2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

That season of having to prioritise aero correlation in FP sessions seems to have taught them something procedure wise for the weekend.

Is that why they go slower? I'm not sure to be honest, perhaps that's the answer.

Would be great to understand the reasons why teams approach it differently and they consider the benefits.
One person mentioned that going race pace helped Ferrari as their drivers got up to speed better.

Another downside will be wear and tear, but I'd imagine there's a lot more to consider than that.

It’s just the approach, they use FP1 and FP2 to try and get food balance on the car, ensure that “the toys” (differential settings, torque maps, etc) are optimal and to do that, there is no reason to push the car to the limit… There is also the engine situation, on the first engine they needed to save mileage because it was also the race engine, now on the second engine, they need it to last another 7 races (Fridays) to avoid having to use the race engine in Practice.

To get a good setup you don’t need to be on the limit, Mercedes actually is a good example of that when in testing they wouldn’t go for a fast lap until the last couple of days (when it was 2 weeks).

It’s not about sandbagging, it’s an smart approach to the weekend… Build a good setup, consistent runs to gather data and look for performance on Saturdays


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All of which I agree with. Yet other teams go faster and I'm sure not without reason, so it'd be a great insight I think to hear from them why they go faster or slower, and what makes the pace right for them.

[SmallSoldier]

Is that why they go slower? I'm not sure to be honest, perhaps that's the answer.

Would be great to understand the reasons why teams approach it differently and they consider the benefits.
One person mentioned that going race pace helped Ferrari as their drivers got up to speed better.

Another downside will be wear and tear, but I'd imagine there's a lot more to consider than that.

It’s just the approach, they use FP1 and FP2 to try and get food balance on the car, ensure that “the toys” (differential settings, torque maps, etc) are optimal and to do that, there is no reason to push the car to the limit… There is also the engine situation, on the first engine they needed to save mileage because it was also the race engine, now on the second engine, they need it to last another 7 races (Fridays) to avoid having to use the race engine in Practice.

To get a good setup you don’t need to be on the limit, Mercedes actually is a good example of that when in testing they wouldn’t go for a fast lap until the last couple of days (when it was 2 weeks).

It’s not about sandbagging, it’s an smart approach to the weekend… Build a good setup, consistent runs to gather data and look for performance on Saturdays


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All of which I agree with. Yet other teams go faster and I'm sure not without reason, so it'd be a great insight I think to hear from them why they go faster or slower, and what makes the pace right for them.

Would be interesting to hear from the team themselves… Going “slow” is a function of engine modes and fuel (not the drivers going deliberately slow)… My guess (and just a guess) is that they know pretty well how high fuel performance translates to low fuel… If that is true, the more fuel you have in the car, the closer you are to actual race conditions and with the tires been a critical factor in the race, if you can nail a setup that works well tire wise on high fuel, you have a good race car and potentially a good qualifying car… Sometimes though, that approach may leave you behind in Qualy (as it has been the case in a couple of races), since the priority is Sunday, but on those weekends, the team has more often than not made a lot of ground during the race, which will show that they are having the right approach to the weekend.


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[the EDGE]

Would be interesting to hear from the team themselves… Going “slow” is a function of engine modes and fuel (not the drivers going deliberately slow)… My guess (and just a guess) is that they know pretty well how high fuel performance translates to low fuel… If that is true, the more fuel you have in the car, the closer you are to actual race conditions and with the tires been a critical factor in the race, if you can nail a setup that works well tire wise on high fuel, you have a good race car and potentially a good qualifying car… Sometimes though, that approach may leave you behind in Qualy (as it has been the case in a couple of races), since the priority is Sunday, but on those weekends, the team has more often than not made a lot of ground during the race, which will show that they are having the right approach to the weekend.


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I thought we already had…they were just going about their work and also had fast lap times deleted due to ‘exploring track limits’

A positive day because we tested a lot of different things, but we just haven’t put everything together really. Of the things we tested, some were good, some not as good, and we now have a better understanding of the car than we did last weekend. Hopefully we can choose all the best things from the work we did today and progress tomorrow to make sure we’re that little bit quicker than we were last week. Today was a productive day and let's see what we can do tomorrow

It’s been an interesting day – from the classification it doesn’t look like a good day, but we actually made some progress in a few areas

A busy day today, with a programme containing lots of running and lots of tests. The tyre allocation this weekend is softer than it was for the Styrian Grand Prix, and it was important to understand the degradation and behaviour of the softest tyre, which we haven’t run at this circuit before. There was also a change in conditions, with a much cooler track today, when compared to last weekend.

