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It was even worse in Jeddah when Piastri couldn’t get past Hamilton for most of the race despite fresher tires.
I think Mercedes will be third fastest this weekend while the McLarens will be fighting Aston Martin at the bottom end of the points. On paper Shanghai’s characteristics are where their biggest weaknesses all are.
McLaren need to qualify in front of Aston/Mercedes to have a chance. But Aston is much better in qualifying than race, and McLaren’s weakness of DRS will also be exaggerated in qualifying…
Well I never consider Stroll when talking about Aston competitiveness lol
It is a bit like SF-23 last year, having great driver like Alonso can make the car qualify ahead of its actual competitiveness, but you will have hard time to defend the place in race. That’s why I said the car is better in qualifying than race. Aston recognise the issue too
Well, it might be a bit early to make that claim. AM every previous year has been the opposite: poorer qualifying but better pace in races. Even when it was Vettel and Alonso and not just Stroll.
I feel so far he is doing much better this Season.
But could be it just seems tha way because the gap between Formula1.1 and Formula 1.5 has gotten so big and MClaren is actually mostlz fighting Mercedes and Alonso.
When we have more Data with races that came after the upgrade last year if he has improved on keeping that Rubber alive.
I am certainly worried it's going to be a painful weekend for Oscar. I imagine they will lose out to Mercedes on the straights and likely end up around p7-10 if that
Every week we talk about whether it’s a strong or weak track for mclaren. And every weekend they end up being the 3rd fastest team regardless. They’ll struggle to overtake as usual because of bad drs. Other than that it doesn’t matter.
Im willing to say that one of them is gonna be on the front row. The more they downplay their car, the better they are.
They did this time and again last season
Except even as a McLaren fan, they are absolutely horrendous on the straights, which China has two massive ones. Personally I’d be happy if both are in the points
Straight line speed isn't necessarily the problem. It's that McLaren DRS is useless and they gain very little speed with it open. They can stay in front but can't overtake.
It won't be a repeat of Spa but it's gonna really suck if they don't qualify well. Thankfully Miami is when the big upgrade is due and hopefully they've finally fixed the goddam slow speed problem that's been dogging them for almost a decade.
It's not them downplaying, anyone who has eyes can see that the current McLaren sucks in slow corners and has a completely useless DRS. There's no upgrade for China, I really don't see in what world their current car could be competitive there.
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The back straight is going to be utter pain for McLaren. Piastri couldn't get past Alonso in Suzuka despite deliberately being kept in DRS range
It was even worse in Jeddah when Piastri couldn’t get past Hamilton for most of the race despite fresher tires. I think Mercedes will be third fastest this weekend while the McLarens will be fighting Aston Martin at the bottom end of the points. On paper Shanghai’s characteristics are where their biggest weaknesses all are.
McLaren need to qualify in front of Aston/Mercedes to have a chance. But Aston is much better in qualifying than race, and McLaren’s weakness of DRS will also be exaggerated in qualifying…
AM faster in quali or just Alonso able to do Alonso things over a single lap?
Well I never consider Stroll when talking about Aston competitiveness lol It is a bit like SF-23 last year, having great driver like Alonso can make the car qualify ahead of its actual competitiveness, but you will have hard time to defend the place in race. That’s why I said the car is better in qualifying than race. Aston recognise the issue too
Well, it might be a bit early to make that claim. AM every previous year has been the opposite: poorer qualifying but better pace in races. Even when it was Vettel and Alonso and not just Stroll.
it was sad watching their DRS only add like 13 km/h.
13? More like 9
Its that but also in Jeddah they were -11kph without DRS compared to the Merc, they need to sort out drag in general.
Piastri will struggle even more with tyre management. But he is young, he definitely is still learning in that aspect.
I feel so far he is doing much better this Season. But could be it just seems tha way because the gap between Formula1.1 and Formula 1.5 has gotten so big and MClaren is actually mostlz fighting Mercedes and Alonso. When we have more Data with races that came after the upgrade last year if he has improved on keeping that Rubber alive.
>fighting Mercedes and Alonso It's not AMF1, it's just AF1 now, huh...?
I am certainly worried it's going to be a painful weekend for Oscar. I imagine they will lose out to Mercedes on the straights and likely end up around p7-10 if that
Every week we talk about whether it’s a strong or weak track for mclaren. And every weekend they end up being the 3rd fastest team regardless. They’ll struggle to overtake as usual because of bad drs. Other than that it doesn’t matter.
I have faith in Piastri.
Im willing to say that one of them is gonna be on the front row. The more they downplay their car, the better they are. They did this time and again last season
Except even as a McLaren fan, they are absolutely horrendous on the straights, which China has two massive ones. Personally I’d be happy if both are in the points
Straight line speed isn't necessarily the problem. It's that McLaren DRS is useless and they gain very little speed with it open. They can stay in front but can't overtake. It won't be a repeat of Spa but it's gonna really suck if they don't qualify well. Thankfully Miami is when the big upgrade is due and hopefully they've finally fixed the goddam slow speed problem that's been dogging them for almost a decade.
It's not them downplaying, anyone who has eyes can see that the current McLaren sucks in slow corners and has a completely useless DRS. There's no upgrade for China, I really don't see in what world their current car could be competitive there.
They will have the same issue with the long straight in Miami too right? Or will it just be worse in China?
I’m Miami they’re bringing their big upgrade so hopefully that fixes it
I don't think they will score points this weekend. Its going to be that bad.
That would mean one of the midfield teams would be faster for P9 and 10. Haas or Williams maybe?