2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[diffuser]

Fast in the slow corners

Regardless, McLaren was satisfied with the way the car was presented. The upgrade presented in Barcelona also proved its worth on the totally opposite circuit of Monte Carlo. Norris drove on par with Ferrari and McLaren in the slow corners. Mercedes only saved itself in the fast passages. "We had the speed of Mercedes here. That's a positive development," praised Seidl.

The same holds true for Baku and Montreal, two circuits where the majority of corners are in the sub-130 km/h range and where traction plays an important role. There, however, the top speed problem must be solved. Otherwise Mercedes will be ahead again. Blessed realization: The aerodynamics of the MCL36 work stably at different ground clearances and vehicle movements. That was not always so. And that puts you a little ahead of Mercedes
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... ricciardo/

Think Baku will be interesting. Merc will have it's challenges there as well with Porposing with the extreme top speed.

You have a Slow section at Baku but you can't run the same rear wing as Monaco cause it will cost you on the straight. This will change everything. Not sure how bumpy it is either.

McLaren really haven't tested the new Front brakes. Montreal will be a test and a half! Montreal doesn't have any coreners really just a bunch of chicanes. The McLaren is really good at chicanes.

[Ground Effect]

Daniel probably needs to find the limits of this car. I get the impression he lacks confidence in the car and thinks he will crash if he drives the way he feels comfortable with. Maybe he just needs to ignore the feel, believe in the physics and car dynamics. Maybe an off here and there, but he’ll eventually find the limit.

[chrisgr]

Daniel probably needs to find the limits of this car. I get the impression he lacks confidence in the car and thinks he will crash if he drives the way he feels comfortable with. Maybe he just needs to ignore the feel, believe in the physics and car dynamics. Maybe an off here and there, but he’ll eventually find the limit.

I totally agree. This sounds almost as fear. If a driver, at this level, starts to fear, things can only have one outcome.

[Macklaren]

I think this is really smart from Zak. We have seen over the years that drivers find an extra gear when they realize their seat is under threat. In recent years alone. GAS, BOT, RAI, GIO, MAG...the list goes on. I don't think there is a realistic threat to Daniel's seat (unless Pato has a MEGA AD test) but does not hurt to light a bit of a fire underneath him for the next few races. Then decide int the summer break...

[JPower]

Daniel probably needs to find the limits of this car. I get the impression he lacks confidence in the car and thinks he will crash if he drives the way he feels comfortable with. Maybe he just needs to ignore the feel, believe in the physics and car dynamics. Maybe an off here and there, but he’ll eventually find the limit.

That's what Sainz is doing at the moment. I think he has a much longer leash than DR does at the moment though.

DR is between a rock and a hard place.

[continuum16]

RIC's affection by people inside and outside the paddock is well known. Although obviously team dynamic and morale is important, let's look at this thing from high level, from the perspective of the team/team boss:

Team goals
Short term: Improve your gap to the front of the field, both in terms of points and pace.
Medium term: Be able to win races on a semi-regular basis.
Long term: Compete for and win WCC and/or WDC.

Medium and long term goals are the least affected by the drivers (although they do have an impact, obviously), and are more reliant on things like personnel, budget, infrastructure, etc. The most immediate impact a driver can have is in the short term.

After steady improvement in terms of points and pace from 2018-20, 2021 saw significantly reduced improvements compared to previous years (although the team did not regress, at least in terms of pace; it was generally similar or a slight improvement).

Predicament
Driver A is 10 years younger, has scored more points and podiums, leads the qualifying head to head, and leads the race head to head after 1.5 years compared to the other driver. However, Driver B has more experience and a more proven track record, albeit not at your team, and has beaten driver A on a handful of occasions. Driver B has acknowledged the difficulty in adjusting to your car due to its inherent characteristics, which are largely a consequence of design direction and development methodology employed at the team since before Driver B's arrival.

If Driver B is believed to have the ability to match and/or more consistently beat Driver A's current level if the car has different inherent characteristics, do you replace Driver B and maintain the same car characteristics as before, or do you redevelop the car concept to suit Driver B more, at the potential cost of Driver A's performance or potential loss in absolute performance compared to the field? Keep in mind that it is not guaranteed that any replacement for Driver B will avoid similar problems.

