2025 McLaren F1 Team

[venkyhere]

Made the doubters (including yours truly) eat their words.

Did you think he was never gonna win another race, even with the clear fastest car on the grid? :/

specifically referring to his Q3 runs. Which have not been good enough to do justice to the car, since Australia.

[Darth-Piekus]

It's obvious the problem with Lando is his psychology. He get's affected a lot by the social media and the mind games of others. When he is focused he's in a different level.

[geogate]

that didnt really sound like something Andrea would say even off the record, but they have been saying for some weeks that the front wing was already new TD compliant to much of the media, including Sky F1, and has been reported as having been said by Ted on the podcast. I dont think they would be quite so unequivocal to the media if it wasn't actually true. According to Ted they have said it had been compliant for several races already.

[CjC]

that didnt really sound like something Andrea would say even off the record, but they have been saying for some weeks that the front wing was already new TD compliant to much of the media, including Sky F1, and has been reported as having been said by Ted on the podcast. I dont think they would be quite so unequivocal to the media if it wasn't actually true. According to Ted they have said it had been compliant for several races already.

Sorry, this is the first time I’ve heard the front wing is TD compliant.
Last I heard Stella say about it was that only a small change would be required. Have they already made the ‘small change’ and if so… when?

[Balalu]

McLaren now have 29 points more than 2nd and 3rd placed teams (Mercedes and RedBull) COMBINED, in the constructors championship

[Emag]

that didnt really sound like something Andrea would say even off the record, but they have been saying for some weeks that the front wing was already new TD compliant to much of the media, including Sky F1, and has been reported as having been said by Ted on the podcast. I dont think they would be quite so unequivocal to the media if it wasn't actually true. According to Ted they have said it had been compliant for several races already.

Sorry, this is the first time I’ve heard the front wing is TD compliant.
Last I heard Stella say about it was that only a small change would be required. Have they already made the ‘small change’ and if so… when?

I am not sure about the MCL39 having a Spain TD compliant wing already, because it does seem to flex more than RB & Ferrari and they have both said they're bringing new wings for Spain, however the MCL39 appears to have quite a bit less flex than the MCL38 last year.

I pointed this out in testing already :

https://i.imgur.com/INxZJbc.jpeg

It seems like there's less flex on the MCL39's front wing, but I can't be certain if it's due to the slightly different onboard angles or not. But even when looking at the onboard videos (not static images like these) of the MCL39, the flap movement doesn't seem as dramatic on the braking zone as it was with the MCL38.

In my opinion, they're close to being compliant with the TD, but not quite with the current wing. So that "small change" Andrea mentioned could simply be a slightly more rigid front wing, but exactly the same philosophy, i.e no change in DF balance, but slightly more drag. They're going to be forced to run with a big front wing anyway and just bite the bullet when it comes to whatever extra drag they have to deal with. As it has been pointed out by Vanja before, McLaren's front wing needs to be big, because their floor doesn't generate the same front-end downforce as the others. It's part of the concept.

Anyway, I don't believe they got caught by surprise with this TD and have developed the car with it in consideration. There were rumors before the season even started that actually McLaren were one of the teams pushing for it (although please, take this with a big pinch of salt because I don't know if those rumors have been refuted or not). In any case, if there indeed was some "panic" from within the team regarding the TD, I doubt they'd be making these sort of comments and doubling down on them wouldn't be wise either. They seem confident, but who knows, it wouldn't be the most surprising thing in the world if it somehow hits them in ways they didn't expect.

Remains to be seen, not too long to find out now.

[venkyhere]

FIA did a big favour to McLaren by 'allowing' (not increasing the flexi test loads) the flexi wings till end of 2024 ; and then further by not enforcing it until race 9 of 2025. What's the explanation for so much 'leeway' with wing flexing ? When other TDs have been enforced like a hammer in a short span of time ?

[geogate]

that didnt really sound like something Andrea would say even off the record, but they have been saying for some weeks that the front wing was already new TD compliant to much of the media, including Sky F1, and has been reported as having been said by Ted on the podcast. I dont think they would be quite so unequivocal to the media if it wasn't actually true. According to Ted they have said it had been compliant for several races already.

Sorry, this is the first time I’ve heard the front wing is TD compliant.
Last I heard Stella say about it was that only a small change would be required. Have they already made the ‘small change’ and if so… when?

