or not to drive, if he does a 17.8 in Q1, a 17.6 in Q2 we shouldn’t be happy with an 18 flat in Q3.

All the cars a hard to drive, but as professional athletes and drivers to need to perform. Every driver above Norris in quali bar Perez went faster from Q1 to Q2 to Q3.

Do we even know what happens yet?

Yes!
It was the gravel!.....

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/08/nor ... ali-today/

The same gravel that lewis hamilton encountered on his pole lap....

He makes a very good point. I doubt he is lying about the gravel so yes, that would have hurt him, as would the track devolution in Q3, so he didn't have a great chance really.

If Mazepin hadn't forced him to use another set then yes, he would have been a few tenths quicker in Q3 and with no gravel, quicker still.

Bodes well for tomorrow. it will be a few degrees cooler tomorrow too.

[mwillems]

Do we even know what happens yet?

Yes!
It was the gravel!.....

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/08/nor ... ali-today/

The same gravel that lewis hamilton encountered on his pole lap....

Ah I see, actually he says the track conditions hurt him, gravel was on his used set lap

Yes but that first lap was the fastest for everyone, he's saying Mazepin hurt him because he didn't have fresh tyres due to that moment, and the gravel hurt him.

[SmallSoldier]

I wasn’t literally meaning ‘on the grid’ for tomorrow’s race.

I mean the top 3 drivers on the grid for quality as a whole. Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc are the top 3 and not doubt will all be world drivers champions.
I’m struggling to see Lando in that group biased on his qualifying performances this season

So, making mistakes eliminates you from been considered in the top 3?... I mean, under that point of view I’m afraid you need to take Leclerc out since he has made plenty of mistakes (taking out his team mate in Austria last season been a pretty big one)... Max crashing in Monaco on his way to his first pole?.

We get it, you don’t like Norris.

We have a driver that definitely has the speed, that I will argue is getting a lot from a car that it’s not “great” and that is probably very hard to drive at the limit... The fact that he extracts as much of it here and there is actually a testament to how good of a driver he is... Both drivers have came out and said that the car still have some weaknesses and they are driving around those... The fact that they are so far from Mercedes and Red Bull on race pace shows how great some of those Quali laps are to be so close.


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In my opinion 3 Q3 mistakes in a row does drop you out of said contention.
I don’t dislike Norris, I like the lad, I just have high standards, we all make mistakes but this is a theme.

Hard or not to drive, if he does a 17.8 in Q1, a 17.6 in Q2 we shouldn’t be happy with an 18 flat in Q3.

All the cars a hard to drive, but as professional athletes and drivers to need to perform. Every driver above Norris in quali bar Perez went faster from Q1 to Q2 to Q3.

His first attempt in Q3 (which he didn’t improve on his second attempt) was on a used set of tires... The 1:18 flat was on that set.

On his second attempt on new Softs he was improving sector 1 and 2... The biggest issue for him was that he used a used set on his first attempt and the track got slower on at the end of Q3 (I believe that with the exception of Leclerc none of the drivers improved in Q3).

If Mclaren continues to improve and gets to a point in which they can get into Q3 with 2 new sets of the Soft tires, situation like today can happen... It’s also not the norm for the times to get slower at the end of Q3 and for the track not to evolve, they got caught out today... I was watching the sector times and S2 was slower for everyone in Q3, he matched his times from Q2 in S1 and S2 and he simply was 4 tenths slower in S3 which was in line with the rest of the grid... Verstappen for example could have gotten pole today, but he was 2 tenths slower in S3 on his last lap, Ocon, Leclerc and Sainz were also 3-4 tenths slower in S3... Lando was just caught by a track that dropped at the end of the session... He didn’t seem to have messed up.


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[the EDGE]

The good new of course is that we’re at yet another track, and despite grid positions the cars still on the midfield pace.

Looking good for obvious weaknesses, that is, lack of

Now it’s over to the whole team to claw some places back tomorrow

[SmallSoldier]

The good new of course is that we’re at yet another track, and despite grid positions the cars still on the midfield pace.

Looking good for obvious weaknesses, that is, lack of

Now it’s over to the whole team to claw some places back tomorrow

Exactly! The car definitely seems like an all rounder so far and that is fantastic and bodes well for the rest of the season since even when still lacking a bit on the slow corners versus Ferrari for example where we were a couple tenths slower, the strengths compensate for it highly... No longer do we have to “brace ourselves” for GP’s like Hungary, Monaco or Singapore, but can be excited about Austria and Spa for example


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[no-brainer]

Hello! The traffic at the fast lap in Q1 ruined Lando's entire quali. In the first run in Q3 he was on a set of used tires, and all the final runs were compromised by wind gusts. To me Danny was slow again.

[CjC]

So, making mistakes eliminates you from been considered in the top 3?... I mean, under that point of view I’m afraid you need to take Leclerc out since he has made plenty of mistakes (taking out his team mate in Austria last season been a pretty big one)... Max crashing in Monaco on his way to his first pole?.

We get it, you don’t like Norris.

We have a driver that definitely has the speed, that I will argue is getting a lot from a car that it’s not “great” and that is probably very hard to drive at the limit... The fact that he extracts as much of it here and there is actually a testament to how good of a driver he is... Both drivers have came out and said that the car still have some weaknesses and they are driving around those... The fact that they are so far from Mercedes and Red Bull on race pace shows how great some of those Quali laps are to be so close.


