2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[djos]

And what do you know. Norris is again in front despite starting so much lower.

A/ Daniel had the old rear wing, and B/ Mclaren’s pitstop strategy was severely lacking. Daniel only lost places on track when Mclaren put him on the hard tires again. They should have gone medium, medium and then soft for the final stint. He had the tires!

Sure the strategy wasn't great but OCO and RIC had the exact same strategy (pitted on the same laps even), OCO started P16 and finished P7, RIC started P7 and finished P15, 32 seconds (!) behind OCO. Maybe it's apples-to-oranges but med-hard-med was an acceptable strategy. VET went even longer on used med-hard-med and still finished 30s up the road...

The Alpine is a rocket ship in a straight line, Renault have clearly done a better job than Mercedes’ this year.

[continuum16]

A/ Daniel had the old rear wing, and B/ Mclaren’s pitstop strategy was severely lacking. Daniel only lost places on track when Mclaren put him on the hard tires again. They should have gone medium, medium and then soft for the final stint. He had the tires!

Sure the strategy wasn't great but OCO and RIC had the exact same strategy (pitted on the same laps even), OCO started P16 and finished P7, RIC started P7 and finished P15, 32 seconds (!) behind OCO. Maybe it's apples-to-oranges but med-hard-med was an acceptable strategy. VET went even longer on used med-hard-med and still finished 30s up the road...

The Alpine is a rocket ship in a straight line, Renault have clearly done a better job than Mercedes’ this year.

They've clearly caught up at least, even though in Spa there was actually very little difference between McLaren and Alpine in terms of top speeds:

Qualifying (Trap/S1):
OCO 312.8/334.0 (3rd/9th)
ALO 312.1/332.9 (4th/13th)

NOR 311.5/333.8 (5th/11th)
RIC 310.3/332.7 (8th/14th)

Race speeds were higher for all cars due to slipstream, although neither McLaren nor Alpine are outliers, and both are in the top half of the field.
Speed trap at top of Raidillon, S1 split end of straight
Source: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... ds_v01.pdf

Can see that the high DF wing cost RIC ~1kmh compared to Lando.

[djos]

Iirc the Renault was always considered to have really strong traction out corners. Looks like that is still the case.

[MrGapes]

The car on average lost around 1.5-2tenths in turn 1 to the cars around them... which is pretty crazy, any particular reason? because traction out of the chicane was honestly pretty good.

[CjC]

The car on average lost around 1.5-2tenths in turn 1 to the cars around them... which is pretty crazy, any particular reason? because traction out of the chicane was honestly pretty good.

Maybe the tyres had cooled on the long straight to the bus stop, gave good traction out of the chicane but over heated, then the short pit straight with no time to cool into turn one and the over heated tyres are crying enough for the exit?

[RS200E]

Is the new wind tunnel still scheduled to be in use by the end of this year? Last news I read on it was back in February.

[RS200E]

A/ Daniel had the old rear wing, and B/ Mclaren’s pitstop strategy was severely lacking. Daniel only lost places on track when Mclaren put him on the hard tires again. They should have gone medium, medium and then soft for the final stint. He had the tires!

Sure the strategy wasn't great but OCO and RIC had the exact same strategy (pitted on the same laps even), OCO started P16 and finished P7, RIC started P7 and finished P15, 32 seconds (!) behind OCO. Maybe it's apples-to-oranges but med-hard-med was an acceptable strategy. VET went even longer on used med-hard-med and still finished 30s up the road...

The Alpine is a rocket ship in a straight line, Renault have clearly done a better job than Mercedes’ this year.

Nonsense. Look at the standings and you'll see who has done a better job. The Alpines are behind every competitive Mercedes powered/good driver combination. Just because Alpine have had better top speed sometimes doesn't mean they have a better PU.

[Ground Effect]

Is the new wind tunnel still scheduled to be in use by the end of this year? Last news I read on it was back in February.

Last interview I read, the 2025 car will be the first car to be completely developed using the new wind tunnel. The '24 will have in season developments in it.

[McL-H]

I expected we would have some clarity on Piastri about now. F1 is waiting with their verdict until the weekend starts so there is something to talk about during the dull race at Zandvoort?

[djos]

I expected we would have some clarity on Piastri about now. F1 is waiting with their verdict until the weekend starts so there is something to talk about during the dull race at Zandvoort?

Sounds plausible - although I'd have thought if a decision had been made, it would have leaked by now.

[basti313]

I expected we would have some clarity on Piastri about now. F1 is waiting with their verdict until the weekend starts so there is something to talk about during the dull race at Zandvoort?

Sounds plausible - although I'd have thought if a decision had been made, it would have leaked by now.

In the past these processes took very long. I think with Toyota and BMW for Glock it was several weeks from the first hearing.

[Swed3121]

I expected we would have some clarity on Piastri about now. F1 is waiting with their verdict until the weekend starts so there is something to talk about during the dull race at Zandvoort?

Sounds plausible - although I'd have thought if a decision had been made, it would have leaked by now.

In the past these processes took very long. I think with Toyota and BMW for Glock it was several weeks from the first hearing.

Interesting, most media outlets seem to be quoting the same 3-4 day period after the hearing when we should hear something (be that a leak or an actual announcement)

[Swed3121]

Were we negatively affected by the TD also? Traction out of corners was poor, but so was tyre deg which leads me to believe that we might have been running the car higher than previously. I don't think we can catch Alpine - they always had a faster car and just lacked consistency at the start of the season and are really starting to solidify their position as 4th fastest overall. In some tracks where we are quicker, ALO still manages to pull out a mega qualifying lap or have a super fast start and we end up behind anyway which is compounded by the fact that OCO is a lot closer to ALO now.

We should give up on this season - settle for 5th and really focus on next year. RBR have done a mega job with this year's car and we can learn a thing or two from them, starting with our facilities and poaching talent from the top teams. Being a customer team is also hurting us and we need to consider looking for an exclusive engine partner.

There is only one problem with this.
2022-2023 is not a significant reg change.
Car concepts won’t be radically different, you therefore can’t just switch development to an entirely new car like the teams did last year, it why IMO Mercedes is in such a bad place Right now

[organic]

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... ckfluegel/

McLaren already wants to fight back in Zandvoort. More downforce is required again in Holland. That can swing the pendulum back in the other direction. Seidl is combative: "The track should suit us better. This year, with the new cars, you've seen more often how much the balance of power can shift from one race to the next. I'm optimistic that we can come up trumps there again. "

Also explains their problems weren't downforce related at Spa, but traction out of La Source. It ruined their weekend

[basti313]

Sounds plausible - although I'd have thought if a decision had been made, it would have leaked by now.

In the past these processes took very long. I think with Toyota and BMW for Glock it was several weeks from the first hearing.

Interesting, most media outlets seem to be quoting the same 3-4 day period after the hearing when we should hear something (be that a leak or an actual announcement)

Maybe if the case is super easy...and there is maybe even not a case? I guess this is all unknown, but I would say that the Glock case is comparable with an option clause that was not pulled if there is anything behind.