2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[diffuser]

A very valid point.
What are your thoughts though that Mclaren took quite a large update to the bargeboards in Hungary whereas Ferrari stopped developing their chassis/ aero before the French GP- 6 weeks before Mclaren brought their Hungary update?

I actually forgot about that.. I am not sure. If the updates of Hungary took away significant resources from the development of the 2022 car, then it was not the smartest move. Perhaps financial motives made them try secure 3rd place by it, instead of looking longterm? Or maybe the design had been ready way before production, and thus it didn’t hurt the development of next years’ car? I don’t know. When comparing to Ferrari, it feels like they have an advantage because of it, don’t you think? They’ve already got more wind tunnel hours available than McLaren. So if any team was in a luxury position to keep developing the 2021 car longer it was Ferrari.

IF McLaren aren't as fast as Ferrari next year, you will not be able to definitively say "it is because of the 2021 Hungry upgrades". It will be because of any number of things. If they're faster than Ferrari....we'll never look back.

[Xero]

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2705838235

Interesting... CAA (Gulf Oil) are advertising for an F1 Account Manager role.
"Gulf Oil is an iconic brand in motorsport and a global partner to one of sport’s most successful teams, McLaren Racing. "
"The individual will be expected to draw upon their knowledge and experience in F1, to help advise and guide the client on the strategic and creative direction of the partnership."

We shouldn't read too much into it, but certainly does suggest a possible growth of the partnership for next season, and return of that livery. Here's hoping!

[McL-H]

IF McLaren aren't as fast as Ferrari next year, you will not be able to definitively say "it is because of the 2021 Hungry upgrades". It will be because of any number of things. If they're faster than Ferrari....we'll never look back.

You’re right! We wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the Hungary upgrades as the cause. Though, what is your take on them bringing their final updates 6 weeks after Ferrari?

[McL-H]

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2705838235

Interesting... CAA (Gulf Oil) are advertising for an F1 Account Manager role.
"Gulf Oil is an iconic brand in motorsport and a global partner to one of sport’s most successful teams, McLaren Racing. "
"The individual will be expected to draw upon their knowledge and experience in F1, to help advise and guide the client on the strategic and creative direction of the partnership."

We shouldn't read too much into it, but certainly does suggest a possible growth of the partnership for next season, and return of that livery. Here's hoping!

Nice catch! I’d love for them to become the title sponsor and to see that livery back on the car. I’m hoping with you!

[SmallSoldier]

IF McLaren aren't as fast as Ferrari next year, you will not be able to definitively say "it is because of the 2021 Hungry upgrades". It will be because of any number of things. If they're faster than Ferrari....we'll never look back.

You’re right! We wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the Hungary upgrades as the cause. Though, what is your take on them bringing their final updates 6 weeks after Ferrari?

That McLaren’s development plan for 2021 and 2022 wasn’t influenced by Ferrari, that’s my take on bringing updates (although minor) 6 weeks after Ferrari (and I would have to double check that time frame)… McLaren had a plan on how they were going to allocated resources between those cars and when the cut-off was going to be made, they stuck to that plan and acted accordingly… Why would McLaren need to change their approach because Ferrari did?

Furthermore, at the beginning stage of development of the 2022 car, you aren’t fabricating much for it yet, since the car is mostly in a concept analysis phase, with probably very little to be fabricated and tested in the wind tunnel while they are still iterating by CFD… They kept the manufacturing team busy working a few developments and spare parts for the season, which is what I would have expected.

[diffuser]

IF McLaren aren't as fast as Ferrari next year, you will not be able to definitively say "it is because of the 2021 Hungry upgrades". It will be because of any number of things. If they're faster than Ferrari....we'll never look back.

You’re right! We wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the Hungary upgrades as the cause. Though, what is your take on them bringing their final updates 6 weeks after Ferrari?

That McLaren’s development plan for 2021 and 2022 wasn’t influenced by Ferrari, that’s my take on bringing updates (although minor) 6 weeks after Ferrari (and I would have to double check that time frame)… McLaren had a plan on how they were going to allocated resources between those cars and when the cut-off was going to be made, they stuck to that plan and acted accordingly… Why would McLaren need to change their approach because Ferrari did?

Furthermore, at the beginning stage of development of the 2022 car, you aren’t fabricating much for it yet, since the car is mostly in a concept analysis phase, with probably very little to be fabricated and tested in the wind tunnel while they are still iterating by CFD… They kept the manufacturing team busy working a few developments and spare parts for the season, which is what I would have expected.

