McLaren MCL38 speculation.

[MTudor]

It is interesting that he also mentions that there will be areas of the car which will show clear innovation, meaning visible bodywork changes on the surface. Not sure what criteria Andrea has to classify something as innovative, but by general perception you would be inclined to think that means we'll see design elements that haven't been seen in other cars so far.

Aerodynamically speaking, given how little leeway there is in terms of front and rear wing design, can't help but think that the areas he could be talking about has to be either floor (with the leading edge fences), or the sidepods (in conjunction with the engine cover bodywork). However, I really doubt the overall shape of the sidepods will change much (probably will remain the same wide, down-washing concept), since their last year's car underwent two rather major design evolutions without moving away from the initial "language".

I guess there would have to be changes towards the rear end. If they have a new rear suspension layout, the area where the engine cover meets the floor at the diffuser opening and the end of the sidepods slope will probably have to change. I doubt however that they can come up with such a different design there to call it an "innovation".

Therefore the only thing that makes sense for me for Andrea to call a "visible innovation" is the actual suspension design itself (both front and rear). Could be interesting to see if they have come up with some clever arm links for more aerodynamic exploits while boosting the mechanical platform over last year's car.

What if we will turned up with a Mercedes style sidepods and would work for us

[CjC]

Yep. Was gonna say that it’s been fired up

[Macklaren]

Looking more hopeful than Lewis does in the seat fitting pic that Mercedes dropped today tho

[_cerber1]

[Marc.W]

Great news, now lets hope the brake cooling is up to scratch in testing

[MrGapes]

get tantalizingly close now..

The rear brake caliper seems to have the same positioning, and the rear crash structure is pretty much identical to the MCL60.

Interesting matte coating on the exhaust.

[mythr-ran-dire]

So Sauber has now switched to the pull rod configuration for the front suspension.

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1754 ... 92340?s=20

Whoever pushed for this combination at the MTC must be feeling pretty smug. This kind of baked-in advantage will help keep us ahead of the pack from behind.

[FittingMechanics]

So Sauber has now switched to the pull rod configuration for the front suspension.

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1754 ... 92340?s=20

Whoever pushed for this combination at the MTC must be feeling pretty smug. This kind of baked-in advantage will help keep us ahead of the pack from behind.

I find it quite amusing that everyone is saying Key had no choice in the matter as he started only in September. I am quite sure that Key could have said informally to someone in the team - switch to pullrod front as that is the path I want to take.

We will see if other teams follow this year.

[Farnborough]

JK was demonised on here for their lack of performance with McL (obviously 2022 didn't start from good position) but that initial development team that brought the CHASSIS layout clearly made very good decisions in my view.

Aero, we can now see was "naive" possibly at best, but overlaying what became a more contemporary thinking on the original design did show how capable this was.

I do know there's no link in technical terms.... but the MP4/4 dominant car was a V6 Honda turbo with pull rod front and pushrod rear suspension now where have we seen that currently

This years iteration has had far firmer basis in development that both 22 and 23 builds, with likely far more emphasis on exploring true development rather than "phase" changes in aero.....hopefully a very good starting point this year.

[mwillems]

So Sauber has now switched to the pull rod configuration for the front suspension.

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1754 ... 92340?s=20

Whoever pushed for this combination at the MTC must be feeling pretty smug. This kind of baked-in advantage will help keep us ahead of the pack from behind.

The team themselves have said it doesn't confer an advantage in terms of the platform. Both can offer the same level of performance. The main difference is the configuration allows airflow through at different points. The suspension layouts are often designed in an effort to remove as much obstruction as possible to the airflow moving to the rear.

At Silverstone the Mclaren rear suspension was tweaked, and this change was largely just to ensure there was as clear a path as possible where the bulk of the airflow was expected to travel based on the Aero changes that had happened at Silverstone and Austria.

[Mostlyeels]

So Sauber has now switched to the pull rod configuration for the front suspension.

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1754 ... 92340?s=20

Whoever pushed for this combination at the MTC must be feeling pretty smug. This kind of baked-in advantage will help keep us ahead of the pack from behind.

Another good bunch of quotes from James Key on the subject: https://www.racefans.net/2024/02/09/a-h ... uspension/

Is the general consensus that McLaren will (a) tweak, or (b) redesign a little, the front end again this year?

[mwillems]

So Sauber has now switched to the pull rod configuration for the front suspension.

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1754 ... 92340?s=20

Whoever pushed for this combination at the MTC must be feeling pretty smug. This kind of baked-in advantage will help keep us ahead of the pack from behind.

Another good bunch of quotes from James Key on the subject: https://www.racefans.net/2024/02/09/a-h ... uspension/

Is the general consensus that McLaren will (a) tweak, or (b) redesign a little, the front end again this year?

It's been confirmed.

They will be looking at the suspension itself, looking at how the tyres are interacting with the road and car, as per Stella. They will also be looking with a close eye on how this new platform can ensure that at either low speeds or low DF configurations, that the car is still efficiently able to deal with the airflow rear of the front tyres

In the MCL60 the wake was able to interfere with the floor when cornering in these situations. This was causing downforce levels to drop, forcing the drivers to take a V profile where they weren't able to dial out the issues.

[haza]

With the launch only 2 days away what can we expect from the car, I personally think the car will not look visually all that different aside the livery I think there will be an anti dive front suspension maybe a more pronounced undercut on the sidepods (lip included) apart from that I expect it to remain visually similar this is only my opinion nothing official as the concepts already is proven I don’t expect them to change anything drastic

[mythr-ran-dire]

I'll be disappointed/apprehensive if the 38 doesn't have any visual flair. So far the bottom and mid-table car reveals have been underwhelming in visible aerodynamic evolutions. The AMR24 on the other hand is the first of the original front runners from 2023 and the car looks very impressive.

The obvious disclaimer is that visual cues are not always indicative of performance. Still, AM are showing that aggressive development of the sidepod area is still possible, which Sauber and Alpine have missed out on by changing concepts and/or mechanical platforms.

What we have heard from the Mclaren camp so far suggests that while the car will be new underneath to dial out the usual demons, there is expected to be a lot of carryover from mid-season updates from 2023. So I would like to see similar flair on the MCL38 in two days time.

[mwillems]

I'd just be expecting heavy revision without any departures from the existing concept.

Dealing with the Aero at the front will be enhanced as we can now test the cornering behaviour of the car in the wind tunnel. So changes around the front wing and the tunnel entrances might be more obvious, but not dramatic.

Cooling will be optimised for this car so I'm sure the Sidepods will look similar but possibly more extreme if not just heavily refined. Rear will be optimised based on last years learnings about the Beam Wing and rear package to aid top speed with DRS open and to work with the new (unseen) floor.

Suspension might be a bit different but it won't be dramatic outside the car, I'll expect more changes inside the car to be able to manage the pull rod behaviour better.

Weight may well be another major change but that will be unseen.