We also had Pirelli’s new prototype tyres to test today, plus, as usual, we had a few new parts and wanted to do all the normal set-up work to improve the pace of the car. So, a very busy day. We’ve gathered lots of information and tonight we’ll look at what we’ve accumulated, with a view to capitalising on it in our qualifying performance tomorrow and our preparation for Sunday

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/2021/aus ... -practice/

[Ryar]

[the EDGE]

It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow

Lando has a nicer buffer between himself and the rest of the midfield, with the rest of the top 10, bar George, starting on the softs, who should all drop off pretty quickly

This week Ferrari won’t have a strategy advantage, their rubber may be fresh but at least it’s the same compound

McLaren spent a lot of Friday getting an understanding of the tyre and working through set-up, hopefully that will translate into better wear

Whether that will mean Lando has any chance of fighting for a podium is another question… there was a big race pace deficit to the front last week, but you never know, the Mercs are clearly not invulnerable here, however hard it may be

Really pleased Lando’s said he’s going to go for it at the start. What more can we ask of him right now? He has a sensible head and if he needs to save rubber for a fight with Ferrari then he quickly figure that out, in the mean time… GO GO LANDOOOOOO

Hopefully Daniel will have a race as good as last week, but without the power failure this time round . With most of the cars in front on softs perhaps a top 10 finish is on the cards

[SmallSoldier]

It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow

Lando has a nicer buffer between himself and the rest of the midfield, with the rest of the top 10, bar George, starting on the softs, who should all drop off pretty quickly

This week Ferrari won’t have a strategy advantage, their rubber may be fresh but at least it’s the same compound

McLaren spent a lot of Friday getting an understanding of the tyre and working through set-up, hopefully that will translate into better wear

Whether that will mean Lando has any chance of fighting for a podium is another question… there was a big race pace deficit to the front last week, but you never know, the Mercs are clearly not invulnerable here, however hard it may be

Really pleased Lando’s said he’s going to go for it at the start. What more can we ask of him right now? He has a sensible head and if he needs to save rubber for a fight with Ferrari then he quickly figure that out, in the mean time… GO GO LANDOOOOOO

Hopefully Daniel will have a race as good as last week, but without the power failure this time round . With most of the cars in front on softs perhaps a top 10 finish is on the cards

I couldn’t agree with you more… My hope is that Lando can stick close to Max for at least a handful of laps and stay in the tow, if he can be close to their rhythm and with the tow, he has a chance to keep Perez / Mercs behind for a while and build a gap to the rest of the midfield looking into the PitStops… If he can manage to do that, at least P5 should be in the cards.

The race should also be different to last week’s in which Max and Lewis were really pushing in that first stint (Max trying to break the tow and build a gap, Lewis trying to keep himself in within the undercut)… This week, with Lando and Perez as a buffer and with a softer compound compared to last race, I wouldn’t be surprised if Max’s pace is a bit slower, taking care of his tires while the rest behind him (especially Mercedes) are in dirty air and wearing their tires out… As a matter of fact, it might in Red Bull’s best interest to drag Lando along with them as a buffer against Lewis (not much different than when Lando was asked to keep Daniel in his DRS during this same race in 2019 to avoid the charge from Kimi.


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[SmallSoldier]

Lando’s radio after qualifying… I don’t think he knew how good of a lap it really was:




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[the EDGE]

It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow

Lando has a nicer buffer between himself and the rest of the midfield, with the rest of the top 10, bar George, starting on the softs, who should all drop off pretty quickly

This week Ferrari won’t have a strategy advantage, their rubber may be fresh but at least it’s the same compound

McLaren spent a lot of Friday getting an understanding of the tyre and working through set-up, hopefully that will translate into better wear

Whether that will mean Lando has any chance of fighting for a podium is another question… there was a big race pace deficit to the front last week, but you never know, the Mercs are clearly not invulnerable here, however hard it may be

Really pleased Lando’s said he’s going to go for it at the start. What more can we ask of him right now? He has a sensible head and if he needs to save rubber for a fight with Ferrari then he quickly figure that out, in the mean time… GO GO LANDOOOOOO

Hopefully Daniel will have a race as good as last week, but without the power failure this time round . With most of the cars in front on softs perhaps a top 10 finish is on the cards

I couldn’t agree with you more… My hope is that Lando can stick close to Max for at least a handful of laps and stay in the tow, if he can be close to their rhythm and with the tow, he has a chance to keep Perez / Mercs behind for a while and build a gap to the rest of the midfield looking into the PitStops… If he can manage to do that, at least P5 should be in the cards.

The race should also be different to last week’s in which Max and Lewis were really pushing in that first stint (Max trying to break the tow and build a gap, Lewis trying to keep himself in within the undercut)… This week, with Lando and Perez as a buffer and with a softer compound compared to last race, I wouldn’t be surprised if Max’s pace is a bit slower, taking care of his tires while the rest behind him (especially Mercedes) are in dirty air and wearing their tires out… As a matter of fact, it might in Red Bull’s best interest to drag Lando along with them as a buffer against Lewis (not much different than when Lando was asked to keep Daniel in his DRS during this same race in 2019 to avoid the charge from Kimi.