Yeah, that's the other thing. I think what SmallSoldier is saying... Did they find a gap in 2022 development to slot time in there in the wind tunnel? Was it something they had done a while ago in the tunnel but for whatever reason didn't make it through the manufacturing pipe line until they found a gap? All things we'll never know.

[Emag]

On another note. It is now confirmed that Ferrari will bring their power unit upgrade for Turkey. The most trustworthy rumor right now values the update at a +15HP in terms of raw power, which if true, pretty much bridges most, if not all of the gap Ferrari's PU had to Mercedes / Honda this year.

Definitely a big boost for Ferrari. If it is confirmed to be true, then McLaren will no longer have a significant power advantage, and will need to beat Ferrari through the quality of their car alone.

Edit: Further clarifications. According to Binotto, their (Ferrari) gap to the top 2 this year was 60% because of the PU and 40% because of the aerodynamics. Basically, they still won't be able to consistently outperform the top 2 even with this PU upgrade, because they are still lacking quite a bit in terms of chassis performance. But in terms of the battle against McLaren ... it's a huge boost.

[CjC]

On another note. It is now confirmed that Ferrari will bring their power unit upgrade for Turkey. The most trustworthy rumor right now values the update at a +15HP in terms of raw power, which if true, pretty much bridges most, if not all of the gap Ferrari's PU had to Mercedes / Honda this year.

Definitely a big boost for Ferrari. If it is confirmed to be true, then McLaren will no longer have a significant power advantage, and will need to beat Ferrari through the quality of their car alone.

With said power increase Ferrari will out perform Mclaren on all tracks and give them a good chance to snatch a race win this season- probably the one karma had lined up for Mclaren after Alpha Tauri’s, racing points and Alpines respective wins

[SmallSoldier]

On another note. It is now confirmed that Ferrari will bring their power unit upgrade for Turkey. The most trustworthy rumor right now values the update at a +15HP in terms of raw power, which if true, pretty much bridges most, if not all of the gap Ferrari's PU had to Mercedes / Honda this year.

Definitely a big boost for Ferrari. If it is confirmed to be true, then McLaren will no longer have a significant power advantage, and will need to beat Ferrari through the quality of their car alone.

Edit: Further clarifications. According to Binotto, their (Ferrari) gap to the top 2 this year was 60% because of the PU and 40% because of the aerodynamics. Basically, they still won't be able to consistently outperform the top 2 even with this PU upgrade, because they are still lacking quite a bit in terms of chassis performance. But in terms of the battle against McLaren ... it's a huge boost.

The engine upgrade will be definitely be a boost for Ferrari, whether that would tip the balance towards them for the reminder of the season is still be seeing… I believe that the biggest differentiator between Ferrari and McLaren this season has been in regards to Tire performance, most importantly the effect of track temperature on the Tires more than the engine performance of both teams, with McLaren having good weekends on tracks that weren’t necessarily on the power sensitive side like France (as well as bad weekends on races where engines should have had a bigger impact, for example Baku).

We also need to consider that the team has suffered from a couple of weekends where the gap in points has tip on Ferrari’s side due to external factors beyond performance (Hungary and Spa).

Still a bit early to determine how much of an impact the new Ferrari engine will have in what’s left of the Championship, it will definitely be a boost for them, but I’m not sure if it will be the key factor in the fight between them.

[1m0bius1]

The team is certainly not making Daniel feel any better. They completely compromised his race to benefit Lando and in the end it didnt work out.

In any case, I hope this track showed that this design philosophy needs to be binned. When its strong its strong but there will be 4-5 tracks of the year (maybe more) where the car goes MIA and that doesnt win you a championship. They should stop twiddling their thumbs try and as Renault did to suit the car more to Dan's style, we saw this in the 2020 season Daniel was extremely strong that season because he was comfortable with the car, going in week after week with what he had in mind set up wise. At McLaren he just looks lost. Its obvious it doesn't blend in AT ALL with his driving style. Lets hope these are ironed out for 2022 if this isn't possible he should part ways at the end of next season. Perhaps even a return to RBR is on the cards.

[djos]

The team is certainly not making Daniel feel any better. They completely compromised his race to benefit Lando and in the end it didnt work out.

Honestly, I'm a huge Danny Ric fan and I don't understand how you reached this conclusion?

Daniel was screwed by reaching Q3 and being hamstrung by tire strategy as a result. Lando had the benefit of being able to start on a harder tire and get the over-cut, simple as that.

Daniel showed his class and played the team game, cant ask for much more than that.

[SmallSoldier]

The team is certainly not making Daniel feel any better. They completely compromised his race to benefit Lando and in the end it didnt work out.

