McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[munudeges]

Vettel was geared for heavy acceleration; which is why he had a good run on Alonso in the middle of Curva Grande. But then when they were alongside; before the braking zone; Alonso was still pulling ahead

Indeed it was. That's why speed trap figures can be very misleading.

[Richied76]

Vettel was geared for heavy acceleration; which is why he had a good run on Alonso in the middle of Curva Grande. But then when they were alongside; before the braking zone; Alonso was still pulling ahead

Indeed it was. That's why speed trap figures can be very misleading.

And downforce levels!

[volarchico]

Does anyone have any information on how the gurney on the opposite side of the rear wing affected the MP4-26 at Monza? The intuitive assumption would be that they had too much downforce and the gurney on that portion of the wing was used to reduce this. But does anyone know for sure that was the function and effect?

[raymondu999]

I was thinking the same thing. Surely slapping a gurney on can't be the best way of reducing drag/downforce?

Also, did anyone notice how the fw was violently rocking in turbulence? Not sure if it did in clean air. Why do you think that is?

[MIKEY_!]

Maybe they decided they urgently needed less DF/drag and they couldn't get a new wing there in time. So they glued it on? This is the best I can think of

[aleks_ader]

Also, did anyone notice how the fw was violently rocking in turbulence? Not sure if it did in clean air. Why do you think that is?

In my opinion is that a result of linear bending of whole fw structure...

[MIKEY_!]

So as flow levels change (therefore DF) the wing responds by raising and lowering. Makes sense, although no such problem for RBR's flexy nose. Could it be an issue of resonance?

[PlatinumZealot]

Does anyone have any information on how the gurney on the opposite side of the rear wing affected the MP4-26 at Monza? The intuitive assumption would be that they had too much downforce and the gurney on that portion of the wing was used to reduce this. But does anyone know for sure that was the function and effect?

Flow attachment time after DRS.

[MIKEY_!]

Interesting. others will be quick to copy.

[JMN]

Doubtfull. If anything they'd be cautious not to make the same mistake of developing and fitting a regular wing profile with problems in terms of flow reattachment. As you may remember, flow reattachment was an issue for the Mercs early in the season. They managed to fix it (supposedly) just fine without adding a gurney though. As it's been previously noticed, while a gurney adds alot of lift, it comes at a heavy drag cost.

[MIKEY_!]

I assume the gurney was to assist flow re-attachment. If so then there is a benefit to be had when running high DF + small chord DRS. This has to be balanced of course with the lift it creates.

[keoxiv]

[volarchico]

In the past, the MP4-26 seemed to have some of the strongest rear-wing vortices being shed as observed by the wet/damp races where the vapor became visible. Seems that these modified endplates might be to reduce these?

[ajdavison2]

Their Singapore wing looks almost like their Monza wing maybe they're developing a universal wing for the entire calender?

[siskue2005]

finally they have their endplaes like they had back in 2008
i think Mclaren where the first to introduce such endplates back then


maybe from the recent hard vapor trails noticed in their car, they want to reduce it.