2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[mclaren111]

Very light on the sponsor side this year. I had hoped finishing P3, returning to Mercedes and signing Daniel would be help boost the sponsor card.

Which sponsors did we lose ??

[proteus]

Very light on the sponsor side this year. I had hoped finishing P3, returning to Mercedes and signing Daniel would be help boost the sponsor card.

Which sponsors did we lose ??

If i quote the Decalspotters, Mclaren lost Estrella Galicia (logically, since Sainz left), Automation anywhere and Content+Cloud.

They got in Cisco Webex, Garena and IQONIQ. More or less even i would say.

[CjC]

I was already very skeptical last year, but this year is making me think there's something going on in the background with those teams.

There is absolutely something going on in the background.

Even the pink line from the nose tip to the tail along the side of the silverstone teams car is the same as the light blue one one the Merc

[CjC]

Very light on the sponsor side this year. I had hoped finishing P3, returning to Mercedes and signing Daniel would be help boost the sponsor card.

Yes the engine cover is lacking a sponsor but that was also the case last season too.

Mclaren should bang their own logo there if you as me- just like Merc do

[diffuser]

Why do you guys think Ferrari can just jump back in top 3? Is the idea that FIA crippled Ferrari's engine which was optimized to "cheat" and that now that they won't use fuel flow shenanigans they will jump back in power? As in the engine was suboptimal to run on normal fuel flow? I don't know, I find it strange that Ferrari used fuel flow shenanigans and that when they were banned, they lost a significant amount of power. While I understand the funding and motivation they have to catch up, engines usually don't jump from 4th best to the best or second best in a season.

My expectation is that Ferrari will close the gap, but they will still remain midfield. I am most concerned with Aston Martin. While I don't respect their copy cat design of last years car, it did allow them to bring their design up to state of the art. With new mechanical bits they got from Mercedes, some of their own design work (they usually developed well on small budget in the past) and potentially much better understanding of this Mercedes concept car, they are the team that worries me the most for McLaren.

Red Bull unless Honda suffers serious reliability issues is likely uncatchable. Mercedes the same.

I'm going to bullet, cos it's clearer, not to be a d*ck

• Because Sainz will probably do a better job this year than Vettel last year

• Leclerc will probably improve yet again

• The Ferrari was catching the midfields pace by the end of the year

• The engine will almost certainly have made a good jump forward compared to last year

• They are absolutely stuffed with cash and talent

• They are Ferrari

It's hard not to overstate point one, because Leclerc was able to get a lot of points from that Ferrari, and like at RP, if they had a 2nd driver that was performing (Vettel finished on a third of Leclercs points), they would have been streets ahead of where they ended up.

Although one can never account for bad luck, which Sainz or anyone else can have, I do agree with you.

Not sure if you Mean LeCLerc as a driver or Leclerc in points. If the car is more competitive than last years he, in all likely hood, will get more points.


The CAP is in for 2021. So either they spent on the 2021 in 2020 or that's that.

"They are Ferrari" is that like a "I am root"?


BTW, you forgot that since they finished so far back last year they have more tunnel/CDT time this year.

[ScottR267]

Very light on the sponsor side this year. I had hoped finishing P3, returning to Mercedes and signing Daniel would be help boost the sponsor card.

Yes the engine cover is lacking a sponsor but that was also the case last season too.

Mclaren should bang their own logo there if you as me- just like Merc do

Agree with this, that engine cover with such a large space to me looks bare and is reminiscent of being a small team lacking the sponsors!

[proteus]

Very light on the sponsor side this year. I had hoped finishing P3, returning to Mercedes and signing Daniel would be help boost the sponsor card.

Yes the engine cover is lacking a sponsor but that was also the case last season too.

Mclaren should bang their own logo there if you as me- just like Merc do

Agree with this, that engine cover with such a large space to me looks bare and is reminiscent of being a small team lacking the sponsors!

Launch car VS season car in terms of sponsor decal arrangements in 2020. They filled the void right from the start with extra BAT branding. I believe they will do it again.

[ScottR267]

Yes the engine cover is lacking a sponsor but that was also the case last season too.

Mclaren should bang their own logo there if you as me- just like Merc do

Agree with this, that engine cover with such a large space to me looks bare and is reminiscent of being a small team lacking the sponsors!

