2017 Mclaren F1 Team - Honda

[McL-H]

I have to say it... I'm worried about Vandoorne!!

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's in a bad car in his rookie year, with a hugely experienced teammate who is regarded as the best in the field and brilliant at pushing cars further than they should go. What would rookie alonso have gotten out of the McHonda?

I do think though that McLaren aren't the best when it comes to nurturing rookie drivers. Hamilton was a superstar but they couldn't manage him alongside alonso, and then look what happened to perez and k-mag, and now vandoorne seems almost forgotten about by the team.

He is not in a bad car. It's one of the best out there. Look how balanced it is, how well it drives to the corners. It is possible to compensate a bit for the lack of PU performance.

[RS200E]

Call Honda out for their failures?

Yes.

[proteus]

I have to say it... I'm worried about Vandoorne!!

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's in a bad car in his rookie year, with a hugely experienced teammate who is regarded as the best in the field and brilliant at pushing cars further than they should go. What would rookie alonso have gotten out of the McHonda?

I do think though that McLaren aren't the best when it comes to nurturing rookie drivers. Hamilton was a superstar but they couldn't manage him alongside alonso, and then look what happened to perez and k-mag, and now vandoorne seems almost forgotten about by the team.

He is not in a bad car. It's one of the best out there. Look how balanced it is, how well it drives to the corners. It is possible to compensate a bit for the lack of PU performance.

Bottas and his Mercedes engine compensated a whole second on the straight against Alonso, that just shows how handicaped both Mclaren drivers are. Vandoorne is slowly starting to show he is getting a feel of the car, but being allways the second driver who gets the updates also makes a mark. He showed streinght in Monaco (when he got Alonsos package on the car), but than made 2 rookie mistakes which costed him a nice haul of points. He has to mature, but when the power problems will be sorted he will be a good contender.

[McL-H]

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's in a bad car in his rookie year, with a hugely experienced teammate who is regarded as the best in the field and brilliant at pushing cars further than they should go. What would rookie alonso have gotten out of the McHonda?

I do think though that McLaren aren't the best when it comes to nurturing rookie drivers. Hamilton was a superstar but they couldn't manage him alongside alonso, and then look what happened to perez and k-mag, and now vandoorne seems almost forgotten about by the team.

He is not in a bad car. It's one of the best out there. Look how balanced it is, how well it drives to the corners. It is possible to compensate a bit for the lack of PU performance.

Bottas and his Mercedes engine compensated a whole second on the straight against Alonso, that just shows how handicaped both Mclaren drivers are. Vandoorne is slowly starting to show he is getting a feel of the car, but being allways the second driver who gets the updates also makes a mark. He showed streinght in Monaco (when he got Alonsos package on the car), but than made 2 rookie mistakes which costed him a nice haul of points. He has to mature, but when the power problems will be sorted he will be a good contender.

Yes, of course, the chassis can't compensate the deficit Honda has to Mercedes and Ferrari. But they CAN get a result with this car. They can fight the Sauber's, Renault's and occasionally the Haas cars and STR's. Alonso shows it can. Yet Vandoorne is nowhere. The Sauber, that's a bad car. The McLaren isn't. Yet Wehrlein gets the maximum out of the package, and Vandoorne isn't. Very weak performance of him all season. I had expected much more.. thought he was a big talent like Verstappen, Hamilton etc. But he's just a new Magnussen, Kovalainen.

[proteus]

He is not in a bad car. It's one of the best out there. Look how balanced it is, how well it drives to the corners. It is possible to compensate a bit for the lack of PU performance.

Bottas and his Mercedes engine compensated a whole second on the straight against Alonso, that just shows how handicaped both Mclaren drivers are. Vandoorne is slowly starting to show he is getting a feel of the car, but being allways the second driver who gets the updates also makes a mark. He showed streinght in Monaco (when he got Alonsos package on the car), but than made 2 rookie mistakes which costed him a nice haul of points. He has to mature, but when the power problems will be sorted he will be a good contender.

Yes, of course, the chassis can't compensate the deficit Honda has to Mercedes and Ferrari. But they CAN get a result with this car. They can fight the Sauber's, Renault's and occasionally the Haas cars and STR's. Alonso shows it can. Yet Vandoorne is nowhere. The Sauber, that's a bad car. The McLaren isn't. Yet Wehrlein gets the maximum out of the package, and Vandoorne isn't. Very weak performance of him all season. I had expected much more.. thought he was a big talent like Verstappen, Hamilton etc. But he's just a new Magnussen, Kovalainen.