In any case, I hope this track showed that this design philosophy needs to be binned. When its strong its strong but there will be 4-5 tracks of the year (maybe more) where the car goes MIA and that doesnt win you a championship. They should stop twiddling their thumbs try and as Renault did to suit the car more to Dan's style, we saw this in the 2020 season Daniel was extremely strong that season because he was comfortable with the car, going in week after week with what he had in mind set up wise. At McLaren he just looks lost. Its obvious it doesn't blend in AT ALL with his driving style. Lets hope these are ironed out for 2022 if this isn't possible he should part ways at the end of next season. Perhaps even a return to RBR is on the cards.

The car wasn’t going to win any Championships because the gap to the front was simply too big, not because of their current design philosophy… As you well mention, Daniel was comfortable last season in the Renault, that didn’t made it a Championship contender.

McLaren decided for a philosophy this year (with all the compromises that the Token system implied and the fact that they had to use all their tokens to integrate a new PU) in order to have the best shot at been competitive in the most amount of races… Yes, the car was going to be underperform in 4-5 races as you mention, but if that meant that it was going to be competitive at the sharp end of the midfield in the other 18-19 races, it was the right call.

I’m sure McLaren didn’t expect Daniel to suffer as much as he is adapting to the car… And no, the team shouldn’t build the car around a driver… The team should build the fastest car they can build… It’s up to the drivers to maximize the equipment they are given… The disappointment with Daniel is that even on those races where the car has pace, he isn’t able to extract it, if he would, McLaren would be in a clear 3rd position right now.

In regards to the last race, the call was the right one… Lando had a clear pace advantage over Daniel, part because he is more comfortable in the MCL35M and part because he was in a different strategy… The team goal is to maximize points and Lando had the best possible chance of making that happen, after they changed positions Lando created a gap of 6 seconds over Daniel in a handful of laps… Truth is that it wasn’t enough, once he got into Ocon’s dirty air he just couldn’t attack and therefore the end result was the same, but if there was one driver with potential for more points in Zandvoort, it was Lando, not Daniel and the team make the right call… It is McLaren Formula 1 after all and they have to make the decisions that are the best for the team, not for a particular driver.

[1m0bius1]

The team is certainly not making Daniel feel any better. They completely compromised his race to benefit Lando and in the end it didnt work out.

In any case, I hope this track showed that this design philosophy needs to be binned. When its strong its strong but there will be 4-5 tracks of the year (maybe more) where the car goes MIA and that doesnt win you a championship. They should stop twiddling their thumbs try and as Renault did to suit the car more to Dan's style, we saw this in the 2020 season Daniel was extremely strong that season because he was comfortable with the car, going in week after week with what he had in mind set up wise. At McLaren he just looks lost. Its obvious it doesn't blend in AT ALL with his driving style. Lets hope these are ironed out for 2022 if this isn't possible he should part ways at the end of next season. Perhaps even a return to RBR is on the cards.

The car wasn’t going to win any Championships because the gap to the front was simply too big, not because of their current design philosophy… As you well mention, Daniel was comfortable last season in the Renault, that didn’t made it a Championship contender.

McLaren decided for a philosophy this year (with all the compromises that the Token system implied and the fact that they had to use all their tokens to integrate a new PU) in order to have the best shot at been competitive in the most amount of races… Yes, the car was going to be underperform in 4-5 races as you mention, but if that meant that it was going to be competitive at the sharp end of the midfield in the other 18-19 races, it was the right call.

I’m sure McLaren didn’t expect Daniel to suffer as much as he is adapting to the car… And no, the team shouldn’t build the car around a driver… The team should build the fastest car they can build… It’s up to the drivers to maximize the equipment they are given… The disappointment with Daniel is that even on those races where the car has pace, he isn’t able to extract it, if he would, McLaren would be in a clear 3rd position right now.

In regards to the last race, the call was the right one… Lando had a clear pace advantage over Daniel, part because he is more comfortable in the MCL35M and part because he was in a different strategy… The team goal is to maximize points and Lando had the best possible chance of making that happen, after they changed positions Lando created a gap of 6 seconds over Daniel in a handful of laps… Truth is that it wasn’t enough, once he got into Ocon’s dirty air he just couldn’t attack and therefore the end result was the same, but if there was one driver with potential for more points in Zandvoort, it was Lando, not Daniel and the team make the right call… It is McLaren Formula 1 after all and they have to make the decisions that are the best for the team, not for a particular driver.

