Mclaren set up problems in Practice 2? or generally slow?

[ashf1mclaren]

Mclaren have been fast in the 1st practice session, but then been well down the order in the 2nd practice and then closer toward the font in the 3rd session......but in qualifying been at least the secound fastest team.....is this a strategic plan for there race set up focus, because they obviously have a phenomenal race pace in the car

[internetf1fan]

I am dissapointed McLaren decided to waste time and effort pursuing the Red bull exhausts when their own design philosophy has been getting them good points so far. McLaren should just stick to their own upgrade route rather than bolting on parts from other teams which won't work as well as the parts designed for their own car.

[segedunum]

I am dissapointed McLaren decided to waste time and effort pursuing the Red bull exhausts when their own design philosophy has been getting them good points so far. McLaren should just stick to their own upgrade route rather than bolting on parts from other teams which won't work as well as the parts designed for their own car.

They don't have a choice because that's the only area of development in which they can go in. If they don't then they'll end up going backwards.

[internetf1fan]

I am dissapointed McLaren decided to waste time and effort pursuing the Red bull exhausts when their own design philosophy has been getting them good points so far. McLaren should just stick to their own upgrade route rather than bolting on parts from other teams which won't work as well as the parts designed for their own car.

They don't have a choice because that's the only area of development in which they can go in. If they don't then they'll end up going backwards.

I don't agree. McLaren is the only top team to not to copy the red bull style nose for example. There should have been many avenues for development. spending so much time and effort on such a radical change is not worth the effort I think. McLaren basically wasted 2 practice sessions today.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

internetF1 fan has a valid point.

They can revert back to what they know for qualifying tommorow. Worth a shot and far more prudent than gambling on strategy or somthing silly that will actually cost you points during qualy or race day.
Mclaren will know where they stand with their standard spec car, amd I defy anyone to say that any other car out there looked as sorted as the Red Bulls.

[ringo]

If they revert then they drop back to 5th and 8th.

2 ferraris, 2 redbull, 1 renault 1 mercedes, are going to be ahead.

If they keep the new package and be a little patient maybe lewis can wrestle with it for the race. It's do or die.

Vettel is going to run away with too many points if they back down.

[internetf1fan]

If they revert then they drop back to 5th and 8th.

2 ferraris, 2 redbull, 1 renault 1 mercedes, are going to be ahead.

If they keep the new package and be a little patient maybe lewis can wrestle with it for the race. It's do or die.

Vettel is going to run away with too many points if they back down.

well we saw how many times hamilton went off in the practice. the risk of a dnf is probably too high. in any case, mclaren should be pursuing it's own development programme and not just rely on copying other teams.

[deus1066]

They're leading both championships. In my opinion its not worth the risk. Return to the old rear end for this weekend, and take it to Germany after another 2 weeks of development. With good setup and effective damage limitation I think Hamilton could get 3rd behind the RB's or 4th if Alonso gets the best out of the Ferrari. Hopefully Button can stay ahead of the Mercs and Kubica too.

[Confused_Andy]

I'm pretty dissapointed with this new update and the fact that McLaren did copy redbull, obviously its an obvious route to improve the car to follow suit with the competition. However, their car is a total different kettle of fish to the RB and McLaren should seak their own development routes...

Dont upset the car they had two weeks ago because without the EBD it was still challenging podiums.

[rich1701]

Firstly I would say P1 times are largely irrelevant, but anyway, With no testing available the teams must explore every avenue available to them and that is what Mclaren did today. They are obviously very confident their blown diffuser is a step forward otherwise they would of perhaps had a standard configuration car and an exhaust blown car running side by side in practice. Although logistically difficult to achieve, they are close to their factory.. and it would of prevented them from having a bad weekend for both cars IF the upgrade is the cause of their problems.

The turn 11 bump seems to be a major issue for Mclaren, I would suggest their upgrade is not necessarily the cause of this issue but rather deficiencies in other areas of the car. Such as suspension. Lewis Hamilton seemed to have more problems elsewhere on the circuit however.

I think ferrari have made a significant step this weekend too which has highlighted mclaren's lack of performance.

I have always thought the f duct which the Mclaren is built around and obviously is completely optimised around has somewhat masked what is a fairly unspectacular chassis.

[creedbratton]

Lets not forget what happened in Canada, where the sand bagged and didn't use their f-duct in practice, could be doing the same here.

[ringo]

If they revert then they drop back to 5th and 8th.

2 ferraris, 2 redbull, 1 renault 1 mercedes, are going to be ahead.

If they keep the new package and be a little patient maybe lewis can wrestle with it for the race. It's do or die.

Vettel is going to run away with too many points if they back down.

well we saw how many times hamilton went off in the practice. the risk of a dnf is probably too high. in any case, mclaren should be pursuing it's own development programme and not just rely on copying other teams.

He wont drive like that in the race. Sometimes i think he experiments with driving on different lines. He may well notice the car is not at redbull's pace and he'll need to find ways to overtake. He's just feeling out the track and pushing the car over the edge. If he has to finish a race with it, he'll hold back in those trouble spots.

[Richard]

So based on the above comments, the teams shouldn't have tried copying the Brawn DDD last year?

[marcush.]

every time you make fundamental changes to the car it is very unlikely it will net full benefit when you hit the track for the first time.
Assuming they went for an increase in downforce and they can quantify how much they have gained it must be something disturbing the balance they anticipated to have .
so their previously good modelling has not worked with the upgrade OR they have worked through a large field of map points to VERIFY their modelling is still accurate....we cannot judge at this time ,only MACS can and the true story willbe appearing when in FP3 the car is back to previous status-telling us the modelling is not matching up with reality close enough to justify using the parts in the race or
they feel they have good correlation and a net gain and will pursue the new direction.

Obviously all Teams choose to follow RBs route ,and it is a bit disappointing they seem to think copying as the only ways to catch up with RB..

[segedunum]

well we saw how many times hamilton went off in the practice. the risk of a dnf is probably too high. in any case, mclaren should be pursuing it's own development programme and not just rely on copying other teams.

I know Ron Dennis's 'First you have to finish comment' seems appropriate but they simply can't apply that here. The risk of being consistently below fifth for the next few races if they don't develop this as soon as they can is too great - even if they do have a DNF - such is the pace of development.