Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24

[Afterburner]

But Ferrari also tested 2010 tyres and they don't seem so confident. Teams will only see where they are in Melbourne, beside that Mclaren had some failures during testing so i doubt they are that well prepared. This season will be one of the hardest and competitive ever, no one will start track work for 2010 cars before June for sure while they can play catch up that will pay dividends for 2010.

[bidong]

I just want to see how Barcelona would show times... I'm sure they will show their competitiveness there...

[imightbewrong]

wth is going on with the floor here?

[Callum]

ooh, i've never seen that before...is it adding or removing air from the diffuser?..or neither.

[Roger the knife]

An attempt to encourage more airflow through the diffuser ?, or an act of desperation....

[scarbs]

A diffuser creates its downforce at two points, firstly at the kick-line between the diffuser\floor, then secondly at its leading edge. By effectively moving this leading edge backwards, McLaren are also moving the downforce it creates towards the rear. This may be part of a McLaren strategy to focus downforce production on the front wing and diffuser, as both devices are efficient at creating downforce with little drag. If these two devices can create enough downforce then the rear wing can be smaller reducing drag and gaining speed on the straights.

[jddh1]

Barcelona - 09/03/2009
1 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 1:20.338 (+ 0.000 ) - 96 laps
2 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F60 - 1:20.908 (+ 0.570 ) - 81 laps
3 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF109 - 1:20.937 (+ 0.599 ) - 121 laps
4 . J. Button - Brawn GP Mercedes BGP001 - 1:21.140 (+ 0.802 ) - 82 laps
5 . N. Piquet - Renault R29 - 1:21.662 (+ 1.324 ) - 126 laps
6 . S. Bourdais - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 1:22.158 (+ 1.820 ) - 86 laps
7 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 1:22.246 (+ 1.908 ) - 117 laps
8 . A. Sutil - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 1:22.452 (+ 2.114 ) - 129 laps
9 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW31 - 1:22.813 (+ 2.475 ) - 111 laps
10 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 1:22.948 (+ 2.610 ) - 90 laps

Is Macca in deep poop or what?

[Saribro]

I suppose this is what Haug was referring to when he mentioned that new floor-wing interaction McLaren was working on.

[imightbewrong]

A diffuser creates its downforce at two points, firstly at the kick-line between the diffuser\floor, then secondly at its leading edge. By effectively moving this leading edge backwards, McLaren are also moving the downforce it creates towards the rear. This may be part of a McLaren strategy to focus downforce production on the front wing and diffuser, as both devices are efficient at creating downforce with little drag. If these two devices can create enough downforce then the rear wing can be smaller reducing drag and gaining speed on the straights.

Thanks for the explanation. By the way, what is your take on McLaren this winter? Are they just not giving a damn about times and just testing with huge fuel loads and testing other things or are they experiencing some trouble? What is the general buzz about it in the industry?

[jddh1]

A diffuser creates its downforce at two points, firstly at the kick-line between the diffuser\floor, then secondly at its leading edge. By effectively moving this leading edge backwards, McLaren are also moving the downforce it creates towards the rear. This may be part of a McLaren strategy to focus downforce production on the front wing and diffuser, as both devices are efficient at creating downforce with little drag. If these two devices can create enough downforce then the rear wing can be smaller reducing drag and gaining speed on the straights.

Thanks for the explanation. By the way, what is your take on McLaren this winter? Are they just not giving a damn about times and just testing with huge fuel loads and testing other things or are they experiencing some trouble? What is the general buzz about it in the industry?

You don't have to ask the industry ppl. It's evident they're deep in the brown stuff (not Brawn GP). They're engine, I think, is fine. But their aero is 'brown'.

[kilcoo316]

A diffuser creates its downforce at two points, firstly at the kick-line between the diffuser\floor, then secondly at its leading edge. By effectively moving this leading edge backwards, McLaren are also moving the downforce it creates towards the rear. This may be part of a McLaren strategy to focus downforce production on the front wing and diffuser, as both devices are efficient at creating downforce with little drag. If these two devices can create enough downforce then the rear wing can be smaller reducing drag and gaining speed on the straights.

True - but your losing the effect of rake angle, and also re-pressurising a large zone under the floor.


What you gain on the swings, you will probably lose (and then some) on the roundabouts.

[mattclinch]

McLaren's new floor

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73642

[enkidu]

I just think they are sandbagging....... Well I hope so!!

[Roger the knife]

The only possible explanation for McL is that they are totally concentrating on race conditions, with long runs on tyre and fuel, and counting on having a race pace better than the rest, nad tursting that in "Q" mode the car will be the required amount quicker. A very calculating approach, if correct, otherwise they're toast....

[wesley123]

Interesting link

They say that they moved the starting point back to move the downforce back, so this is or what they waiting for, or the thing that shows their rear end problems.