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Lando Norris will take 10-place grid penalty in Belgium, due to McLaren using a fourth of certain PU components as it takes the Mercedes update that features reliability improvements.
I won't say their car concept is wrong, but The Race sure will! Most of the specifics in this video have to do with the transmission rather than aero. They assert that the choice of gear-ratios McLaren made before the season have proven to be suboptimal, and while they can change ratios once during the season they are unlikely to do so due to cost. There are other interesting tidbits in the video, but that's the main one I took away.
At the launch, Rob Marshall more or less said the car was shortened to get the weight down. That's not to say they had a max length car, and shortened it. It was probably designed short from the very beginning in anticipation of how challenging it would be to reach the weight limit. Some teams (Red Bull, AMR, Williams) have taken months to get there.
This reminds me of Alfa Sauber at the beginning of the previous regs, with a short wheelbase car that was the only one at or under the weight limit to start the season. This helped them score a heap of points early, but as the other teams got lighter their competitiveness dried up and they had little room to develop.
I doubt that McLaren will suffer the same fate to that degree, but they have certainly made it more difficult for themselves going forward. IMO the original sin this season for McLaren was badly miscalculating how difficult the integration process would be with these new PU's. They clearly planned on being very competitive to start and wanted a short, light car to cement that early position. Now they are stuck in no man's land.
Lando Norris will take 10-place grid penalty in Belgium, due to McLaren using a fourth of certain PU components as it takes the Mercedes update that features reliability improvements.
Lando Norris will take 10-place grid penalty in Belgium, due to McLaren using a fourth of certain PU components as it takes the Mercedes update that features reliability improvements.
McLaren are so slow on the straights, unless they’re somehow way better than they were the last two races, I think he will be stuck on the midfield for a long time.
Lando Norris will take 10-place grid penalty in Belgium, due to McLaren using a fourth of certain PU components as it takes the Mercedes update that features reliability improvements.
McLaren are so slow on the straights, unless they’re somehow way better than they were the last two races, I think he will be stuck on the midfield for a long time.
Back in 2023 Lando managed to work through the midfield here with a literal air plow (the MCL60 ) so it can't be that bad this time. They have a new rear wing and I would bet it's going to help them on the straights.
Do you doubt our new rear flippy wing which will sprout a couple of jet engines when deployed?
Seriously though, he's not starting at the back of the grid and his starts have been great lately so will not be surprised to see him get back to P8 in a couple of laps
