[smr2018test]
Stoffel Vandoorne said McLaren has got to grips with the car problems it experienced during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Ahead of the final day of testing the MCL33 had covered the lowest mileage of any car. An electrical problem hampered Vandoorne’s running on Tuesday and an oil leak badly disrupted Fernando Alonso’s session on Wednesday.
“The issues we’ve had over the past couple of days were not massive or major issues,” he said, “they just cost us a lot of track time and they’ve taken a long time to fix. We’re on top of them.”
“There’s no reason why they should be more problems and I think we’re confident to go to Melbourne with a strong package.”
McLaren will bring a new aerodynamic package for the car at the first race of the year, which was planned before testing began.
“The car in Melbourne will be quite different,” said Vandoorne, “we have a lot of updates coming.”
“Everything we learn here we need to carry forward, learn about it. The car and package we have in Melbourne will be quite different, we’ll have to try and understand that there.”
Vandoorne completed a race simulation in the car on Thursday. “There was no surprises, no major problems,” he said.
“It’s always very important because during a race simulation, for example, you test the stress on the car, the cooling on the car. All the unexpected things. To be honest everything ran very smoothly.”
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2018 F1 season
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spoutnik (@spoutnik)
9th March 2018, 9:05
Oh, the irony, just when I hear that Alonso’s car just stopped again at turn seven …
Zillator
9th March 2018, 9:26
So true.
gunusugeh (@gunusugeh)
9th March 2018, 12:33
Mclaren should ditch Alonso, he is the root of all b
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
9th March 2018, 12:52
Alonso is an unlucky guy but if your point is that he generates the bad luck, that’s a possibility too.
He appears to be a lot more mellow in his 30s – no one has denied Alonso’s skills but he’s always been a controversial guy. I always wondered if his connection to Flavio affected Alonso who may have seen Flavio as a “role model” and it’s slowly fading away with Flavio’s departure and the distance between them.
His stint at McLaren has gained him a lot of followers as it’s hard to see such a talented driver suffer. I think we are seeing the real Fernando surface.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
9th March 2018, 13:39
After this year, hopefully Vandoorne might be ready to lead the team.
Nitzo (@webtel)
9th March 2018, 9:14
Starting to wonder if Honda left the McLaren-Honda partnership on purpose.
Irrespective of who finishes higher in the constructor’s standings, if McLaren-Renault have more reliability problems than STR Honda, that would be a massive embarrassment for all stakeholders, including the drivers and the fans. Really appreciate Fernando’s patience amidst all this.
Hope they sort all their problems out within the first half.
Zillator
9th March 2018, 9:30
Ah, no!? Honda obviously didn’t left on purpose. They wanted to stay with McLaren. That’s what they said. Why is everyone seeing conspiracys?
The thing that McLaren have problems and may be slow and could be part of the cause of the failure of the last three years doesn’t change that. But yes, it would be remarkable.
JimG (@jimg)
9th March 2018, 10:18
Not much of a test of the cooling this week surely! ;-)
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
9th March 2018, 10:51
Loss of tracktime is crucial. If the team is on top of their problem(s), why the recurrence? The purpose of testing is to check whether the mechanical parts as well as aero parts are working. Why wait for Australia to bring updates? What if the updates do not efficiently work in Australia?
Is it a case of Mclaren pushing the boundaries of the car, or is it a case of overhype? is there teething problem with Renault engine?
Big Joe
9th March 2018, 11:57
All teams will bring updates to Melbourne.. They will have a lot of stuff penciled in for the whole year and a development route to take. McLaren admitted they were behind. Some other teams have said the Halo has set them back also.
Lack of laps obviously harms them if they are to stop Mercedes winning the title again, but nobody seems in Mercs league anyway. McLaren might as well take risks now and look at it as another year of testing.
marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
9th March 2018, 12:02
After watching the Grand Prix Driver and seeing how they’ve performed the last two weeks, I can only conclude that McLaren are delusional. To say this last night, and then not get any running in this morning is just beyond the pale.
Sundar Srinivas Harish (@sundark)
9th March 2018, 12:14
Yes, the series of problems that they’ve been having haven’t been that series… erm, serious. The issues with loose wheel nuts or intellectually inferior 2-quid bolts had better happen in testing rather than at Melbourne.
Big Joe
9th March 2018, 12:26
I wonder how much they’re now prepared to pay for their bolts? :)
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
9th March 2018, 12:45
Aren’t mechanics supposed to be under the car? That could be the problem – the fact that they are on “top” of the car :-)
David B (@davidb1970)
9th March 2018, 12:50
is it just me, or should the wing mirror on the left of the picture be changed to read “Broken”. I always have and always will be a McClaren fan. I really hope they can sort these issues out and give this season a good go.
Matt
9th March 2018, 13:11
they are bringing a new aero package for the first race? Is that not what this long testing period is for?
So they are behind schedule with that and they appear to have an unstable oil distribution system that is giving them recurring leaks.
I expect them to sandbag quite a bit during testing but this is starting to look all too familiar.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th March 2018, 13:55
It’s not uncommon at all: as the article notes Force India are doing it too. I wouldn’t be surprised if others do as well. The rate of development is that fast. Teams are increasingly confident in the quality of their correlation between wind tunnel, CFD and track that they can turn up at races with new aerodynamic parts knowing they’ll work. Testing therefore gets used more for mechanical stuff, set-up checks and tyre evaluation.
Gazzap
10th March 2018, 7:45
I watched Grand Prix Driver and was quite shocked as to how disjointed McLaren were. No wonder their car was a dog last few years. Very different feel to when Ron Dennis was managing director many years ago. Stoffel Vandoorne was one guy that enhanced his reputation in that. I felt McLaren just hoped for the best a lot and left far too much to chance. I’d be very surprised if they are up near Mercedes and Ferrari in Melbourne.