Solution?
If you want to achieve your short term goal, to me it would seem easier to replace a driver than gamble on a complete redevelopment of the car concept to eradicate certain attributes. Or, to put it this way, is it more likely that a new driver would do worse than the outgoing one, or is it more likely that the team's overall competitive prospects are diminished by a change in car philosophy?

I see both sides, but to me it seems more likely that the team would mess up the car, but that's just me. NOTE: 99% of this can be avoided if "Driver B" would adapt to the current car philosophy...

[runningmanz]

Dan back in the simulator to try and reduce the deficit to Lando

"As always, after a race weekend – and it doesn’t matter what the result is or how the race went – the thing I do is thank my drivers for trying hard all weekend and doing the job they did on track,” said Seidl. “It’s simply important as always to stay calm and focussed and committed on both sides, which Daniel is, which we are.”

The team’s post-race analysis will help Ricciardo address his “difficulties in order to extract the maximum from the car compared to Lando,” said Seidl. “We will do some simulator work as well before we head to Baku and then hopefully we can make another small step these next races in order to get Daniel to be one hundred percent feeling comfortable with the car – especially when it comes to qualifying, when you have to push it to the absolute limit.”

https://www.racefans.net/2022/06/03/rac ... p-03-06-5/

[McG]

RIC's affection by people inside and outside the paddock is well known. Although obviously team dynamic and morale is important, let's look at this thing from high level, from the perspective of the team/team boss:

Team goals
Short term: Improve your gap to the front of the field, both in terms of points and pace.
Medium term: Be able to win races on a semi-regular basis.
Long term: Compete for and win WCC and/or WDC.

Medium and long term goals are the least affected by the drivers (although they do have an impact, obviously), and are more reliant on things like personnel, budget, infrastructure, etc. The most immediate impact a driver can have is in the short term.

After steady improvement in terms of points and pace from 2018-20, 2021 saw significantly reduced improvements compared to previous years (although the team did not regress, at least in terms of pace; it was generally similar or a slight improvement).

Predicament
Driver A is 10 years younger, has scored more points and podiums, leads the qualifying head to head, and leads the race head to head after 1.5 years compared to the other driver. However, Driver B has more experience and a more proven track record, albeit not at your team, and has beaten driver A on a handful of occasions. Driver B has acknowledged the difficulty in adjusting to your car due to its inherent characteristics, which are largely a consequence of design direction and development methodology employed at the team since before Driver B's arrival.

If Driver B is believed to have the ability to match and/or more consistently beat Driver A's current level if the car has different inherent characteristics, do you replace Driver B and maintain the same car characteristics as before, or do you redevelop the car concept to suit Driver B more, at the potential cost of Driver A's performance or potential loss in absolute performance compared to the field? Keep in mind that it is not guaranteed that any replacement for Driver B will avoid similar problems.

Solution?
If you want to achieve your short term goal, to me it would seem easier to replace a driver than gamble on a complete redevelopment of the car concept to eradicate certain attributes. Or, to put it this way, is it more likely that a new driver would do worse than the outgoing one, or is it more likely that the team's overall competitive prospects are diminished by a change in car philosophy?

I see both sides, but to me it seems more likely that the team would mess up the car, but that's just me. NOTE: 99% of this can be avoided if "Driver B" would adapt to the current car philosophy...

Well put. Guess we will see by the end of the season what will happen to him. Don't think McLaren would boot him out mid season so they will most likely have to stick with him until then. Maybe he will spring a surprise and start matching Lando every race at some point, maybe it will be too late by then. But to expect that is blind faith in 1 man who has consistently underperformed and has a major chink in his armour.

[1m0bius1]

this video explains everything.

