4037 replies to this topic

[Victor_RO]

Part II here. As usual, please carry on here.

[Maustinsj]

First!

[Quickshifter]

We are unbeatable at churning pages

[Maustinsj]

Let the swingometer fun begin!

[ConsiderAndGo]

Part three and the first race hasn't started.

Well done, people! Champions of chatting rubbish!

[nosecone]

Rudex wrote

fastest lap Alo onboard
https://twitter.com/...153723076653058

http://forums.autosp...t-ii/?p=7876462

That gear shift at the start of the video in the 8th gear sounds unhealthy. Like the engine didnt like it

Edited by nosecone, 24 March 2017 - 09:39.

[Raikkinen]

Let's hope that we can here start off with a little more positive vibes after the horrible 'test-thread'. The first real practice of the season makes the MCL32 looking less doomed as it seemed in the tests.

Go McLaren!

[sopa]

We are unbeatable at churning pages

 

So THAT's the championship McLaren-Honda is going to win. Well done!

[Tenmantaylor]

Onboard looked good from Fred apart from twitch at third to last corner. Impressive to see how much more grip the cars have - a step in the right direction from the rule changes for once. That said - this lap was about the same time as Fernando's Q2 time from Aus 2016 

[KnucklesAgain]

Onboard looked good from Fred apart from twitch at third to last corner. Impressive to see how much more grip the cars have - a step in the right direction from the rule changes for once. That said - this lap was about the same time as Fernando's Q2 time from Aus 2016

Nobody has been beating their Q 2016 lap times yet, or have they? Just for context.

(Of course they will improve in later sessions though and McHon may not keep up with these improvements for the time being)

[AlexS]

What did i say Knuckles...

[Rudex]

Fernando remains cautious after the first day of the Australian Grand Prix, a day in which he has accumulated 37 laps without any technical problems or apparent breakdowns in his McLaren MCL32.

The Spaniard closes the day in the twelfth position of the time table. It is 2'4 seconds behind the leaders of the session, the Mercedes. Despite insufficient results for the ambitions of the Asturian, the progress in reliability shows a step forward from the preseason.

Fernando asked his team for a reaction "very strong and immediate". He likes what he sees in Melbourne, but he wants more.

 

"Everybody works day and night to improve the situation." Here we have brought a lot of new parts in both the aerodynamics and the engine, with the change of regulations, it's a golden opportunity to catch Mercedes. In 2016 we were constantly fighting for Q3, we got into 50% of the races and in the other 50% we were there on the point, this year anything other than being in the top five or six is ​​not a reaction , " Has told the televisions, the microphone Movistar + F1.

 

Alonso is not carried away by optimism or believe that the team has made a qualitative leap decisive, but argues that this is a weekend in which the objective is to learn to gradually extract all the performance of the car that have not Found in the tests.

 

"It's only Friday, tomorrow things will be more complicated and we'll see where we can be." It's a Grand Prix in which we have to extract the potential of the Car, because we are behind most of the teams in terms of time on track. We are trying to make it a productive weekend and then see what position we have in the time and see what can be done in the race. "

 

Alonso believes that the internal crisis of the team has been exaggerated.

"It's not that we have optimism or pessimism. We have done a very poor test, we have not been able to do many laps and we have a lot to learn in the car, a lot to learn. I think we have found more reliability and that will allow us to extract more potential . "

 

@google translation- soymotor.es

[Tenmantaylor]

Nobody has been beating their Q 2016 lap times yet, or have they? Just for context.

(Of course they will improve in later sessions though and McHon may not keep up with these improvements for the time being)

 

Lewis just got within a tenth of the all time lap record setup by Vettel in 2011 (23.5, Lewis did a 23.6 in FP2).

 

The 2017 pole time (weather permitting) is going to smash the lap record this weekend.

Edited by Tenmantaylor, 24 March 2017 - 10:15.

[Rudex]

Asked @ZBrownCEO if he would paint the McLaren pink if a sponsor asked for it: "Not for the amount of money I heard they paid!"

[Hamm]

Alonso: I see how I win 50 metres on some opponents in the curves – and then I lose on the following straight lines 200 metres.

http://www.speedweek...frustriert.html

[KnucklesAgain]

What did i say Knuckles...

Many things, what do you mean?

[kosmos]

I expected worse to be honest, the team is pretty much starting the pre-season testing now. I wonder if the will finish the race though.

[blacky]

Reliability improved obviously, but seeing some laps of the 2 guys they still have big traction/driveability issues, car looks very nervous under acceleration. Overall the car doesn't look well balanced, although ALO doesn't care and attacks. With more track time and updates this hopefully will get better. VAN is also a good boy, with more track time he can match (maybe beat?) ALO at some point in the season.

