On the eve of the meeting in Saudi Arabia, the McLaren drivers had made no secret that, at least on paper, the Jeddah track could have been more favorable to the characteristics of the MCL38 which, from certain points of view, finds several aspects in common with the the car that preceded it.
Like the MCL60, the new single-seater also continues to be particularly effective in high-speed corners, but pays off on straights, particularly when you have to rely on DRS, and very long corners, as was well seen last year for example. in Miami.
Despite its limitations, last season Jeddah was one of the best stops for McLaren in a difficult start to the championship, thanks to a qualifying that saw it reach Q3 with Oscar Piastri, although in the race everything collapsed already in the first laps due to contact.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, speaks to the media
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
During this weekend, the Woking team managed to monopolize the third row, obtaining fifth and sixth place respectively with the Australian and his teammate, Lando Norris. The weekend was not the simplest, because in reality already at the end of free practice both drivers had indicated that they were not completely satisfied with the balance: although it was a good starting point, at McLaren they thought they were out of the fight for fighting for the very top positions, even if a good FP3 had almost deluded him, not so much due to the times set, but due to the aborted laps in which he had shown a good pace.
On a track like that of Jeddah, where trust and feeling with the car are very important, both drivers have in fact noticed improvements thanks to the changes made between Thursday and Friday, but this was not enough to undermine the first two rows, distant over three tenths.
“I think the car performed well in qualifying today. I think the asphalt and the layout of the circuit are more favorable than in Bahrain. Regarding the purely technical aspect, perhaps we were not aggressive enough in testing in some aspects and in qualifying perhaps we exaggerated a little to compensate for the situation and we had to slow down a bit”, said Piastri after qualifying.
The Australian started the day with a car that was perhaps too neutral, as later explained by Team Principal Andrea Stella and, when he went into qualifying, he was surprised by certain behaviors of the car, even touching the wall in coming out of the last corner. Nonetheless, the drivers said they were satisfied with the step forward between the two days.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
On a competitive level, what has weighed above all is the gap accumulated in two rather specific sections of the track, namely the straights and the particularly long curves, on which the team is aware that specific work is needed in the future.
Already in Bahrain, the MCL38 had shown lower top speeds than its rivals, but in that case the rear wing was also more loaded than its rivals, so much so that McLaren had recorded the record sector in the second half-time, the most driven . In Jeddah it was instead presented with another rear wing, more streamlined and featuring a hollow in the central section behind the DRS actuator, then also tested with different beam wing configurations, including the option with a single element.
However, this was not enough to keep up with its rivals, also because the winger is not among the most dynamic of the lot, in order to maintain a good balance in the medium and high speed sections. However, the technical group is well aware that, like last year, the base of this single-seater is not optimized for low load scenarios, paying the price for it on the track.
Looking at the telemetry references, this can be seen on all three extensions in which the possibility of opening the DRS is offered, where it can be appreciated how the gap increases considerably. Furthermore, at the end of the straights it also emerges that the MCL38 suffered some clipping [il taglio di potenza dalla parte ibrida] quite marked, probably due to the characteristics of the car and the different aerodynamic configuration compared to its rivals.
Telemetry comparison between Piastri and Verstappen in Q3: note the difference in speed on the straights
Photo by: Gianluca D'Alessandro
In fact, the other Mercedes-powered cars did not show the same behavior during this weekend, but last year it was not unusual to see derating in the final part of the sprints, just as we saw yesterday in Saudi Arabia.
Focusing on the last straight, you can see how the gap progressively widens in the area where it is possible to use the DRS, up to around 5 km/h, and then extends even further when the Power Unit cuts the hybrid's support, widening the delta up to 9 km/h.
“I think this track is interesting because there is a variety of corners, like a low speed section, the first and second, a high speed section, then there are a couple of long U-bends at both ends of the track , a turn 13 and the last one. Even in qualifying we see that in some sections, such as the high-speed ones, turns 7, 8, 9, we are very strong, we gain time”, explained Team Principal Andrea Stella, who underlined the goodness of the MCL38 in the high-speed sections. speed, where in fact it was unable to keep up with the pace of only Red Bull, the benchmark of the weekend, while it was able to be more effective than Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin. A feature that the new single-seater brings with it from the MCL60, which often managed to make the difference in these sections.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“But then in curves that are too long we waste time. It's not a surprise. And it's one of the reasons we're not higher up the grid. This is the area we have been focusing on for some time to improve our performance. The other area where we seem to be wasting time is where DRS is used.”
“In reality, our maximum speed was competitive when DRS could not be used, but then, especially compared to Red Bull, we lose time where the mobile wing can be opened,” explained Stella, before adding that some new features in the first third of the season to specifically address these weaknesses.
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