2021 Mclaren F1 Team

[Herr_Koos]

Here is the official debrief from the team on the strategy.

This will probably fan the flames even further.

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/2021/emi ... y-debrief/

[SmallSoldier]

Lando in regards to potentially challenge Max at the restart:

“This was a big decision I had to make,” Norris said in a social media video. “I’m on the soft because my only chance of overtaking with Leclerc would be at the very start. And on the soft tyre, compared to a medium, they come in a bit quicker. So we made the decision to go onto the soft.”

“I think I could have overtaken Max,” he said. “Especially on like lap two [after the restart].”

But as that lap began Norris’ team told him on his radio to “look after the tyre”.

“I could have overtaken Verstappen, I think,” Norris continued. “Maybe not. I could have at least tried.

“But I wouldn’t have finished on the podium, I think, if I tried, because I would have killed my tyres and I think Leclerc would have got me.”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Emag]

I mean, that was what I was trying to say before. From the cars that went with the medium in Q2 we saw a very stable 0.4 improvement when they switched to softs in Q3. So it is safe to assume on ultimate tire performance the soft could probably deliver laptimes that would be 0.4s faster that the mediums. But if you drove out both tires to full potential, the soft would run out much much sooner. That's why if you are running with the softs, you have to limit your pace to cover the same mileage you would have covered with the mediums, because another pitstop at that stage of the race would have put Lando off the podium.

It is obvious that he went into tire saving mode after overtaking Leclerc because it would be stupid to push and ruin the tire afterwards.

Which is more likely:
1 - Lando was at least 0.4s slower per lap than Ferrari on that second stint.
2 - Lando was simply managing his tires to make it through to the end.

I am inclined to believe it was the second. Because we are talking about a car that was on average 0.2s per lap faster than Ferrari in Bahrain. Even with unfavorable track characteristics, is a 0.6s swing in performance realistic?

[JPower]

I am inclined to believe it was the second. Because we are talking about a car that was on average 0.2s per lap faster than Ferrari in Bahrain. Even with unfavorable track characteristics, is a 0.6s swing in performance realistic?

Depends on the car and the track. Imola and Bahrain really aren't similar in any fashion. We also know that Ferrari was using high downforce wet setup and is pretty good in lower speed corners. Might've been the right trade for every sector outside of 1 due to the Ferrari's lack of speed on main straight.

On pure pace the Ferraris should've passed him but hard to do so at Imola and with a car that was clearly slower in a straightline.

[the EDGE]

Lando in regards to potentially challenge Max at the restart:

“This was a big decision I had to make,” Norris said in a social media video. “I’m on the soft because my only chance of overtaking with Leclerc would be at the very start. And on the soft tyre, compared to a medium, they come in a bit quicker. So we made the decision to go onto the soft.”

“I think I could have overtaken Max,” he said. “Especially on like lap two [after the restart].”

But as that lap began Norris’ team told him on his radio to “look after the tyre”.

“I could have overtaken Verstappen, I think,” Norris continued. “Maybe not. I could have at least tried.

“But I wouldn’t have finished on the podium, I think, if I tried, because I would have killed my tyres and I think Leclerc would have got me.”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

he also said he was 0.2 secs up, on Lewis Hamilton until the final 2 corners, on his deleted run at the end of Q3, but the merc was just too quick through those final 2 corners

[SmallSoldier]

Lando in regards to potentially challenge Max at the restart:

“This was a big decision I had to make,” Norris said in a social media video. “I’m on the soft because my only chance of overtaking with Leclerc would be at the very start. And on the soft tyre, compared to a medium, they come in a bit quicker. So we made the decision to go onto the soft.”

“I think I could have overtaken Max,” he said. “Especially on like lap two [after the restart].”

But as that lap began Norris’ team told him on his radio to “look after the tyre”.

“I could have overtaken Verstappen, I think,” Norris continued. “Maybe not. I could have at least tried.

“But I wouldn’t have finished on the podium, I think, if I tried, because I would have killed my tyres and I think Leclerc would have got me.”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

he also said he was 0.2 secs up, on Lewis Hamilton until the final 2 corners, on his deleted run at the end of Q3, but the merc was just too quick through those final 2 corners

Hamilton was ridiculously quick in Rivazza... I watched the comparison with Perez lap and he made up 2 tenths on those 2 corners alone.

