2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

I didn't really understand this point. This is the first time I've heard about this. On the remaining tracks from 2022, the tires are the same size. And the front or rear limit, depending on the race track, remains the same.

The teams haven't been here since 2019.
I found this on the BBC that was posted before the race, saying something similar, but I guess it must have changed a while ago.

7:55
What strategy to expect?

Andrew Benson

BBC F1 correspondent

Just as in Japan two weeks ago, this race is expected to be predominantly a two-stop strategy. Tyre wear is high, and whereas in the past China was a track where the front tyres were most under stress, the wider tyres introduced from 2017 have changed that to the rear. There will be a lot of tyre management in the race, with drivers lapping well off the theoretical maximum pace.

I'd seen in a few places before the race that it was expected to be rear limited and is no longer front limited.

Interesting. Ok, I'll take note.

You know, it reminded me of 2009 when slicks came out again. Due to the lack of grooves on the tires, and the tire size remained the same, the balance of the cars began to manifest itself more in oversteer. Those who had a lot of downforce on the rear axle did not suffer much from this. Then, already in 2010, if I remember correctly, the front tires were already made. Or did it happen in 2011 when Pirelli arrived?

Edit: Front tire dimensions

Having returned slicks to the championship, the FIA ​​decided to keep the previous dimensions of grooved tires. When it became clear that the front and rear tires were wearing unevenly, providing different levels of grip, it was too late to make adjustments. In 2009, this error seriously complicated the work of teams trying to compensate for the difference in the weight distribution of their cars.

https://i.ibb.co/TY5HH9R/F0-A8-FB2-A-4- ... 1814-C.gif

For 2010, the size of the front tires will be reduced, the load will be distributed more evenly, but teams need to optimize the aerodynamics, taking into account more space between the tires and the nose cone.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone: “For 2010, the front tires will become narrower, which will allow for better balance and more even grip between the front and rear wheels. When the championship switched to slicks, it was decided to inherit the dimensions from grooved tires, as a result the front wheels provided better grip than the rear, but now the front tires will become narrower and the situation will change.”

I'm just finding out a little more now about the track. Things I missed before the race. The track has had a protective coating put down on it which prevents the track rubbering up in the same way that it used to. Typically, the rears being the bigger tyres they gain more from the rubbering in of the track than the front and giving more grip to the rear, also making the track front limited. Coupled with the big front tyres, this meant that the track stopped being front limited like it still was at the last Chinese GP, although even then it was not as front limited as before due to the wider front tyres.

A very good article:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark ... rand-prix/

[BMMR61]

The teams haven't been here since 2019.
I found this on the BBC that was posted before the race, saying something similar, but I guess it must have changed a while ago.

7:55
What strategy to expect?

Andrew Benson

BBC F1 correspondent

Just as in Japan two weeks ago, this race is expected to be predominantly a two-stop strategy. Tyre wear is high, and whereas in the past China was a track where the front tyres were most under stress, the wider tyres introduced from 2017 have changed that to the rear. There will be a lot of tyre management in the race, with drivers lapping well off the theoretical maximum pace.

I'd seen in a few places before the race that it was expected to be rear limited and is no longer front limited.

Interesting. Ok, I'll take note.

You know, it reminded me of 2009 when slicks came out again. Due to the lack of grooves on the tires, and the tire size remained the same, the balance of the cars began to manifest itself more in oversteer. Those who had a lot of downforce on the rear axle did not suffer much from this. Then, already in 2010, if I remember correctly, the front tires were already made. Or did it happen in 2011 when Pirelli arrived?

