[ 2020 ] Mclaren F1 Team - Renault

[mwillems]

And I wonder if some changes may have been made under the skin in anticipation of the Merc engine, if that was possible.

I don't think there is anything you can change that wouldn't need a crash test. We would have heard of that. plus, the difference is too large.

Radiators in the sidepod? Could they have been reduced prior to homologation for instance?

Edit: they were homologated in R1 2020

[SmallSoldier]

And I wonder if some changes may have been made under the skin in anticipation of the Merc engine, if that was possible.

I don't think there is anything you can change that wouldn't need a crash test. We would have heard of that. plus, the difference is too large.

Radiators in the sidepod? Could they have been reduced prior to homologation for instance?

Edit: they were homologated in R1 2020

Changing the radiators while still running the Renault PU wouldn’t have been feasible with the difference in requirements from the PU’s... But a change of radiators might be one of those items approved by FIA as part of the engine change and therefore included in the 2 tokens they are using for it


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[M840TR]

This transition year also allowed them to test the new gearbox that was originally supposed to debut with the new regulations. I think it helped them a lot overall to test the waters before heading into 2022 with all the small potential issues ironed out.

[Chicane]

McLaren for obvious reasons are not going to claim they have been advantaged by the changes they have been allowed to make for the engine change. They are going to claim they are massively set back by not having been given tokens. This is a shrewd strategy.

Nobody knows, apart from McLaren themselves, as to how this engine switch will impact them. McLaren will be pushing the FIA hard to get in as many modifications and alterations in the chassis needed for smooth integration of the engine. Some of those modifications can have parallel positive performance effect on the chassis side.

The changes in the rear half of the chassis will not be minor for sure as the Renault and Mercedes PU bot only have different layout but the consequent cooling and cabling routes are totally different. So i am really interested to see if McLaren have managed to gain mechanical advantage on the rear with changes they will be doing for engine change.

Mercedes will be improving their PU on reliability, performance and packaging wise for 2021 so Mclaren will be in great shape PU wise as the best PU in 2020 will be making further strides in 2021.

The new nose is working well. The aero development is allowed but i am a little concerned about the front end mechanically. That's the only concern i have. The rear diffuser and floor regulation changes may help them balance the car better aerodynamically but mechanically i am a bit concerned.

Chronic mid corner understeer in slow corners is something McLaren have struggled with MCL35. Hopefully some of it will be dealt with in MCL35m although they are not allowed any tokens.

Key has talked about dealing with weaknesses of the car and i feel he is referring to the extreme wind sensitivity of MCL35. Hopefully that's something McLaren can get on top of next season.

[bauc]

I think Mclaren should come out good from the engine change despite the ''no tokens for us'' problem. There are still people in Mclaren who worked on the MCL32, a chassis that was powered by HONDA, and we know HONDA choose to go with the Mercedes style layout (split turbo ect) so they should not be surprised by the installation requirements in terms of space and PU elements placing.

Also I'm sure they received all required info from Mercedes in terms of the cooling requirements so if we combine this facts and the allowance from FIA for Mclaren to have revised rear end since they will need to change the rear suspension layout due to the new gearbox ect.... I think this MCL35M will be the most changed car compared to all others and hopefully this will be a good thing. If we are in the fight for P3 again next year, I will be super happy.

[mwillems]

I don't think there is anything you can change that wouldn't need a crash test. We would have heard of that. plus, the difference is too large.

Radiators in the sidepod? Could they have been reduced prior to homologation for instance?

Edit: they were homologated in R1 2020

Changing the radiators while still running the Renault PU wouldn’t have been feasible with the difference in requirements from the PU’s... But a change of radiators might be one of those items approved by FIA as part of the engine change and therefore included in the 2 tokens they are using for it


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I was thinking about the layout, or temporarily increasing cooling from the hoop, as that can be changed still.

[mwillems]

McLaren for obvious reasons are not going to claim they have been advantaged by the changes they have been allowed to make for the engine change. They are going to claim they are massively set back by not having been given tokens. This is a shrewd strategy.

