2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[SmallSoldier]

[diffuser]

I suppose that depends on where they are putting their resource, into this years car or more into next years, and I wouldn't want to assume that everything developed for next years car will be on this years.

Obviously with the budget cap, perhaps the team felt that they could put up a good fight for 4th still and splash the cash more on design than production, so as to get the team in a competitive place next year.

OR.... you are right and we should all be concerned!

Think we'll know as it plays out. The good news for McLaren is that Gasley is an unknown at Alpine and they lost their fastest driver. The bad news is, Piastri is an unknown quantity. AMR will be stronger next year with their new engineers having spent a whole year there and Alonso's addition. How that all plays out in laptime and points is anybodies guess.

Team dynamics will no doubt play its part next year,

In Alpine, we have 2 drivers who are both going to want to prove their no 1, and 2 drivers who aren’t going to give each other space

In AM we have a top notch driver who is well known for falling-out with his team, up against the bosses son. Probably not a case of if, but how long, before the off track antics start

I’m pretty sure next year, Piastri will want to work closely with Lando, not against him

Otmar said on Sunday that the drivers are NO LONGER allowed to race, He will decide when they pass each other. Pretty sure that's in preparation for next year. Not sure why AMR wouldn't do the same thing or at least put them on different strategies.

[diffuser]

April/May time, so same timescale as before.

The expansion in Woking is further delayed. According to the latest information, the wind tunnel and simulator will only be ready for use in mid-2023.

Next year's car will be developed with the old resources anyway. The hope of steeling at least the next but one F1 McLaren exclusively on the company's own premises is gone. It will take some time for the engineers to get used to their new tools. Until they are properly calibrated.

From the McLaren side it is therefore said that the 2024 racing car will only be partially built in the new wind tunnel.

[PhillipM]

I mean, April/May is mid-2023, no?

[diffuser]

I mean, April/May is mid-2023, no?

I thought the rest of that was more interesting than the actual date. Not sure if was seen in these pages before.

Didn't mean to make it sound like a bone of contention over the date.

[PhillipM]

Yep, no worries, seemed like it with quoting mine, but yes, nothing has really changed so I think they're just regurgitating for clicks.

[mwillems]

I suppose that depends on where they are putting their resource, into this years car or more into next years, and I wouldn't want to assume that everything developed for next years car will be on this years.

Obviously with the budget cap, perhaps the team felt that they could put up a good fight for 4th still and splash the cash more on design than production, so as to get the team in a competitive place next year.

OR.... you are right and we should all be concerned!

Think we'll know as it plays out. The good news for McLaren is that Gasley is an unknown at Alpine and they lost their fastest driver. The bad news is, Piastri is an unknown quantity. AMR will be stronger next year with their new engineers having spent a whole year there and Alonso's addition. How that all plays out in laptime and points is anybodies guess.

Team dynamics will no doubt play its part next year,

In Alpine, we have 2 drivers who are both going to want to prove their no 1, and 2 drivers who aren’t going to give each other space

In AM we have a top notch driver who is well known for falling-out with his team, up against the bosses son. Probably not a case of if, but how long, before the off track antics start

I’m pretty sure next year, Piastri will want to work closely with Lando, not against him

And to add a further dynamic, Piastri may be an unkown but he is replacing someone who was unable to get many points from the car, so he comes from a position of being hard to get worse in terms of performance.

Also, the approach to planning car development from this year on is quite different, so it shouldn't be a surprise if the way developments unfold are a surprise, to us! There is clearly a lot more packaging of the development to save time and money and time will tell if this is because behind the scenes developments were focussed on the MCL37 and they weren't compatible with the 36.

It'll be interesting to see if it is a new chassis and direction next year, or if we just could develop the car that much after all.

[mwillems]

Yep, no worries, seemed like it with quoting mine, but yes, nothing has really changed so I think they're just regurgitating for clicks.

Do you know when Mclaren have to nominate their wind tunnel for the following 12 months?

[dimensi]

Getting tired with livery this and livery that, they all nonsense to me. They should focus on how to build a proper race car.

[MrGapes]

Yep, no worries, seemed like it with quoting mine, but yes, nothing has really changed so I think they're just regurgitating for clicks.

From the same article:

"McLaren rents a space for development at Toyota in Cologne. But this wind tunnel is now more than ten years old. The car cannot even be turned in it to simulate the flow in bends. On top of that, the distances between Woking and Cologne are long."

Is this actually true...they can't yaw?

[RedNEO]

Yep, no worries, seemed like it with quoting mine, but yes, nothing has really changed so I think they're just regurgitating for clicks.

From the same article:

"McLaren rents a space for development at Toyota in Cologne. But this wind tunnel is now more than ten years old. The car cannot even be turned in it to simulate the flow in bends. On top of that, the distances between Woking and Cologne are long."

Is this actually true...they can't yaw?

I’ve seen a thread comparing the Cologne tunnel to the Red Bull tunnel. While both are old the main problem is McLaren can’t fit a 60% model in the Toyota tunnel like Red Bull can in there’s. So McLaren has to run a 50% model.

[_cerber1]

To be honest, I see a problem not only in the wind tunnel, in recent years, McLaren cars have been very conservative, there were practically no bold and innovative ideas in them. Chassis built by Tim Goss were more progressive, with solutions that set trends and were actively copied by competitors up and down the grid.

[astracrazy]

Getting tired with livery this and livery that, they all nonsense to me. They should focus on how to build a proper race car.

100% agree, I don't know what the marketing department are doing spending time on marketing instead of designing parts and spending their days in the wind tunnel......

[Soalar]

Getting tired with livery this and livery that, they all nonsense to me. They should focus on how to build a proper race car.

100% agree, I don't know what the marketing department are doing spending time on marketing instead of designing parts and spending their days in the wind tunnel......

This made my day

[ScottR267]

To be honest, I see a problem not only in the wind tunnel, in recent years, McLaren cars have been very conservative, there were practically no bold and innovative ideas in them. Chassis built by Tim Goss were more progressive, with solutions that set trends and were actively copied by competitors up and down the grid.

Agree with this, McLaren over last few years have been ultra conservative so as not to go in the complete direction and be miles behind like the start of 09.

The team definitely need to take more risks which I think Key has said they are planning to do for next year so time will tell.

The team do beat the drum about the infrastructure holding them back, however is there also a personnel shortfall too?