2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

No one in their right mind uses WebEx .... it's horrible!

Teams is also pretty awful, but still much better

It's passable but could be better.

Teams is a resource hog that demands a better laptop than most companies provide to be productive whilst on a call, but it is better than WebEx and Zoom still.

Anyways, that Ferrari is very different from what we have produced. I wonder what Key is going to make of the spoon/bath sidepod concept, or whether he will be drawn to comment on it at all as he did with the AM. Sadly it is a more beautiful car than the Mclaren I think, and for a while we had the best looking real car that had been released I think.

[SmallSoldier]

Teams is also pretty awful, but still much better

It's passable but could be better.

Teams is a resource hog that demands a better laptop than most companies provide to be productive whilst on a call, but it is better than WebEx and Zoom still.

Anyways, that Ferrari is very different from what we have produced. I wonder what Key is going to make of the spoon/bath sidepod concept, or whether he will be drawn to comment on it at all as he did with the AM. Sadly it is a more beautiful car than the Mclaren I think, and for a while we had the best looking real car that had been released I think.

I don’t think the Ferrari concept has “surprised” teams (the “tub shape” in the sidepods… It was part of the potential interpretations that the FIA considered in 2019:

[Balalu]

Teams is also pretty awful, but still much better

It's passable but could be better.

Teams is a resource hog that demands a better laptop than most companies provide to be productive whilst on a call, but it is better than WebEx and Zoom still.

Anyways, that Ferrari is very different from what we have produced. I wonder what Key is going to make of the spoon/bath sidepod concept, or whether he will be drawn to comment on it at all as he did with the AM. Sadly it is a more beautiful car than the Mclaren I think, and for a while we had the best looking real car that had been released I think.

It seems that the spoon sidepod concept was already somewhat factored by the FIA in the making of the new rules. So Key and his team must have known/researched such solutions?



Although the concept could be totally different in both cases.

[organic]

It's passable but could be better.

Teams is a resource hog that demands a better laptop than most companies provide to be productive whilst on a call, but it is better than WebEx and Zoom still.

Anyways, that Ferrari is very different from what we have produced. I wonder what Key is going to make of the spoon/bath sidepod concept, or whether he will be drawn to comment on it at all as he did with the AM. Sadly it is a more beautiful car than the Mclaren I think, and for a while we had the best looking real car that had been released I think.

It seems that the spoon sidepod concept was already somewhat factored in 'new rules' iterations. So Key and his team must have known/researched such solutions?

https://preview.redd.it/rfivoisipgi81.p ... fd42a51c49

I have said a little about this on Ferrari thread but to me it doesn't seem like the same concept at all. This idea is more like Mp4-26 with the L-shaped inlet which delivers very clean airflow to the beam wing. The FIA concept has: no louvres, no concave upper surface, a bulky airbox, completely different inlet design. Functionally these concepts are trying to achieve different things so I'm not confident that you could resoundingly say that McLaren have considered exactly what Ferrari have done here.

[mwillems]

It's passable but could be better.

Teams is a resource hog that demands a better laptop than most companies provide to be productive whilst on a call, but it is better than WebEx and Zoom still.

Anyways, that Ferrari is very different from what we have produced. I wonder what Key is going to make of the spoon/bath sidepod concept, or whether he will be drawn to comment on it at all as he did with the AM. Sadly it is a more beautiful car than the Mclaren I think, and for a while we had the best looking real car that had been released I think.

It seems that the spoon sidepod concept was already somewhat factored in 'new rules' iterations. So Key and his team must have known/researched such solutions?

https://preview.redd.it/rfivoisipgi81.p ... fd42a51c49

I'm not suggesting they didn't consider it, I just wonder what their opinion might be. Is it a good design but something we couldn't see through due to cooling layout, for instance?

I can only guess they are energising the air passing over the sidepods by creating a low pressure zone that is simultaneously energised with warm air from the radiators but I wonder how much that air will make its way to the diffuser. It's very beautiful though and I have to say I am jealous. Like I say, I'm interested to see if Key comments on this as he has other cars.

[SmallSoldier]

Teams is a resource hog that demands a better laptop than most companies provide to be productive whilst on a call, but it is better than WebEx and Zoom still.

Anyways, that Ferrari is very different from what we have produced. I wonder what Key is going to make of the spoon/bath sidepod concept, or whether he will be drawn to comment on it at all as he did with the AM. Sadly it is a more beautiful car than the Mclaren I think, and for a while we had the best looking real car that had been released I think.