Still, one of the best things out from last weekend, aside of course of the Podium is how much the team improved at a track that wasn’t great for them in 2020... The swing in performance was huge and hopefully it will carry over to Portimao, where we weren’t as fast either last season.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Emag]

Portimao in terms of race pace wasn't horrible, but Leclerc was crazy fast last year in Portugal. And that was with the dogshit car that Ferrari had last season.
I think it's going to be very hard to fight the Ferraris in Portimao. It's highly likely they will be better than McLaren.

[SmallSoldier]

Portimao in terms of race pace wasn't horrible, but Leclerc was crazy fast last year in Portugal. And that was with the dogshit car that Ferrari had last season.
I think it's going to be very hard to fight the Ferraris in Portimao. It's highly likely they will be better than McLaren.

I have a similar feeling... But, we weren’t expecting to be third fastest in Imola (based on last year’s performance) and it was there based on Lando’s deleted lap.

Part of the improvement at Imola was also due to having more data compared to 2020 to dial the cars, which should also play a role at Portimao.

Let’s hope for another surprise in a little more than a week from now!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[McFAN]

[Emag]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YiczhhJdH3c

They are giving too much praise. In my opinion, the video is premature. They should have waited for a couple of more races before making such statements.

Qualifying was indeed impressive, but the race itself was a mess. Can't pull out any reliable data when you have so much chaos and changing conditions. And in the data that was "somewhat" reliable, it showed that McLaren still has a significant deficit in race pace to RedBull and Mercedes.

[diffuser]

You offset the benefit because you can't use that tire advantage unless you want to have another pit stop later on.

I can guarantee you that Lando would have pulled out in front of Leclerc if he used that tire to its full advantage, but if he did that he would have to pit after 20 laps.

Think you want to rewrite what you wrote, I don't think it is saying what you want it to say...

Lando did pass LeClerc. He stayed for about 5 or 6 laps behind LeClerc. Atleast I'm not understanding what you're trying to write.

Lando's biggest problem was something he did alot of last year. He went backwards at the beginning of the race(From 7th to 9th) and then got stuck behind the Gasly train for about 9 laps.

Not sure what you mean by Lando stayed behind LeClerc for about 5 or 6 laps, because the race I was following, he passed him early on after the red flag restart. I don’t know if you regard following under safety car as staying behind, which was the same for him being behind Gasly, most of it was under safety car conditions. He overtook shortly after the race went green.

"I can guarantee you that Lando would have pulled out in front of Leclerc if he used that tire to its full advantage, but if he did that he would have to pit after 20 laps. " suggests he was still behind after he switched to the soft tire, No ? But to my memory he had, like you said, passed him fairly quickly after the restart.

It was just confusing to me ..the way it was written.

[Emag]

I meant to say "pulled out a gap in front ..." But forgot to type it down for some reason. Maybe my mind was someplace else.

[_cerber1]

[McFAN]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YiczhhJdH3c

They are giving too much praise. In my opinion, the video is premature. They should have waited for a couple of more races before making such statements.

Qualifying was indeed impressive, but the race itself was a mess. Can't pull out any reliable data when you have so much chaos and changing conditions. And in the data that was "somewhat" reliable, it showed that McLaren still has a significant deficit in race pace to RedBull and Mercedes.

I think the point is
that even if it turns out that the baseline performance is somewhat less competitive than it seems now,
the peaks will be close enough to the top teams to be a threat and to punish them if they underperform.

[McFAN]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YiczhhJdH3c

They are giving too much praise. In my opinion, the video is premature. They should have waited for a couple of more races before making such statements.

Qualifying was indeed impressive, but the race itself was a mess. Can't pull out any reliable data when you have so much chaos and changing conditions. And in the data that was "somewhat" reliable, it showed that McLaren still has a significant deficit in race pace to RedBull and Mercedes.

I think the point is
that even if it turns out that the baseline performance is somewhat less competitive than it seems now,
the peaks will be close enough to the top teams to be a threat and to punish them if they underperform.

I might be hopelessly optimistic
but I think there's more to come from the team
and on our day we might be able to match the top teams and be in contention for poles and victories.