2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[Emag]

Man, when you see the progress they have had from 2019, you cant help but get paranoid over the big upcoming rule change. I really hope they don't go backwards next year. I have loved seeing them moving up the order these past couple of years. I want the competitive McLaren back again. It's been far too long .

[Edax]

So. Now they have no choice than to stick to this livery for the rest of the season. Because obviously it makes the car go fast.

Have to say I am really impressed by Lando’s drive today. But I am wondering what It will do to Ric. He still sees himself as a possible championship contender given the right material. But the way Norris is developing I see him being pushed in a supporting role (again).

[godlameroso]

I don’t think France is as similar to Barcelona though... At least it doesn’t have an slow section like S3 in Cataluña... It was actually a very solid track for the MCL34 in 2019 and the MCL35M is a clear step forward versus that car, if not for Norris’ mechanical issues, both would have finished in good positions in that race... I actually expect them to do better in France than Baku in relative terms


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There are some frustratingly slow corners, the sequence before the chicane straight requires good low speed cornering and grip to get on the power early. The exit of the chicane is very important, and the final two corners are very slow. The beginning of the lap, and that triple right hander should be good, but the rest of sector 3 is very Barcelona-esque. Very long corners, culminating in the slowest corner on the track which is also very important for the lap time.

Sector 3 is like taking turn 5 7 and old turn 10 of Barcelona, and juxtaposing them in some weird inverted way. McLaren was not that great around those types of corners. It was easier in Monaco because they could get the front end turned in with setup, but on long corners, the suspension settles and it's nothing you can do with setup, it's just the inherent downforce of the car carrying you.

On corner entry, or exit, and sometimes the mid corner phase you can take advantage of the aero pitch sensitivity of the car, and use the brakes and the throttle to alter the ride height. It's a lot harder to do that with long steady corners, you spend more time just hanging on.

You can lift a little on entry which will put the nose closer to the ground, which will further help your turn in. In an aero formula, when and how you get on and off the power has some influence in how you get the aero working. Even if there's no exhaust blowing the diffuser, the way the car pitches forwards and backwards and how it rolls all affects the aero platform and subtleties in driving style can make the aero work better or worse.

Also, here's another thing to consider, those venetian blinds on the sidepods, they have to be interacting with the walls. Ground effect doesn't just work on the ground

The current configuration at Paul Ricard isn’t related to S3 at Barcelona, which is slower and not as fluid.

The closest reference point for Mclaren would be at the 2019 French GP, where after not having great performance in Spain, they had one of their strongest weekends at Paul Ricard... Considering that the current car addresses most of the weaknesses of the MCL34, it should be a good weekend for the team.


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Umm, Sainz nearly got lapped in 2019, their race pace was atrocious, they qualified well, other than that, it was a weekend to forget. They were actually much closer, race pace wise, in Barcelona than they were in France.

[PhillipM]

Ricciardo did get lapped today, still wasn't a slow car. You can't go from pure race pace because there's too many traffic issues, Norris would have been 2 places further up without getting barged off the road, for instance.

[SmallSoldier]

There are some frustratingly slow corners, the sequence before the chicane straight requires good low speed cornering and grip to get on the power early. The exit of the chicane is very important, and the final two corners are very slow. The beginning of the lap, and that triple right hander should be good, but the rest of sector 3 is very Barcelona-esque. Very long corners, culminating in the slowest corner on the track which is also very important for the lap time.

Sector 3 is like taking turn 5 7 and old turn 10 of Barcelona, and juxtaposing them in some weird inverted way. McLaren was not that great around those types of corners. It was easier in Monaco because they could get the front end turned in with setup, but on long corners, the suspension settles and it's nothing you can do with setup, it's just the inherent downforce of the car carrying you.

On corner entry, or exit, and sometimes the mid corner phase you can take advantage of the aero pitch sensitivity of the car, and use the brakes and the throttle to alter the ride height. It's a lot harder to do that with long steady corners, you spend more time just hanging on.

You can lift a little on entry which will put the nose closer to the ground, which will further help your turn in. In an aero formula, when and how you get on and off the power has some influence in how you get the aero working. Even if there's no exhaust blowing the diffuser, the way the car pitches forwards and backwards and how it rolls all affects the aero platform and subtleties in driving style can make the aero work better or worse.

Also, here's another thing to consider, those venetian blinds on the sidepods, they have to be interacting with the walls. Ground effect doesn't just work on the ground

The current configuration at Paul Ricard isn’t related to S3 at Barcelona, which is slower and not as fluid.

The closest reference point for Mclaren would be at the 2019 French GP, where after not having great performance in Spain, they had one of their strongest weekends at Paul Ricard... Considering that the current car addresses most of the weaknesses of the MCL34, it should be a good weekend for the team.


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Umm, Sainz nearly got lapped in 2019, their race pace was atrocious, they qualified well, other than that, it was a weekend to forget. They were actually much closer, race pace wise, in Barcelona than they were in France.

You maybe forgetting that in Spain 2019 there was a Safety Car in lap 46... Therefore you can’t really compare the delta to the leaders between both races... And that Norris had hydraulic issues with 5 laps from the end in France, without those he would have finished a couple of spots ahead).

France was indeed a good weekend for Mclaren that year in terms of car performance, I’m expecting it to also be good on a much improved MCL35M


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[Mclarensenna]

Well done Lando awesome result and podium.

A few people are trashing Ric on a bad race. But did he actually drive bad race???

