Abu Dhabi testing thread. Mclaren struggling today

So, the first day is in the books.

No huge surprises, Bottles quickest and many of them covered quite a few laps.

Mclaren however, while keeping a bright attitude had a horrible day..... The car didn't even get out in the morning - an 'electronics issue'. Then it did one installation lap and stopped on its way back in. The next install lap it quit on track and bought out the red flags. Then it limped around just one more time before disappearing again.....

I guess the Cans in particular had a similarly horrible debut day last year, but certainly not what they were hoping for at the least.

As I've said before, there's nothing like on track experience. Don't care how good it looks on the dyno.....

Cheers,
Ian
Bottas quickest on first day of post season test - Pitpass.com

 

Ermm Mclaren will get there am sure.

 

My intel re McLaren and Honda from talking to various team engineers in the pit lane in Abu Dhabi is that the engine is down on power and thirsty… Hopefully the intel is wrong..!

 

Thirsty doesn't surprise me ...not sure power wise, shame if it's the case.

 

Are you there?

Pix or it didn't happen!

Don't know if you read the link I posted, but they're also saying they're a long way from turning up the wick and that this is simply a test mule - Mainly checking comms links etc between Japan, Milton Keynes and Woking etc at this stage.

Given what it did today, or rather didn't do, I don't see any possible way anyone can even have a vague guess at it's power and thirst quite yet. It didn't complete a lap!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Yes, I was there. Pics to come!

No one really knows how turned up or down the engine has been to date, but starting gently makes sense whilst in shake down mode.

 

Just like Macca to sandbag.

 

*Awesome*.... Looking forward to them.

'Starting gently' certainly makes a lot of sense. But just 3, standalone, install laps isn't what they were hoping for either if they're honest. Understand they'll try and maintain a brave face, but even Eric noted they didn't get as much done as they were hoping for. (duh! )

Cheers,
Ian

 

They just wanted to convince everyone that they haven't had the car out on track previously.
Obvious sandbagging.

 

Have they told Fred that..mind you he brings tenths with him..

 

Unlike you who brings fifths and pints.

 

Fithexed .)

 

Even when you're sober the rest of the world is two drinks behind.

 

Here's a taster - a couple of iPhone pics to get started as I'm new to pic uploads and don't have my slr pics to hand...
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Why didn't you invite me ya git..

Stay there it's bloody freezing back here.

 

Nice turnout.

 

A car breaking down in its second outing?

Hardly breaking news.

 

It isn't?

 

Hey, this is a Ferrari forum and no word on Ferraris??? Did they test? How did they do?

 

i guess everyone has lost faith lol.

 

Not so much that it broke down, but I thought the fact that it didn't even manage a real lap was indeed fairly newsworthy. Similar to the grief the Cans had earlier this year, and we gave that plenty of coverage here.

My apologies for wasting your time.

As for Ferrari, the link I put in the OP describes the day pretty well. As I said, no big surprises.

Cheers,
Ian

 

A summary of Ferrari's day for those who need it here;

So there you have it.

Cheers,
Ian

 

If they're still having such problems in Spring, we can ring some bells. Good for them to be able to get this out of the way before winter.

 

This is testing. Problems are supposed to occur during this time.

 

Let's not forget all the problems RBR suffered during inter-season testing last year, but they still ended up being by a substantial margin the "best of the rest" after MB.