2023 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[CjC]

Nice one, thought my memory was serving me well

[mwillems]

If it really is every Aerodynamic part then you can see why this is described as a B-Spec. He also says the car will look quite different, then again I recall him saying recently that it is an evolution not a revolution... What the devil have they built..... Super curious lol

[mwillems]

On another note..... I was looking for 3d printer model files for Mclaren F1 cars and came across this interesting article about Stratasys and Mclaren. Mclaren print over 9000 parts a year now for R&D and Aero testing, printing the 60% scale models used in the wind tunnel.

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/mcl ... ng-214469/

[MrGapes]

Hard to know what they’d bring to Austria.. would probably be smaller things that work in somewhat isolation.

Obviously Austria is a great track for Mclaren.. it’s a fair bit warmer, but I think that matters a lot less when majority of the corners are higher speed.

I don’t recall watching last year, but from the few onboards I saw.. it sounded like the ride height was far higher due to the aggressive kerbs, where as the MCL36 like to be run quite low, so should be overall better for MCL60. I don’t expect drag issues to be solved next race, but the thinner air should help overall. A lot of competitors ahead like Ferrari, Aston, Merc struggle with high speed stability, we won’t be ahead in the race, but should be closer for sure.

[Ben1980]

I'm not an overly optimistic fan, try to keep the realism.

But...many teams have brought decent levels of updates it seems, and, we really haven't. And we haven't gone tumbling away from them, and have stayed relatively stable.

So, it gives me hope, just a little bit.

[the EDGE]

The first 50% of the upgrade package will come at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, according to Stella, then 25% of the upgrades will be introduced at Silverstone the week after and the remaining 25% will make it onto the MCL60 for the Hungarian Grand Prix two weeks later.

https://www.racefans.net/2023/06/21/mcl ... lap-times/

[CjC]

The first 50% of the upgrade package will come at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, according to Stella, then 25% of the upgrades will be introduced at Silverstone the week after and the remaining 25% will make it onto the MCL60 for the Hungarian Grand Prix two weeks later.

https://www.racefans.net/2023/06/21/mcl ... lap-times/

Nice one
As if on cue
Answers both of my questions of how many races it’ll be spread over and how much of the package is coming to each race.

[MTudor]

I'm seeing a lot of messages regarding the topic,the upgrades are a B spec and are not a B spec ca.
Let's settle this,the updates are not a B spec car because you can't change the chassie midseason but are like a B spec because they affect each part of the car,FW,RW,sidepods,floor,etc.

[MrGapes]

I'm seeing a lot of messages regarding the topic,the upgrades are a B spec and are not a B spec ca.
Let's settle this,the updates are not a B spec car because you can't change the chassie midseason but are like a B spec because they affect each part of the car,FW,RW,sidepods,floor,etc.

You can change the chassis mid season, it’s just very unlikely due to cost and time restraints… I’ve refrained from calling it b-spec, but I don’t really think it matters at this point, the terminology has been thrown around a lot lately for less, last years AMR was defined as a b-spec, hell people have been calling the Merc sidepod and suspension change a b-spec.

We probably won’t see a proper b-spec for a while with this cost cap.

[mwillems]

It's a Cost Cap B Spec

CC-BS

[mwillems]

I'm seeing a lot of messages regarding the topic,the upgrades are a B spec and are not a B spec ca.
Let's settle this,the updates are not a B spec car because you can't change the chassie midseason but are like a B spec because they affect each part of the car,FW,RW,sidepods,floor,etc.

You can change the chassis mid season, it’s just very unlikely due to cost and time restraints… I’ve refrained from calling it b-spec, but I don’t really think it matters at this point, the terminology has been thrown around a lot lately for less, last years AMR was defined as a b-spec, hell people have been calling the Merc sidepod and suspension change a b-spec.

We probably won’t see a proper b-spec for a while with this cost cap.

The question about the chassis changing was around Stella saying the entire car had been redesigned.

Does a chassis need to be different for a B-Spec?
B-Spec to my mind means a fundamental difference, an alternative method, not one of how many parts have changed and did it include these specific parts

If the car looks totally different, you could say it is a B-Spec. but this is StellaSpeak, I have no idea what totally different actually is. if it is just more extreme of what we had, I wouldn't call it a B-Spec just a very big evolution, but if it changes some of the fundamentals of the car to work differently than before and is wholesale then yeah maybe B-Spec is right.

I mean, at the end of the day who cares, if someone wants to call it a B-Spec, be my guest, it won't add or take away any time lol

When Stella says B-Spec he is probably just trying to illustrate most likely that they had some development ideas through the winter. These ideas were put in the bin and now they have this new set of designs. I suspect that is what he means by B Spec. Plan B in comparison to what was designed but not built when they realised they needed to treat the floor differently.

[MTudor]

It's a Cost Cap B Spec

CC-BS

[LionsHeart]

It will not be surprising if they present the whole package during the next three races, since the package is getting very large, and the team painted the logistics of what to produce first and what later and how to implement it on the track with the greatest effect, since there will be only one practice in Austria and there will be no time for experiments. We will have to work a lot on the simulator and hope that the updates will be effective. Therefore, either in Silverstone or in Hungaroring we will see a complete package of updates. I hope that Woking still knows how to aerodynamics and the team will be able to please us with a return to the fight.

[Mostlyeels]

The way I read this quote is a primary purpose of the upgrade is to make the car run well on all tracks.

While Stella expects McLaren “should be competitive” on the high-speed corners of the Red Bull Ring as they suit the MCL60 in its current specification, he believes that suitability will become less of an influence than it is now on McLaren’s performance once the upgrades arrive.

“I think this [upgrade package] can be more important than how suitable the track is to the characteristic of our car. Ultimately for us, it’s a milestone in terms of possibly turning around the situation this season. Not only thanks to what we bring to Austria, but also with thanks for what will follow in the next races.

[mwillems]

The way I read this quote is a primary purpose of the upgrade is to make the car run well on all tracks.

While Stella expects McLaren “should be competitive” on the high-speed corners of the Red Bull Ring as they suit the MCL60 in its current specification, he believes that suitability will become less of an influence than it is now on McLaren’s performance once the upgrades arrive.

“I think this [upgrade package] can be more important than how suitable the track is to the characteristic of our car. Ultimately for us, it’s a milestone in terms of possibly turning around the situation this season. Not only thanks to what we bring to Austria, but also with thanks for what will follow in the next races.

The idea is that it will remedy some of the flaws, the flaws that hold it back in certain situations. Naturally that means it will go faster in more track configurations. But yeah, everybody wants a car that is great at everything and performs well everywhere. He's just suggesting that upgrade will offer an all round improvement, which itself is interesting. Rather than suggesting it is targetted at mid speed corners and tyre heating.

With the Baku upgrade he stated it was to specifically address high speed corners.