Mclaren MP4-31 Honda Speculation Thread

[Sevach]

In theory you aren't allowed to test new stuff at the Abu Dhabi test, so that's a negative.

[GoranF1]

everything in AD test was 2015 spec as new parts werent even allowed in Pirelli test.
Arai said couple of weeks ago new PU was designed and parts of it are being produced and tested now.

[Joseki]

I think McLaren will be the at the top o very close to Mercedes on the chassis side but I have no idea of what Honda will achive in the winter.

[Stalker1]

I think that Honda will improve its PU-s reliability and, more important, driveability. They will still lose something like 30-40 horsepower to Mercedes and Ferrari and chassis will be probably some 0.2-0.3 second of the pace in the beginning of the season.

[DarkAlman]

Arai was quoted recently as saying that the boys at Sakura won't get much if any Christmas holiday as they are practically redesigning the PU from scratch. If they still plan on running a compact design it will be interesting to see what they've come up with to fix the Turbo Compressor/MGU-H.

Pete Podromou came in fairly late to the design process of the MP4-30, he will no doubt rip out a number of remaining vestigial aerodynamic failures from previous years. Such as the rear suspension we saw in Abu Dhabi. The off center configuration they ran all year implies that the MP4-30 was meant to run the suspension blockers of the MP4-29 that Podromou presumably nixed when he officially joined the team last year.

A shorter Mercedes/Lotus like nose is likely

Would be nice if the team takes some queues from this:


Custom paint job on a P1 done for a recent customer.

[Nathanael F1]

...

Would be nice if the team takes some queues from this:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVE8mWMWwAEzQVu.jpg

Custom paint job on a P1 done for a recent customer.

I'm pretty sure that's a 675 LT, not a P1.

[DiogoBrand]

I don't see any reason to use a Merc nose, the Red Bull solution they've taken inspiration from looks more efficient on the airflow side. But I'm very curious to see the next car, with both Honda bound to a makeover on their PU now that they probably know what they got wrong and roughly how to get it right, and McLaren set to design a car with a bigger influence from Prodromou, I'd say the MP4-31 is definitely gonna be a very interesting car, as was the 30. This time, hopefully on a more positive way.

[GoranF1]

This is interesting from AMUS,Alonso fastest lap was 2 tent down on Vettels but his top speed on that lap was 20km/h down on Vettel.
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 90090.html

[Tauri_J]

this is very old news

[Thunder]

At least the 31 shouldn't be much slower than the 30.... (that's what i read. I don't believe these "the new car is already faster than the old One" anymore, we had this too often) Yes i am being deliberately pessimistic.

http://en.f1i.com/news/36610-new-mclare ... 5-car.html#

This gives me hope:
"In terms of the car, most of it will be changed, but it doesn’t mean we change the philosophy of the car,"

[turbof1]

At least the 31 shouldn't be much slower than the 30.... (that's what i read. I don't believe these "the new car is already faster than the old One" anymore, we had this too often) Yes i am being deliberately pessimistic.

http://en.f1i.com/news/36610-new-mclare ... 5-car.html#

This gives me hope:
"In terms of the car, most of it will be changed, but it doesn’t mean we change the philosophy of the car,"

Well, we can expect atleast it will be faster since the technical rules are stable, and Honda is in the position to improve considerably.

Note that expectations have turned to dissapointments before, so I do share some reservations. However, they should be quite a bit faster at Australia by logic.

[DiogoBrand]

At least the 31 shouldn't be much slower than the 30.... (that's what i read. I don't believe these "the new car is already faster than the old One" anymore, we had this too often) Yes i am being deliberately pessimistic.

http://en.f1i.com/news/36610-new-mclare ... 5-car.html#

This gives me hope:
"In terms of the car, most of it will be changed, but it doesn’t mean we change the philosophy of the car,"

If what you're saying is that the 2016 car may not be faster than the last one in comparison to the others, unfortunately I have to agree. I still pretty much fear that, while they'll improve, perhaps Merc will improve just as much, even though that's unlikely due to diminishing returns.
But if Honda is still not able to build a better PU by next year, and McLaren make a car faster than this year's in direct comparison, they should both just give up the season.

[ChrisF1]

We shouldn't assume that the Honda will be better, or we shall just be disappointed. Look at the much improved 2015 Renault compared to the 2014...

[Jackles-UK]

Let's be a bit brutal here - unless Honda can improve their well documented issues with energy harvesting, deployment and reliability no amount of chassis improvement will mean anything.

PP and his aero team could design and build a car that handled like a mosquito and ran the track on rails like the RBR's of recent times but if the drivers are constantly battling 20-40 kph top speed deficits and are being slapped with 105 place grid penalties (as happened in Spa this year) what good will it do?

If Honda can improve even to a level of the 2015 Ferrari PU then I think consistent points and the odd podium would be both achievable and mark a great leap forward in performance over the winter. We were all impressed at the improvement of the Ferrari power unit this year but Honda are going to need find triple if not quadruple those gains if it wants to fight near the front - I'm not entirely sure that this is possible but would be content with seeing the McLaren's consistently in Q3 on Saturdays, points on Sundays and fighting for 3rd/4th in the constructors at the end of the year.

Do we know if the wider Mclaren group (Applied Technologies/Electronic Systems/Automotive) are getting involved with the development of the engine? I assume there is no regulation to prevent this and it could be a reason that Ron Dennis was so against Honda supplying another team?

[DiogoBrand]

Truth is, Honda may have had a design with a lot of potential that was crippled by one simple (but major) design flaw (their ERS, of course), or they may have a design that was crippled by their ERS system, but even so wasn't a very good design overall anyway. It's not until they fix their MGU issues from this year that we will know the true potential of their concepts. Until then, it's Schrödinger's PU: It's both competitive and crap at the same time, until they fix their issues and we see it in action.

As far as McLaren getting involved in development, they never built an engine, and when they supposedly asked Honda to take a particular path (compact engine), it went wrong terribly. So they probably make some requests to better suit the chassis they're developing, but there must be a fine compromise in order for one part or the other not to be neglected.