Edit: Front tire dimensions

Having returned slicks to the championship, the FIA ​​decided to keep the previous dimensions of grooved tires. When it became clear that the front and rear tires were wearing unevenly, providing different levels of grip, it was too late to make adjustments. In 2009, this error seriously complicated the work of teams trying to compensate for the difference in the weight distribution of their cars.

https://i.ibb.co/TY5HH9R/F0-A8-FB2-A-4- ... 1814-C.gif

For 2010, the size of the front tires will be reduced, the load will be distributed more evenly, but teams need to optimize the aerodynamics, taking into account more space between the tires and the nose cone.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone: “For 2010, the front tires will become narrower, which will allow for better balance and more even grip between the front and rear wheels. When the championship switched to slicks, it was decided to inherit the dimensions from grooved tires, as a result the front wheels provided better grip than the rear, but now the front tires will become narrower and the situation will change.”

I'm just finding out a little more now about the track. Things I missed before the race. The track has had a protective coating put down on it which prevents the track rubbering up in the same way that it used to. Typically, the rears being the bigger tyres they gain more from the rubbering in of the track than the front and giving more grip to the rear, also making the track front limited. Coupled with the big front tyres, this meant that the track stopped being front limited like it still was at the last Chinese GP, although even then it was not as front limited as before due to the wider front tyres.

A very good article:

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark ... rand-prix/

After the Grand Prix proper, Mark Hughes was at a loss to explain how the McLaren had performed above everyone's expectations including Stella's.
Stella said: “We came here thinking this track would be a damage limitation event but it ended up being our most competitive race so far… We need to find something in our understanding but F1 often surprises you because performance is sensitive to so many parameters…”

It does appear that lower temperatures, the effects of the surface treatment added, and the washing of rubber on Friday afternoon made for a tricky assessment of tyre performance and degradation. We all expected the long slow corners with deceleration and acceleration zones in the corners would be pretty savage on the McLarens and that the easier on the tyres Ferraris and RedBulls would run away after a few laps on full tanks. In fact Lando was able to be quite gentle on the tyres and pit under VSC 9 laps after Max felt his rears starting to go away.

The more I watched these big cars on this unusual track it appeared that the demands on both ends of the car were about equal. In my opinion. So the long low speed corners prevalent at Shanghai gave both front and rear tyres a workout and maybe this, with the above factors, helped keep our tyres alive. It did appear Lando on a more conservative approach was little over 0.5 slower than Max. It's probably not worth over-analysing the anomaly this result was because next time out we are likely to have a completely new set of parameters with a significantly improved package to understand.

[mwillems]

The gap to RB was as huge as ever if not bigger, so it is more that Ferrari went backwards than we went forwards. It's just that we expected to go backwards and Ferrari forwards. I was thinking in my analysis that the nose would be crucial and hence we'd have issues, this will have been part of my mistake, something else to consider now, which is good.

Here's Stella saying what Mark Hughes said about wider tires and the track surface.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10601239/

[BMMR61]

The gap to RB was as huge as ever if not bigger, so it is more that Ferrari went backwards than we went forwards. It's just that we expected to go backwards and Ferrari forwards. I was thinking in my analysis that the nose would be crucial and hence we'd have issues, this will have been part of my mistake, something else to consider now, which is good.

Here's Stella saying what Mark Hughes said about wider tires and the track surface.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10601239/

I was under the same mistake about the front, imagining the way the front loads into that big decreasing radius turn1/2/3 being a millstone to the MCL38. Again the 11/12 combination looked like the nature would tend to be front limiting. On greater reflection 4, 6, 10, 13, 14, 16 are strong acceleration out corners so a bit of both. But as the original MPH article on the wider tyres (acknowledged by Stella) took the issues away from the fronts, normally our nemesis, we seemed pretty decent in both qual and race modes. I agree that Ferrari at face value were outside their normal envelope relative to Red Bull giving Lando that window, but there were encouraging signs the way he easily defeated Perez in the final stint and appeared to have life left in the Pirellis.

Overall the way the team has quickly adapted to setup challenges over a weekend, especially since an ordinary debut performance at Bahrain, is most encouraging. I expect they will quickly adapt to new setup requirements of a quite different car at Miami as they did at Austria and Silverstone last year.