Dan was told to back the pack up deliberately before Norris' pitstop to help him with traffic. It must have been more than 5 seconds, probably closer to 10. That's a lot.

It's not guaranteed Norris could have made up the seconds, overtaken some other cars and then overtaken Dan fair and square if they were actually racing yesterday.

And that's without Dan pulling one of Norris' "if you pass me I'll just run you wide" trade mark by now moves.

The only thing Mclaren managed to achieve last race was Norris finishing ahead of Ricciardo by once place which would have been the exact same result (with positions switched) had Mclaren not told Dan to intentionally slow. Was it worth it? No. But what they did manage to achieve is pissing Dan off and making their driver disgruntled for zero benefit. Suspect Dan will have some words with the team and its unlikely we will see this again anytime soon.

2022 cant come fast enough. This car is absolute cancer for Daniel.

[SmallSoldier]

The team is certainly not making Daniel feel any better. They completely compromised his race to benefit Lando and in the end it didnt work out.

In any case, I hope this track showed that this design philosophy needs to be binned. When its strong its strong but there will be 4-5 tracks of the year (maybe more) where the car goes MIA and that doesnt win you a championship. They should stop twiddling their thumbs try and as Renault did to suit the car more to Dan's style, we saw this in the 2020 season Daniel was extremely strong that season because he was comfortable with the car, going in week after week with what he had in mind set up wise. At McLaren he just looks lost. Its obvious it doesn't blend in AT ALL with his driving style. Lets hope these are ironed out for 2022 if this isn't possible he should part ways at the end of next season. Perhaps even a return to RBR is on the cards.

The car wasn’t going to win any Championships because the gap to the front was simply too big, not because of their current design philosophy… As you well mention, Daniel was comfortable last season in the Renault, that didn’t made it a Championship contender.

McLaren decided for a philosophy this year (with all the compromises that the Token system implied and the fact that they had to use all their tokens to integrate a new PU) in order to have the best shot at been competitive in the most amount of races… Yes, the car was going to be underperform in 4-5 races as you mention, but if that meant that it was going to be competitive at the sharp end of the midfield in the other 18-19 races, it was the right call.

I’m sure McLaren didn’t expect Daniel to suffer as much as he is adapting to the car… And no, the team shouldn’t build the car around a driver… The team should build the fastest car they can build… It’s up to the drivers to maximize the equipment they are given… The disappointment with Daniel is that even on those races where the car has pace, he isn’t able to extract it, if he would, McLaren would be in a clear 3rd position right now.

In regards to the last race, the call was the right one… Lando had a clear pace advantage over Daniel, part because he is more comfortable in the MCL35M and part because he was in a different strategy… The team goal is to maximize points and Lando had the best possible chance of making that happen, after they changed positions Lando created a gap of 6 seconds over Daniel in a handful of laps… Truth is that it wasn’t enough, once he got into Ocon’s dirty air he just couldn’t attack and therefore the end result was the same, but if there was one driver with potential for more points in Zandvoort, it was Lando, not Daniel and the team make the right call… It is McLaren Formula 1 after all and they have to make the decisions that are the best for the team, not for a particular driver.

Dan was told to back the pack up deliberately before Norris' pitstop to help him with traffic. It must have been more than 5 seconds, probably closer to 10. That's a lot.

It's not guaranteed Norris could have made up the seconds, overtaken some other cars and then overtaken Dan fair and square if they were actually racing yesterday.

And that's without Dan pulling one of Norris' "if you pass me I'll just run you wide" trade mark by now moves.

The only thing Mclaren managed to achieve last race was Norris finishing ahead of Ricciardo by once place which would have been the exact same result (with positions switched) had Mclaren not told Dan to intentionally slow. Was it worth it? No. But what they did manage to achieve is pissing Dan off and making their driver disgruntled for zero benefit. Suspect Dan will have some words with the team and its unlikely we will see this again anytime soon.

2022 cant come fast enough. This car is absolute cancer for Daniel.

I was watching the Team Stream during the race and can’t recall the team asking Daniel to hold down the pack for Norris… Where did you get that information from?

By the time Norris pitted, he was already 5.7 seconds behind Ocon and Norris was 6 seconds behind Ricciardo… And Norris marginally came back on track behind him (1 second), which with much newer Hard Tires (I believe it was roughly 12 laps newer tires) it just made sense to swap drivers at that point since if any of the 2 drivers had a chance of overtaking the cars in front, it was Norris who had the chance… Why would you purposely delay Norris overtake of Ricciardo with much fresher rubber, on different strategies and with a driver that had effectively more pace? Norris pitted in lap 44, team orders came in and in lap 47 they switch places by lap 52 (5 laps later), Norris was 7 seconds ahead of Ricciardo… That’s a massive pace advantage… Again, I don’t see why you state that Daniel was intentionally slowed to back the pack for Norris, he simply didn’t had the pace.

