Mclaren Mercedes 2014

[Waffle]

As far as I can see, there's no regulation that says that updates have to be given to all a supplier's teams, but since the engine has to be homologated and there can only be one homologated version then all the teams will have to have identical engines.

I don't believe this applies to the software, which would be a contractual issue between McLaren and Mercedes - and the contract will be a secret. There is little scope for software changes because of the standard ECU. The Appendix to the regulations describing that ECU seems to be tantalising missing from the FIA website:

http://www.fia.com/sport/regulations?f% ... egory%3A82

[Sasha]

Usually where there is smoke there is a fire!

Mclaren is own by three groups and one is very ill and the other been stating they were not happy with leadership(that was fixed with Dennis back at the wheel) and their return on investment(Mclaren Automotive was in the red until the P1 but what happens next year with the P1 gone).

Without Honda's money this year,Mclaren would be hurting!

The Japanese doesn't give money freely unless their getting something in return!

1)Looks like they got Mclaren to go to Le Mans.
2)Working on future production cars(becoming Honda's Tier 1 performance branch) but Honda would want equity.

So money always comes with a cost!

There have been plenty of occasions when engine manufacturers have had works deals with teams without having any ownership or "getting something in return" as you put it. Williams, for instance, had such deals with Honda and Renault. The reason they do it is marketing - if they're successful, they hope to sell more cars.

As for McLaren Automotive only making a profit because of the P1 - do you have the slightest evidence of this?

They're a new startup business. It's the nature of new businesses that they make a loss at first. That's why they were making a loss, and now they're making a profit. They continue to expand into new markets and new product lines.

Finally, McLaren at Le Mans will be a GT car, and therefore almost certainly powered by a McLaren engine. That's got nothing to do with Honda. If you think it does, again could you provide some evidence?

You do realise that Honda have already denied any intention to buy into McLaren, don't you?

Where's there smoke, there's a desperate journalist making up a story.

The Bahrain ruling family wants to sell their 50% of Mclaren.Either RD finds the money to buy it or plan B is to get Honda to buy it(last resort) because he doesn't want Bahrain selling it to somebody else!

Honda took the P1 program from Wirth and HPD.The chassis work is now being done at Woking.

[Sasha]

Usually where there is smoke there is a fire!

Mclaren is own by three groups and one is very ill and the other been stating they were not happy with leadership(that was fixed with Dennis back at the wheel) and their return on investment(Mclaren Automotive was in the red until the P1 but what happens next year with the P1 gone).

Without Honda's money this year,Mclaren would be hurting!

The Japanese doesn't give money freely unless their getting something in return!

1)Looks like they got Mclaren to go to Le Mans.
2)Working on future production cars(becoming Honda's Tier 1 performance branch) but Honda would want equity.

So money always comes with a cost!

There have been plenty of occasions when engine manufacturers have had works deals with teams without having any ownership or "getting something in return" as you put it. Williams, for instance, had such deals with Honda and Renault. The reason they do it is marketing - if they're successful, they hope to sell more cars.

As for McLaren Automotive only making a profit because of the P1 - do you have the slightest evidence of this?

They're a new startup business. It's the nature of new businesses that they make a loss at first. That's why they were making a loss, and now they're making a profit. They continue to expand into new markets and new product lines.

Finally, McLaren at Le Mans will be a GT car, and therefore almost certainly powered by a McLaren engine. That's got nothing to do with Honda. If you think it does, again could you provide some evidence?

You do realise that Honda have already denied any intention to buy into McLaren, don't you?

Where's there smoke, there's a desperate journalist making up a story.

1)Their a private own company so they do not post finacials but it is the reason the Bahrain ruling family wants to sell their 50% share.

2)In my private insider motorsport FB group a Wirth engineer was pissed that Honda pulled the P1 program from them!
It has been a program at Woking since last year.

3)Honda has never made a statement about the story!Only Mclaren.

A little hint wants going on....Bahrain isn't happy with Mclaren at the moment(looking to sell) and RD is trying to find funds to buy all or some of their shares so he will have majority(control) of the company.He will do almost anything to keep Bahrain from selling the majority share to a stranger even if it means Honda buys it.I think the plan is RD buys half(25%) and Honda buys half(25%) and RD get some of his long time partner's share at a discount(1%)so he would always be the majority owner(51%).

