2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[MrGapes]

Thanks for the insights into the future off SSB technologies and the next 3-6 years....

Meanwhile in 3 days we'll be getting a picture of McLaren's competitiveness at the Qatar circuit, I have some questions;
With the reported total resealing of the circuit which last saw F1 action in 2021 how will the McLaren work it's C1, 2, 3 (softest range) tyres in temperatures of up to 34 degrees?
Will this be another two stop race?
Therefore will this again be regarded as a "high deg" track requiring further evolution of Oscar's tyre management?
Have the Singapore updates brought about much improved aero efficiency in terms of non-DRs top speeds or am I missing something from the Suzuka data?
Wings - are that thorny topic on this forum - what wing do you think they will be bringing?
Anyone for believing McLaren can reduce the qualifying deficit to Max to significantly less than 0.5?

Consensus around most insiders appears to be that McLaren will be second fastest (again) ahead of Ferrari, then Mercedes trying to compensate poor outright pace with less tyre degradation. McLaren seem to be continuing a trend of quite decent deg relative to all except the Red Bulls.

Ambient temperatures will be very high… brake/engine cooling components will be interesting because teams will only have 1 session to optimize the right cooling requirements for these elements.

I think track temperatures will be somewhere between 30-40 degrees at night, which is obviously still very warm, and suggest a 2 stop, but to be honest the hardest compounds have been quite resilient this year imo.

There is only one DRS zone ...I think the overall aero. efficiency matters more and that has improved rather than whatever differential comes between non-DRS and DRS.

I know a lot of people were talking about Oscar's race management after Japan... I also think the gap was a bit augmented through setup choices and something I mentioned after qualifying. While Lando and Oscar ran the same wings, I'm sure Lando ran the ride height lower, hence more downforce.. it makes the car bottom more in qualifying and slower on the straights, but the performance is amplified on higher fuel.





^^ Will likely see this configuration seen at Singapore with this beam-wing configuration… If they feel they need more downforce they will run the rear-wing with the connected main plane.

It’s very hard to make a numerical prediction on a sprint weekend because any team could easily get the setup wrong after 1 practice session… with a lot of unknowns in terms of new asphalt, kerbs, heat etc. any team could go to conservative on ride height and cooling or the other way around.

But my overly optimistic prediction is the gap in qualifying will be very close (<0.1) … and this maybe the closest in terms of race pace we may be all season with marginal losses coming in sector 2 (turns 6 and 10).

[djos]

I’m wondering of Oscar can beat Lando in qualifying again. Should make the race interesting as Lando clearly knows how to maximise his race pace, and Oscar still isn’t quite there yet.

[organic]

Young driver news:

F3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto has joined McLaren's young driver programme.

[FittingMechanics]

Young driver news:

F3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto has joined McLaren's young driver programme.

https://i.imgur.com/RbiUozR.png

Strange career. Is Trident dominant in F3?

[LionsHeart]

Thanks for the insights into the future off SSB technologies and the next 3-6 years....

Meanwhile in 3 days we'll be getting a picture of McLaren's competitiveness at the Qatar circuit, I have some questions;
With the reported total resealing of the circuit which last saw F1 action in 2021 how will the McLaren work it's C1, 2, 3 (softest range) tyres in temperatures of up to 34 degrees?
Will this be another two stop race?
Therefore will this again be regarded as a "high deg" track requiring further evolution of Oscar's tyre management?
Have the Singapore updates brought about much improved aero efficiency in terms of non-DRs top speeds or am I missing something from the Suzuka data?
Wings - are that thorny topic on this forum - what wing do you think they will be bringing?
Anyone for believing McLaren can reduce the qualifying deficit to Max to significantly less than 0.5?

Consensus around most insiders appears to be that McLaren will be second fastest (again) ahead of Ferrari, then Mercedes trying to compensate poor outright pace with less tyre degradation. McLaren seem to be continuing a trend of quite decent deg relative to all except the Red Bulls.

