Formula One car development blog

McLaren continue to add small updates to its car, possibly evaluating the effect of items with 2014 in mind. Already seen in Korea, the front wing had new pillars, moved back considerably. In fact the entire middle part of the front wing is new, along with the positions of the camera in between the pillars. Moving them backward meant that the team can better exploit the venturi effect that is being created by the long pillars, a feature that is rather common today in F1, as is the l... Read more

The McLaren MP4-28 hasn't been the greatest car of the year, particularly because of the change to a pull rod front suspension. The team admitted earlier that this is one of the reasons why the car is underperforming, as the aerodynamic effects of this change affected the entire car. McLaren largely underestimated the effort if would take, and consequently started changing the front wing early in the season to try to get the car back on track.

The result is a fairly simple front wi... Read more

McLaren have effectively rounded completed their string of updates by running its new front wing at the Monaco Grand Prix. Following the introduction of a large number of performance updates, the front wing was brought in late on Saturday at the Spanish Grand Prix and was only tested in the final practice session.

At Monaco however, the MP4-28 featured all updates seen at Spain. Among those are a new rear wing which includes a curved endplate with strakes on the outside, similar to ... Read more

McLaren have pinpointed their problems of 2013 to a problematic correlation of wind tunnel data and struggling to get a persistent airflow around the Pirelli tyres, which are now flexing differently than last year. Jonathan Neale even likened their problems to those at Ferrari last year, saying the Scuderia people will surely know how it feel to be in the position McLaren is currently in.

As a first step to resolve some car problems, the team introduced a modified sidepod panel that... Read more

McLaren has introduced a modified sidepod bodywork design that features a bump on top of the sidepod. In fact it looks like the fat lady sat atop of the sidepod, creating this new version. The idea is to draw a little bit more air down onto the exhaust more rapidly, helping the curving down of the exhaust gases aft of the exhaust channel. The difference of course is clear because of McLaren opting to paint less of the car's bodywork in silver.

The design is not new at all and follow... Read more

McLaren have tested a new front wing (in the lower part of the image) on their MP4-28 to improve car balance and frontal downforce. The team have basically simplified the main place by removing the inner humps that were introduced during the 2012 season. The new front wing is a almost entirely flat, as low as possible to the ground to help create downforce and only bulges towars the endplate to control the downforce generation under steering and yaw.

Along with this, the endings on ... Read more

Detail pictures of the roll hoop on the McLaren MP4-28 have revealed that the team has largely retained the cooling layout of the 27. Just as on any other current F1 car, the main, somewhat triangular inlet feeds air to the engine required for burning fuel in the cylinders. Contrary to popular belief though, air is not pushed into this inlet, but the engine is sucking air in, reducing the drag penalty a normal cooling inlet would generate.

Underneath this main inlet is a smaller one... Read more