Mclaren MP4-30 Honda

[max_speed]

i still think if over the next 3 weeks Mclaren keep improving as they did in past 4 races then they can be fighting with williams , leave ferrari and mercedes they are in a diff league altogether.

[FrukostScones]

does this make sense?

[nacho]

The gears 7 and 8 seem too long in that Alonso video.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Massive upgrades are coming to Spain - http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/32377368

[Richard]

While it makes sense to have a separate PU threads for Honda, Merc, Ferrari & Renault it seems that most members end up discussing the PU in the thread for the car of the of same name.

This seems to be particularly problematic for Honda. Would members prefer:

• Keep the separate Honda PU and remove PU debate from the MP30 thread. Moving posts really annoys a lot of members and takes a lot of mod effort.

or

• Acknowledge we can't hold back the tide and leave the PU chat in the MP30 thread. I'd close the Honda PU thread in this case.

[/i]

[turbof1]

While it makes sense to have a separate PU threads for Honda, Merc, Ferrari & Renault it seems that most members end up discussing the PU in the thread for the car of the of same name.

This seems to be particularly problematic for Honda. Would members prefer:

• Keep the separate Honda PU and remove PU debate from the MP30 thread. Moving posts really annoys a lot of members and takes a lot of mod effort.

or

• Acknowledge we can't hold back the tide and leave the PU chat in the MP30 thread. I'd close the Honda PU thread in this case.

[/i]

Well, seems our dear members couldn't decide that on their own. I'm a non-conformist, so I'll be pushing back the tide on my own! nngghngghh!

I moved 7 pages to the Honda PU topic:
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... =4&t=18874

Guys, we have to be clear on this:
-Anything about the car EXCEPT the PU in this topic.
-Discussion about the PU in the Honda Power Unit topic.

[damager21]

In Australia, McLaren were 4.5 secs off the Mercedes pace while in Bahrain they were 2.5 seconds off the pace. I expect Mclaren to close that gap by 1 to 1.25 seconds in Spain. I think this gap will also be dependent on what upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari bring to Spain.

[fawe4]

In Australia, McLaren were 4.5 secs off the Mercedes pace while in Bahrain they were 2.5 seconds off the pace. I expect Mclaren to close that gap by 1 to 1.25 seconds in Spain. I think this gap will also be dependent on what upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari bring to Spain.

And by what they'll decrease that gap? Magic?

[Moose]

In Australia, McLaren were 4.5 secs off the Mercedes pace while in Bahrain they were 2.5 seconds off the pace. I expect Mclaren to close that gap by 1 to 1.25 seconds in Spain. I think this gap will also be dependent on what upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari bring to Spain.

And by what they'll decrease that gap? Magic?

Presumably, based on engine and chassis upgrades.

At this point, McLaren has trivial scope for making their car faster - simply figure out how to keep the PU cool. Chassis upgrades on top of that are just icing on the cake.

[timbo]

In Australia, McLaren were 4.5 secs off the Mercedes pace while in Bahrain they were 2.5 seconds off the pace. I expect Mclaren to close that gap by 1 to 1.25 seconds in Spain. I think this gap will also be dependent on what upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari bring to Spain.

And by what they'll decrease that gap? Magic?

Presumably, based on engine and chassis upgrades.

At this point, McLaren has trivial scope for making their car faster - simply figure out how to keep the PU cool. Chassis upgrades on top of that are just icing on the cake.

Don't forget diminishing returns. For example it might be that in order to keep engine cool they'd have to compromise their aero performance.

[GoranF1]

In Australia, McLaren were 4.5 secs off the Mercedes pace while in Bahrain they were 2.5 seconds off the pace. I expect Mclaren to close that gap by 1 to 1.25 seconds in Spain. I think this gap will also be dependent on what upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari bring to Spain.

And by what they'll decrease that gap? Magic?

and I can not believe you actually asked that question,unless you were on Mars since January!

[damager21]

In Australia, McLaren were 4.5 secs off the Mercedes pace while in Bahrain they were 2.5 seconds off the pace. I expect Mclaren to close that gap by 1 to 1.25 seconds in Spain. I think this gap will also be dependent on what upgrades Mercedes and Ferrari bring to Spain.

And by what they'll decrease that gap? Magic?

I believe every team will bring big upgrades in Spain. Mercedes and Ferrari both could bring upgrades worth 0.5 sec which would mostly be driven by aero updates. McLaren will have big improvements both on chassis and engine front which could be worth 1 to 1.25 seconds.

This would mean that McLaren could end up being 1.75 to 2 seconds behind Mercedes in Spain which is still a lot to catch up. Lets not forget that there has been a 2 seconds improvement in the first four races. Also, as Jenson mentioned, as the car gets faster there will be a snowball effect and hence more speed will get unlocked.

If ERS works well then more speed will be available, there will be lesser need to save fuel and hence more speed, tires will operate in the optimal temperature leading to more speed.

[Jef Patat]

When I read these lottery predictions ...

I think they indeed have room for improvement in a lot of areas, as they state themselves, but sticking numbers on that, based on average improvement over previous races is nonsense. Alonso did a very good job, but don't forget Button did not get a chance to do a job at all.

[ollandos]

the critical point for this car in this season for me is the canadian gp......
before this ....3 weeks time for spain upgrades, 2 races (spain-monaco ) 2 test days ...and almost 2 months from bahrain....
too much time and a lot data ......if the gap there is big (over 0.5) from front runners the season is over ....from any point view....we speak again next season

lets see.... [-o<

[Moose]

Presumably, based on engine and chassis upgrades.

At this point, McLaren has trivial scope for making their car faster - simply figure out how to keep the PU cool. Chassis upgrades on top of that are just icing on the cake.

Don't forget diminishing returns. For example it might be that in order to keep engine cool they'd have to compromise their aero performance.

The point is that McLaren are not yet into diminishing returns anywhere close to the amount that front running teams are. They have at least one major thing wrong with their car that they can fix, other teams do not have trivial progress to make like "just make the engine actually capable of producing all the power it can, that'll get us 100hp"