McLaren have gone through a difficult season, but a proper look at their new MP4-31 suggest they have put in considerable effort to come back from that swiftly.
A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
DiogoBrand wrote:http://imgr1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Mc ... 951938.jpg
It's very weird that they have the endplate connected to the outwash portion of the wing. I don't think any other team does this.
Looks like it hinders the outwash more than helps it.
Basing this on? A large part about controlling front wheel wake and getting the airflow to effectively move around the outside of the front wheel has to do with the rotating vortex that is formed around the outside of the front wing. This small addition can help increase the strength of that vortex actually helping the flow. The problem is we cannot tell by simply looking at it.
Based on the fact that the air going over that part of the wing looks like it will "stop" on the endplate. Of course I know it's not always that simple.
But it's curious to see that while other teams have a design that look like the wing and the endplate both push air outwars, with Merc even splitting the endplate into three winglets pointing outward, McLaren joins the wing and the endplate looking like it will block the airflow there.
Maybe it's the best design since the invention of the wheel, but it's certainly hard to imagine how.
I believe Haas does this as well, connecting it at the endplate. (Although not completely certain) Maybe forcing the air on a more upward path?
"You can't argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"
- Mark Twain
continuum16 wrote:
I believe Haas does this as well, connecting it at the endplate. (Although not completely certain) Maybe forcing the air on a more upward path?
Or using it to accelerate the air lower down through the hole.
There is evidence that they're still having problems with with tire temp because of them testing the 2 diffent brake systems in FP. I'd wish somone would ask them that. There is that and EB saying they're struggling with tire pressure.
Graining is a common problem from not being able to get enough heat into the tires. Anyone that's experienced it knows that it makes driving inconsistent. Then you have to wonder what is it that causes the front wheels to get worked. Long lateral corners and trail braking. So McLaren's problem likely has to do with braking, which can't simply be attributed to the front wing, or even the front suspension. Because you have to brake the car with both axles not just the front end, although it can feel like the front end is the weak link. If the power unit isn't well integrated to the chassis, it can make braking inconsistent which makes you brake earlier, which keeps you from attacking a corner enough to generate proper heat in the tires. This can be exacerbated by having to lift and coast from a fuel thirsty engine. The McLaren loses in the entry and exit phase of the corner and at the end of straight, it's competitive everywhere else. So unless the track consists of only high speed sweeping turns where braking and traction aren't important, they're going to be at a disadvantage, and if they pick the wrong tire it's absolutely hopeless.
Unfortunately the developments in this area are almost impossible to notice unless you can make out the changes to the chassis, and most of that is minute changes to suspension geometry, kinematics and alignment curves. You're not going to see or hear about what kind of dampers they're using or what kind of springs.
There is quite a bit of dissapointment about the discussions in this thread.
The car topics are about specific parts and what they are known to do. The currently removed discussion topic was how good or bad the car handles, making some speculation towards the chassis and suspension. Almost nobody made an effort to refer to specific parts. Chassis and suspension are collections of several hundreds or thousands of parts. The dissapointment then got further compounded by (get this!) involving Lewis Hamilton into it, telling how well he could develop the car. I'm sorry? Did somebody did some time travel and returned with Lewis Hamilton's body for aerodynamic/weight impact on the MP4-31? Because that nonsense I just typed is still more relevant to this thread then trying to speculate how an ex-driver would have its impact on car that's 4 years down the road of Hamilton leaving the team.
I can understand then when a car faces particular issues it's not always easy to point to specific parts with certainty. However little effort went into attempts to break it down towards something more specific then just "suspension" and "chassis". I found one post:
godlameroso wrote:Graining is a common problem from not being able to get enough heat into the tires. Anyone that's experienced it knows that it makes driving inconsistent. Then you have to wonder what is it that causes the front wheels to get worked. Long lateral corners and trail braking. So McLaren's problem likely has to do with braking, which can't simply be attributed to the front wing, or even the front suspension. Because you have to brake the car with both axles not just the front end, although it can feel like the front end is the weak link. If the power unit isn't well integrated to the chassis, it can make braking inconsistent which makes you brake earlier, which keeps you from attacking a corner enough to generate proper heat in the tires. This can be exacerbated by having to lift and coast from a fuel thirsty engine. The McLaren loses in the entry and exit phase of the corner and at the end of straight, it's competitive everywhere else. So unless the track consists of only high speed sweeping turns where braking and traction aren't important, they're going to be at a disadvantage, and if they pick the wrong tire it's absolutely hopeless.
Unfortunately the developments in this area are almost impossible to notice unless you can make out the changes to the chassis, and most of that is minute changes to suspension geometry, kinematics and alignment curves. You're not going to see or hear about what kind of dampers they're using or what kind of springs.
Even though not entirely strictly abiding the topic rules either, this is acceptable. A good effort into explaining the situation without too much speculation (note the useage of words: "likely" and "it feels like", so the good chap here is clearly cautious in his wording!) with atleast trying to touch specific parts like geometry, springs, etc.
I was about to hand out warnings, but the line between deserving a warning and not deserving a warning got blurred. Off topic discussions almost always start from an on-topic post and while some definitely deserved a warning, I'm letting it slip one last time and just remove the none-conforming posts. Next time there will be indiscriminately formal warnings towards even ambigious off-topic posts.
McLaren has some amazing aero body work. It's too bad Honda isn't delivering.
But why do they always develop something completely different for Jenson Button. What does he have on the Engineers at Woking. This is the sort of thing that pissed off Hamilton.
Are Buttons parts better'?
I would love to see Alon so drive Buttons car see how many 10th faster he is in his car (faster then Button) with the aero parts on that car...
Racer X wrote:McLaren has some amazing aero body work. It's too bad Honda isn't delivering.
But why do they always develop something completely different for Jenson Button. What does he have on the Engineers at Woking. This is the sort of thing that pissed off Hamilton.
Are Buttons parts better'?
I would love to see Alon so drive Buttons car see how many 10th faster he is in his car (faster then Button) with the aero parts on that car...
Wait what? Did you miss the entire Monaco practice sessions, qualifying and race?
It's nice to see Mobil 1 is pushing the limits like shell and Petronas. Sadly we have never seen the current car without the fuel they brought to Australia earlier this season. Would have been nice to see whether there had been a visible difference in pace
