McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[BorisTheBlade]

If you take a close look at almost all of the other cars you would see that they already have one.

[mclaren_mircea]

James Allen and Mark Gillan about some features of the new Mclaren in Jerez.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/02/w ... oing-next/
"Every year something excites the F1 engineers about someone else’s design and this year was no different with McLaren’s rear suspension aero profiled geometry (above) , which acts probably as a pseudo split rear lower beam to energise the diffuser and upper rear wing cluster (the lower beam has disappeared in the 2014 regulations), causing a stir."
"McLaren were also sporting a nice 32 channel automatic traverse Kiel Probe rake for measuring the pressure field aft of the front tyre. This test equipment will traverse vertically during a run (in quais-steady state conditions) to capture the complete wake off the front tyre for correlation with wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data – this is crucial to make sure that the development process is working efficiently. (Note: With front wings 150mm narrower this year, moving the air cleanly around the front tyre is more difficult)"

[trinidefender]

According to Omnicorse in the last day of testins, Mclaren is trying some sort of monkey seat. I thought that everything like this was banned for 2014. Take a look

http://www.omnicorse.it/magazine/34359/ ... onkey-seat

La McLaren ha mostrato il suo monkey seat
Sulla MP4-29 è poi apparso anche uno spoilerino più in basso, oltre alla "tapparella" della sospensione posteriore
La McLaren MP4-29 ha bene impressionato a Jerez: Kevin Magnussen ha chiuso la quattro giorni di test a Jerez con il miglior tempo assoluto (in 1'23"276), restituendo il sorriso alla squadra di Woking dopo la terribile stagione dello scorso anno.

E il danese con la sua verve giovanile ha contribuito a dare una spinta alla squadra che sembra essersi data una scossa nell'inverno: la vettura curata da Tim Goss ha colpito la fantasia degli osservatori di Jerez grazie all'innovativa sospensione posteriore con la "tapparella", ma nel retrotreno della MP4-29 è apparso anche un curioso monkey seat montato a sbalzo oltre i piloncini dell'ala posteriore. E in un secondo momento è apparso un ulteriore spoilerino più in basso a dimostrazione che è proprio il posteriore l'area di maggiore sviluppo curata dagli aerodinamici del Technocentre...

They were running it for the entire Jerez test and for the last time no it isn't illegal. I'm pretty sure you yourself has asked if they were illegal.

[sknguy]

I wonder how much of an unsprung weight penalty they're paying with this? There has to be a mechanical setup compromise with it.

I would think it''s aero neutral (downforce-wise) as per the F1Technical article http://www.f1technical.net/development/435 and they probably would have had to prove that to the FIA anyway.

Argh, for the third time, the rules DO NOT SPECIFY THAT THESE PARTS HAVE TO BE AERO NEUTRAL. They specify that they must be symmetrical about their major axis, which they clearly are.

My appologies. This approach is probably not as efficient as a coanda exhaust (creating drag and all). But I suppose time and data will tell.

[Avocado]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2014-3.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2014-4.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2014-5.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2014-2.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 2014-6.jpg

[mclaren_mircea]

AMUS says that at Jerez, Mp4-29 was the car that clearly had the most downforce, but in the same time the car had inferiour top speed down the straights compared to the majority of other cars. The explanations for them is the innovative rear suspension. So Gary Anderson might be wrong or only partially right with his theory about Mclaren's rear suspension, because it seems that it gives Mclaren a lot of downforce in the slow and high speed corners, but penalises the car on the straights. Anderson said that had double benefit, not only in the corners.

[Xero]

Reading about the car's characteristics in different websites, I found something very interesting about Mp4-29. A jurnalist who was at the track revelead that mp4-29's engine sounds different than W05 "The MP4-29 was running smoothly, with its Mercedes power unit emitting a pleasingly deep grunting sound, with a noise reminiscent of off-throttle blowing at the first corner. " It's that possible that Mclaren my run different engine mapping compared to W05? Something that they set-up as a team on the engine differently than Mercedes engineers?

I remember reading that all Mercedes powered teams ran different engine maps so they could all benefit from the collective data they shared between themselves. Clever move.

[Xero]

AMUS says that at Jerez, Mp4-29 was the car that clearly had the most downforce, but in the same time the car had inferiour top speed down the straights compared to the majority of other cars. The explanations for them is the innovative rear suspension. So Gary Anderson might be wrong or only partially right with his theory about Mclaren's rear suspension, because it seems that it gives Mclaren a lot of downforce in the slow and high speed corners, but penalises the car on the straights. Anderson said that had double benefit, not only in the corners.

I think some people misunderstood what Gary Anderson meant. The car does not benefit from less drag due to the suspension, but the relative drag penalty lessens with higher speeds. There is still an obvious penalty at the end of it.

[Pup]

There is still an obvious penalty at the end of it.

Yes, there is possibly a big tradeoff and we've heard that the decision to pursue the idea may have been controversial within McLaren. I imagine that the decision to run with it in the first test was largely to see whether the idea is really worth continuing. So it wouldn't surprise me if they showed up in Bahrain without it, or if we start to see them run back to back runs with a conventional suspension.

And if we don't, then I'd guess that means the drag penalty isn't so bad.

[miguelalvesreis]

There is still an obvious penalty at the end of it.

Yes, there is possibly a big tradeoff and we've heard that the decision to pursue the idea may have been controversial within McLaren. I imagine that the decision to run with it in the first test was largely to see whether the idea is really worth continuing. So it wouldn't surprise me if they showed up in Bahrain without it, or if we start to see them run back to back runs with a conventional suspension.

And if we don't, then I'd guess that means the drag penalty isn't so bad.

I believe that they will stick with it. If they assemble a different suspension they will prove that those are not structurally needed and allow some teams to raise a complain. I know that it was deemed legal by CW but a claim will always have to be answered, and with that some details of it.

[aral]

I know that it was deemed legal by CW but a claim will always have to be answered, and with that some details of it.

Unfortunately CW does not make the rules or police them. He can give an opinion, and has got it wrong before, on a number of occasions.

[Lazy]

I think they will stick with it, RB has shown that DF trumps top speed over the last 4 years.

[smr]

Isn't there a way to modify the suspension so as to reduce drag at Monza type tracks though?

[JDC123]

Isn't there a way to modify the suspension so as to reduce drag at Monza type tracks though?

That's a good point. Do you think at Monza they will fit a standard suspension on the car or run an even smaller rear wing, similar to what red bull have used in the past few years? I suppose it depends on which one gives the best compromise between reduced drag and loss of downforce.

[AlexJ]

That's a good point. Do you think at Monza they will fit a standard suspension on the car or run an even smaller rear wing, similar to what red bull have used in the past few years? I suppose it depends on which one gives the best compromise between reduced drag and loss of downforce.

Smaller rear wing I would expect. Less overall effect on how the package works.