This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Why is there a pattern emerging where Mclaren look good in Friday morning practise then utter trash in the afternoon?
Honestly, it is very annoying. You don't know what to expect. Especially when Lando says "they willl barely make Q3"
There hasn't been a single weekend so far where practice has gotten me excited for quali/race. On the contrary, it just makes the wait miserable.
I haven't heard him ever say this season that "they will barely make Q3." He usually just says the car doesn't feel good or he isn't totally comfortable. While it may be fast sometimes that doesn't mean the car is nice to drive. Lando has come out and publicly said that the car is very tricky, far more than last year. So him saying that he's not comfortable in the car is a statement of fact, not him being negative.
Why is there a pattern emerging where Mclaren look good in Friday morning practise then utter trash in the afternoon?
Honestly, it is very annoying. You don't know what to expect. Especially when Lando says "they willl barely make Q3"
There hasn't been a single weekend so far where practice has gotten me excited for quali/race. On the contrary, it just makes the wait miserable.
I haven't heard him ever say this season that "they will barely make Q3." He usually just says the car doesn't feel good or he isn't totally comfortable. While it may be fast sometimes that doesn't mean the car is nice to drive. Lando has come out and publicly said that the car is very tricky, far more than last year. So him saying that he's not comfortable in the car is a statement of fact, not him being negative.
Why is there a pattern emerging where Mclaren look good in Friday morning practise then utter trash in the afternoon?
Honestly, it is very annoying. You don't know what to expect. Especially when Lando says "they willl barely make Q3"
There hasn't been a single weekend so far where practice has gotten me excited for quali/race. On the contrary, it just makes the wait miserable.
I haven't heard him ever say this season that "they will barely make Q3." He usually just says the car doesn't feel good or he isn't totally comfortable. While it may be fast sometimes that doesn't mean the car is nice to drive. Lando has come out and publicly said that the car is very tricky, far more than last year. So him saying that he's not comfortable in the car is a statement of fact, not him being negative.
He has said that a few times. He's generally pessimistic. Before the season he was hugely optimistic, till he realised how quick Ferrari had become.
Why is there a pattern emerging where Mclaren look good in Friday morning practise then utter trash in the afternoon?
Honestly, it is very annoying. You don't know what to expect. Especially when Lando says "they willl barely make Q3"
There hasn't been a single weekend so far where practice has gotten me excited for quali/race. On the contrary, it just makes the wait miserable.
It's a good thing practice is to go over setup options, aerodynamic refinements, fuel loads and tyre management and not for setting ultimate lap times.
It's been apparent since last season that McLaren doesn't push as hard, run with more fuel or lower engine modes than other teams in practice. Ferrari seems to do the opposite looking quite good in practice and falling back during qualifying and the race.
Have some patience and trust in the process. Rome wasn't built in a day.
You're absolutely right, but it gets said every race weekend lol
We generally do pull closer in qualy, so if the gap in p3 is less than around .4 to Ferrari then I think we have a chance to out qualify them.
But then they drop back in pace in the race again.
You're absolutely right, but it gets said every race weekend lol
We generally do pull closer in qualy, so if the gap in p3 is less than around .4 to Ferrari then I think we have a chance to out qualify them.
But then they drop back in pace in the race again.
FP2 race pace sims didn't too hot for McLaren. Will be something to watch as those are usually fairly representative, even for McLaren.
Let us clarify that by "not too hot" we mean actually abysmal. Those few laps they did on used softs were way off the pace from any of the main rivals (something like 1s off Carlos). I would just ignore today completely and wait for tomorrow. Would be extremely worrying if the numbers today translate into the actual pace tomorrow, but I doubt they went all out today.
They have come back strong after "weaker" looking Fridays.
Let’s wait for the debrief, it serves as a good indicator of how the team views it’s prospects. Also they were testing parts, usually it compromises performance during FP’s.
Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Kimi, will you help Vettel to win his championship this year?
Kimi Raikkonen: I can only drive one car, obviously.
@2018 Singapore Grand Prix drivers press conference.
"Tough first day, tricky conditions playing the biggest part. The temperature made it difficult to keep the tyres in a good window. So, driving the car became a bit of a challenge especially with the wind.
“I think we’ve got a few bits we can definitely improve upon, but we still have quite a bit of work to do. It’s very close with the rest of the field so every little bit is going to help – but it’s also going to make qualifying tough going into tomorrow. Hopefully we can find a little bit extra to make our lives a little bit easier.”
Daniel:
“First day done, it was quite a warm one! The morning was pretty promising. We had a good start to first practice, but then in second practice, competitively, we didn’t seem as good. I’m not really sure why right now, but we’ll look into it. It didn’t feel too bad and it’s all very close. We’re probably only missing a few tenths right now. That said, I’m not too concerned, we’ll work at it tonight. Generally, the feeling isn’t too bad, so we’ll just chip away and find a bit more pace for tomorrow.”
Stella:
“After racing on two street circuits, we’re back on a permanent track this week. That removes one set of challenges, but also adds some different ones.
“Today, we focused on tyre work, set-up and testing aerodynamic parts. The sessions went well, and we’ve plenty of data to study overnight. The field looks very tight at Paul Ricard this weekend and we’ll work hard this evening to ensure we maximise our opportunities for qualifying and the race.”
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They consider fuel / engine mode / amount of laps on the tires for their calculations… Of course it could be way off, but I believe Lando for example had his fastest lap in his 5th lap of his soft tire run… The Mercedes cars were also on what is now the “Friday” engines compared to the Honda cars and Renault who were in fresh engines (and probably higher engine modes to ensure there aren’t any issues with the new units).
But, sometimes (most often than not) their analysis is a little off, so I would take it with a grain of salt… Nevertheless, I do hope that is close to reality this time!
Emag wrote:Those charts look complete BS to me based on what the team said today and what they showed on track. Anyway, let's wait and see.
They might also be using best mini sectors for their calculations (specially in the Quali run)… Lando’s fastest lap (which actually was his 3rd attempt at a fast lap in the soft tires, he aborted his lap in Sector 3 during his second attempt) had a S3 that was 2 tenths slower than his first attempt… That would have place him in within a tenth of Leclerc and ahead of Ocon for P6 in FP2).
It was also interesting that S2 times were a match to both Ferrari’s, but almost 4 tenths behind Alonso in the Alpine in that sector, which is mainly driven by engine power (which validate the idea that they were running a lower engine mode).