Emag wrote: ↑06 Mar 2022, 23:25
The only somewhat interesting laptime data we had from this test were the sector 3 times, which can be sort of a measure on the car's mechanical capabilities on the lower speed stuff. Low-speed performance is particularly important this year due to the new tires and higher overall weight.
With that in mind, the best sector 3 times from McLaren were 27.4 for Lando on C4 and 27.5 for Danny Ricc on C3.
Them being so close on different sets hints that they probably never pushed hard on neither tire. But without knowing fuel loads, it's impossible to know the potential.
Now, the reference was a 26.9 set by Lewis on a C4. Set on the last day of testing as part of a series of fast laps that Mercedes were doing at that period.
However Leclerc, Verstappen and Alonso managed a 27.3 on C3. On (as far as I remember) longer stints. Which obviously hints towards great potential on those particular cars. With Leclerc going as low as 27.290 actually.
That's where we can notice a deficit that McLaren has in this area.
Now the relatively slow-ish S3 times that McLaren had can only mean two things.
1) The car is still suffering from low-speed performance
2) They were heavy on fuel for most of the test.
We can only speculate about the second point, because we have no clue what fuel loads teams were on. But if it is the case of the first point, then that would be very unfortunate, because it means that characteristics from past cars have been carried through. This is particularly backed by the fact that McLaren had very competitive S1 and S2 times, which hints towards a strength on high-speed corners, just like it has been these last couple of years.
This season though, more than previously, that low-speed performance deficit (if they have it), would hurt much more. But obviously the team knows that, and when looking at post test interviews of drivers, but particularly Andreas who is a robot on interviews, you notice that they have this huge grin on their faces.
That tells me that they were quite happy with the test. So that would mean that the low-speed deficit is either not very big, or probably not worrying for them at the moment. Which depending on the goals they have, this could be quite significant, but they are happy because they think they are on target anyway.
And the best case scenario of course, the deficit is not there at all and they have run heavy on fuel for most of the test.
Only 2-ish weeks to find out I guess.