[mclaren111]

what kind of loser mentality is this

You have seen Max & the RB20 ??

[mwillems]

The gap to RB was as huge as ever if not bigger, so it is more that Ferrari went backwards than we went forwards. It's just that we expected to go backwards and Ferrari forwards. I was thinking in my analysis that the nose would be crucial and hence we'd have issues, this will have been part of my mistake, something else to consider now, which is good.

Here's Stella saying what Mark Hughes said about wider tires and the track surface.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mclar ... /10601239/

I was under the same mistake about the front, imagining the way the front loads into that big decreasing radius turn1/2/3 being a millstone to the MCL38. Again the 11/12 combination looked like the nature would tend to be front limiting. On greater reflection 4, 6, 10, 13, 14, 16 are strong acceleration out corners so a bit of both. But as the original MPH article on the wider tyres (acknowledged by Stella) took the issues away from the fronts, normally our nemesis, we seemed pretty decent in both qual and race modes. I agree that Ferrari at face value were outside their normal envelope relative to Red Bull giving Lando that window, but there were encouraging signs the way he easily defeated Perez in the final stint and appeared to have life left in the Pirellis.

Overall the way the team has quickly adapted to setup challenges over a weekend, especially since an ordinary debut performance at Bahrain, is most encouraging. I expect they will quickly adapt to new setup requirements of a quite different car at Miami as they did at Austria and Silverstone last year.

On face value, a lot of it is front limited in terms of track configuration. The long corners and the entrance to a lot of corners and the high speed exit onto the back straight would ordinarily require an aggressive nose and this is why the Red Bull and Ricciardo were famous for their dives in the inside here, it was a very pointy car with a driver who loved to use it.

But from all of this we have learnt that high track temperatures make the circuit more rear limited (Stella talking about Miami) and the ability for the track to rubber in also affect it. It's noted in my learning curve now and I shall try to include this in my considerations in future. If you're rear is lacking that your front cannot cause the car to go out of balance, and it is quite clear the Mclaren his a very healthy ass and propelled us to the first place after first place, as Lando would call it

[the EDGE]

what kind of loser mentality is this

I agree with Lando... in my world Max gets a DNE every race week... for those wondering, that's a Does Not Exist!

[trinidefender]

Great Race by Lando, I was quite suppressed how good he & the car was today. Poor Oscar, cant get to have one ''win'' this season so far.

The gap between Lando and Oscar is getting bigger with every race. Oscar seems like a flash in the pan with a few decent races last year and a Sprint win. This year, he is really struggling in the races.

Oscar had significant damage to the back of his car. He was losing some time to Lando before the damage but not an excessive amount to indicate that he’s getting worse race by race as you put it. It was after the damage that he really started to drop back.

[organic]

Great Race by Lando, I was quite suppressed how good he & the car was today. Poor Oscar, cant get to have one ''win'' this season so far.

The gap between Lando and Oscar is getting bigger with every race. Oscar seems like a flash in the pan with a few decent races last year and a Sprint win. This year, he is really struggling in the races.

Oscar had significant damage to the back of his car. He was losing some time to Lando before the damage but not an excessive amount to indicate that he’s getting worse race by race as you put it. It was after the damage that he really started to drop back.

Also Lando has raced at China before whereas Oscar has not, right? I feel that's an important factor

[dren]

Norris said he kept it between the white lines the whole races which helped his tires.

[Harisudhan]

The gap between Lando and Oscar is getting bigger with every race. Oscar seems like a flash in the pan with a few decent races last year and a Sprint win. This year, he is really struggling in the races.

Oscar had significant damage to the back of his car. He was losing some time to Lando before the damage but not an excessive amount to indicate that he’s getting worse race by race as you put it. It was after the damage that he really started to drop back.

Also Lando has raced at China before whereas Oscar has not, right? I feel that's an important factor

Raced with damage in 2019 if I am not mistaken.

