McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[manchild]

That car is in puberty - just grown a pimple and mustaches.

[astracrazy]

Not suprised to see winglets appearing around the sidepods. Getting stable airflow around there is going to be a major area of development for McLaren. However, putting winglets there will probably decrease the volume of air going through there.........

aren't winglets banned already?

your thinking of what williams had in 2009?

Had mclaren had normal sidepods then those winglets would be the top of the sidepod (basicly) so they are legal

[enkidu]

Not suprised to see winglets appearing around the sidepods. Getting stable airflow around there is going to be a major area of development for McLaren. However, putting winglets there will probably decrease the volume of air going through there.........

aren't winglets banned already?

your thinking of what williams had in 2009?

Had mclaren had normal sidepods then those winglets would be the top of the sidepod (basicly) so they are legal

But the winglets are placed under where the usual bodywork would have been, I would have thought this was ok. If your sidepods were at maximum hight then adding winglets would be banned but in that section its not????

[adrianjordan]

aren't winglets banned already?

your thinking of what williams had in 2009?

Had mclaren had normal sidepods then those winglets would be the top of the sidepod (basicly) so they are legal

But the winglets are placed under where the usual bodywork would have been, I would have thought this was ok. If your sidepods were at maximum hight then adding winglets would be banned but in that section its not????

The rules box areas out that you're not allowed any bodywork in and because of McLaren's unique sidepod treatment, they can get away with having a winglet where the top of a normal sidepod would be.

[feynman]

The rules box areas out that you're not allowed any bodywork in and because of McLaren's unique sidepod treatment, they can get away with having a winglet where the top of a normal sidepod would be.

Best I could find was the 2010 Tech Regs Appendix, useful diagrams of the bodywork boxes. Don't know if there have been significant modifications for 2011.

You can see where they threaded the needle to fit those winglets, but there is not much scope for additional elements to be added, so as far as flow conditioning goes, I think that might be their lot.

The red boxes show bodywork exclusion zones, and the green boxes show where the rules for closed surfaces, minimum radius and aperture restrictions exist.

[McG]

The front flex wing was one of the biggest performance differentiators between McLaren and Red Bull in 2010.

I think Mclaren will have a car that will be more upgradable (judging by previous comments and reported testing preferences, and it will evolve more than the others at the front. I just think that the Red Bull and Ferrari (who seem to be copying red bull), will reach it's evolution peak sooner.

Just a thought, maybe a bit hopeful!

[Pup]

Button said today that they were still looking for appreciable gains from just setup work...[continued in "Is McLaren really off the pace?"]

[jasonrobert]

when they realise these sidepods dont work, will they be able to change them for normal ones?

[Giblet]

Well, they do work. They get the air to the beam wing like the other means from other teams. Do they work as well as say STR's solution? Nobody knows yet.

Changing the sidepods would be a total overhaul of the entire aero and cooling package, and I don't see them going that route.

[zgred]

[meexi]

see the photo above from Zgred,

would an extended winglet from behind the mirror that were to create a tunnel effect to feed the rear wing clean air?

[zgred]

Better ones for You meexi:

[ajdavison2]

anyone have some good pictures of the supposed 'double floor'?

[Owen.C93]

anyone have some good pictures of the supposed 'double floor'?

Where did you hear that?

[ringo]

stark difference in engine placement and other packaging solutions.

look on the udercut, then the smoother curve leading around the front of the sidepods on the RB.
I think Mclaren may have some issues that may need to be worked around since there is a lot that cannot be changed too easily.

The L pods make a lot of other things suffer. Radiators have to lie flatter on the ground taking up more floor space, resulting in the the exhaust manifold not being able to be inched up more to the fuel tank.

There are some other little things, but i guess those can be gleaned from the picture.

green is estimate for mclaren, yellow, redbull.
blue rectangle is just for reference to estimate of engine back and also fuel tank.