2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[Bisonas]

Boring first half of the race.
Very nice second half.
Mclarens race pace is very good. Similar to Renault or slightly better.
But if you lack top speed and you also have issues on qualifying then its most certain you will get stack behind a slower car with superior engine most of the times.

Alonso after passing MAG was like a dog that you through him a bone. Was never gonna let the pleasure of passing Vetel to slip for him
To bad he missed 6th place to Verstapen for 0.206s .He did tried get back in to the 10 sec gap at the last 2 laps.
Getting 6th from Verstappen would have been a perfect result for Alonso.

But Mclaren can't get the new nose soon enough. That top speed/drag issues are a killer. Even worst than the Qually issues.

[PhillipM]

Better than Renault, Alonso left the Renault behind by a few tenths per lap even on mediums vs softs.

[Bisonas]

Better than Renault, Alonso left the Renault behind by a few tenths per lap even on mediums vs softs.

I take for comparison the fastest Mclaren and the Fastest Renault.
HUL had really good pace also. He was controlling his pace and trying to make his last soft stint to last.They had similar pace for their whole last stint. Soft vs Medium but hulk did manage to pull a faster race lap by about 0.35 sec i think. So we don't really know If ALO or HUL was faster.

I also agree that ALO was probably faster because he run 2/3 of the race behind traffic , and HUL run most of the race in free air. So ALO did kill the tires at some extend running in traffic and managed to match the pace of HUL l8r on.

[Alonso Fan]

I haven't watched the race yet but couldn't resist myself to have a peek at the results and I can say I'm very happy after the qualifying yesterday. I'll make a more detailed post once I've watched the race though!

[dr_cooke]

Boring first half of the race.
Very nice second half.
Mclarens race pace is very good. Similar to Renault or slightly better.
But if you lack top speed and you also have issues on qualifying then its most certain you will get stack behind a slower car with superior engine most of the times.

Alonso after passing MAG was like a dog that you through him a bone. Was never gonna let the pleasure of passing Vetel to slip for him
To bad he missed 6th place to Verstapen for 0.206s .He did tried get back in to the 10 sec gap at the last 2 laps.
Getting 6th from Verstappen would have been a perfect result for Alonso.

But Mclaren can't get the new nose soon enough. That top speed/drag issues are a killer. Even worst than the Qually issues.

Actually he finished the race 20+seconds behind Verstappen. He could have never catched him. That +10.2 is already penalty corrected.

Changing subject, I read in a completely non trustable Spanish newspaper that McL expects -1s from the new nose alone. That would be a heck of an update if true

[michl420]

With alonso, the mcLaren is the 4th fastest RACE car. It was in Bahrain, and now in China. And overtaking is a big problem. The renault engine helps a lot in the race. Thats how it looks for me after 3 Races.

[nirvaand]

McLaren seems to have the similar or better race pace than Renault, but qualifying so down low the order is costing then dearly. Alonso being quicker still got stuck behind both the Haas drivers for a long time, because of their superior engine and the high drag that McLaren has.

If the new nose does find a -1s performance, they can substantially improve their qualifying, making it into Q3, then Alonso can mix it up with the top 3, we all know how good his starts and race craft is. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, just fingers crossed that McLaren's updates will be successful.

[Bisonas]

Actually he finished the race 20+seconds behind Verstappen. He could have never catched him. That +10.2 is already penalty corrected.

You are correct, I didn't realize it cause the correction happen instantly after the finish line on the f1 app live timing.
My bad.

[majki2111]

When are updates coming? Last time I read something it was Baku, right?

[Bisonas]

When are updates coming? Last time I read something it was Baku, right?

EB said for logistics reasons probably @ Barcelona.
But no one really knows for sure. We don't even know if the new nose cone has passed the crash test yet.
Some ppl say it still hasn't.

[majki2111]

When are updates coming? Last time I read something it was Baku, right?

EB said for logistics reasons probably @ Barcelona.
But no one really knows for sure. We don't even know if the new nose cone has passed the crash test yet.
Some ppl say it still hasn't.

They'll be sitting ducks in Baku then.

[Bisonas]

When are updates coming? Last time I read something it was Baku, right?

EB said for logistics reasons probably @ Barcelona.
But no one really knows for sure. We don't even know if the new nose cone has passed the crash test yet.
Some ppl say it still hasn't.

They'll be sitting ducks in Baku then.

Baku without the updates, will be an indication for us to see, if they actually understood what happen to Bahrain Qually and if they found a solution. Race pace it would be good again i guess, Qually is what i fear the most for baku.

[bauc]

With the car clearly lacking straightline speed and traction out of the slow-medium speed corner's , the fact the we have scored points 3 races in a row and the team now has only 2 points less than the entire 2017 season speak volume of how Mclaren has improved over the last seasons in terms of consistency. Yes they gained few places due to crashes and safety car on the track but still to win it, you need to be in it, something Mclaren lacked in the last 3 years. Now, its up to Mclaren to upgrade the car from Barcelona onwards, and if things go to planned I think Mclaren has a legit shot of P4 in the constructors this season.

[nirvaand]

According to German and Spanish sources, the updates are coming to Baku. And I really hope it does, otherwise they were struggle massively there.

[carisi2k]

I think you can thank the brilliance of Fernando and the Force India and Williams teams for building such poor cars for Mclaren being in fourth position in the championship.