McLaren looking good!

[Inigo Montoya]

David does a 1'15"711 at Montmelo! A new track record. Hmmm... maybe its McLaren that will challenge next year! Forza Kimi!

[Red]

Yay Great! I don't know, but for a reason, mysterious reason, I DO like Ron and his boys! Forza Kimi and David... of course, forza-forza, but Michael and Rubens should forza more...

[Damon]

never a good sign to be setting record times so early in the test program. I spy some sponsorship hunters. Post your bets now people, when will the "Why this is David's year" headlines start to roll out?

[Red]

Originally posted by Damon
I spy some sponsorship hunters.

In Mac's case? Hardly..... actually they were sandbagging during testings..... but you doi make a point in "David's year"...

[Adam43]

McClaren don't need any sponsorship. I remember half way through this year. Ron said he had 95% of next years, 90% of the year afters and 70% of the year after thats... (actually I have made those figures up but they were similar).

Quick times can be explained by light cars and sponsorship needs, but I don't think the top three teams are into that! There is more chance that they will sandbag to try and keep the opposition guessing (or complacent!)...

It could have been perfect conditions? Or just a decent time!

[Jordi]

Didn't Ron Dennis in the 80's say the famous quote "Ferrari win the winter GP, but then they don't do anything else during the year?"

[Red]

:confused: I don't think so... usually Ferrari refrain from testing on same tracks with the opposition... only recently (lats 3-5 years) they did test on other tracks than Fiorano or Mugello during winters... (at least that's what I remember)

[Damon]

I do remember those quote just before the start of the 1991 season actually. Everyone was betting on Prost and Senna fighting it out for the title again. Of course it turned out that the Ferrari was dog slow in reality.

[Speedworx]

McLaren always go well in testing. Its best not to get excited just yet.

[pole2pole]

Yes I agree we see all these lap times in testing and think yes ok maybe we will see some racing here but come near the start of the season we see the true pace of all the cars and ferrari will again have a car that is 1.5sec faster a lap however if mclaren (and i hope they do) macth ferraris lap times well that would be one hell of a massive step forword

[Inigo Montoya]

Its not all that often we see lap records being broken during testing, unless its by one of the top teams.

I don't think anyone is running light to get sponsors- I *really* believe that its impossible for Newey and Haug to make a bad car three years in a row... - they are far too talented.

[ASCII Man]

Correction - To make a bad engine in three consecutive years.

[neilap]

Well Ferrari started the trend now Mac has followed. It is smart. They will have a fully developed car for the start of the season. This is one of the reasons I feel they will have the legs on Williams next year.

I don't think there were any ulterior motives, DC went out to haul ass and that he did!

[Damon]

On paper Mclaren should be pretty hot next year. With the engine and gearbox guys poached from their two rivals and an already solid chassis design from Newey et al, I seriously see them challenging next year. Lets just hope Williams have managed to get a giant leap on the chassis for next year because if they haven't even a BMW capable of 19,000rpm won't be able to drag them up to the F2003.

[Wrex]

Lets face it. The absolute dream for any race fan (regardless of the team you back) would be to see a 6 way shootout with these 3 teams very close in performance.

Go Mac's!

[f1manoz]

Good time by DC and McLaren, but as we've always said, testing means diddly-squat when the season starts.

Remember Prost setting all those fast times a couple of years back??

[twig]

But what car are they testing?
The car which they raced all year, or the newly updated version of the car with a revised back end Alex Wurz was testing around the time of the Japanese GP? Or even the one which they will be racing in the "Fly-away" races?

Im not sure, but i love the team and hope they can do better next year, if they can just get the reliability up as they did near the end of this season, that will help no end.

Tom.

[Gt_R]

I like Kimi and the cars, but i don't like Ron

[BootsOntheSide]

Its probably got the revised back-end, and maybe some other new parts for the hybrid 2003 early-season cars. Either way, I'm fairly sure that it's more advanced from the 2002 car than what Ferrari and Williams have been testing.

[Spudgun]

McLaren's problem the last few years has been in the engine department. Mercedes have struggled ever since Beryllium (it's too late, I doubt I've spelled ir right!) was banned after 1999.

McClaren's trump card is Adrian Newey. He's good at designing good cars. Take 2002. The McClaren chassis was very good, but they were a little down on power.

McLaren were in the doldrums in the mid-1990's, but since Newy came to the fold from Williams (I'm a Williams fan and Newey was stolen. You should have kept him Frank! Git.) McClaren have baggd a couple of titles.

If Mercedes sort their engine out to be good out of the blocks I can see a good showdown. With Ferrari's dominance, Williams 'radical' design which is looking good so far and a good 'package' from McLaren (excuse the 'Ronspeak'), this really could get good for 2003.

[Valve Bounce]

We ge to this stage before every season, and I always say: "Testing is testing". It never fails - as regular as clockwork. Just wait another two or three weeks and somebody else will rave about another testing session. Then again in January, then again in february; it comes as regular as the swallows going back to Capistrano.

[Inigo Montoya]

Originally posted by Valve Bounce
We ge to this stage before every season, and I always say: "Testing is testing". It never fails - as regular as clockwork. Just wait another two or three weeks and somebody else will rave about another testing session. Then again in January, then again in february; it comes as regular as the swallows going back to Capistrano.

Then maybe the forum should just shut down for the winter?


If records start falling right, left and center, then I'll believe its big strides in tyre development, but until then... McLaren setting a new track record is good news, regardless of whether its testing or not... The car is faster... this_is_good.

[Valve Bounce]

Heck!! you can't shut down this forum. Testing is testing, but we all get excited. Two years ago, I thought Prost were going great, and I even thought Jag were going to start winning races. Funny enough, I have always accused McLaren of sandbagging, so I can't understand why they are going that fast already. Maybe they are running something illegal.

[Red]

Originally posted by Spudgun
McLaren's problem the last few years has been in the engine department. Mercedes have struggled ever since Beryllium (it's too late, I doubt I've spelled ir right!) was banned after 1999.

The Mac from 2000 didn't look exactly underpowered to me. Actually they did have a darn good engine and chassis as wqell.

I suspect that the problems started in 2001 when new chassis regulations came into effect. I think that they got the chassis wrongly. Reliability, which was not the strongest point at McLaren, posed dramatical problems too after 'traction control" was allowed. But I agree, the last year's Ilmor wasn't the best engine.

[R]

Originally posted by Valve Bounce
Maybe they are running something illegal.

I doubt it. So just for the record, let's say "probably not".

Testing is testing, without doubt, but I agree with Inigo - this is good news. We need someone to challenge Ferrari, and this brings hope for next season. I doubt McLaren will catch up with Ferrari completely , but maybe this track record indicates that they will be the stronger opposition, and not Williams.