It seems that the spoon sidepod concept was already somewhat factored in 'new rules' iterations. So Key and his team must have known/researched such solutions?

https://preview.redd.it/rfivoisipgi81.p ... fd42a51c49

I have said a little about this on Ferrari thread but to me it doesn't seem like the same concept at all. This idea is more like Mp4-26 with the L-shaped inlet which delivers very clean airflow to the beam wing. The FIA concept has: no louvres, no concave upper surface, a bulky airbox, completely different inlet design. Functionally these concepts are trying to achieve different things so I'm not confident that you could resoundingly say that McLaren have considered exactly what Ferrari have done here.

The FIA concept was released in 2019 with a very small fraction of engineers, designers and resources than the likes of any team in the grid and with probably less time to dedicate to it… As a basis, it’s not surprising that Ferrari’s interpretations adds additional performance with the use of other surfaces, curvatures, etc.

[mwillems]

It seems that the spoon sidepod concept was already somewhat factored in 'new rules' iterations. So Key and his team must have known/researched such solutions?

https://preview.redd.it/rfivoisipgi81.p ... fd42a51c49

I have said a little about this on Ferrari thread but to me it doesn't seem like the same concept at all. This idea is more like Mp4-26 with the L-shaped inlet which delivers very clean airflow to the beam wing. The FIA concept has: no louvres, no concave upper surface, a bulky airbox, completely different inlet design. Functionally these concepts are trying to achieve different things so I'm not confident that you could resoundingly say that McLaren have considered exactly what Ferrari have done here.

The FIA concept was released in 2019 with a very small fraction of engineers, designers and resources than the likes of any team in the grid and with probably less time to dedicate to it… As a basis, it’s not surprising that Ferrari’s interpretations adds additional performance with the use of other surfaces, curvatures, etc.

Having read through the Ferrari thread, the louvres were not part of the regs at that point in 19, so these apparently are the key difference that some think make this workable. Still, feels like it is a car that is carrying some drag penalty in order to maximise ground effect. Again, it is another tradeoff that will be interesting to evaluate for the teams. It's the first design that has made me Pause for thought though. Interesting times.

[SmallSoldier]

I have said a little about this on Ferrari thread but to me it doesn't seem like the same concept at all. This idea is more like Mp4-26 with the L-shaped inlet which delivers very clean airflow to the beam wing. The FIA concept has: no louvres, no concave upper surface, a bulky airbox, completely different inlet design. Functionally these concepts are trying to achieve different things so I'm not confident that you could resoundingly say that McLaren have considered exactly what Ferrari have done here.

The FIA concept was released in 2019 with a very small fraction of engineers, designers and resources than the likes of any team in the grid and with probably less time to dedicate to it… As a basis, it’s not surprising that Ferrari’s interpretations adds additional performance with the use of other surfaces, curvatures, etc.

Having read through the Ferrari thread, the louvres were not part of the regs at that point in 19, so these apparently are the key difference that some think make this workable. Still, feels like it is a car that is carrying some drag penalty in order to maximise ground effect. Again, it is another tradeoff that will be interesting to evaluate for the teams. It's the first design that has made me Pause for thought though. Interesting times.

I personally believe that it looks striking! From a concept perspective is very interesting… How well will it work though? Or is it better than the other concepts, still to be seeing.

Will Mercedes surprise everyone tomorrow?

The one thing that I’m really happy about is that so far there are very different philosophies in the cars that have been revealed, I love that variety in F1!

[mwillems]

The FIA concept was released in 2019 with a very small fraction of engineers, designers and resources than the likes of any team in the grid and with probably less time to dedicate to it… As a basis, it’s not surprising that Ferrari’s interpretations adds additional performance with the use of other surfaces, curvatures, etc.

Having read through the Ferrari thread, the louvres were not part of the regs at that point in 19, so these apparently are the key difference that some think make this workable. Still, feels like it is a car that is carrying some drag penalty in order to maximise ground effect. Again, it is another tradeoff that will be interesting to evaluate for the teams. It's the first design that has made me Pause for thought though. Interesting times.

I personally believe that it looks striking! From a concept perspective is very interesting… How well will it work though? Or is it better than the other concepts, still to be seeing.

Will Mercedes surprise everyone tomorrow?

The one thing that I’m really happy about is that so far there are very different philosophies in the cars that have been revealed, I love that variety in F1!

It's amazing to look at, isn't it! And they got the red spot on this year lol

The sidepods seem to catch a lot of air though in order to flow it round to the rear whereas the Mclaren looks slippier to me, although there is no undercut on the outer edge of the sidepod so that is where they have traded slippiness for a strong low pressure zone - but all in all it is following a more low drag philosophy as it has in the past.

I found the AM and HAAS a bit dull, the HAAS in particular but who knows how they perform on track, maybe they go out and trash the competition and Vettel gets title number 5!