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/6 ... .getty.jpg

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... 106520.JPG

Launch car VS season car in terms of sponsor decal arrangements in 2020. They filled the void right from the start with extra BAT branding. I believe they will do it again.

I’m not so sure they will replicate this again for this season, surely if they were going to it would’ve been put on the launch? Was this not done in 20 due to covid and a return on investment for the sponsors?

[proteus]

Agree with this, that engine cover with such a large space to me looks bare and is reminiscent of being a small team lacking the sponsors!

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/6 ... .getty.jpg

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... 106520.JPG

Launch car VS season car in terms of sponsor decal arrangements in 2020. They filled the void right from the start with extra BAT branding. I believe they will do it again.

I’m not so sure they will replicate this again for this season, surely if they were going to it would’ve been put on the launch? Was this not done in 20 due to covid and a return on investment for the sponsors?

We will see.

[mwillems]

Why do you guys think Ferrari can just jump back in top 3? Is the idea that FIA crippled Ferrari's engine which was optimized to "cheat" and that now that they won't use fuel flow shenanigans they will jump back in power? As in the engine was suboptimal to run on normal fuel flow? I don't know, I find it strange that Ferrari used fuel flow shenanigans and that when they were banned, they lost a significant amount of power. While I understand the funding and motivation they have to catch up, engines usually don't jump from 4th best to the best or second best in a season.

My expectation is that Ferrari will close the gap, but they will still remain midfield. I am most concerned with Aston Martin. While I don't respect their copy cat design of last years car, it did allow them to bring their design up to state of the art. With new mechanical bits they got from Mercedes, some of their own design work (they usually developed well on small budget in the past) and potentially much better understanding of this Mercedes concept car, they are the team that worries me the most for McLaren.

Red Bull unless Honda suffers serious reliability issues is likely uncatchable. Mercedes the same.

I'm going to bullet, cos it's clearer, not to be a d*ck

• Because Sainz will probably do a better job this year than Vettel last year

• Leclerc will probably improve yet again

• The Ferrari was catching the midfields pace by the end of the year

• The engine will almost certainly have made a good jump forward compared to last year

• They are absolutely stuffed with cash and talent

• They are Ferrari

It's hard not to overstate point one, because Leclerc was able to get a lot of points from that Ferrari, and like at RP, if they had a 2nd driver that was performing (Vettel finished on a third of Leclercs points), they would have been streets ahead of where they ended up.

Although one can never account for bad luck, which Sainz or anyone else can have, I do agree with you.

Not sure if you Mean LeCLerc as a driver or Leclerc in points. If the car is more competitive than last years he, in all likely hood, will get more points.


The CAP is in for 2021. So either they spent on the 2021 in 2020 or that's that.

"They are Ferrari" is that like a "I am root"?


BTW, you forgot that since they finished so far back last year they have more tunnel/CDT time this year.

It is a bit like that, but instead of Vin Diesel having to really stretch his vocal talent, it is done with a whimsical Italian voice

Ferrari will have that time, and with my tin hat on, part of my wondered if they were happy to drop back and get the time to prepare for the 2022 regs. Although probably not as rumour has said that Binotto will be fired imminently. With regards to Leclerc, I think he will be faster this year as a driver and yeah I think his car will be faster too, so I think he will be finishing with more points this year.

I do not understand why you would carry this rule about CFD and wind tunnel time vs finishing position into a new set of regulations, when there is already a cost cap to prevent you from outspending the others. Surely everybody should get a equal amount of development prior to the first season and then after that, they do the performance balancing, since there is no clear winner in the new regulations yet as no one has raced in them...!

I've not seen this opinion shared so I feel like I may just be missing something blindingly obvious. Does anyone else feel the same???

[diffuser]

Pretty sure it is new, not a carryover...

Not sure where I stand with it. Maybe it's another way for enforcing the cap, if teams start to cheat the CAP.

[trinidefender]

I'm going to bullet, cos it's clearer, not to be a d*ck

• Because Sainz will probably do a better job this year than Vettel last year

• Leclerc will probably improve yet again

• The Ferrari was catching the midfields pace by the end of the year

• The engine will almost certainly have made a good jump forward compared to last year

• They are absolutely stuffed with cash and talent

• They are Ferrari

It's hard not to overstate point one, because Leclerc was able to get a lot of points from that Ferrari, and like at RP, if they had a 2nd driver that was performing (Vettel finished on a third of Leclercs points), they would have been streets ahead of where they ended up.

