Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[murtoidf1]

It seems unusual for McLaren and Red Bull to have so little upgrades in the second test.

Could this be because teams are trying to keep their killer ideas under wraps til the latest possible time?

[raymondu999]

Or teams are starting to struggle to find where to optimise the cars because they're so optimised for the current regs already

[NoDivergence]

McLaren already stated that first updates would be for third test during the presentation at the car unveiling. Everything is on schedule. McLaren looking great!

[Pup]

I'm surprised, though, that they didn't test some alternates. Especially the exhaust. Maybe they started with their most extreme solution, and since it worked they didn't feel a need to test the others?

[Richard]

There will have been a lot of tweaking and testing of various parts under the bodywork.

I am surprised we haven't seen several exhaust variations. However, they can be copied very easily so perhaps all the teams are waiting until the final test days before they reveal any variants? Just the RB6 or 7 when the exhaust exit jumped from top of pod to bottom at the last test?

[Mr.S]

Whitemarsh sounds confident,he says Mclaren is as good if not stronger than Red Bull in fast corners. Maybe their have improved on their rear grip & worked on the setup.

[aral]

Whitemarsh sounds confident,he says Mclaren is as good if not stronger than Red Bull in fast corners. Maybe their have improved on their rear grip & worked on the setup.

Not much point being faster in the corners, if you are slower on a full lap.

[beelsebob]

Whitemarsh sounds confident,he says Mclaren is as good if not stronger than Red Bull in fast corners. Maybe their have improved on their rear grip & worked on the setup.

Not much point being faster in the corners, if you are slower on a full lap.

Sure, but if they've maintained their traditional strengths of grip out of slow corners, and straight line speed, there's not a lot more than they need to get right.

[ianwit]

Seems pretty "rakey"

Good pic of the rake on Pitpass, copyright Joanne Burnett.

[KeiKo403]

Nice find...any idea what caused Button to stop on track?

[scarlet]

Out of fuel?

[Owen.C93]

Looks like they have the cooling ducts near the headrests there again. I think they also tried a bigger outlet from the engine cover just to test the high cooling spec.

I haven't seen the slots ontop of the sidepod openings yet though.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

What about rifling in the exhaust tailpipes to "spin" the exhaust in a certain direction? I've read the Regs & see nothing specific saying you cannot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifling

[Gridlock]

What about rifling in the exhaust tailpipes to "spin" the exhaust in a certain direction? I've read the Regs & see nothing specific saying you cannot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifling

The exhaust is already pretty contorted, I would have thought the loss of power due to restricting the exhaust further would be an overall negative.

[Mr.S]

Whitemarsh sounds confident,he says Mclaren is as good if not stronger than Red Bull in fast corners. Maybe their have improved on their rear grip & worked on the setup.

Not much point being faster in the corners, if you are slower on a full lap.

Sure, but if they've maintained their traditional strengths of grip out of slow corners, and straight line speed, there's not a lot more than they need to get right.

Straightline speed has not been Mclaren's strongest point last season & looking at their rear wing,the trend is set to continue. Anyways Mclaren are quite good in slow speed corners.

I am still not buying that they are quicker or as good as RBR in Fast Corners. The lap times were far off but that could be due to a load of other factors. But it still is unlikely unless Australia shows it.