Mclaren should have started working on making a car to adapt to Daniel;s Needs from the outset. The same way that Renault did for the 2020 car after a year of feedback. Not the other way around. They have ignored him and kept going a car philosiphy that makes Lando comfortable. Daniel has driven this way for most of his career. He cant suddenly change and drive against his natural instincts. Mclaren begged Daniel to join and yet they they went ahead with their garbage car philosiphy thats gotten them nowhere. James key said in 2020 that it will be hard to eliminate the traits and philosiphy of the 2021 car even though 2022 car has different regulations because they have always pursued that style of strength that allows late braking and directing into corners. I simply dont understand why they would hire Daniel then. L:ike i said. He simply isnt going to adapt to something when hes driven a way to exploit a certain car philosiphy thoughout his career.

Waste of time and money on both sides of the table. They have ruined his reputation by failing to cater for his needs and where has that gotten them? 1 second behind the leaders for the last 5 years. Horrible team. THey will never return to winning ways unless they are bought out by Porche or Audi and a big clean up and aquisition period happens withing the Technical department. James key has failed miserably and that is the truth of the matter no matter which way you look at it.

[JPower]

this video explains everything.

Mclaren should have started working on making a car to adapt to Daniel;s Needs from the outset. The same way that Renault did for the 2020 car after a year of feedback. Not the other way around. They have ignored him and kept going a car philosiphy that makes Lando comfortable. Daniel has driven this way for most of his career. He cant suddenly change and drive against his natural instincts. Mclaren begged Daniel to join and yet they they went ahead with their garbage car philosiphy thats gotten them nowhere. James key said in 2020 that it will be hard to eliminate the traits and philosiphy of the 2021 car even though 2022 car has different regulations because they have always pursued that style of strength that allows late braking and directing into corners. I simply dont understand why they would hire Daniel then. L:ike i said. He simply isnt going to adapt to something when hes driven a way to exploit a certain car philosiphy thoughout his career.

Waste of time and money on both sides of the table. They have ruined his reputation by failing to cater for his needs and where has that gotten them? 1 second behind the leaders for the last 5 years. Horrible team. THey will never return to winning ways unless they are bought out by Porche or Audi and a big clean up and aquisition period happens withing the Technical department. James key has failed miserably and that is the truth of the matter no matter which way you look at it.

That's not what James Key said.

Regardless, teams might have certain traits that pass from car to car but they don't design cars specifically towards their drivers. They design what they think will be the quickest car under the regulations.

Perfect example is this year's Red Bull moving towards Perez's strengths or this year's Ferrari moving away from Sainz's preferences. Even the W13 has shown its not the best match for Lewis.

There's no reason for any team to "cater" its car to any one driver. Drivers at this level are expected to adapt their driving styles to different cars. Absolving Ricciardo of any blame regarding his performance is extremely flawed.

[MrGapes]

To many people in this forum (actually f1 fans generally) seem to be under the impression that these cars are heavy devised through a drivers particular driving style.....

- I partly blame the media who are always looking to push these silly narratives

[drunkf1fan]

I think this is really smart from Zak. We have seen over the years that drivers find an extra gear when they realize their seat is under threat. In recent years alone. GAS, BOT, RAI, GIO, MAG...the list goes on. I don't think there is a realistic threat to Daniel's seat (unless Pato has a MEGA AD test) but does not hurt to light a bit of a fire underneath him for the next few races. Then decide int the summer break...

Gasly couldn't find another gear at RBR, the best seat he'll likely get and only improved again when he felt more comfortable and safe at Alpha when frankly the options around him were weak so his drive was all but assured till another couple young drivers came through.

Bottas was poor when they were deciding between him and Russell and again has also been more comfortable with a fairly safe seat for a couple years. Kimi, what? He was a straight no.2 at Ferrari for years, he drove better once they signed Leclerc and he wasn't driving to make Vettel look good. He drove his best at Alfa in his first 6 months and dropped off. Gio, combination of slightly improved against Kimi and Kimi regressing, made no great gains before he lost his seat. Magnussen started great at Mclaren though it was largely due to a unexpected podium, he got significantly worse throughout the year before losing his seat there, I don't recall him stepping it up at Haas either.

