McLaren MCL36

[Macklaren]

Well so far, my main concern for this car would be the performance of the new suspensions. McLaren is apparently the only car which has gone for this complete shift (unless Alpine has done the same).

It will either mess stuff up for them, do good stuff for them, or be neutral and do neither too good nor too bad. Let's hope it's not the first.

While your concern is valid, the fact that all the others have used all possible combinations of push/pull rod for front/rear tells me that there is no clear right/wrong answer. It's all about what works best with the rest of your aero philosophy.

I would have been a lot more concerned if all/most of the other cars had converged on a common suspension design (like we have had for the outgoing cars) and McL was all on its own with something else...

[SmallSoldier]

Well so far, my main concern for this car would be the performance of the new suspensions. McLaren is apparently the only car which has gone for this complete shift (unless Alpine has done the same).

It will either mess stuff up for them, do good stuff for them, or be neutral and do neither too good nor too bad. Let's hope it's not the first.

One thing I’m sure of is that you will be right regardless

[RossWZA]

Red Bull has also gone for a front pull-rod.

Phew

[Macafangrskg]

If a have to guess i believe McLaren will try to implement active suspension the way Mercedes did last year for the back pull rod. This year the ride height of the front nose will be more imperative than ever

[mclaren_mircea]

The idea with the front pull rod and rear push rod is a very risky solution taking into account that they dont have experience for the last 10 years with this kind of suspension system. It is a very Whitmarshish and Mclarenresque strategic design that will be a huge mess like in 2013.

[FittingMechanics]

Red Bull has also gone for a front pull-rod.

Phew

Ha, I kind of wished it would happen. Most people think Newey is a genius (he definitely is close) so this validates that decision.

Front wing looks similarish?

[f1rules]

But the thing is rb normally know what they are doing, mcl not so much but yeah lets hope this is a prove of concept

Red Bull has also gone for a front pull-rod.

Phew

[Ground Effect]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

[Herr_Koos]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

I personally think some people are making way too big a deal out of this. If front pullrod was a magic bullet, everyone would have done it.

[SmallSoldier]

I don’t think there are magic bullets… Specially since the top 3 teams seem to have taken a different approach to the regulations (actually, it seems that every team has had there unique approach to them)… But in a sport were teams are chasing tenths of a second worth of performance, every bit helps.

[the EDGE]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

I personally think some people are making way too big a deal out of this. If front pullrod was a magic bullet, everyone would have done it.

I think people were more concerned it was an Achilles Heel, but your right, people are making too much of it

[mwillems]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

Having the same suspension philosophy as RB is not the same as making all of those kinematics work

I'm not sure this is any kind of litmus test for our design, nor a certificate of Mr Newey's approval lol

The cars do all look very different, which is wonderful to see. Given all of the designs it does feel now that we are little "Middle of the road". I wonder what scope we have for adjustment around the different areas of the car.

[SmallSoldier]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

Having the same suspension philosophy as RB is not the same as making all of those kinematics work

I'm not sure this is any kind of litmus test for our design, nor a certificate of Mr Newey's approval lol

The cars do all look very different, which is wonderful to see. Given all of the designs it does feel now that we are little "Middle of the road". I wonder what scope we have for adjustment around the different areas of the car.

Key did mentioned that the current concept was intended with adapting solutions from others in mind… If you go for a concept that only has one path of development, you could be in real trouble since you would need to start almost from scratch to implement certain solutions… Bringing a concept that has flexibility built into it and with several paths of potential development, allows you to integrate other solutions that may not have been part of your scope and if you did get it right, to go into different paths depending on what you learn on track.

[Herr_Koos]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

I personally think some people are making way too big a deal out of this. If front pullrod was a magic bullet, everyone would have done it.

I think people were more concerned it was an Achilles Heel, but your right, people are making too much of it

Of the changes McLaren made, the switch to rear pushrod is actually the one that seems most debated. It bucks a trend going back more than a decade, and no other team besides Alfa have done it. Again, it probably isn't a deal breaker, but interesting nonetheless.

[mwillems]

The reaction to the discovery that Red Bull has gone pull rod front is hilarious, but understandable. I would have loved to see the reaction on Adrian Newey’s face when he found out.

Having the same suspension philosophy as RB is not the same as making all of those kinematics work

I'm not sure this is any kind of litmus test for our design, nor a certificate of Mr Newey's approval lol

The cars do all look very different, which is wonderful to see. Given all of the designs it does feel now that we are little "Middle of the road". I wonder what scope we have for adjustment around the different areas of the car.

Key did mentioned that the current concept was intended with adapting solutions from others in mind… If you go for a concept that only has one path of development, you could be in real trouble since you would need to start almost from scratch to implement certain solutions… Bringing a concept that has flexibility built into it and with several paths of potential development, allows you to integrate other solutions that may not have been part of your scope and if you did get it right, to go into different paths depending on what you learn on track.

Given our conversation about undercuts yesterday it was almost inevitable to see the faux bargeboards/tunnel entrances coupled with sidepod undercuts of the Merc!

I suppose it depends on how everything is packaged internally and how easy it would be to reconfigure the cooling if that was required to alter sidepod shape. I can't help but look t the Merc and admire the neatness of their solution but otherwise there are similarities between the cars.