My guess is that we will see two pitstops again, but a lot depends on whether they changed the roadbed to a less abrasive one, and replaced the curbs? I was reviewing all the 2021 sessions in Qatar, I remember drivers having problems with tire punctures under the assumption of one pitstop per race.
On the speed issue, it depends how you look at it. One practice can shuffle the cards, but overall I expect 2-3 speeds among the teams. On the wings will be medium-high downforce, and therefore I think I will see the Singapore package on downforce.

[mwillems]

Thanks for the insights into the future off SSB technologies and the next 3-6 years....

Meanwhile in 3 days we'll be getting a picture of McLaren's competitiveness at the Qatar circuit, I have some questions;
With the reported total resealing of the circuit which last saw F1 action in 2021 how will the McLaren work it's C1, 2, 3 (softest range) tyres in temperatures of up to 34 degrees?
Will this be another two stop race?
Therefore will this again be regarded as a "high deg" track requiring further evolution of Oscar's tyre management?
Have the Singapore updates brought about much improved aero efficiency in terms of non-DRs top speeds or am I missing something from the Suzuka data?
Wings - are that thorny topic on this forum - what wing do you think they will be bringing?
Anyone for believing McLaren can reduce the qualifying deficit to Max to significantly less than 0.5?

Consensus around most insiders appears to be that McLaren will be second fastest (again) ahead of Ferrari, then Mercedes trying to compensate poor outright pace with less tyre degradation. McLaren seem to be continuing a trend of quite decent deg relative to all except the Red Bulls.

Ambient temperatures will be very high… brake/engine cooling components will be interesting because teams will only have 1 session to optimize the right cooling requirements for these elements.

I think track temperatures will be somewhere between 30-40 degrees at night, which is obviously still very warm, and suggest a 2 stop, but to be honest the hardest compounds have been quite resilient this year imo.

There is only one DRS zone ...I think the overall aero. efficiency matters more and that has improved rather than whatever differential comes between non-DRS and DRS.

I know a lot of people were talking about Oscar's race management after Japan... I also think the gap was a bit augmented through setup choices and something I mentioned after qualifying. While Lando and Oscar ran the same wings, I'm sure Lando ran the ride height lower, hence more downforce.. it makes the car bottom more in qualifying and slower on the straights, but the performance is amplified on higher fuel.

https://ibb.co/HFGGGFb

https://ibb.co/B4Jyy2f

^^ Will likely see this configuration seen at Singapore with this beam-wing configuration… If they feel they need more downforce they will run the rear-wing with the connected main plane.

It’s very hard to make a numerical prediction on a sprint weekend because any team could easily get the setup wrong after 1 practice session… with a lot of unknowns in terms of new asphalt, kerbs, heat etc. any team could go to conservative on ride height and cooling or the other way around.

But my overly optimistic prediction is the gap in qualifying will be very close (<0.1) … and this maybe the closest in terms of race pace we may be all season with marginal losses coming in sector 2 (turns 6 and 10).

Not sure it is race management, his driving style just scrubs the tyres more, which both reduces grip and puts more heat into them, he just has to improve that a little bit.

[CMSMJ1]

All this Battery talk is dropped into the EU Bans Petrol cars topic - carry on! viewtopic.php?t=30749

[LionsHeart]

Checked out today's photos from Qatar. They replaced the asphalt. It's darker, so it will be hotter. But less abrasive. I think it's gonna be like Barcelona. Apparently, the curbs have been replaced as well. Maybe there won't be big problems with tires, and the floor won't suffer too much.

[Dafnalina]

Do you think tyre deg will vary a lot during the day vs the night? I think it could hurt setup/planning for the race. P1 and sprint shootout will be very hot, and then quali and the two races not so much. They'll probably use the sprint data to plan strategy though. But I don't know if it will vary much.

I also fear the revamped kerbs will do us in. We had similar problems in Hungary with the floor.

