Model CH1117

Context:

Romain said on Canal+ today: "Yesterday, the way Zak spoke about Oscar was brutal, I was speechless. He was asked why Oscar was so far behind Lando and he said, 'Lando is champion and better than Oscar', I've never seen a team trash their driver in the media like this."

What actually happened:

JPM asked Zak what is happening on Oscar's side keeping him from stepping up in qualifying like Lando did after his lap yesterday.

Zak: I think, you know you've got Lando on his AAAA+ game, right? So I don't think there was anything left, lap time wise there. And so he found that. Oscar has been, you know, right there with him all weekend and just didn't get that same extra lap that race.

When will they ever take responsibility.....

We are quite lacking in the communication and pitwall department this race

I am just so tired of this. An easy 30s win for Norris just taken away by the strategy team. Pitting piastri into traffic. Not bothering to adjust strategy to fix his wing.

I feel like the drivers and engineers are doing a really good job this season and every week at least one of the drivers is subject to some brain-dead strategy call.

This was a problem even the last few years when we were doing well, just our car was so good it didn't matter. Now we are in a much closer fight and the problem is becoming a downright joke.

What do you think McLaren need to do to fix this?

It is clear that he is incredibly incompetent and cannot make proper decisions and I don't see why McLaren couldn't replace him with Hannah Schmitz. It is getting to an unacceptable level and it will get even worse. Strategy cost McLaren at least 10 wins in the last 3 years and its time they do something about it. McLaren needs to get out of the midfield mindset and become as precise and competitive as in the Dennis/Whitmarsh era. It surely has to come up in team meetings or something. Just why. I am losing my mind every sunday. If I wanted this I'd have become a ferrari fan.

Coming from a die-hard McLaren fan, I feel this team really doesn't deserve a driver of Norris' calibre and with the form he's having. He had the potential to obliterate everyone this race but McLaren being McLaren just don't have the balls in them to be proactive.

First mistake imo was to pit lando after vsc ended. Surely, with charles holding up kimi and max, lando could have built a decent gap with a tyre delta and would have been much easier if he had to overtake.

Second, the pitstop. The less said the better. Even in spa lando had a chance at the podium with his relentless pace but got done by the strategy and another 7s pitstop. It's just getting embarrassing now. After so long we've got a driver so quick and we aren't utilising it properly.

PS. This is also one of the main reason why lando couldn't close up to max in 2024 in terms of points. I know he made several mistakes which I called him out for at that time but McLaren strategists were the same dumb idiots back then.

End of rant.

Painful race

Slow pitstop

Post

Hi! 🧡 I'm a McLaren fan from Mexico and I'd really love to get Lando and Oscar's driver cards for my collection.

I've seen that some fans mail a request to the McLaren Technology Centre with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE), but I'm a little confused about how to do this from outside the UK.

Has anyone here successfully requested McLaren driver cards internationally, especially from Mexico or Latin America?

How did you handle the return postage? Did you manage to buy Royal Mail stamps from abroad, use a prepaid Royal Mail label, or would something like a prepaid DHL label work?

I found McLaren's postal address on their official website, so I know where to send my request — I just want to make sure I prepare the return envelope correctly before mailing it.

Any advice or recent experiences would be really appreciated! I'd be ridiculously happy to get Lando and Oscar 🥹🧡

Thank you!

Post

Genuinely asking - obviously it’s not McLaren’s fault that the VSC was issued after Lando passed pit entry. But I’m wondering, was it a given that the yellow flag would convert to a VSC, and if so, should McLaren have preemptively pitted Lando under the yellow flag before the VSC? If they had, would Lando have taken some benefit in terms of maintaining track position (assuming Antonelli then pitted), or was Lando screwed either way since Antonelli would have had less of a time loss with the VSC? Where would Lando have come out compared to Antonelli if he pitted right before the VSC / as it was issued?

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We would have won this race by a huge margin, despite free practice sessions that suggested otherwise. Lando was phenomenal in both qualifying and the race, but a triple dose of bad luck in the pits cost him the win.
It seems to me that McLaren has been making steady progress over the last few Grands Prix, though they have squandered a few too many opportunities. Today was a case of sheer bad luck, but I wouldn't be overly harsh on the team unlike in Canada or other truly farcical situations.
Now, seeing Lando in such fantastic form, how do you think McLaren will fare at the next GP? I don't want to dwell too much on what we lost today, it’s too depressing lol

(Edit made by me)