McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[Hangaku]

Frankly I dont know how they thought it would be passed by the FIA, the rules are super clear that you are only allowed to have 2 exhaust exits as back in the 80's things got a bit silly with multiple outlets feeding diffusers.

Interpretation of the rules is what makes F1 so damn good. Frankly, I don't know how RedBull get away with their car It's their interpreation of those rules that makes it so fast

[feynman]

Anyone that says "the rules are super clear", clearly is kidding themselves about the history of F1 and its rules. Deliberately, nothing is ever "super clear".

Off the top of my head, and within this thread, it doesn't take much imagination to think of a couple of wheezes that move you rapidly from "super clear" to "murky grey area and dodgy, thumb on the scale, WMSC rulings".

No holes in floor for double diffusers, no blown wings and no flexible bodywork, all turn out to be not quite as super clear as were all previously imagined.

[raymondu999]

That depends on how you interpreted the way "clear" was used

[Just_a_fan]

The rules are written by lawyers just as societies' laws are. And we know how murky law is so why should the FIA's rules be any different.

A few decent diagrams would have cleared up much of these issues before they started.

[beelsebob]

The rules are written by lawyers just as societies' laws are. And we know how murky law is so why should the FIA's rules be any different.

A few decent diagrams would have cleared up much of these issues before they started.

Not really – the issue is not that the rules aren't clear in what they try to explain, it's that the rules have to be written in an open way. They are trying to write a set of rules that allows people to come up with different designs, rather than prescribing exactly what the teams will do. If you say "these are the constraints" someone will always find a way of doing interesting things that you meant to be outside the constraints, but turned out not to be.

[ajdavison2]

I think one of the simplest ways to explain it is if you say to a room full of 100 people, draw a 2D shape with an area of no more than 1000mm squared. The amount of different shapes produced would be huge.

[beelsebob]

I think one of the simplest ways to explain it is if you say to a room full of 100 people, draw a 2D shape with an area of no more than 1000mm squared. The amount of different shapes produced would be huge.

More so – try to stop them making shapes that you don't like, but are in their interests to draw. They'll always find a way around whatever rule set you write down, unless it's simply "don't draw stuff I don't like".

[PlatinumZealot]

The rules are written by lawyers just as societies' laws are. And we know how murky law is so why should the FIA's rules be any different.

A few decent diagrams would have cleared up much of these issues before they started.

Created by engineers and messed up by lawyers.

[PlatinumZealot]

Frankly I dont know how they thought it would be passed by the FIA, the rules are super clear that you are only allowed to have 2 exhaust exits as back in the 80's things got a bit silly with multiple outlets feeding diffusers.

2 exhaust exits... at any given time. That is the keyword.. they can switch those two exits to another part of the car at will.

F-duct exhaust!

[Javert]

Anyone has news related to McLaren Turkey's updates ?

Ferrari claim they can gain 1 second per lap, so McLaren could go behind them ...

[beelsebob]

Anyone has news related to McLaren Turkey's updates ?

Ferrari claim they can gain 1 second per lap, so McLaren could go behind them ...

The only time I've seen a team 1) claim they're going to make a gain of a second or more 2) actually put it on the car, was with McLaren, at Australia.

McLaren were planning some big upgrades for turkey though, so we'll see, won't we.

[raymondu999]

In all fairness, I don't think we saw that it was a second in terms of the jump to Australia.

[kalinka]

In all fairness, I don't think we saw that it was a second in terms of the jump to Australia.

Agree, and we'll probably never know, but if someone ask me, I would say it was more than a second, but for sure it's just a feeling, nothing more.

[shamikaze]

When you compare the MP4-26 FW of China with the one of the RB (especially upper-flap design) from the top-view, the difference in profile is astounding and imho I'd bet even without the flexy stff that the RB's would give more df. However as been stated before, FW is crucial in getting airflow to the right places so it uses the rear optimal as well, and with the completely different side-pod design between the 2 and 1-to-1 comparison is more-or-less useless, but I'm going to do it anyway

[Robbobnob]

the RBR wing certainly looks like it loads the outer of its wing more, where as the Mclaren has a shocking apparent lack of element area.. possibly a more streamlined design, creating smoother flow to the rest of the body