Not long before the testing starts and we still learn almost nothing

[SmallSoldier]

Having read through the Ferrari thread, the louvres were not part of the regs at that point in 19, so these apparently are the key difference that some think make this workable. Still, feels like it is a car that is carrying some drag penalty in order to maximise ground effect. Again, it is another tradeoff that will be interesting to evaluate for the teams. It's the first design that has made me Pause for thought though. Interesting times.

I personally believe that it looks striking! From a concept perspective is very interesting… How well will it work though? Or is it better than the other concepts, still to be seeing.

Will Mercedes surprise everyone tomorrow?

The one thing that I’m really happy about is that so far there are very different philosophies in the cars that have been revealed, I love that variety in F1!

It's amazing to look at, isn't it! And they got the red spot on this year lol

The sidepods seem to catch a lot of air though in order to flow it round to the rear whereas the Mclaren looks slippier to me, like they are trying to get as much air to the rear as possible but still retain that low drag philosophy they had the years before.

I found the AM and HAAS a bit dull, the HAAS in particular but who knows how they perform on track, maybe they go out and trash the competition and Vettel gets title number 5!

Not long before the testing starts and we still learn almost nothing

From everything I’ve seeing so far, the name of the game hasn’t changed… How to manage front wheel wake… The MCL36 seems to have a similar concept than Haas by having a very wide and tall wall where the inlet for the sidepods are… Using that wall to push the wheel wake away from the rear… Since they have a large area there, it allows them to have a vey slim waist which they are using to drive air to the top of the diffuser.

Ferrari seems to be doing something similar, with the outboard shape of the sidepods forming a wall that prevents the front tire wheel wake from going to the back of the car (not pushing it out as aggressive as McLaren, but ensuring that it doesn’t disturb airflow… Instead of using a slim waist to drive air to the diffuser, they are channeling it from the top of the sidepods (therefore the similarity to the MP-26 (which did something similar).

I can of course be 100% mistaken… But is interesting that most teams seem to be basing their concepts on how to manage that wake first… It will be really interesting to see what the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull are doing.

[mwillems]

I personally believe that it looks striking! From a concept perspective is very interesting… How well will it work though? Or is it better than the other concepts, still to be seeing.

Will Mercedes surprise everyone tomorrow?

The one thing that I’m really happy about is that so far there are very different philosophies in the cars that have been revealed, I love that variety in F1!

It's amazing to look at, isn't it! And they got the red spot on this year lol

The sidepods seem to catch a lot of air though in order to flow it round to the rear whereas the Mclaren looks slippier to me, like they are trying to get as much air to the rear as possible but still retain that low drag philosophy they had the years before.

I found the AM and HAAS a bit dull, the HAAS in particular but who knows how they perform on track, maybe they go out and trash the competition and Vettel gets title number 5!

Not long before the testing starts and we still learn almost nothing

From everything I’ve seeing so far, the name of the game hasn’t changed… How to manage front wheel wake… The MCL36 seems to have a similar concept than Haas by having a very wide and tall wall where the inlet for the sidepods are… Using that wall to push the wheel wake away from the rear… Since they have a large area there, it allows them to have a vey slim waist which they are using to drive air to the top of the diffuser.

Ferrari seems to be doing something similar, with the outboard shape of the sidepods forming a wall that prevents the front tire wheel wake from going to the back of the car (not pushing it out as aggressive as McLaren, but ensuring that it doesn’t disturb airflow… Instead of using a slim waist to drive air to the diffuser, they are channeling it from the top of the sidepods (therefore the similarity to the MP-26 (which did something similar).

I can of course be 100% mistaken… But is interesting that most teams seem to be basing their concepts on how to manage that wake first… It will be really interesting to see what the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull are doing.

I that is probably right although the wake from the front wheels will be less drastic with the covers, but still detrimental to the airflow. The Ferrari seems to want to do a bit more to clean that airflow around the sidepod but get around this by collecting a little more airflow from above the sidepod and using a sharp angle at the rear to really pull that air toward the diffuser, but I wonder if the flow be clean or efficient enough to make it an effective concept. The surface area through that spoon area is also not huge so I'm interested to see how it pans out. The sidepods also look wider on the Ferrari but it could just be angles.

But maybe the trick is to go as wide as possible to manage that wake and get airflow from anywhere else that you can, who knows.

[mwillems]

Not the best comparison but still interesting.

[Balalu]

Mercedes looks similar to McLaren.

[mwillems]

It does. Their front wing is more extreme than on the MCL36

[McL-H]

I am not sure whether I missed this, but did the team gave any reason on their downfall since the Russian GP last season? I hope they got on top of that, because it more seemed as if their car went backwards than the competition moving forwards. They went from dominating the Italian en Russian GP to fighting Alpine which was rather weird.