I'm not sure if it's just the way I'm perceiving testing this year, but it seems more guarded than usual. I keep waiting for somebody to finally go "Taaaaa Daaaaa!". Leaving everybody else to scramble back to the factory for a spot of head scratching. Not that HRT aren't already doing the head scratching part...
tbh I don't think it's their head they're scratching. yeah, that's testing, last year the williams looked good, so how can anyone not 'in the know' gather anything meaningful with that considered. It's almost certain all the team sknow roughly how fast everyone else is, the only people really in the dark are us. lol, makes the subterfuge a bit pointless really. As to testing, I wonder if they break each lap down into a turn by turn test, for example do they get ordered: Push into, through, and out of turn one and into turn 2, then coast through and out of turn 2 and push to 3, then coast into, through and out of it.. etc and change it around lap by lap, with different conditions so they get a full evaluation of the, whilst being able to work out what their optimum lap times are with certain fuel loads, tyre type/wear engine mode. or jsut 'drive around fairly fast, but not too much' which I can't see the point of, if I'm honest, surely you want to know how good your car is in it's 'natural state' ie, going as fast as possible.
McLaren have been pretty vocal in the past when their car has been an absolute dog. I take their silence on the matter this year as reassuring. The way teams are trading places at the top of the time sheets this year will make for a good season, finger crossed there isn't an all domineering car out there.
The inner face of the rear wing side panels looks to be well sculpted, ne. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
I don't think anyone here has mentioned McLaren's front wing, which is being discussed elsewhere. It allegedly tilts back at high speed to reduce the angle at which the air hits the elements, thus reducing drag. It's kind of the opposite of Red Bull's famed flexi-wing, which increased the angle of attack through high speed corners, increasing front downforce to improve balance with the EBD. This is from testing: please log in to view this image There don't seem to be any convincing photos from last weekend. IIRC McLaren introduced this in 2011 (or something like it) and they and Charlie Whiting didn't see eye-to-eye on it but no rival teams have complained and it passes the FIA load-bearing tests. As one of the teams who could afford to implement the Mercedes F-duct system for even a minimal improvement, McLaren could increase top speed still further.
Thanks. It may be nothing then - that McLaren are not using it for racing but wanted to observe the effects of low downforce at the front on something else during testing.
Ace camera on Button's car in Melbourne: [video=dailymotion;xpoqa5]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpoqa5_nova-camera-nos-carros-de-formula-1-em-2012_auto[/video]
Yes. Bear in mind that one's backside is mere inches above the plank. (Roughly between two and two and a half inches).
They've got that floor flex down to what looks like mm. McLaren finally cracking the flexing bodywork that doesn't flex
Sorry for dumb question but that should be 'whether' right? Interesting article though, curious to see what new features/innovations they will bring. But I really hope it is more talk than anything. Don't want to see another 2011, one team dominating.
I agree - it should be 'whether'. I could have used [sic] to point it out but I thought it would spoil the flow. I doubt there's much danger of the MP4-27 being another RB7 but, if it is, you have two drivers in McLaren so you're not going to have one being told hold station. I think the RB8's going to be much closer in qualifying come China or, at the latest, Spain, and it's already very close in races. EDIT: Sky Sports F1 HD F1 News updated the report at 11:07 today to take account of chrispa's correction.
And that is the big defference, I wouldn't mid the RBR being dominant if they had a decent 2nd driver, having a one man show is bad for business, but 2 drivers in the same dominant team? nowt wrong with that, Prost/Senna Mansell/Piquet I wouldn't mind some of that tbh.
That's quite harsh Miggie, isn't it? I would call Vettel decent, despite his indecent behaviour lately, he is still only 6 points behind Webber. Anyway, I would much more prefer if more then just one team be in the WDC/WCC title fights and still have closely matched team mates. One does not have to exclude the other
McLaren: Front End Aero Development Basically keep an eye on the front end to see how much downforce they have overall
