It's true we weren't as fast as Ferrari and Merc at Austin but as you say, they ran a config that rendered the car illegal so.... would they have been as competitive? Not sure to be honest, a bit slower at least. But we still weren't slow there, particularly in Qualy which is where we tend to see the cars performance step back a little if the track doesn't suit. So even finishing 4th and starting 2nd is a good result.organic wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 3:09 pmI'm sure there's a lot more than just bumps. Ferrari don't perform well in high speed corners and they prefer lower temps for their tyres. Merc do well where the downforce levels are higher (except for Brazil lol). But we've seen RB struggle previously at bumpier circuits and McLaren seem to have gone down a similar development path (shaped tunnel roof with low throat height, stiffer & low ride height) and it seems to have resulted in the same or a similar characteristic so it shouldn't be hugely surprising
This year Singapore wasn't that bumpy as they'd resurfaced much of the bumpy sections of the track.. that was part of the problem for RB who were expecting something far bumpier and just didn't nail the setup with the unexpected conditions. But I could be misinterpreting comments - could be it was just less bumpy than expected (but still bumpy).
At COTA we can extrapolate Charles' race based on a decent (not even optimal) strategy and he'd have finished ahead of Lando. Lewis' strategy was pretty poor and he finished significantly ahead there. Of course both cars ended up being illegal (marginal in at least Ferrari's case) and from that we should perhaps conclude that McLaren left more margin on the table. But I think we could say it was still a large swing compared to races before and after it - at smoother circuits where Macca don't have issues with bumps they're clear 2nd fastest or competitive with RB. At COTA it was at best level with Merc/Ferrari and at Vegas at best level 3rd with Merc
Stepping back you can certainly see that there is an impact at bumpy tracks but the results seem to suggest they are nothing more than the car can handle.
I'm not sure what was going off here and why it all turned around, but you'd think the track is continuing to rubber in and the tyres will be happily getting into their operating window in the cold temps after 5 or 6 laps on the hards.
As SmallSoldier said there may well be an element of setting the car up for the race, but the turnaround in terms of raw speed in the race surely surpasses any setup compromises the team made, this felt like the conditions also came to the car in quite a big way.