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Likewise… very good points indeed

Here’s hoping your right!

[SmallSoldier]

Qualifying Report:

Lando:

“Very happy! My best result in qualifying in Formula 1, so a big achievement for us as a team but also for myself. It was one of the best laps I’ve done. To only be half a tenth off pole is a great achievement for everyone. It makes you miss it from your early career! I don’t think we could've done a lot more, so P2 is awesome for us and a great position to start from tomorrow. Let's see what we can do in the race.”

Daniel:

“Unfortunately, a similar result to last week. It did feel better, but it’s just not translating into lap-time. In Q1, I was pretty happy with the laps. I felt like I’d done quite well but I was still half a second off. So, it’s a bit of a head-scratch. I don’t really know where else to get the extra speed from at the moment, so I’ll keep chipping away. We’ve got the tyre choice tomorrow, so we’ll try to make another good start like last week and keep sailing through the field.”

Seidl:

“It’s been nine years since McLaren has qualified on the front row, so P2 today for Lando is a great result for the entire team and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP. A reward for the hard work that everyone has been putting in over the last month to keep improving the car and make this possible today. Lando’s been flying, continuously improving with every single lap all through the qualifying sessions.

On Daniel’s side, it was another challenging qualifying session which ended with him in P13 – but at this circuit and with the strategy options we’re expecting, he can have a good race from there. While we’ve had a good moment, it’s important to switch our focus to tomorrow, which is when the points get distributed. The objective is clear: we’ve got to get Daniel back into the points and score another big result with Lando for our battle in the Constructors’ Championship.”

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[CjC]

It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow

Lando has a nicer buffer between himself and the rest of the midfield, with the rest of the top 10, bar George, starting on the softs, who should all drop off pretty quickly

This week Ferrari won’t have a strategy advantage, their rubber may be fresh but at least it’s the same compound

McLaren spent a lot of Friday getting an understanding of the tyre and working through set-up, hopefully that will translate into better wear

Whether that will mean Lando has any chance of fighting for a podium is another question… there was a big race pace deficit to the front last week, but you never know, the Mercs are clearly not invulnerable here, however hard it may be

Really pleased Lando’s said he’s going to go for it at the start. What more can we ask of him right now? He has a sensible head and if he needs to save rubber for a fight with Ferrari then he quickly figure that out, in the mean time… GO GO LANDOOOOOO

Hopefully Daniel will have a race as good as last week, but without the power failure this time round . With most of the cars in front on softs perhaps a top 10 finish is on the cards

I couldn’t agree with you more… My hope is that Lando can stick close to Max for at least a handful of laps and stay in the tow, if he can be close to their rhythm and with the tow, he has a chance to keep Perez / Mercs behind for a while and build a gap to the rest of the midfield looking into the PitStops… If he can manage to do that, at least P5 should be in the cards.

The race should also be different to last week’s in which Max and Lewis were really pushing in that first stint (Max trying to break the tow and build a gap, Lewis trying to keep himself in within the undercut)… This week, with Lando and Perez as a buffer and with a softer compound compared to last race, I wouldn’t be surprised if Max’s pace is a bit slower, taking care of his tires while the rest behind him (especially Mercedes) are in dirty air and wearing their tires out… As a matter of fact, it might in Red Bull’s best interest to drag Lando along with them as a buffer against Lewis (not much different than when Lando was asked to keep Daniel in his DRS during this same race in 2019 to avoid the charge from Kimi.


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What?
Like for ever??

[DragonSGC]

A thread from with the analysis of Lando's Lap with lots of driving style Jargon that isn't really spoken about in interviews as drivers try to skirt around giving direct details.

[mwillems]

I don't want to say it too loud, for fear of being ridiculed here, but I feel like Lando has a chance to keep P2 on merit....

[101FlyingDutchman]

Nah I don’t think so. The race pace isn’t going to be there to do it I believe. Still anything p5 up is always going to be called a result. I sincerely hope that Ferrari doesn’t carve through the field on race pace. Very much looking forward to tomorrow though!!

[the EDGE]

I don't want to say it too loud, for fear of being ridiculed here, but I feel like Lando has a chance to keep P2 on merit....

Quick… someone poke mwillems… he’s typing in his sleep again… happy dreams my friend

But on a serious not, 9 long years we’ve waited for this, I didn’t realise it had been that long

Does anyone still remember the days we sat around dreaming of fighting for podiums… well we’re here now, and here on hard work & merit, and I hope we’re all enjoying it

Mwillems, I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re fighting for wins, but sadly I don’t think the race pace is there yet.

Perhaps with another year of development or tokens to update the chassis from last year things might have been different, but to be completely honest, I don’t think I could be any happier than I am today already

[Wouter]

I hope they will not be removed. So I will post two video's.





This one will not be removed I hope.