McLaren MCL37 speculation thread

[mwillems]

I see why they did it… I just hope next year’s is the Mcl 61

It’s going to get as confusing as Ferrari otherwise, no one will ever know what cars what again

Agreed.

I am not a fan of changing naming of the cars - no one really uses that name except die hard fans and it just makes it more confusing.

But I am not against "resetting" the naming and continuing with MCL60, MCL61, etc. in the future. It emphasized the long history McLaren has as a F1 team while being simple and recognizable.

I agree with this idea, I don't want the numbers jumping around, it is totally confusing. But aligning the numbers to the number of years run or the number of distinct cars produced seems like a good idea.

Anyway back to the car again, whilst it seems like the car may look similar to what we had last year, the changes to the floor, the skidblocks and the rear suspension as well as the movement of the cooling to the centre line might well help fix the cars drag issue through technical and Aero improvements.

I heard there might be some small changes to the front aswell, but I'm curious to understand if they are making changes to the front to help it in the low speeds and to deal with these Pirelli tyres, which seemed to change drastically how the car felt to the drivers.

Another question, do we know when last year the team started focussing development on the MCL60 and dropped the MCL36 Upgrade work? or at least when they began to significantly change over?

[Venturiation]

Well if the Merc PU was fine, then the Mclaren chassis was even worse than we thought. I'm not sure that's a silver lining.

We already know that Mclaren made a trash chassis

All the Mercedes cars had terrible aero and drag

The Williams was fast in a straight line so not suffering too much from drag.

That’s because they have the worst aero, when you have no downforce you are the fastest on the straight and slowest in the corners

[EJ22B]

We already know that Mclaren made a trash chassis

All the Mercedes cars had terrible aero and drag

I think James Key hinted in an interview that the Merc engine isn't as powerful as they expected because of biofuel.

“The straightline speed thing was a surprise because there are methods of predicting where you should be but of course, it’s always relative. And with such fresh regulations and the biofuel content in the engine, all sorts of things, to actually predict that is incredibly difficult.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/exactly- ... d-it-back/

[SmallSoldier]

We already know that Mclaren made a trash chassis

All the Mercedes cars had terrible aero and drag

The Williams was fast in a straight line so not suffering too much from drag.

That’s because they have the worst aero, when you have no downforce you are the fastest on the straight and slowest in the corners

This isn’t accurate… You can have very little downforce and a lot of drag at the same time and be not only slow in the corners, but slow on the straights… After Williams changed their concept they had very low drag car, not very different conceptually to the MCL35/MCL35M which was a very slippery car that didn’t had enough downforce.

[Venturiation]

We already know that Mclaren made a trash chassis

All the Mercedes cars had terrible aero and drag

I think James Key hinted in an interview that the Merc engine isn't as powerful as they expected because of biofuel.

“The straightline speed thing was a surprise because there are methods of predicting where you should be but of course, it’s always relative. And with such fresh regulations and the biofuel content in the engine, all sorts of things, to actually predict that is incredibly difficult.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/exactly- ... d-it-back/

PhilipM already said Mclaren themselves didn’t complain about the engine
It’s mostly aero

And of course mercedes says the engine is bad
For them it’s either the car is a winner in p1 or anything else is loser

[Venturiation]

The Williams was fast in a straight line so not suffering too much from drag.

That’s because they have the worst aero, when you have no downforce you are the fastest on the straight and slowest in the corners

This isn’t accurate… You can have very little downforce and a lot of drag at the same time and be not only slow in the corners, but slow on the straights… After Williams changed their concept they had very low drag car, not very different conceptually to the MCL35/MCL35M which was a very slippery car that didn’t had enough downforce.

Williams when they were last in p19 and 20 they were always topping the top speed chart

[SmallSoldier]

That’s because they have the worst aero, when you have no downforce you are the fastest on the straight and slowest in the corners

This isn’t accurate… You can have very little downforce and a lot of drag at the same time and be not only slow in the corners, but slow on the straights… After Williams changed their concept they had very low drag car, not very different conceptually to the MCL35/MCL35M which was a very slippery car that didn’t had enough downforce.

Williams when they were last in p19 and 20 they were always topping the top speed chart

Actually, the RB18 top the speed charts most of last season and they had they had if not the most, one of the strongest DF packages in the grid (ergo their championship)… Again… Lack of Downforce doesn’t equal lack of Drag

[mwillems]

That’s because they have the worst aero, when you have no downforce you are the fastest on the straight and slowest in the corners

This isn’t accurate… You can have very little downforce and a lot of drag at the same time and be not only slow in the corners, but slow on the straights… After Williams changed their concept they had very low drag car, not very different conceptually to the MCL35/MCL35M which was a very slippery car that didn’t had enough downforce.

Williams when they were last in p19 and 20 they were always topping the top speed chart

The relationship between downforce, drag and straightline speed is not the same now since more downforce comes from the floor. The downforce from the floor has the potential to increase much more in relation to any drag penalty. Doesn't mean it will, there are still questions around tyre wake and how the air moves to the back of the car, but it isn't the same as before now that the wings took more of a back seat.

[Mansell89]

Any sniff of an early leak prior to tomorrows official launch?

[NiyolHuayra]

Any sniff of an early leak prior to tomorrows official launch?

Nope, have a nice background for now

[Ground Effect]

Any sniff of an early leak prior to tomorrows official launch?

It’s a bit late for a sneaky early leak, might as well wait for the launch in a couple of hours.

[mwillems]

Any sniff of an early leak prior to tomorrows official launch?

Hoping for some information incontinence?

[FittingMechanics]

Any sniff of an early leak prior to tomorrows official launch?

Nope, have a nice background for now

https://media-cdn.mclaren.com/media/ima ... ground.jpg

Hot take - car will have exposed carbon.

This image has exposed carbon and papaya, Lando has a helmet with exposed carbon and papaya.

[charliesmithhd]

[organic]

Another car with plenty of exposed carbon. i don't hate it honestly