[Ground Effect]

Checked out today's photos from Qatar. They replaced the asphalt. It's darker, so it will be hotter. But less abrasive. I think it's gonna be like Barcelona. Apparently, the curbs have been replaced as well. Maybe there won't be big problems with tires, and the floor won't suffer too much.

According to Tsunoda, the kerbs are a "floor destroyer" and very aggressive. So we'll see to what extent.

[LionsHeart]

Checked out today's photos from Qatar. They replaced the asphalt. It's darker, so it will be hotter. But less abrasive. I think it's gonna be like Barcelona. Apparently, the curbs have been replaced as well. Maybe there won't be big problems with tires, and the floor won't suffer too much.

According to Tsunoda, the kerbs are a "floor destroyer" and very aggressive. So we'll see to what extent.

Yeah, I literally just read that too and was left unsatisfied. How could this be allowed to happen? What's the FIA looking at?

[LionsHeart]

Do you think tyre deg will vary a lot during the day vs the night? I think it could hurt setup/planning for the race. P1 and sprint shootout will be very hot, and then quali and the two races not so much. They'll probably use the sprint data to plan strategy though. But I don't know if it will vary much.

I also fear the revamped kerbs will do us in. We had similar problems in Hungary with the floor.

The difference in air temperature alone will differ by 9-12 degrees Celsius. During the day it will be about 39 degrees Celsius, in the evening in night conditions it will be already 28-30 degrees Celsius. So I guess the difference in asphalt temperature will be even greater. During the day everyone will open their hoods and use big gills, and by evening partially close them to improve performance.

[Dafnalina]

Do you think tyre deg will vary a lot during the day vs the night? I think it could hurt setup/planning for the race. P1 and sprint shootout will be very hot, and then quali and the two races not so much. They'll probably use the sprint data to plan strategy though. But I don't know if it will vary much.

I also fear the revamped kerbs will do us in. We had similar problems in Hungary with the floor.

The difference in air temperature alone will differ by 9-12 degrees Celsius. During the day it will be about 39 degrees Celsius, in the evening in night conditions it will be already 28-30 degrees Celsius. So I guess the difference in asphalt temperature will be even greater. During the day everyone will open their hoods and use big gills, and by evening partially close them to improve performance.

Thanks! If tyre deg won't be as much of a problem, I just hope we don't have issues with the kerbs

[LionsHeart]

Do you think tyre deg will vary a lot during the day vs the night? I think it could hurt setup/planning for the race. P1 and sprint shootout will be very hot, and then quali and the two races not so much. They'll probably use the sprint data to plan strategy though. But I don't know if it will vary much.

I also fear the revamped kerbs will do us in. We had similar problems in Hungary with the floor.

The difference in air temperature alone will differ by 9-12 degrees Celsius. During the day it will be about 39 degrees Celsius, in the evening in night conditions it will be already 28-30 degrees Celsius. So I guess the difference in asphalt temperature will be even greater. During the day everyone will open their hoods and use big gills, and by evening partially close them to improve performance.

Thanks! If tyre deg won't be as much of a problem, I just hope we don't have issues with the kerbs

Honestly, I'd like all the circuits to have a curbs like Suzuka's sector one. Narrow in width, sufficient in height and immediately followed by grass. Very simple, straightforward.

[Dafnalina]

The difference in air temperature alone will differ by 9-12 degrees Celsius. During the day it will be about 39 degrees Celsius, in the evening in night conditions it will be already 28-30 degrees Celsius. So I guess the difference in asphalt temperature will be even greater. During the day everyone will open their hoods and use big gills, and by evening partially close them to improve performance.

Thanks! If tyre deg won't be as much of a problem, I just hope we don't have issues with the kerbs

Honestly, I'd like all the circuits to have a curbs like Suzuka's sector one. Narrow in width, sufficient in height and immediately followed by grass. Very simple, straightforward.

Agreed. Sainz said he's more worried about track limits than the kerbs. He probably has a point cause their only practice is during the day and then quali and the race at night, visibility is going to make it harder.