Nobody knows, apart from McLaren themselves, as to how this engine switch will impact them. McLaren will be pushing the FIA hard to get in as many modifications and alterations in the chassis needed for smooth integration of the engine. Some of those modifications can have parallel positive performance effect on the chassis side.

The changes in the rear half of the chassis will not be minor for sure as the Renault and Mercedes PU bot only have different layout but the consequent cooling and cabling routes are totally different. So i am really interested to see if McLaren have managed to gain mechanical advantage on the rear with changes they will be doing for engine change.

Mercedes will be improving their PU on reliability, performance and packaging wise for 2021 so Mclaren will be in great shape PU wise as the best PU in 2020 will be making further strides in 2021.

The new nose is working well. The aero development is allowed but i am a little concerned about the front end mechanically. That's the only concern i have. The rear diffuser and floor regulation changes may help them balance the car better aerodynamically but mechanically i am a bit concerned.

Chronic mid corner understeer in slow corners is something McLaren have struggled with MCL35. Hopefully some of it will be dealt with in MCL35m although they are not allowed any tokens.

Key has talked about dealing with weaknesses of the car and i feel he is referring to the extreme wind sensitivity of MCL35. Hopefully that's something McLaren can get on top of next season.

The gearbox will need to change and hence the rear suspension may also be altered.

No, this is not a bad opportunity for Mclaren and the changes to rake may well help alleviate the wind sensitivity issues.

As James Key stated, this will be almost a new car for Mclaren, and it seemed positive that these changes could be used to extract performance.

As I said previously, the idea we are st a disadvantage is wholly unfounded.

We may yet screw it up yet, but hopefully they extract the maximum performance.

Aside from the nose, it'd be great to understand what else they did nor next year.

[Ground Effect]

For me, this bit makes me a bit more optimistic that they’ll be able to work on the weaknesses of the MCL35:

We’ve been able to identify the areas where our competitors are stronger than us and established the weaknesses of our car. Certain tracks and conditions, particularly in the latter part of the season, have not played to our strengths. I think there's enough scope within the regulations to address these weaknesses for 2021. Obviously, if you had a completely blank sheet of paper you could do even more, but the areas we need to improve aren’t related to the fundamental architecture of the car.

[bauc]

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433 ... le-at-team

[101FlyingDutchman]

McLaren for obvious reasons are not going to claim they have been advantaged by the changes they have been allowed to make for the engine change. They are going to claim they are massively set back by not having been given tokens. This is a shrewd strategy.

Nobody knows, apart from McLaren themselves, as to how this engine switch will impact them. McLaren will be pushing the FIA hard to get in as many modifications and alterations in the chassis needed for smooth integration of the engine. Some of those modifications can have parallel positive performance effect on the chassis side.

The changes in the rear half of the chassis will not be minor for sure as the Renault and Mercedes PU bot only have different layout but the consequent cooling and cabling routes are totally different. So i am really interested to see if McLaren have managed to gain mechanical advantage on the rear with changes they will be doing for engine change.

Mercedes will be improving their PU on reliability, performance and packaging wise for 2021 so Mclaren will be in great shape PU wise as the best PU in 2020 will be making further strides in 2021.

The new nose is working well. The aero development is allowed but i am a little concerned about the front end mechanically. That's the only concern i have. The rear diffuser and floor regulation changes may help them balance the car better aerodynamically but mechanically i am a bit concerned.

Chronic mid corner understeer in slow corners is something McLaren have struggled with MCL35. Hopefully some of it will be dealt with in MCL35m although they are not allowed any tokens.

Key has talked about dealing with weaknesses of the car and i feel he is referring to the extreme wind sensitivity of MCL35. Hopefully that's something McLaren can get on top of next season.

Nailed it mate. Nice one

[diffuser]

McLaren for obvious reasons are not going to claim they have been advantaged by the changes they have been allowed to make for the engine change. They are going to claim they are massively set back by not having been given tokens. This is a shrewd strategy.

Nobody knows, apart from McLaren themselves, as to how this engine switch will impact them. McLaren will be pushing the FIA hard to get in as many modifications and alterations in the chassis needed for smooth integration of the engine. Some of those modifications can have parallel positive performance effect on the chassis side.