 

Although I still expect P17 and P18 for tomorrow, just before Sauber. It wouldn't wonder me if McLaren drives lighter than most of the opponents, like most of the time last year. With engines turned up I see not much chances for Q2.

Edited by blacky, 24 March 2017 - 10:29.

[minime]

How's the Alonso love fest going? Take that away and and this thread wouldn't make one part.

[Seanspeed]

So not a total nightmare, but the car looks terrible on-track with seriously poor handling. 

Edited by Seanspeed, 24 March 2017 - 10:31.

[Oblivion]

I hope we use this topic to share our good emotions on McLaren. Frankly I expect mush worse start of the season. I hope we hit the bottom and start to rise from now on...

[TakataDomeNSX]

McLaren Soul‏ @McLaren_Soul 22h22 hours ago

 

 

Zak Brown: "I'd ask the McLaren fans to recognize that the people in here work very hard, feel the same pain they do and need their support"

 

 

It's up to everyone to interpret what "support" means. I know what it does and doesn't mean to me.

 

Edited by TakataDomeNSX, 24 March 2017 - 10:40.

[David1976]

2.3 seconds is a LOT of time.

 

For McLaren fans, given what we were expecting pre launch, this weekend is going to be depressing.

[Motorbreath]

2.3 seconds is a LOT of time.

 

For McLaren fans, given what we were expecting pre launch, this weekend is going to be depressing.

 

Agreed, it feels like we haven't moved an inch towards, went a bit backwards. What have they been doing the whole 2015-2016 season? 

[Rinehart]

2.3 seconds is a LOT of time.

 

For McLaren fans, given what we were expecting pre launch, this weekend is going to be depressing.

For reference, Alonso qualified 12th, 2.3 seconds off Hamiltons pole at last years Australian Grand Prix. So the early (somewhat unreadable) signs are that they're exactly where they were 12 months ago.  

This is with nightmare testing, without token restrictions and with a PU that apparently has a much higher development ceiling. Who knows what they can actually "unlock" as the season progresses...

So, its all potential, but this is exactly where I predicted they were after testing. A bit of a disaster in terms of where they wanted to be in the 3rd year, but there is hope yet...

[Seanspeed]

 

McLaren Soul‏ @McLaren_Soul 22h22 hours ago

 

 

Zak Brown: "I'd ask the McLaren fans to recognize that the people in here work very hard, feel the same pain they do and need their support"

 

 

It's up to everyone to interpret what "support" means. I know what it does and doesn't mean to me.

 

 

Feel free to muster up all the happy thought power you can to telepathically send to the Mclaren engineers.  

 

Just dont use this as a justification to attack other people just because they say negative things. 

[SwadF1]

one tiny tick mark on MCL32 checklist .  hope ... pray ... unlock... repeat 

[onemoresolo]

That gear shift at the start of the video in the 8th gear sounds unhealthy. Like the engine didnt like it

I was sat at turn 1 today. That noise happened nearly every day lap on the exit of turn two, on the shift to 6th. A loud, scraping noise. Happened more frequently on Alonso's car I got the impression.

[TakataDomeNSX]

Feel free to muster up all the happy thought power you can to telepathically send to the Mclaren engineers.  

 

Just dont use this as a justification to attack other people just because they say negative things. 

 

What attack?

 

Don't take everything so negatively

Edited by TakataDomeNSX, 24 March 2017 - 10:57.

[DeKnyff]

 

McLaren Soul‏ @McLaren_Soul 22h22 hours ago

 

 

Zak Brown: "I'd ask the McLaren fans to recognize that the people in here work very hard, feel the same pain they do and need their support"

 

 

It's up to everyone to interpret what "support" means. I know what it does and doesn't mean to me.

 

 

 

Great. Now, please understand it does not necessarily mean the same for everybody. As you say, it's up to everyone to interpret what it means.

[aray]

So far some positive outings,it could have been worse.But nothing to appreciate Honda(unless you consider not blowing up being a achievement)....

[sopa]

I know, why McLaren looks marginally better than they looked in winter testing. 

That's because potential unlocker arrived on the forums.

[Rudex]

Hasegawa: "We still have some more room for improvement with mapping for better driveability.

Hasegawa: "Today we were able to show certain advances from Barcelona regarding reliability completing FP1 & FP2 without major issues

 

Whole season the same words xDD

Edited by Rudex, 24 March 2017 - 11:05.

[restless]

https://twitter.com/...6367108/photo/1

Edited by restless, 24 March 2017 - 11:13.

[Hanzo]

Reliability improved obviously, but seeing some laps of the 2 guys they still have big traction/driveability issues, car looks very nervous under acceleration

 

Well yes, but it would be even worse if the car looked like its driving on rails and balanced... No room for improvement on that case.