Although one can never account for bad luck, which Sainz or anyone else can have, I do agree with you.

Not sure if you Mean LeCLerc as a driver or Leclerc in points. If the car is more competitive than last years he, in all likely hood, will get more points.


The CAP is in for 2021. So either they spent on the 2021 in 2020 or that's that.

"They are Ferrari" is that like a "I am root"?


BTW, you forgot that since they finished so far back last year they have more tunnel/CDT time this year.

It is a bit like that, but instead of Vin Diesel having to really stretch his vocal talent, it is done with a whimsical Italian voice

Ferrari will have that time, and with my tin hat on, part of my wondered if they were happy to drop back and get the time to prepare for the 2022 regs. Although probably not as rumour has said that Binotto will be fired imminently. With regards to Leclerc, I think he will be faster this year as a driver and yeah I think his car will be faster too, so I think he will be finishing with more points this year.

I do not understand why you would carry this rule about CFD and wind tunnel time vs finishing position into a new set of regulations, when there is already a cost cap to prevent you from outspending the others. Surely everybody should get a equal amount of development prior to the first season and then after that, they do the performance balancing, since there is no clear winner in the new regulations yet as no one has raced in them...!

I've not seen this opinion shared so I feel like I may just be missing something blindingly obvious. Does anyone else feel the same???

The cap is still set quite high. Probably the only teams who are at the spending limit are mercedes, red bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault.

Primarily this limit on CFD/wind tunnel time is more about keeping the teams closer together. Sure we are going into a new set of regulations but still, a team that is further up the grid can generally move resources over to 2022 earlier, a close championship position battle not withstanding.

Take Mercedes for example. They were so far ahead last season that they probably started development on this season earlier than everyone else. That means they will probably be further ahead at the start of this season and can put more resources into 2022.

Would you want to go into a completely new regulations generational change that we haven't seen since 2009 for mercedes to just walk away with the championship again? I don't.

[_cerber1]

As far as I understand, the main team members are leaving for Bahrain today? Usually on Tuesdays you can already see photos from the track. I wonder if the press will be allowed in the paddock?

[mwillems]

The cap is still set quite high. Probably the only teams who are at the spending limit are mercedes, red bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault.

Primarily this limit on CFD/wind tunnel time is more about keeping the teams closer together. Sure we are going into a new set of regulations but still, a team that is further up the grid can generally move resources over to 2022 earlier, a close championship position battle not withstanding.

Take Mercedes for example. They were so far ahead last season that they probably started development on this season earlier than everyone else. That means they will probably be further ahead at the start of this season and can put more resources into 2022.

Would you want to go into a completely new regulations generational change that we haven't seen since 2009 for mercedes to just walk away with the championship again? I don't.

Isn't it $145m now? That's less than half of what Merc of Ferrari would spend on their non engine related activites isn't it?

I see your point, Merc will have an advantage from shifting development early, but then I would think almost every team is going to divert almost all of their resource to 2022 now anyway, but what you say does make sense, although I think it may harm Mclaren a little.

[Jolle]

The cap is still set quite high. Probably the only teams who are at the spending limit are mercedes, red bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault.

Primarily this limit on CFD/wind tunnel time is more about keeping the teams closer together. Sure we are going into a new set of regulations but still, a team that is further up the grid can generally move resources over to 2022 earlier, a close championship position battle not withstanding.

Take Mercedes for example. They were so far ahead last season that they probably started development on this season earlier than everyone else. That means they will probably be further ahead at the start of this season and can put more resources into 2022.

Would you want to go into a completely new regulations generational change that we haven't seen since 2009 for mercedes to just walk away with the championship again? I don't.

Isn't it $145m now? That's less than half of what Merc of Ferrari would spend on their non engine related activites isn't it?

I see your point, Merc will have an advantage from shifting development early, but then I would think almost every team is going to divert almost all of their resource to 2022 now anyway, but what you say does make sense, although I think it may harm Mclaren a little.

The cost cap doesn’t cover lots of areas that are expensive for teams like the big three. Drivers is one, top positions in the team and the huge marketing and stuff like that. So, don’t be surprised if they still report budgets well into to 200 mln dollar range.