2018 Season Launch and Testing Thread

[Moneyseeker]

Why are Williams only running the soft tyre, I can't believe they don't want to show their hand?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by littleman

I fail to understand why McLaren, who've won the WDC on twelve occasions across four decades, are the butt of so much ridicule.

Of which 1 WDC (and 0 WCC) have been in this millennium.

[peebee2]

Why ridicule McLaren. Because they have been rubbish for almost a decade while always trying to blame someone else and claiming their car is much better than it appears. I don’t dislike McLardn but the rubbish they’ve come out with in the last 12 months is embarrassing. And running mega-downforce to make the engine look bad and the chassis good. Going to be clear this year how good their car is with two competitors with the same motor. Maybe it will be good but I think that would be a surprise.

Twenty years ago McLaren and Williams ruled the world, now they are both potential laughing stocks.

At Williams it looks like Stroll has some sort of Prema-style “I own the team” deal meaning Sirotkin must always be slower! Only half-joking here.

[AdrianM]

Since when is five years nearly a decade? Things started slipping in 2013. The five years before that they had a WDC, three 2nds in the WCC, one third and both drivers in the top five for three consecutive years.

They definitely lost their way with the pursuit of peak downforce rather than a driveable car but they've got the right people in place now. The problems have all been fairly minor but with the cars being so complex it takes a while to get to the bits. At this stage of the year the mechanics have to consult all sorts of documentation when stripping the car so what takes them three hours now will be one hour after a few races.

The amount of miles the Honda has done is nice but doesn't really mean anything until we see performance in anger at Australia. McLaren was capable of racking up miles once Honda had sorted out the incorrect oil tank design last year but distance doesn't mean a lot if you're last.

[Hammerdown]

It seems to me that the only thing McLaren excel at these days is PR spin. Always bigging themselves up and failing to deliver and blaming everyone else. It’s almost like they believe it themselves whilst failing to see the real problems staring them in the face. It is interesting to see the other team adapting to a new engine partner doing rather better than McLaren. A team with far less resources. Anyhoo, it is only testing and early days yet. I do hope McLaren can pull it round, but I’m not getting my hopes up too much. There really is nowhere for them to hide this year. Honda must be quietly smiling.

[AdrianM]

I think you're mixing up McLaren and Honda there. It's Honda who kept saying they would match Mercedes by the end of the first year, be fighting for the WDC in the 2nd etc etc. They're the ones who promised over and over again. McLaren can only go by what they're told the engine is doing on the dyno etc. When it turns out that it was only a one cylinder test engine that was producing the good results.......

[Hammerdown]

Nope. Definitely thinking of McLaren!

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by littleman

I fail to understand why McLaren, who've won the WDC on twelve occasions across four decades, are the butt of so much ridicule.

Alongside Ferrari, they are the absolute bed-rock of F1.

I understand the frustration but can't figure out if folks just don't like McLaren or are disgruntled fans.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

I understand the frustration but can't figure out if folks just don't like McLaren or are disgruntled fans.

right it could be either or...great question!

i think for me the disgruntledness started back with failure after failure during Kimi's tenure....the Mclarens have been fragile for many many years now.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by AdrianM

Since when is five years nearly a decade? Things started slipping in 2013. The five years before that they had a WDC, three 2nds in the WCC, one third and both drivers in the top five for three consecutive years.

They were poor for around five or six years before two good years in 07 and 08. Since then steadily dropping away, hidden by good driving for a couple of years but steadily declining nevertheless.

Complacency, over-confidence and lack of awareness of their real position shown.

They seem like a modern Lotus. Good results every decade or so, unreliable cars, ever more outlandish ideas but still thinking they are a powerhouse when, in reality, Merc and Red Bull long since left them way, way behind along with Ferrari.

I’d love to see them win but they appear to have a slow, unreliable, sponsorless car, in a team where one driver totally dominates everything and controlling ridiculous PR spin seems the top objective.

[karting]

Sky Sports Quote:

“The cynics among you - and we may even find a few of those in the paddock too - will no doubt note with some scepticism that McLaren have once again been the first of the teams to bolt on the hypersofts.

Are they deliberately trying to inflate their pace in order to disguise some car weaknesses?

Absolutely not according to McLaren. They told us yesterday that there were "technical reasons" why the team preferred to run the softer Pirelli tyres this week.

Quite what those 'technical reasons' are is a mystery. As is the question of why none of the other teams seem to feel a similar need.”

I tend to agree with the above and it’s to cover for the first few hours of the day how bad the testing has been and try and get some good PR

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

First red flag for day 2 of test 2.

Guess which car?



Smoke pouring out from engine area and air intake.

Isn't the point of testing to find out these issues so that they can be resolved?

Or are we not as quick to note when Vandoorne tops the time sheets, or when McLaren are leading the number of laps completed?

[F1Guy]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Or are we not as quick to note when Vandoorne tops the time sheets, or when McLaren are leading the number of laps completed?

Read post #332??

[F1Guy]

Honda using a brand new engine for each day of testing??

That's the rumour. Interesting if true. Would explain the mileage without incident.

[Moneyseeker]

Gary Anderson reckons someone might get into the 1m 16's...

[insane014]

Apparently McLaren has shift it's business plan from racing to brand marketing. These blitz fastest times they set each day on ultra-hyper softs are a cry for sponsors to fill out the blank car.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Read post #332??

Post 332 is hardly praising of the performance though?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Gary Anderson reckons someone might get into the 1m 16's...

Vettel has posted several 17's already today... best a 17.297 (Using the Pink Hyper-soft rubber)

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Read post #332??

Have you got the link to post #332?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by E.B

Vettel has posted several 17's already today... best a 17.297 (Using the Pink Hyper-soft rubber)

Now he has trimmed that to a 1m17.182s

[littleman]

My original post (#360) was merely to highlight the apparently different mind-set of two once great F1 Teams.

McLaren appear to be absolutely determined to return to the very sharpest end of the grid and challenge once again for World Titles, whilst Williams give the impression they've given up on that dream.They seem OK with being Best of The Rest, which I find very disappointing.

At least McLaren aren't prepared to settle for mediocracy.....which I applaud.

[insane014]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Honda using a brand new engine for each day of testing??

That's the rumour. Interesting if true. Would explain the mileage without incident.

That actually makes sense as they have produced multiple units and they need to assert the overall quality or lack of quality. Maybe with one unit everything is fine but then next two fail right away, that's a concern then.

Right now on the track there are simultaneously running 3 Merc, 3 Renault and 3 Ferrari engines while there is only one Honda. And on top of that I'm positive other manufacturers are slotting new units daily in one of their teams to test different specs.

[S griffin]

McLaren need to pull something out soon, as they will otherwise spend another season playing catch up. Even they have been impressed by how well the Honda engine in the STR has been so far

[E.B]

Vandoorne has just clocked 100 laps for the day in the McLaren, albeit with a garage spell of over 2 hours. Still the lowest lap count of the day but an encouraging sign. Max has the highest count at the moment at 160 laps.

[Moneyseeker]

Stroll on the ultra soft tyre almost 1 sec off the Mercedes on the medium tyre! That can't be right, can it?!