[stringyb92]

Asked @ZBrownCEO if he would paint the McLaren pink if a sponsor asked for it: "Not for the amount of money I heard they paid!"

 

Makes it even funnier that FI have less budget and need all the sponsorship they can get, and they're still streets ahead of McLaren!

[Quickshifter]

So not a total nightmare, but the car looks terrible on-track with seriously poor handling. 

 

LOL

[argiriano]

Reliability improved obviously, but seeing some laps of the 2 guys they still have big traction/driveability issues, car looks very nervous under acceleration. Overall the car doesn't look well balanced, although ALO doesn't care and attacks. With more track time and updates this hopefully will get better. VAN is also a good boy, with more track time he can match (maybe beat?) ALO at some point in the season.

 

Although I still expect P17 and P18 for tomorrow, just before Sauber. It wouldn't wonder me if McLaren drives lighter than most of the opponents, like most of the time last year. With engines turned up I see not much chances for Q2.

 

To me the car look pretty decent on track without testing miles and proper setup work.

 

From the on boards MCL32 have a good initial bite at corner entry, still a bit loosy at the rear (showing some mid-corner understeer), visibly nervous/unbalanced on throttle application exiting the corners, changes of direction also very good. It`s balancing act and I think when they are able to increase the rear downforce and balancing it with the front the result will be a very good car... but that will be possible only with a good mileage under their belts and significant power/driveability improvement.  

Overall there is a huge potential IMO in that car and I don`t want to make fun about it using those words but it really waits to be unlocked.

 

But for now good job from the team with fixes, well done! Keep pushing!

 

[Quickshifter]

Alonso

 

When asked if Mclaren  and Honda were reacting, he said: "We'll see. Everybody is working day and night to improve the situation. We brought a lot of new parts for the car here.

"But there's rule changes, a golden chance to catch Mercedes. It's the third year in terms of the engine project, so we have to be much higher up.

 

"Last year we were fighting for Q3 more or less regularly and in 50 percent of the races we made it and in the other 50 we were very close, so not being in the top five or six this year is not a reaction at all," he added.

 

"But from the Barcelona test until we put the car on track today the problems have been exaggerated, especially from the outside, because it's very juicy to say that McLaren-Honda would be last, that it would not run, that the odds were high both our cars would retire on the opening lap, and all those silly things that keep coming up every day''.

 

"But when you are on track, you try to do your job. Teams try to improve every day and every week and hopefully we have found a bit more reliability that helps us extract more potential."

 

 

https://www.motorspo...-alonso-885508/

[Owen]

Team report:

http://www.mclaren.c...-free-practice/

[DanardiF1]

Makes it even funnier that FI have less budget and need all the sponsorship they can get, and they're still streets ahead of McLaren!

 

11 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m25.591s 1.971s 35 laps

12 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m26.000s 2.380s 19 laps

13 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m26.145s 2.525s 37 laps

 

'Streets ahead'... FI have what is the best engine in F1, and given the obvious issues with the Honda powertrain, it seems that the McLaren car itself is pretty good.

Edited by DanardiF1, 24 March 2017 - 11:44.

[Radoye]

 

McLaren Soul‏ @McLaren_Soul 22h22 hours ago

 

 

Zak Brown: "I'd ask the McLaren fans to recognize that the people in here work very hard, feel the same pain they do and need their support"

 

 

It's up to everyone to interpret what "support" means. I know what it does and doesn't mean to me.

 

 

 

 

[KnucklesAgain]

According to AMuS, thanks to Marklar in the FP thread:

Honda was running for safety reasons on the lowest power mode, stil less than in Abu Dhabi 2016

[DanardiF1]

The Sky tv guys mentioned in FP1 that Honda were not going to up the power until qualifying apparently.

[TomNokoe]

Sounds like they actually lose a few kph per gearshift

[Joseki]

https://www.motorspo...-engine-885582/

 

New engine in "two months" according to Hasegawa.

[Quickshifter]

On the onboard footage of Alonso the car which has very basic setup by Alonso's own admission was responding to directional changes really nicely, the turn in was good and  barring one instance Alonso had no issue putting his foot down. I think with improved setup, much better understanding of the car and better driveability  due to improved engine mapping there is a good chunk of time that can be extracted from the package. The more the car runs the better the pace will get.

Edited by Quickshifter, 24 March 2017 - 12:00.

[bogi]

https://twitter.com/...6367108/photo/1

 

 

Walking Dead: Sakura

[KnucklesAgain]

https://www.motorspo...-engine-885582/

New engine in "two months" according to Hasegawa.

muramasa will like that at the bottom of the article it says "Additional reporting by Kunihiko Akai"

[TakataDomeNSX]

https://twitter.com/...6367108/photo/1

 

Poor guy, I believe he is working his @$$ off.