The changes in the rear half of the chassis will not be minor for sure as the Renault and Mercedes PU bot only have different layout but the consequent cooling and cabling routes are totally different. So i am really interested to see if McLaren have managed to gain mechanical advantage on the rear with changes they will be doing for engine change.

Mercedes will be improving their PU on reliability, performance and packaging wise for 2021 so Mclaren will be in great shape PU wise as the best PU in 2020 will be making further strides in 2021.

The new nose is working well. The aero development is allowed but i am a little concerned about the front end mechanically. That's the only concern i have. The rear diffuser and floor regulation changes may help them balance the car better aerodynamically but mechanically i am a bit concerned.

Chronic mid corner understeer in slow corners is something McLaren have struggled with MCL35. Hopefully some of it will be dealt with in MCL35m although they are not allowed any tokens.

Key has talked about dealing with weaknesses of the car and i feel he is referring to the extreme wind sensitivity of MCL35. Hopefully that's something McLaren can get on top of next season.

Nailed it mate. Nice one

The FiA know, they've already shown them thier plans and the FIA has said yea or nay. So they've had to go back and change stuff and they've reached a compromise. Complaining about it isn't gonna make it any easier to get future changes through for other things. So I agreee with you, what's the point.

[diffuser]

McLaren for obvious reasons are not going to claim they have been advantaged by the changes they have been allowed to make for the engine change. They are going to claim they are massively set back by not having been given tokens. This is a shrewd strategy.

Nobody knows, apart from McLaren themselves, as to how this engine switch will impact them. McLaren will be pushing the FIA hard to get in as many modifications and alterations in the chassis needed for smooth integration of the engine. Some of those modifications can have parallel positive performance effect on the chassis side.

The changes in the rear half of the chassis will not be minor for sure as the Renault and Mercedes PU bot only have different layout but the consequent cooling and cabling routes are totally different. So i am really interested to see if McLaren have managed to gain mechanical advantage on the rear with changes they will be doing for engine change.

Mercedes will be improving their PU on reliability, performance and packaging wise for 2021 so Mclaren will be in great shape PU wise as the best PU in 2020 will be making further strides in 2021.

The new nose is working well. The aero development is allowed but i am a little concerned about the front end mechanically. That's the only concern i have. The rear diffuser and floor regulation changes may help them balance the car better aerodynamically but mechanically i am a bit concerned.

Chronic mid corner understeer in slow corners is something McLaren have struggled with MCL35. Hopefully some of it will be dealt with in MCL35m although they are not allowed any tokens.

Key has talked about dealing with weaknesses of the car and i feel he is referring to the extreme wind sensitivity of MCL35. Hopefully that's something McLaren can get on top of next season.

The gearbox will need to change and hence the rear suspension may also be altered.

No, this is not a bad opportunity for Mclaren and the changes to rake may well help alleviate the wind sensitivity issues.

As James Key stated, this will be almost a new car for Mclaren, and it seemed positive that these changes could be used to extract performance.

As I said previously, the idea we are st a disadvantage is wholly unfounded.

We may yet screw it up yet, but hopefully they extract the maximum performance.

Aside from the nose, it'd be great to understand what else they did nor next year.

The car rake disapears at around 100KPH, it varies from track to track, so I'd be surprised if it would have anything to do with wind sensativity.

[michl420]

If I understand that token system correct, they can change either the back of the monocoque (2 token), or the "gearbox" (2 token) but not booth? As the compressor need space, they almost must change the monocoque, that gives a lot of empty space where the renault turbine was.

[Ground Effect]

Just remembered Peter Prodromou, I’m assuming he’s still in McLaren, right? We don’t hear much of him, it would be nice to hear him talk about the aero side of things.

[mwillems]

If I understand that token system correct, they can change either the back of the monocoque (2 token), or the "gearbox" (2 token) but not booth? As the compressor need space, they almost must change the monocoque, that gives a lot of empty space where the renault turbine was.

We can change the gearbox and the chassis but yes, others can change one or the other.