Hopefully i got time stamp right

[SmallSoldier]

FIA did a big favour to McLaren by 'allowing' (not increasing the flexi test loads) the flexi wings till end of 2024 ; and then further by not enforcing it until race 9 of 2025. What's the explanation for so much 'leeway' with wing flexing ? When other TDs have been enforced like a hammer in a short span of time ?

Do you know if the current (start of the season) MCL39 wouldn’t pass the test as intended for Spain? If it indeed passes the test as is (as per McLaren), then there is no favours been thrown around… There is a narrative created by one team to deflect attention from their own struggles that has been eaten not only by the media, but also by a large population of the F1 audience…

Next week will be interesting, the fun part will be when an small delta in lap times will have that same media and portion of the F1 audience screaming how it has nerfed McLaren (probably forgetting the fact that the Delta’s have been the smallest for a beginning of a season so far)

[Watto]

that didnt really sound like something Andrea would say even off the record, but they have been saying for some weeks that the front wing was already new TD compliant to much of the media, including Sky F1, and has been reported as having been said by Ted on the podcast. I dont think they would be quite so unequivocal to the media if it wasn't actually true. According to Ted they have said it had been compliant for several races already.

Sorry, this is the first time I’ve heard the front wing is TD compliant.
Last I heard Stella say about it was that only a small change would be required. Have they already made the ‘small change’ and if so… when?

Hopefully i got time stamp right

Interesting.

I still sense their are some games in all of that - iirc they denied they had to chance their rear wing last year over the miniDRS?



But either way I don't think its going to make all that much a difference to them

[geogate]

Interesting.

I still sense their are some games in all of that - iirc they denied they had to chance their rear wing last year over the miniDRS?



But either way I don't think its going to make all that much a difference to them

My recollection was that they said they voluntarily agreed to make a minor change to the rear wing last year
(they said they didnt have to make any change earlier this year)

[Watto]

Interesting.

I still sense their are some games in all of that - iirc they denied they had to chance their rear wing last year over the miniDRS?



But either way I don't think its going to make all that much a difference to them

My recollection was that they said they voluntarily agreed to make a minor change to the rear wing last year
(they said they didnt have to make any change earlier this year)

Ah that's right but I am not so convinced it was voluntary etc the FIA did come up with a tightening of the rules.


I think Stella generally is a straight shooter but I think there are still games to be played. - although was it Stella that made that comment to Ted or was it someone else.


Either way I don't see it making all that much a difference to McLaren's pace probably even less so their tyre management. Mercedes I think we saw last week it seemed to effect.


McLarens pace isn't just one magic fix/thing.

[mwillems]

If I recall correctly, Mclaren did offer to make changes but if they didn't, the FIA would have mandated them.

Regarding the front wing, during testing Stella was quoted as saying they would bring FW changes to Spain, but that they are minor and wouldn't make much of a difference.

They've said several times it won't make a difference or be a big change since. Can't see a reason to doubt them.

[Watto]

If I recall correctly, Mclaren did offer to make changes but if they didn't, the FIA would have mandated them.

Regarding the front wing, during testing Stella was quoted as saying they would bring FW changes to Spain, but that they are minor and wouldn't make much of a difference.

They've said several times it won't make a difference or be a big change since. Can't see a reason to doubt them.

Yes, that would be about right to me, which I tend to think was a case of their hand was really forced if the FIA said its within the rules/load tests its okay then I very much doubt they choose to get rid of it.

But yeah I don't see the front wing load test having a great effect on their, even if its takes a little performance away (and that's an if) I just don't see the cars strength as being down to one single area. Like Red Bull a few years ago no single thing but a bunch of them together.

[CjC]

that didnt really sound like something Andrea would say even off the record, but they have been saying for some weeks that the front wing was already new TD compliant to much of the media, including Sky F1, and has been reported as having been said by Ted on the podcast. I dont think they would be quite so unequivocal to the media if it wasn't actually true. According to Ted they have said it had been compliant for several races already.

Sorry, this is the first time I’ve heard the front wing is TD compliant.
Last I heard Stella say about it was that only a small change would be required. Have they already made the ‘small change’ and if so… when?

Hopefully i got time stamp right

Thank you. You nailed the stamp too.

Interesting indeed. We’ll have an answer in 7 days time