2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[Xero]

And to add more to this horrible "race pace"...is the start
And do not tell me that there is a lower engine mode or sandbagging here. Australia is not looking good for now.

Perhaps, this start is poor, and clearly there is an execution problem, but for the other information, it isn't about sandbagging, it is about that one video being little use on it's own, which it isn't - for which there are various reasons.

We've seen a couple of starts, I don't know why there are issues. I don't know how many starts have started well vs not, I don't know if in these starts we see they are deliberately trying to push the start procedure close to the edge to minimise timing and optimise the procedure.

None of this is known.

I know there are "little games" that teams are doing, some willing to prove more for the sponsors and media and others to hide real pace, but for the moment imo, and I mention this is my personal opinion, McLaren may look ok for one lap pace but for "race pace", the huge tire advantage from last year has vanished, The deg is actually insane. Seems like tires just fall off the cliff and probably the rear are completely useless beyond that.
I think the shorter gear ratios are a mistake. Combined with the burst of deployment in acceleration, it's highly likely it's causing wheelspin out of corners which is normally quite hard for drivers to control.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBgrswfWoAA ... name=large

Buy I pray that mcLaren will prove me (and others placing the team as 4th best) wrong.

That's not been the case before that graph though, the stint times were very consistent with little to no drop off indicating little tyre wear, and that McLaren had kept that trait from last season. That graph very much looks like he hit traffic to me.

[FittingMechanics]

Btw if McLaren is not 4th in Australia that is quite bad for the other teams as McLaren is not pushing forward upgrades, they will bring a bigger package after they have time to marinate all the ideas they see. Should be worth quite a bit.

[Avocado]

You're right about something, they won't be 4th, but 1st.

[McFAN]

[kc_f1]

The race pace doesn't look too impressive. Haven't seen any race simulation stint in the 1:37s or 1:36s which others are doing.

[bauc]

The race pace doesn't look too impressive. Haven't seen any race simulation stint in the 1:37s or 1:36s which others are doing.

So we are now 2 seconds of the race pace? come on people, its testing, maybe 1.39 is their target lap to get better understanding on fuel consumption, battery, tires ect.... you cant really tell from the outside what their program is aiming for .... and do not compare to last year, as it was a proven concept that needed to be fine tuned, this are totally new regs that require different approach.

[McFAN]

The race pace doesn't look too impressive. Haven't seen any race simulation stint in the 1:37s or 1:36s which others are doing.

It's looking fairly similar to Verstappen's, a few tenths quicker actually.

[Seanspeed]

The race pace doesn't look too impressive. Haven't seen any race simulation stint in the 1:37s or 1:36s which others are doing.

Nobody has done race stints in the 1:36's. Long runs are not the same thing as race stints.

Piastri's race sim is easily the most impressive we've seen so far in testing. Like over half a second faster than what Verstappen is doing(at the same points in their race sims) and also over what Hamilton did last week.

In fact, Piastri might be the first to get into the 1:36's on a race sim in these coming laps now that he's on his last stint with a fairly long 2nd stint.

EDIT: Yep, in the 1:36's now.

This is gonna put Mclaren back up at the top as one of the favorites. Or at least it should.

[Def]

The second leg of the race

[Seanspeed]

Piastri is miles faster than any other race sim so far. Mid 1:36's now. Verstappen has not even managed even a high 1:36 and is coming to the end of his sim so he wont break it.

Also for comparison with Hamilton last week, this is the same 2nd stint from Ferrari:

1:38.955(H)
1:38.568
1:38.797
1:38.776
1:38.468
1:39.152
1:39.010
1:38.591
1:38.967
1:39.119
1:38.926
1:38.906
1:38.879
1:39.060
1:38.972
1:39.543
1:39.103

[Xero]

The race pace doesn't look too impressive. Haven't seen any race simulation stint in the 1:37s or 1:36s which others are doing.

Nobody has done race stints in the 1:36's. Long runs are not the same thing as race stints.

Piastri's race sim is easily the most impressive we've seen so far in testing. Like over half a second faster than what Verstappen is doing(at the same points in their race sims) and also over what Hamilton did last week.

In fact, Piastri might be the first to get into the 1:36's on a race sim in these coming laps now that he's on his last stint with a fairly long 2nd stint.

EDIT: Yep, in the 1:36's now.

This is gonna put Mclaren back up at the top as one of the favorites. Or at least it should.

Yes, this third stint on the race sim looks very good.

[upsidedowntoast]

And to add more to this horrible "race pace"...is the start
And do not tell me that there is a lower engine mode or sandbagging here. Australia is not looking good for now.

Perhaps, this start is poor, and clearly there is an execution problem, but for the other information, it isn't about sandbagging, it is about that one video being little use on it's own, which it isn't - for which there are various reasons.

We've seen a couple of starts, I don't know why there are issues. I don't know how many starts have started well vs not, I don't know if in these starts we see they are deliberately trying to push the start procedure close to the edge to minimise timing and optimise the procedure.

None of this is known.

I know there are "little games" that teams are doing, some willing to prove more for the sponsors and media and others to hide real pace, but for the moment imo, and I mention this is my personal opinion, McLaren may look ok for one lap pace but for "race pace", the huge tire advantage from last year has vanished, The deg is actually insane. Seems like tires just fall off the cliff and probably the rear are completely useless beyond that.
I think the shorter gear ratios are a mistake. Combined with the burst of deployment in acceleration, it's highly likely it's causing wheelspin out of corners which is normally quite hard for drivers to control.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBgrswfWoAA ... name=large

Buy I pray that mcLaren will prove me (and others placing the team as 4th best) wrong.

i couldve sworn last week that mclaren had the best tyre deg of the big four, what do you mean?

[SoulPancake13]

The race pace doesn't look too impressive. Haven't seen any race simulation stint in the 1:37s or 1:36s which others are doing.

Nobody has done race stints in the 1:36's. Long runs are not the same thing as race stints.

Piastri's race sim is easily the most impressive we've seen so far in testing. Like over half a second faster than what Verstappen is doing(at the same points in their race sims) and also over what Hamilton did last week.

In fact, Piastri might be the first to get into the 1:36's on a race sim in these coming laps now that he's on his last stint with a fairly long 2nd stint.

EDIT: Yep, in the 1:36's now.

This is gonna put Mclaren back up at the top as one of the favorites. Or at least it should.

Back into the mid 37s now. Might have been too quick a pace to start the stint

[SilviuAgo]

...

i couldve sworn last week that mclaren had the best tyre deg of the big four, what do you mean?

Last run by Lando remained a bit more "stable", but once tires went it became hard for him to control. Two lock ups and off-tracks and then he went to the pits. So although laptimes stayed more under control, once the tires went, car was hard to keep on track



Imo tire deg is not looking good.

[McFAN]