You can say Ric had a bad qualy for sure. But you cannot say he drove a bad race in my view when nobody else even Hamilton would have ended up any higher starting in his position.


Hamilton could not even get past Gasly with a much faster car. If Ham was behind Kimi in 12th he would also have been in the exact same spot as Ric being lapped. Rics race was ruined in Qualy for sure.

There was almost no overtaking this year (possibly worse than even previous years) so clearly something has happened (dirty air, cars too big etc) to make it so difficult as every driver found it almost impossible to overtake. We saw with Ric even with a car with no ERS 4 seconds off the pace there was no overtaking a few years ago.
Just a guess here but this year it does seem you need 3-5 seconds pace advantage to make a clean overtake (1 that doesn't almost gaurantee a crash of some sort)

You basically a sitting duck behind held up by slower cars losing massive time.
Did Ric have better race pace than Lando that is the question as its impossible to know when Ric stuck behind slower cars losing seconds per lap. But 1 interesting stat was Ric set a slightly faster lap than Lando.
Doesn't much that much. But Ric definately had a bit more pace than he could show on sunday.
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... 061&graf=3

Ric will bounce back once he gets on top of the car. It is taking much longer than expected though. Same as with Alonso. Ric did improve throughout 2019 with Renault as they year progressed. But we saw he was not fully comfortable and up to his maximum speed until 2020 in that Renault.
Maybe the same is happening this year and we won't see Ric and Alonso in full flight, fully comfortable untill next year?
Time will tell

[Mansell89]

Agree completely- it is a gift for McLaren that Lando is coming through so well because eventually Ricciardo will get the groove of the team and car- he’s a class act and boy are they two strong and hungry drivers to have leading your team.

Baku will be interesting- should be good on the straights but not so sure on the rest of the lap.

[Ground Effect]

“CarLando” these guys!

[NiyolHuayra]

What a weekend that was! Another podium! Just awesome!
I found this post-race interview with Daniel:


Post-race with Lando:


Post-race with the podium finishers:

[mwillems]

Ricciardo did get lapped today, still wasn't a slow car. You can't go from pure race pace because there's too many traffic issues, Norris would have been 2 places further up without getting barged off the road, for instance.

I didn't get the chance to watch the race, who barged him off the road?

[Herr_Koos]

Ricciardo did get lapped today, still wasn't a slow car. You can't go from pure race pace because there's too many traffic issues, Norris would have been 2 places further up without getting barged off the road, for instance.

I didn't get the chance to watch the race, who barged him off the road?

There was a bit of elbows out at the start, as you would expect, but I don't recall anyone trying to barge Lando off the road.

[El Scorchio]

I see where you're coming from, I just think that a lot of media, print media in particular can use those situations to spin a story. Reality doesn't have to come into play.

Like I said, I dont disagree with your rational, just that once you escalate beyond a certain level than you can lose control.

Merc don't have to go to the ICA themselves for newspapers to print snide stories of a team afraid of a real challenge.

Why on earth would any (non trash clickbait) media outlet report that a team protesting something on another car is running scared of a challenge? Hasn’t happened before as far as I recall and I don’t see it happening here if McLaren protest flexible rear wings.

In the last few years: (that I recall off the top of my head)

Red Bull with DAS
Red Bull with party mode
Red Bull/Merc with Ferrari engine
Renault with RP brakes

None of these teams who protested has a damaged reputation or backlash because of it. If anything, Ferrari and RP are the only two from the above examples and they were both being protested about. Red Bull’s reputation and brand would have fallen through the floor if protesting was damaging. Why would it be different for McLaren with this?

I've already explained why.

Because when it escalates beyond a normal protest and to a higher arbitration, it stops being something that makes it to a small F1 article and makes more print in the kind of places where they like to spin a story.

For Mercedes, it isn't a coincidence that they just started complaining about it when they feel a challenge from Red Bull. Horner and Wolff had been discussing it for a while. This was no "I just noticed, and blurted it out in the interview" from Hamilton. Everyone knew and Merc orchestrated it to be as innocuous a protest as possible. The reality is they are struggling on track so they are pushing back off it. They are feeling it and looking for ways to get breathing space. When you spend time saying you welcome competition and then start arbitration when you do feel it, people can go to town on that if they want, and I have no doubt they will if it goes beyond a protest. Do you want that just to bring it forward a few races. Possibly but I think it is just bluster and they won't get their hands dirty.

Logic doesn't come in to how things are perceived, and taking legal action to try and swing a championship in your favour (Merc) or to bring RB closer to you (Mclaren) would be percieved differently inside of F1 than out (Which would be less forgiving). This kind of action would reach outside of F1 more than events normally would and that negative reception is a risk to the brands.

I hear you. I just can't see any negativity coming back on McLaren or their sponsors for it, or perception of the team taking a hit. Objectively they are fighting for 'justice' and it's a better position to be in than the team who may be found guilty. Everyone respects the good guys and no-one wants to be associated with a cheat.

[NiyolHuayra]

Are there any High-resolution images of the new posters and McLaren art. I cannot find them on their web page.

[PhillipM]

Ricciardo did get lapped today, still wasn't a slow car. You can't go from pure race pace because there's too many traffic issues, Norris would have been 2 places further up without getting barged off the road, for instance.

I didn't get the chance to watch the race, who barged him off the road?

Talking about the 2019 GP that was being discussed.

[SmallSoldier]

Lando Norris interview with Channel 4, when asked about Daniel he mentions that once he clics with the car, he will be as fast as we all think:




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