2016 McLaren F1 Team - Honda

[mrluke]

They had correlation issues between the the CFD and the real track going back to 2011 / 2012, even though at the time their car was doing okay they couldnt understand why as it was outperforming their data.

Evidence of the "theoretical" cars goes back to their trademark stiff chassis that seemed to spend more time on 3 wheels than 4. This was because their aero was more pitch sensitive than any of their competition meaning their car had a much narrower performance window and was also much more difficult to set up.

IIRC their first car of this more exploitable downforce was the 2014 which didnt go very well so as the season went on you could see the car getting stiffer and stiffer .. back to old ways.

Fundamentally the team have 3/4 brand new cars in a row all based around different concepts. This years is probably the first one that is more of an evolution and you can see that in the slightly improved results. Every year we get press releases from Mclaren blaming their lack of performance on one thing or another and promising WDC "next" season. I cant see that there is much difference between the Renault PU and the Honda PU but RBR are able to put the Renault on pole at Monaco. While Mclaren remain 1.7s off the pace.

We saw that Mercedes spent 3 years preparing for the change in regs and it has taken the other teams 3 years to close the gap. I would have expected Mclaren Honda to be taking advantage of this lesson and trying to make strides up the grid for next year rather than saying they are focusing 50% on it when we are halfway through 2016!

[diffuser]

The arrival of chief engineer Peter Prodromou from Red Bull last year has served as a force for change on this front, and his views on taking a new approach have been embraced by McLaren.

The priority is no longer pursuing theoretical peak downforce figures - it is about achieving maximum useable downforce.

In simple terms, being able to use 100 per cent of 700kg of downforce is better than only being able to use 80 per cent of 750kg.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said after the unveiling of the new McLaren MP4-30 that chasing peak figures that cannot be replicated on track is now a thing of the past.

"This concept of driver friendly, it is maybe new - and part of this new philosophy," explained the Frenchman.

"We are trying to make sure we can give our drivers the ability to exploit the car to the limits, which means getting this performance package.

"If you have a performing car and a driver cannot drive it, then it is obviously a waste.

"We want to make sure our drivers can drive the car to the limit, which means we will exploit to the limit. And this is where the new philosophy is turning to."

This translates to: "we couldn't get the numbers we needed"

Personally I think he was jusr filling space.

[Andres125sx]

Every year we get press releases from Mclaren blaming their lack of performance on one thing or another and promising WDC "next" season.

False, they never promised WDC for next season, at least not this one (2016), neither past one (2015) nor previous one (2014) so sorry but that´s plain false.

I cant see that there is much difference between the Renault PU and the Honda PU

You can´t see much difference, not even in race trims?

We saw that Mercedes spent 3 years preparing for the change in regs and it has taken the other teams 3 years to close the gap. I would have expected Mclaren Honda to be taking advantage of this lesson and trying to make strides up the grid for next year rather than saying they are focusing 50% on it when we are halfway through 2016!

First of all, we´re not halfway through 2016, we didn´t even reach first third of the season yet. Remember this is longest F1 season ever

Second, did you expect them to make strides up the grid before spending any token? Then sorry but that´s your problem, not Honda or McLaren one

As stated, they´ve improved quite a lot perfomance wise compared to 2015, and they´ve improved dramatically reliability wise with winter work, but since they´ve not used any in-season token yet, I´m not sure what were you expecting for this first third of the season we´ve not completed yet.

IMHO they´ve done a great job with the few tokens they spent in winter, and I can´t wait to see the result of their job when they finally use more tokens. That´s the point where you should/could expect them making strides up the grip, but not before.

[mclaren111]

Button:

"Although this is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, and very power-hungry, one of the strengths of our chassis is stability under heavy braking," he said.

Let's hope for the best [-o< [-o< [-o<

[Nuvolari]

Looking back at some qualifying times from 2014 to 2015 for McLaren, they lost the least amount of lap time in Singapore, Hungary and curiously enough, Canada.

Best Qualifying Lap for McLaren in Montreal, 2014:

1:16.182

Best Qualifying Lap for McLaren in Montreal, 2015:

1:16.276

So, despite going from the best PU on the grid in '14 to the worst PU on the grid '15, they only lost 0.094s of lap time in Montreal. This has made me very happy as a McLaren fan, because in other tracks they lost a lot more lap time from 2014 to 2015, so the improvements they have made from 2015 to 2016 from the PU angle are not easily felt.

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say if my calculations are correct, I expect McLaren to fight with Red Bull in qualifying. But fuel saving might kill them in the race though.

[Vasconia]

Button:

"Although this is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, and very power-hungry, one of the strengths of our chassis is stability under heavy braking," he said.

Let's hope for the best [-o< [-o< [-o<

Ok, they will brake very well, after having done a lap 2 seconds slower because of fuel saving...

[GoranF1]

Button:

"Although this is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, and very power-hungry, one of the strengths of our chassis is stability under heavy braking," he said.

Let's hope for the best [-o< [-o< [-o<

Ok, they will brake very well, after having done a lap 2 seconds slower because of fuel saving...

If Honda improves ERS for this race, and Mobil1 new fuel works....who says there will be fuel saving?

[proteus]

I expect them somwhere between 12th and 15th on the grid for the qualifying.

For the race it all depends what is it going to happen. If Mercedes, Ferrari, Redbull, Williams, FI and STR have no serious problems during the race, than top 12 spots are taken. Haas itself is a mystery, the engine is powerfull and a tyre-friendly car may lead them to another points scoring position.

It just might be a tough race to watch for us Mclaren fans.

[CjC]

Didn't Mclaren do well at the power sensitive Bahrain track?

[Gaz.]

Didn't Mclaren do well at the power sensitive Bahrain track?

10th & DNF? 12th & 14th in qualifying. I can't see the situation improving in Montreal.

[godlameroso]

Why not?

[Gaz.]

Why not?

Because nobody else is standing still either. Montreal is a power circuit and according to Mclaren their chassis is the bees knees so their deficit must be down to the PU. Aside from crashes and brain fade/finger trouble Mclaren would not be expected to beat Mercedes, Ferrari or RBR at any track, you'd expect them to be beaten by Williams at most venues and you'd expect them to lose to Force India at tracks like this so as awful as it seems, 11th & 12th are realistic and anything else is a bonus this weekend.

[basti313]

Why not?

This is the question McLaren fans ask since 3 years. And the answer since 3 years is the same: Because the car is weak.

The better question is: Why should they suddenly be better?
The ERS/fuel upgrade will not cure it, Renault is bringing its good upgrade, Ferrari will bring an upgrade. The chassis would be out of Q3 without the Ves crash in Monaco...I see nothing which would give me hope on a bet for Q3.

[mclaren111]

Agree

Top 10 would be a miracle of gigantic proportions

[Vasconia]

Why not?

Because nobody else is standing still either. Montreal is a power circuit and according to Mclaren their chassis is the bees knees so their deficit must be down to the PU. Aside from crashes and brain fade/finger trouble Mclaren would not be expected to beat Mercedes, Ferrari or RBR at any track, you'd expect them to be beaten by Williams at most venues and you'd expect them to lose to Force India at tracks like this so as awful as it seems, 11th & 12th are realistic and anything else is a bonus this weekend.

And we should wait to see if TR can peform here, because they have a good car.

So...
2 Mercedes
2 Ferrari
2 RB
2 Williams
2 FI
2 Toro Rosso

13 and 14 for McLaren? and be careful with Haas...