Honestly don't get how you made that list. Lighting a fire under a driver can work, but it depends very much on the drivers personality and the reason for being not so good. Perez improved at Mclaren when they told him to get more aggressive as he was driving more like a team trying to save money than get podiums at any cost. Still lost his seat but he was dramatically improved second half of the season and after some weak races last season he stepped it up massively this season and got a new contract out of it.

Ricciardo is under pressure, lighting a fire under a driver before Monaco when pushing that 0.5% extra will put you in a wall is about the dumbest move you can make. After Monaco sure, for Monaco, it's asking for trouble. You don't want a driver pushing extra hard or overdriving at Monaco of all places.

[trinidefender]

this video explains everything.

Mclaren should have started working on making a car to adapt to Daniel;s Needs from the outset. The same way that Renault did for the 2020 car after a year of feedback. Not the other way around. They have ignored him and kept going a car philosiphy that makes Lando comfortable. Daniel has driven this way for most of his career. He cant suddenly change and drive against his natural instincts. Mclaren begged Daniel to join and yet they they went ahead with their garbage car philosiphy thats gotten them nowhere. James key said in 2020 that it will be hard to eliminate the traits and philosiphy of the 2021 car even though 2022 car has different regulations because they have always pursued that style of strength that allows late braking and directing into corners. I simply dont understand why they would hire Daniel then. L:ike i said. He simply isnt going to adapt to something when hes driven a way to exploit a certain car philosiphy thoughout his career.

Waste of time and money on both sides of the table. They have ruined his reputation by failing to cater for his needs and where has that gotten them? 1 second behind the leaders for the last 5 years. Horrible team. THey will never return to winning ways unless they are bought out by Porche or Audi and a big clean up and aquisition period happens withing the Technical department. James key has failed miserably and that is the truth of the matter no matter which way you look at it.

The bit you are completely ignoring apart from what everyone else has stated is that the car doesn't even drive how Lando wants it to. He's stated a few times in past seasons and this one that he has to adapt his driving style a lot to this quirky car but if he could choose it wouldn't behave like it does now.

The changes to things like suspension geometry and stuff evolves over the years. I would imagine there's still some carry over from last year. The problem is if they make too large a jump year to year it can make for a car they don't understand. Many times it's better to have a suboptimal car that they know how to setup than a car with very high, but narrow peak performance window but they don't know how to set it up because it's so different than previous years.

[alexei]

Dan back in the simulator to try and reduce the deficit to Lando

"As always, after a race weekend – and it doesn’t matter what the result is or how the race went – the thing I do is thank my drivers for trying hard all weekend and doing the job they did on track,” said Seidl. “It’s simply important as always to stay calm and focussed and committed on both sides, which Daniel is, which we are.”

The team’s post-race analysis will help Ricciardo address his “difficulties in order to extract the maximum from the car compared to Lando,” said Seidl. “We will do some simulator work as well before we head to Baku and then hopefully we can make another small step these next races in order to get Daniel to be one hundred percent feeling comfortable with the car – especially when it comes to qualifying, when you have to push it to the absolute limit.”

https://www.racefans.net/2022/06/03/rac ... p-03-06-5/

Does anybody know if there are any limitations to the amount of time the driver can spend working on the simulator?

[mwillems]

Dan back in the simulator to try and reduce the deficit to Lando

"As always, after a race weekend – and it doesn’t matter what the result is or how the race went – the thing I do is thank my drivers for trying hard all weekend and doing the job they did on track,” said Seidl. “It’s simply important as always to stay calm and focussed and committed on both sides, which Daniel is, which we are.”

The team’s post-race analysis will help Ricciardo address his “difficulties in order to extract the maximum from the car compared to Lando,” said Seidl. “We will do some simulator work as well before we head to Baku and then hopefully we can make another small step these next races in order to get Daniel to be one hundred percent feeling comfortable with the car – especially when it comes to qualifying, when you have to push it to the absolute limit.”

https://www.racefans.net/2022/06/03/rac ... p-03-06-5/

Does anybody know if there are any limitations to the amount of time the driver can spend working on the simulator?

I don't think there are, other than themselves.