Yes, ultimately Norris only finish ahead of Daniel and potentially they could have swapped places by the end of the race, but by the end of the race Norris was 12 seconds ahead of Daniel, Daniel was way too far back to change places between them… At the end, it’s hard to fault McLaren, they needed the most amount of points they could get out of the race and Norris was giving them the best chance for that, it didn’t materialize at the end, but is better than not trying.

[Pany]

I must disagree. The only way mclaren has to beat ferrari for third place is give opportunity to ricciardo to improove and make important points. For this sake the psycologixal factor is very important and there was at that point of race nothing to gain anymore.

The car wasn’t going to win any Championships because the gap to the front was simply too big, not because of their current design philosophy… As you well mention, Daniel was comfortable last season in the Renault, that didn’t made it a Championship contender.

McLaren decided for a philosophy this year (with all the compromises that the Token system implied and the fact that they had to use all their tokens to integrate a new PU) in order to have the best shot at been competitive in the most amount of races… Yes, the car was going to be underperform in 4-5 races as you mention, but if that meant that it was going to be competitive at the sharp end of the midfield in the other 18-19 races, it was the right call.

I’m sure McLaren didn’t expect Daniel to suffer as much as he is adapting to the car… And no, the team shouldn’t build the car around a driver… The team should build the fastest car they can build… It’s up to the drivers to maximize the equipment they are given… The disappointment with Daniel is that even on those races where the car has pace, he isn’t able to extract it, if he would, McLaren would be in a clear 3rd position right now.

In regards to the last race, the call was the right one… Lando had a clear pace advantage over Daniel, part because he is more comfortable in the MCL35M and part because he was in a different strategy… The team goal is to maximize points and Lando had the best possible chance of making that happen, after they changed positions Lando created a gap of 6 seconds over Daniel in a handful of laps… Truth is that it wasn’t enough, once he got into Ocon’s dirty air he just couldn’t attack and therefore the end result was the same, but if there was one driver with potential for more points in Zandvoort, it was Lando, not Daniel and the team make the right call… It is McLaren Formula 1 after all and they have to make the decisions that are the best for the team, not for a particular driver.

Dan was told to back the pack up deliberately before Norris' pitstop to help him with traffic. It must have been more than 5 seconds, probably closer to 10. That's a lot.

It's not guaranteed Norris could have made up the seconds, overtaken some other cars and then overtaken Dan fair and square if they were actually racing yesterday.

And that's without Dan pulling one of Norris' "if you pass me I'll just run you wide" trade mark by now moves.

The only thing Mclaren managed to achieve last race was Norris finishing ahead of Ricciardo by once place which would have been the exact same result (with positions switched) had Mclaren not told Dan to intentionally slow. Was it worth it? No. But what they did manage to achieve is pissing Dan off and making their driver disgruntled for zero benefit. Suspect Dan will have some words with the team and its unlikely we will see this again anytime soon.

2022 cant come fast enough. This car is absolute cancer for Daniel.

I was watching the Team Stream during the race and can’t recall the team asking Daniel to hold down the pack for Norris… Where did you get that information from?

By the time Norris pitted, he was already 5.7 seconds behind Ocon and Norris was 6 seconds behind Ricciardo… And Norris marginally came back on track behind him (1 second), which with much newer Hard Tires (I believe it was roughly 12 laps newer tires) it just made sense to swap drivers at that point since if any of the 2 drivers had a chance of overtaking the cars in front, it was Norris who had the chance… Why would you purposely delay Norris overtake of Ricciardo with much fresher rubber, on different strategies and with a driver that had effectively more pace? Norris pitted in lap 44, team orders came in and in lap 47 they switch places by lap 52 (5 laps later), Norris was 7 seconds ahead of Ricciardo… That’s a massive pace advantage… Again, I don’t see why you state that Daniel was intentionally slowed to back the pack for Norris, he simply didn’t had the pace.

Yes, ultimately Norris only finish ahead of Daniel and potentially they could have swapped places by the end of the race, but by the end of the race Norris was 12 seconds ahead of Daniel, Daniel was way too far back to change places between them… At the end, it’s hard to fault McLaren, they needed the most amount of points they could get out of the race and Norris was giving them the best chance for that, it didn’t materialize at the end, but is better than not trying.