Formula 1 Q&A: Can McLaren compete or will it be the best of the rest?

It looked to be a very exciting weekend for McLaren, a far cry from the pace after having been the best car for the past two years. Is it realistic to hope they can compete this year or are they the best of the rest, as Lando Norris was in Melbourne, the best they can do? -Tom

The fastest McLaren in Australia qualified more than 0.8 seconds behind George Russell’s time, and Norris finished 51 seconds behind Russell.

The McLaren team – world champions for the past two years – admitted that their car was not at the level of Mercedes. As team principal Andrea Stella said: “When we look at the GPS overlays, we see that Mercedes is faster in some corners.”

The vast majority of this gap is due to the use of the power unit and energy recovery system.

It’s clear that the team has more knowledge of how to get the most out of the engine, and it’s also clear that with the complexity of software systems, more information and knowledge translates into a big advantage down the track.

In Melbourne, the Mercedes cars were able to pump out a lot of power on the long run from Turn 6 to Turn 9, with the McLarens wasting a lot of lap time.

Formula 1 rules state that manufacturers must supply engines with exactly the same specifications to all their teams – workers or customers. However, they are not saying that they have to share all the information on how to fully exploit it.

After the race, Stella came very close to expressing her frustration at the lack of information McLaren was getting from Mercedes and its engine company HPP.

“We are still confused by the difference we see in the data between the speed of our car and the speed of other cars using the same power unit,” Stella said.

“The discussion with HPP about getting more information has been going on for weeks because even in testing, we were on track, running the car, looking at the data, ‘Oh, this is what we have’, fine, now we are reacting to what we have.

“That’s not how it works in Formula 1. In Formula 1, what happens on the track, you simulate it.” [beforehand]. You know what’s going on. You know what you’re programming. You know how the car will behave.

He continued: “You also have your plans on how to develop it, which you have figured out before because you know what you expect from the car.

“This is the first time since we’ve been a customer team that we feel like we’re behind even when it comes to being able to predict how the car will behave and anticipating how we can improve the car.”

Mercedes’ argument will be that McLaren, as a customer, cannot expect as close a relationship with the engine department as the works team.

McLaren will likely respond by saying they accept it, but feel they should be more informed than they are.

The McLaren is thought to be a bit overweight, so there’s time to be gained there – even without the aerodynamic updates, which are in the pipeline.

In theory, you will come to know how to exploit the engine.

The key questions are how long it will take to learn it, and whether starting with the extra knowledge is an advantage that keeps on giving.

The systems in cars continue to learn and improve. It remains to be seen whether this is a virtuous cycle that never stops, or whether Mercedes will reach diminishing returns and McLaren will be able to catch up.