FittingMechanics wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2024 7:54 am
MCLvamos wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 2:06 am
"Starting off where we finished last year" is the bare minimum imo. This is the year that I think will define if McLaren truly has the potential to kick on and challenge for WCs in the near future. Although Zak is always on the side of managing expectations tbf.
Minimum expectation of being second fastest team that is almost able to challenge Verstappen for a win has a high chance of leaving you disappointed and frustrated.
I'd be happy if the team is close to the front from the start. Depending on how other teams do it depends, but I'd think a good offseason would be if the gap to the Red Bull (or other top team) is reduced in race pace. If that happens we will be a steady podium finished that challenges for wins on merit.
I concur FM.
The Austria/Silverstone upgrades which were so visually obvious produced hugely improved aero efficiency while the Singapore upgrade appears to have sorted some of the slower corner entry speed issues. After that the team worked on optimising the package and as such would have learned a lot. After Silverstone the expectations were on competing for podiums though the confidence in Hungary wasn't so high, at which point it became clear the package was more than a high speed only rescue job and heading more towards an all-rounder. Spa exposed the lack of low drag rear wing, Singapore was expected to expose the slow corner turn in properties which was pleasant surprise number two.
The team seem to know a lot about what properties the 60 has and quite a lot about optimisation and will have collected a tremendous amount of data pertaining to this. That's why I'm hopeful to the point of confident they will have the edge at least early on, over Mercedes who are starting from scratch. Ferrari likewise, are talking a whole new car, but I can't believe McLaren will be throwing the drawings out the window, such was the learning curve. So I have hopes of competing with Ferrari for number two with a significantly decreased gap to RB on race pace.