[organic]

Source: @PitDebrief

What are the expectations for the Miami upgrade?

Andrea Stella: These upgrades will not be as big, as the two that we had delivered last year in Austria and Singapore. But, it should be a decent step. Like it should be noticeable.

I cannot say much more than that. Because otherwise we talk about numbers. I would like to keep confidential. [...]

[This is provided] things correlate with our expectation with the windtunnel numbers for instance and with the computer simulation. Its always a big if, because even if the heat rate of this correlation has been good over the last 12 months there's always possible surprises.

[f1isgood]

Source: @PitDebrief

What are the expectations for the Miami upgrade?

Andrea Stella: These upgrades will not be as big, as the two that we had delivered last year in Austria and Singapore. But, it should be a decent step. Like it should be noticeable.

I cannot say much more than that. Because otherwise we talk about numbers. I would like to keep confidential. [...]

[This is provided] things correlate with our expectation with the windtunnel numbers for instance and with the computer simulation. Its always a big if, because even if the heat rate of this correlation has been good over the last 12 months there's always possible surprises.

It would be near impossible to deliver such upgrades, especially like the one at Austria. That is simply because of how badly they started last year.

Given that no team has basically improved by 1s+ including winter and in season development from 23 to 24, I don't think any in season development is going to be worth individually more than a tenth or two and even 2 tenths is extremely optimistic, imo.

[LionsHeart]

Source: @PitDebrief

What are the expectations for the Miami upgrade?

Andrea Stella: These upgrades will not be as big, as the two that we had delivered last year in Austria and Singapore. But, it should be a decent step. Like it should be noticeable.

I cannot say much more than that. Because otherwise we talk about numbers. I would like to keep confidential. [...]

[This is provided] things correlate with our expectation with the windtunnel numbers for instance and with the computer simulation. Its always a big if, because even if the heat rate of this correlation has been good over the last 12 months there's always possible surprises.

It would be near impossible to deliver such upgrades, especially like the one at Austria. That is simply because of how badly they started last year.

Given that no team has basically improved by 1s+ including winter and in season development from 23 to 24, I don't think any in season development is going to be worth individually more than a tenth or two and even 2 tenths is extremely optimistic, imo.

Considering the size of the update package, I think it will be three tenths. The car went about 5-6 tenths faster towards Austria, then another 1-2 tenths towards Silverstone, then a few more tenths towards Singapore. Only here the car went a second faster.

Stella has repeatedly reported that even a few millimeters of ground clearance give a big increase in speed. True, then a vertical swing occurs. If you can overcome this trouble, the car may become faster. And this requires redesigning the Venturi channels so that the floor is not so sensitive. It seems like the package includes a complete update of all aerodynamic surfaces, who knows, maybe even the nose cone will change.

[organic]

Source: @PitDebrief

It would be near impossible to deliver such upgrades, especially like the one at Austria. That is simply because of how badly they started last year.

Given that no team has basically improved by 1s+ including winter and in season development from 23 to 24, I don't think any in season development is going to be worth individually more than a tenth or two and even 2 tenths is extremely optimistic, imo.

Considering the size of the update package, I think it will be three tenths. The car went about 5-6 tenths faster towards Austria, then another 1-2 tenths towards Silverstone, then a few more tenths towards Singapore. Only here the car went a second faster.

Stella has repeatedly reported that even a few millimeters of ground clearance give a big increase in speed. True, then a vertical swing occurs. If you can overcome this trouble, the car may become faster. And this requires redesigning the Venturi channels so that the floor is not so sensitive. It seems like the package includes a complete update of all aerodynamic surfaces, who knows, maybe even the nose cone will change.

He's saying it's not a huge update and you've extrapolated to a complete update of all aerodynamic surfaces?

We can reliably guess that the upgrade will be a new floor and perhaps SP inlet and undercut region, the areas that seem to be most sensitive in this era