McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[Avocado]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B25M2aAIQAARCHb.jpg

Holy ---, can you imagine MP4-30 now? Thank you, Prodromou!!!

[mclaren111]

The top & bottom Front Wishbones looks different me:

[i70q7m7ghw]

Only Magnussen got the new front wing from what I understand. It seems clear McLaren have made their driver choice...

[Holm86]

Only Magnussen got the new front wing from what I understand. It seems clear McLaren have made their driver choice...

Magnussen said to danish media that he expects an even newer version of the FW to arrive tomorrow, available for both drivers.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Scarbs' take on it:

The McLaren Formula 1 team ran its new Red Bull-influenced front wing during Friday's first free practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The wing is totally different in concept to the outgoing McLaren design, which used four main elements plus a vane on the endplate to direct airflow around the tyre.

There were also a pair of cascade devices above the wing to manage the tyre's turbulent wake.

Now the wing has five elements with the outer spans split to form a stack of six elements near the wing tip.

Many teams are moving away from the twisted end plate vanes at the wing's end and running far straighter endplates as it seems the narrower 2014 front wings do not need such aggressive shapes to send their wake outboard of the front tyre.

McLaren's new endplate is straighter and features cutouts along its bottom edge, similar to Red Bull's current design.

The cascade elements above the main front wing are new and the deep winglet and separate vane inboard of it have been replaced with a simpler winglet with a matching smaller wing mounted inboard of it.
This is the first major upgrade created under the direction of former Red Bull head of aerodynamics Peter Prodromou.

While the wing is similar to Red Bull's, this is only the case in concept terms and it is in no way a direct copy.

Designs for one car do not necessarily work on another, but concepts can be reapplied and McLaren is allowed to take advantage of the philosophies used on one of the best chassis on the grid.

The wing ran on Kevin Magnussen's car during the session, with the car fitted with a full rig of aero sensors, and it is possible the wing could be used in qualifying and the race if it performed well.

In recent years McLaren has run far less complicated front wings than its opposition, but this season it has produced wings at least as complex as others.

As teams have learned about the new-for-2014 narrower front wings, differing directions have been taken.

This major new update, which is believed to be combined with some detail changes to other aero surfaces, was developed in just nine weeks, which is realistically as quickly as it is possible to design, simulate and construct such a complex component.

[sectionate]

Only Magnussen got the new front wing from what I understand. It seems clear McLaren have made their driver choice...

Buttons Car was broken. They meant to runs Buttons car with the old wing and Magnussens with the new wing so that they could compare them. I wouldn't read much more into it than simple testing. IF it had been the race, it would be a different case.

[CjC]

Seems like mclaren aren't favouring the new front wing. Button and Kmag are doing their FP2 runs with the old front wing.

[f1rules]

i think the lower element here, is updated

[f1rules]

Old


New
For comparison

[Alexgtt]

This new wing is only on the car to test the new concept for 2015. It's never going to work with the rest of the 2014 car. Pure evaluation only. The flow info will already be back at MTC to continue 2015 design. Great to see aggressive development and importantly it looks like PP is not too late to strongly influence next years car.

Also, knowing how good McLaren are at development, usually late in a season, it's nice to know all that effort has for sometime been dedicated to the next car.

I like the signs, all very promising.

[Thunder]

One comment in the McLaren App this Morning was that People shouldn't expect too much out of FP1 because they Test lots of Stuff to decide if they run it on Saturday and Sunday. And why waste Preparation Time for the Qualy / Race when they have 2 Full Days of Testing next Week?

So i don't think the new Wing was purely for 2015.

[mclaren_mircea]

One comment in the McLaren App this Morning was that People shouldn't expect too much out of FP1 because they Test lots of Stuff to decide if they run it on Saturday and Sunday. And why waste Preparation Time for the Qualy / Race when they have 2 Full Days of Testing next Week?

So i don't think the new Wing was purely for 2015.

I hope they use the old FW. It would be again a childish error for Mclaren to run the new FW. In Fp2, Kevin got the third time using the old wing, and less than a second from the dominant Mercedes. It would be a tactical error to use this wing with the concept of the mp4-29. This wing just isn't for the sidespods and rear end of this chassis.

[mikeerfol]

Let's see what they'll do with that newer version of the front wing tomorrow first.

[Alexgtt]

Look, if they bolt it on and it makes the car better, of course they'll use it.......but it's not going to work with the rest of the car. They'll just measure data from it and put it into next years car.

[R_Redding]

Any true 2015 nose will look very different. The central nose section will have to look similar to the Merc or Ferrari nose to comply.

The nose currently seen must be a half way house between the 2014 car requirements and 2015 developments.

They probably have the 2015 central nose structure waiting in the wings for the test days.