McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[Richard]

The fact that neither of us could remember where it was just shows how little excitement there is in Hungary....

Hungary was very exciting, it was when RB were accused of having a bendy wing ....

[raymondu999]

As I recall they were accused of that for the better part of the season. But it was the race where they had the biggest gap to the other teams. I wonder what the gap will be this year. Last year at Barcelona/Silverstone where the Bulls were MOST dominant they had 8 tenths. And in Australia where they didn't have nearly that much of a gap, they now have 8 tenths. Scary.

[adrianjordan]

As I recall they were accused of that for the better part of the season. But it was the race where they had the biggest gap to the other teams. I wonder what the gap will be this year. Last year at Barcelona/Silverstone where the Bulls were MOST dominant they had 8 tenths. And in Australia where they didn't have nearly that much of a gap, they now have 8 tenths. Scary.

So that's 2 tenths behind when McLaren get the Octoxhaust working then

[raymondu999]

IF it's even legal. But we don't even know it's worth a second.

[beelsebob]

As I recall they were accused of that for the better part of the season. But it was the race where they had the biggest gap to the other teams. I wonder what the gap will be this year. Last year at Barcelona/Silverstone where the Bulls were MOST dominant they had 8 tenths. And in Australia where they didn't have nearly that much of a gap, they now have 8 tenths. Scary.

So that's 2 tenths behind when McLaren get the Octoxhaust working then

So that's 1 tenth behind when RedBull get KERS working

The point I'm making is not that RedBull are ahead, or that McLaren are ahead, but instead that it's results on the track that matters – speculation about "if they'd got this working" is beside the point.

[beelsebob]

Q. Is there a plan to re-introduce the radical exhaust system shelved prior to Australia and is there now a need for it given the effectiveness of the solution applied in Melbourne?

Jonathan Neale: I'm going to decline to comment on our future engineering and development plans and where we are going in terms of development, but what I will say is that as with most years you've got a number of teams working on different aspects of the car.

There are a whole range of interesting features out there and every team at everybody else. That was as true two years ago as it was last year with the double diffuser. Typically we always want to explore and try and understand why a team has gone in a specific direction, particularly if they are quick. That is just the natural cycle.

But I think you will find over the next few races that there are a number of teams evaluating exhaust systems because it would appear that there is some performance there.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90461

[McG]

As I recall they were accused of that for the better part of the season. But it was the race where they had the biggest gap to the other teams. I wonder what the gap will be this year. Last year at Barcelona/Silverstone where the Bulls were MOST dominant they had 8 tenths. And in Australia where they didn't have nearly that much of a gap, they now have 8 tenths. Scary.

8 tenths in qualifying only with one car only...

[raymondu999]

point being the car is capable of producing an 8 tenth difference

[McG]

Over 1 lap...

[raymondu999]

Yes I was talking about qualifying. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear enough for you

[mx_tifoso]

Posts were split into a separate thread where they really became specific about the diffuser material/construction:
MP4-26 diffuser material

Please continue that topic over there.

[bonjon1979]

point being the car is capable of producing an 8 tenth difference

Not quite. Vettel's best time was set with purple in every sector. If you used the best 3 sectors that Hamilton set he could've got to within 5 tenths of the SV's Red Bull meaning that things are considerably closer than people realise.

Correction it's not as close as .5. Hamilton's best time with his sector times was 1.24.157 to Vettel's 1:23.529.

[PlatinumZealot]

Vettel better try keep that half a second cushion up, because the MP4-26 is going to be kicking hard in Malaysia!

[Formula None]

[boci]

IF it's even legal. But we don't even know it's worth a second.

Why would McLaren develop an exhaust system that is illegal?