Vandoorne pitted and was arround 15 seconds behind when he started the chase. He closed the gap till the end, but he was unable to get by. I believe it happened because he was left with too little fuel to attack, or electricity. Same was with Alonso, who lost 8th to Sainz with the same problems.

[AnthonyG]

He is not in a bad car. It's one of the best out there. Look how balanced it is, how well it drives to the corners. It is possible to compensate a bit for the lack of PU performance.

Bottas and his Mercedes engine compensated a whole second on the straight against Alonso, that just shows how handicaped both Mclaren drivers are. Vandoorne is slowly starting to show he is getting a feel of the car, but being allways the second driver who gets the updates also makes a mark. He showed streinght in Monaco (when he got Alonsos package on the car), but than made 2 rookie mistakes which costed him a nice haul of points. He has to mature, but when the power problems will be sorted he will be a good contender.

Yes, of course, the chassis can't compensate the deficit Honda has to Mercedes and Ferrari. But they CAN get a result with this car. They can fight the Sauber's, Renault's and occasionally the Haas cars and STR's. Alonso shows it can. Yet Vandoorne is nowhere. The Sauber, that's a bad car. The McLaren isn't. Yet Wehrlein gets the maximum out of the package, and Vandoorne isn't. Very weak performance of him all season. I had expected much more.. thought he was a big talent like Verstappen, Hamilton etc. But he's just a new Magnussen, Kovalainen.

Vandoorne had a bad strategy, Mclaren pitted him before the first SC came on track, so he had the worst possible strategy. And later he had to pit again due to another problem (I think a flatspot, but not sure)
Had Mclaren let Vandoorne stay on a strategy similar to Alonso's, he would have scored a point easily.

[etusch]

Hasegawa
"For the next round in Austria, we are scheduled to bring our updated Spec 3 PU for both cars following the successful test here in Azerbaijan. In the meantime, we will continue our development with our best efforts in order to continue closing the gap."
pitpass.com

[ZakB]

Vandoorne will be out if he doesn't raise his game quickly.

[GoranF1]

Hasegawa
"For the next round in Austria, we are scheduled to bring our updated Spec 3 PU for both cars following the successful test here in Azerbaijan. In the meantime, we will continue our development with our best efforts in order to continue closing the gap."
pitpass.com

Last two years Austria circuit was good for Mclaren Honda if i remeber good?

[McL-H]

Hasegawa
"For the next round in Austria, we are scheduled to bring our updated Spec 3 PU for both cars following the successful test here in Azerbaijan. In the meantime, we will continue our development with our best efforts in order to continue closing the gap."
pitpass.com

Last two years Austria circuit was good for Mclaren Honda if i remeber good?

Last year JB qualified in third if I'm not mistaken. Although it was under rainy conditions. I think this year with the spec3 engine, they should be able to get both cars in the top 10.

[godlameroso]

Spec 2.5 ish. Which is good for .3 around Baku, or .2 anywhere else. There should be a chassis update around Silverstone/Hungaroring worth another tenth or two. Best case scenario the gap will be 1.5 seconds by the summer break. It's obviously not good enough but probably enough to mix it up at the front of the midfield. With the increased aero I think the next round will see McLaren placed similar to how they were in Monaco, and Barcelona. Whether that will translate in the race with their horrendous fuel economy remains to be seen.

[GoranF1]

Spec 2.5 ish. Which is good for .3 around Baku, or .2 anywhere else. There should be a chassis update around Silverstone/Hungaroring worth another tenth or two. Best case scenario the gap will be 1.5 seconds by the summer break. It's obviously not good enough but probably enough to mix it up at the front of the midfield. With the increased aero I think the next round will see McLaren placed similar to how they were in Monaco, and Barcelona. Whether that will translate in the race with their horrendous fuel economy remains to be seen.

A 0.3 upgrade from Honda and a 0.1 from Mclaren would be enough for Alonso to jump(on race pace) people like TR, Williams, Hass and Renault even fight FI..that is on DF tracks.

For Vandoorne not even a Merc PU would do it.

[godlameroso]

McLaren = Rookie destroyer.

[RS200E]

McLaren = Rookie destroyer.

Explain yourself.

[godlameroso]

Magnussen, Perez, and now Vandoorne, rookies that have had their carrers nearly destroyed by McLaren because they didn't stomp their teammates into the ground like everyone expected them to.