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In my opinion 3 Q3 mistakes in a row does drop you out of said contention.
I don’t dislike Norris, I like the lad, I just have high standards, we all make mistakes but this is a theme.

Hard or not to drive, if he does a 17.8 in Q1, a 17.6 in Q2 we shouldn’t be happy with an 18 flat in Q3.

All the cars a hard to drive, but as professional athletes and drivers to need to perform. Every driver above Norris in quali bar Perez went faster from Q1 to Q2 to Q3.

His first attempt in Q3 (which he didn’t improve on his second attempt) was on a used set of tires... The 1:18 flat was on that set.

On his second attempt on new Softs he was improving sector 1 and 2... The biggest issue for him was that he used a used set on his first attempt and the track got slower on at the end of Q3 (I believe that with the exception of Leclerc none of the drivers improved in Q3).

If Mclaren continues to improve and gets to a point in which they can get into Q3 with 2 new sets of the Soft tires, situation like today can happen... It’s also not the norm for the times to get slower at the end of Q3 and for the track not to evolve, they got caught out today... I was watching the sector times and S2 was slower for everyone in Q3, he matched his times from Q2 in S1 and S2 and he simply was 4 tenths slower in S3 which was in line with the rest of the grid... Verstappen for example could have gotten pole today, but he was 2 tenths slower in S3 on his last lap, Ocon, Leclerc and Sainz were also 3-4 tenths slower in S3... Lando was just caught by a track that dropped at the end of the session... He didn’t seem to have messed up.


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I believe Lando and Leclerc were on the same run plan in Q3. According to the app they both did their first run on a used set, then a fresh set for the second run.
Leclerc ends up P4 and Lando is P9 after being faster than the Ferrari all the way through quali up until the crunch laps.

I’m gonna leave it now. He should be P4/5 for the grid tomorrow. I’m disappointed he isn’t as this a tough track to over take. If he finishes P4/5 tomorrow I will sing his praises as I did after portimao

[SmallSoldier]

In my opinion 3 Q3 mistakes in a row does drop you out of said contention.
I don’t dislike Norris, I like the lad, I just have high standards, we all make mistakes but this is a theme.

Hard or not to drive, if he does a 17.8 in Q1, a 17.6 in Q2 we shouldn’t be happy with an 18 flat in Q3.

All the cars a hard to drive, but as professional athletes and drivers to need to perform. Every driver above Norris in quali bar Perez went faster from Q1 to Q2 to Q3.

His first attempt in Q3 (which he didn’t improve on his second attempt) was on a used set of tires... The 1:18 flat was on that set.

On his second attempt on new Softs he was improving sector 1 and 2... The biggest issue for him was that he used a used set on his first attempt and the track got slower on at the end of Q3 (I believe that with the exception of Leclerc none of the drivers improved in Q3).

If Mclaren continues to improve and gets to a point in which they can get into Q3 with 2 new sets of the Soft tires, situation like today can happen... It’s also not the norm for the times to get slower at the end of Q3 and for the track not to evolve, they got caught out today... I was watching the sector times and S2 was slower for everyone in Q3, he matched his times from Q2 in S1 and S2 and he simply was 4 tenths slower in S3 which was in line with the rest of the grid... Verstappen for example could have gotten pole today, but he was 2 tenths slower in S3 on his last lap, Ocon, Leclerc and Sainz were also 3-4 tenths slower in S3... Lando was just caught by a track that dropped at the end of the session... He didn’t seem to have messed up.


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I believe Lando and Leclerc were on the same run plan in Q3. According to the app they both did their first run on a used set, then a fresh set for the second run.
Leclerc ends up P4 and Lando is P9 after being faster than the Ferrari all the way through quali up until the crunch laps.

I’m gonna leave it now. He should be P4/5 for the grid tomorrow. I’m disappointed he isn’t as this a tough track to over take. If he finishes P4/5 tomorrow I will sing his praises as I did after portimao

Cheers! Let’s hope that’s the case and we manage to move forward tomorrow for the race... It will be difficult and strategy will be critical since the biggest opportunity to make places will probably be with the Pitstops and track position... 2 stopper with 2 stints on the soft tire and one on the medium and aggressive from the moment the lights go off!


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[genarro]

I dont know why everybody is whining about todays q3. It didnt go as planed but we have to look at the positives. And we have a lot of them. Firstly the car is the 3rd fastest altough not by a huge margain. The big updates are working as expected, so the shift to 2022 car can be made as soon as posible.

We all wanst to see McLaren doing well but lets face it 2022 is when it will matter more.

[Lucky]

I dont know why everybody is whining about todays q3. It didnt go as planed but we have to look at the positives. And we have a lot of them. Firstly the car is the 3rd fastest altough not by a huge margain. The big updates are working as expected, so the shift to 2022 car can be made as soon as posible.

We all wanst to see McLaren doing well but lets face it 2022 is when it will matter more.

The constant mistakes in qualification are frustrating. Extra attempts in Q1 and Q2. Therefore, it is impossible to show the maximum in Q 3.

[Lucky]

[Emag]

I hope they get a clean qualifying in Monaco, because a repeat of this there its properly game over. At least here there is some chance to go forward, however slim. In monaco is nearly impossible.

[Mansell89]

Just lacking that mechanical grip of the top teams to make that leap.

Solid overall though and bodes well for season remainder.