[mclaren111]

On MattSomersF1 I read the following:

McLaren's design decisions were lead by information given to them and subsequently changed just before the start of pre-season testing (log manifold). The original decisions led to the team having substantially bulkier sidepods than the other Mercedes powered teams and most likely drove their decision to stand the coolers within the sidepods vertically.

The log manifold left the McLaren sidepods with somewhat of a large area of free space and has probably had both cooling and aero ramifications that the team hadn't initially accounted for. In order to drive performance forward we will likely see a heavily revised package for Montreal or Silverstone, if we don't I suspect the Woking based squad have simply written off 2014 and will concentrate on their new partnership with Honda for 2015. It's also worth noting that McLaren have their lubricants including fuel supplied by Mobil 1 which could also offer some indication as to the performance offset between fuels.

So there is hope.

[adrianjordan]

In terms of aero, there's not much point in writing this year off. The rules are pretty stable so aero (aside from changes to nose regs??) and mechanical (non-PU) stuff will carry over onto next year's car.

So we should see updates, even if it's only so that they can try stuff for next year...

[mclaren111]

Totally agree. I hope PP can start sooner and have an influance on next year's aero.

[Waffle]

Thanks for the Matt Somers stuff mclaren111.

I guess that means that the placing of the radiators at the side on the McLaren has meant that it's far more difficult to update the sidepods to go with the smaller exhaust manifold for teams with a more conventional radiator placement. McLaren started the season with a huge handicap that's not their fault.

I'm guessing from the talk coming out of the team about large gains in the windtunnel that they are planning to redesign the sidepods. It's a big job, but I imagine an efficient one in terms of (hundredths of) seconds per (thousands of) pound (and CFD/windtunnel time) spent.

[adrianjordan]

Don't suppose they could benefit from a return to the 2011 style U-pods could they?

[trinidefender]

Don't suppose they could benefit from a return to the 2011 style U-pods could they?

The primary purpose of those sidepods was to provide an uninterrupted flow of air to the bean wing. So maybe the U sidepods can help, they will just have to be designed for a different purpose. My guess is that they wouldn't help.

[mclaren111]

Another difficult weekend ahead for us:

" McLaren racing director Eric Boullier admits that it is unlikely that the Woking team will be able to evaluate the ongoing development of its MP4-29 at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix. "

“Both Monaco and Canada are very particular types of circuit, and don't really offer a true reflection of our current state of development. It would be nice to get some more points on the board, but I don't think we'll get a clear idea of how much we've progressed until we go back to Europe.”

Planet F1 sums it up well:

"McLaren Say This Time It'll be Better
McLaren have spent most of this season promising fans that 'next race it's going to be much better'. It was going to be much better in Malaysia, Barcelona and Monaco - and it was very difficult to notice. But now they're convinced that Canada will have them challenging again. Eric Boullier: "The track layout of Canada is high-speed with a lot of straight lines, but with no real high-speed corners, a lot of chicanes and low-speed corners, so it should suit our car and we should be in better shape than we were in Monaco."


Maybe we get lucky and get both cars in the points again this weekend. [-o<

[oT v1]

I dont understand the recent press releases from Eric, i like him but i'm not sure its helpful always trying to predict their fortunes before a race weekend. i know he has to tow the party line (i'm guessing partly due to the sponsor situation), but it must cause more damage predicting good things, only to remain far behind the leading pack and a Force India at every race :s

Oh and a good way to evaluate 'ongoing developments' would be to finish higher!!

[Richard]

Ron Dennis was explicit a few races ago that the required changes would take time to work through the design, production and testing. He said those changes won't appear until Silverstone and until then the focus was on getting to grips with the new rules, I presume this meant the PU, fuel and tyres.

[adrianjordan]

Anyone care to guess which sponsor gets top billing (by which I mean the sidepods) this weekend?

[Thunder]

SAP according to this Picture by AMuS from Yesterday in Canada:



But of course this can Change.

[hakan439]

Could not see any new bodywork