McLaren F1: Team Thread

He'd fit in brilliant in Indy! If he's got the desire for it, bet he could wrangle a drive somewhere.

 

I reckon Danny would be a star in any us series , they would love him !

 

With the Palou debacle, I think CGR will have a seat free.

 

McLaren factory glimpses have apparently given away a change of cooling configuration where they will follow the Merc intercooler system and will free up lots of opportunity for sidepod development, although more a continuation of the direction they went mid season last year (towards the RBR model).

 

interesting.

 

McLaren launch on Monday, as do Aston Martin

 

MCL60 launches for 2023

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More to follow

 

Early thoughts chaps?

Very much looks an evolution of last years second half of the season development- a lot more “Red Bull-esque” feel to the sidepod- there’s much more thought and complexity given to the shape of the sidepod as opposed to simply the “downwash” concept airflow- they have obviously looked to further develop that direction.

Interestingly- as per the off season chatter- Andrea Stella talks about plenty of updates in pipeline so it suggests again that launch mode McLaren will quickly develop but also IMO indicates that they won’t be at the level of any front runner - still feels like playing catch up as opposed to a concept that could upset the applecart.

All that said- most of the lap time is probably underneath the car and not visible, so let’s see what we get when we hit the track.

One thing I hope is that the straight line speed improves this year having been a previous strength in 2020 and 2021- until becoming very draggy last year. It does look leaner and the Red Bull direction might lead to some convergence in terms of drag efficiency.

 

Sounds like they don't expect to have the car properly ready as they'd like until Azerbaijan, which is a surprising admission.

 

Courtesy of Albert Fabrega:

“Some comparission of the MCL60 McLaren. Different downwash ramp angle together with increased undercut”

 

its another red bull convergence.

very lovely looking but the rear side covers are interesting.

looks a tight package with some are direction going on

 

I do wonder if Red Bull hit the most efficient side pod design last year and everyone's simulations show it's best after they saw it last year?
Adrian is probably the only aero guy still around in F1 that remembers the last ground effect cars in aero terms.

 

the outwash effect from the under cut must be significantly better than the reduced drag merc thought they were going to get.

but a lot of teams are also copying their floor vanes too. it's very obvious here.

 

I do wonder if Red Bull have learned to make their under floor area better as they didn't need to concentrate on the sidepods too much?

 

Red bull had consistently highest top speed so they had to have very good drag profile and not only on pods but on the rear end under the second wing and around rear wheels/ brakes etc.

they had best stability no matter what the track was. so that alongside talk of highest ride height to achieve ground effect seems to indicate they had the best side vortices and were never bottoming out.

the outwash effect is the external obvious part of this but there's a lot underneath to learn about and imo that shot of the Red Bull new floor laid out in from of the planet may have left an awful lot of people in on an awful lot of stuff

only time will tell.

 

Worst year for liveries I can recall. All the teams going for the "same as last year but with half the paint removed" approach.

 

Couldn’t agree more - it’s a ridiculous state of affairs where teams are having to take off paint to weight save.

 

Could we not increase the minimum weight by the few ounces necessary to enable cars to be painted?

It’s a massive part to F1 fans and madness that we are having this conversation!

 

I think they should just pass a rule stating all cars must be 100% painted.

cars are heavy enough at this point imo.

let them chop 50kg off elsewhere.