McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[747heavy]

Excuse the ignorance here, but could someone point out exactly which shapes on the photo are the exhaust outlets. I think I'm struggling with depth perception on this shot too, so it's hard to see what's blowing what!

Cheers

[Richard]

According to the rules, those U channels feed air to that brake duct, while the hot exhaust is tucked underneath the brake duct to avoid over heating the brakes..... some say those brake ducts generate downforce and are coupled with the diffuser + beam wing. Perish the thought - that would be outside the spirit of the rules!

[Hangaku]

One pipe is lower than the other - maybe it was more rushed than we thought!

That's been done to comply with the F1t asymmetry requirements

I see your asymmetrigate and raise you an illusiogate.

It's not often a post on F1T has me giggling =D>

[kalinka]

Probably it's outside of that rule, but what about that free 50mm space on each side of the diffuser ? Maybe they're using that, like it was a few years back with that center 150mm rule..

[Coefficient]

Excuse the ignorance here, but could someone point out exactly which shapes on the photo are the exhaust outlets. I think I'm struggling with depth perception on this shot too, so it's hard to see what's blowing what!

Cheers

Look just inside the inner edge of the wheel starting at the ground. Slowly look up the picture keeping your eye out for an oval shaped orifice with a vertical splitter inside it that appears to be pointing at the winglet on the wheel assembly. There is one on each side, these are the exhausts.

nice one!!!

[murtoidf1]

As a huge fan of the white exhaust pipes from the late 60s, I for one approve very much of this diffuser. All cars look better with something white and heat-resistant bolted near the back. It's a rule.

Of side-interest: Seeing this new diffuser has only two vanes, one either side and out wide, it does look quite a lot like the left hand side of the 'half-and-half' floor that was argued about pages ago - that whole optical-illusion versus McLaren mixed-mode combination testing, anyone possibly thinking about switching horses?

I agree!

And yeah after talking to scarbs on twitter and a few others it seems the diffuser will remain white for this weekend.

It's a config that hasnt been run yet, so it's very likely they are coating the whole thing with zircotec just to be safe, as they aren't 100% sure where the heat will go. The reason they dont do this all the time is ( told to me by Scarbs) possibly cost and also drag. Even though the zircotec coating this year is smoother, it still has more drag then plain bodywork.

[Mchamilton]

As a huge fan of the white exhaust pipes from the late 60s, I for one approve very much of this diffuser. All cars look better with something white and heat-resistant bolted near the back. It's a rule.

Of side-interest: Seeing this new diffuser has only two vanes, one either side and out wide, it does look quite a lot like the left hand side of the 'half-and-half' floor that was argued about pages ago - that whole optical-illusion versus McLaren mixed-mode combination testing, anyone possibly thinking about switching horses?

this diffuser appears to be pretty much the original they had in the first test, theres a picture of it with flow-vis on it, that seemed to show signs of vortex generation either side of the center section, however i would imagine the top side has been altered to work with the new exhaust.

[Mchamilton]

One pipe is lower than the other - maybe it was more rushed than we thought!

i think you're seeing things

[segedunum]

The McLaren is a brand new design that has more scope for fine tuning as the team learns what works and what doesn't, and how to get the best from it.....Red Bull and Ferrari are evolutions of well known concepts.....

I'm not too sure why you think this is a good thing for McLaren. With the relatively stable set of regulations we've had since 2009 all you're saying there is that McLaren are effectively two years behind their rivals in a lot of areas.

[myurr]

The McLaren is a brand new design that has more scope for fine tuning as the team learns what works and what doesn't, and how to get the best from it.....Red Bull and Ferrari are evolutions of well known concepts.....

I'm not too sure why you think this is a good thing for McLaren. With the relatively stable set of regulations we've had since 2009 all you're saying there is that McLaren are effectively two years behind their rivals in a lot of areas.

If that is the case then if they're two years behind but on similar pace then they will definitely find it easier to bring pace to the car.

The reality will be somewhere in between. Their car will not be as microscopically fine tuned as they don't have as much test and race data for it. If the concept is sound, and it looks like there's a reasonable chance that it is, then they will find it easier to find things that are not 100% on the car and make those small improvements.

Red Bull and Ferrari, however, are starting with evolutions of two year old designs so they will already have spent two years optimising them. There will be new ideas they can bring to them from copying other teams as well as new ideas of their own, but there will be less scope for fine tuning ideas and concepts as they've already been doing so for a couple of years.

It is entirely possible to have a more refined and tuned design that was less potential than another concept that has yet to be developed to the same degree.

[feynman]

Red Bull and Ferrari are mature, optimized designs, high watermarks, which normally means that gains from here on out tend to be incremental in nature. It is a rule of diminishing returns. It is honing and tweaking.

A new concept on the other hand, like a McLaren say, is virgin snowfield, there are lots of directions to head off in and to explore. Gains tend to come in big chunks and large surprising lumps.

It is therefore about the choice to build the first of your next cycle of cars, as opposed to the last of any previous cycle. Given the choice, assuming roughly similar performance, I think you would always take a new design philosophy with room and scope to grow, than a mature design pushed against the ceiling off its performance.

[ringo]

You are assuming all teams have the same maxium.
I think Mclaren will reach it's limit at some point.

Williams carries more promise right now. They have no fancy parts beside the gearbox and they are already running well.

Mclaren may reach a limit with some of the areas that seem to have short comings.

[hollus]

According to the rules, those U channels feed air to that brake duct, while the hot exhaust is tucked underneath the brake duct to avoid over heating the brakes..... some say those brake ducts generate downforce and are coupled with the diffuser + beam wing. Perish the thought - that would be outside the spirit of the rules!

I agree richard. The'll attract a curse if they keep on offending those rule spirits. Making your cooling aids out of heat resistant material looks like mocking the rules!

[f1ssk]

I have been following the tread for some time now ...
Can we assume that the U shape exhaust previously used directed the exhaust gases to the current location of the exhaust and to other parts, might be... the starter hole region ??
But since pyrosic was banned, they are blowing only one region for now till they can get the heat management issue sorted ??


Also in the picture of the new diffuser, I see a vertical line at the middle of the exhaust outlet. are they splitting the exhaust at the exit ??

ssk

[Dragonfly]

Maybe both splitting and strengthening structurally.