Mclaren MP4-30 Honda

[dren]

This was a new slate and direction for McLaren whereas with Red Bull it was more of an evolution. McLaren has made strides this year on aero, at least from the looks of things.

[nevill3]

If you remember that at the start of the winter testing they said they had changed their whole philosophy, by ditching the effort to gain the maximum amount of downforce available, which was inherently unstable or difficult to manage, and were now developing more stable, usable downforce that would obviously increase over the season.

The new direction gives the drivers the confidence to push a car because they know they will not get sudden shifts in balance that an unstable but higher downforce set-up as was found on the McLaren in previous years.

This new concept has given this years car a good base to work from so next year, coupled with a redesigned engine that uses the winter token allowance to rectify their current problems, and a PP design from the start should see McLaren back to winning ways next year.

[NL_Fer]

The funng thing Button and Alonso always remember us how great the car drives, and they have no problem setting up. Just nu speed.

[DiogoBrand]

The funng thing Button and Alonso always remember us how great the car drives, and they have no problem setting up. Just nu speed.

As with everything about this car, we can't look too much into it.
An underpowered car is always gonna be easy to drive.
Maybe the chassis is underperforming because of their need to use low downforce, maybe it's overperforming because it lacks power. We can't know until they get a competitive PU.

[mclaren111]

Good view of the new FW:

[Alonsofor2017]

U know what is the strangest thing im feeling when watching the car trough time? Im starting to miss that long and nicely shaped nose with their silver/red livery.

Yeah same here , it looked better than now, more aggressive and a bit like a Bullet train, the livery was more subtle and less stupid looking aswell, still feel like they should go red and white

[Andres125sx]

An underpowered car is always gonna be easy to drive.

HRT, Minardi, now Manor.... they´ve never been easy to drive cars exactly, but the contrary, drivers need to fight the car much more than Mercedes, or Red Bull in past seasons.

Best cars go on rails, power is quite irrelevant, 850 vs 900 bhp change nothing compared to an stable vs unstable car, or a car providing a lot of downforce compared to another producing very little downforce. Those are a lot more important parameters for drieveability than peak power

[turbof1]

An underpowered car is always gonna be easy to drive.

HRT, Minardi, now Manor.... they´ve never been easy to drive cars exactly, but the contrary, drivers need to fight the car much more than Mercedes, or Red Bull in past seasons.

Best cars go on rails, power is quite irrelevant, 850 vs 900 bhp change nothing compared to an stable vs unstable car, or a car providing a lot of downforce compared to another producing very little downforce. Those are a lot more important parameters for drieveability than peak power

On the other hand, the mercedes drivers were feeling very confident with the handling of the car in Singapore, yet were not close to pole position.

A car with a lot of downforce can feel very undriveable vs a car with less downforce, depending on how much the peak downforce level variates from the "sustainable" level of downforce. Mercedes for instance does not have the most downforce on the car, but probably is up there when it comes down to keeping the aero devices from stalling and so keeping the aero platform stable.

Mclaren is actually the proof of that. In 2013 they switched aero philosophies, because their previous philosophy has reached the end of the development curve. They went for an agressive philosophy to maximize downforce. What they completely underestimated was that the higher df loads caused much more stalling issues all over the car, including the floor. They actually had to take downforce away because it screwed them royally.

It is something they are adressing now. PP is really a game changer for them because he emphasizes driveability and stable aero platforms. Mclaren did not have any engineers previously that underlined that enough. Mclaren as a whole is still kind of finding its way with this, hence why we are seeing so many multiple smaller changes there, while Red Bull made a huge jump in philosophy back during the Malaysian GP.

It's still a massive effort they went through, and I'd say that concerning getting the whole aero team to terms with the new philosophy, the single most difficult part is over. It's not perfect yet, but they are getting there. I expect numerous changes across the car next year, particularly within the Y250 area (front wing flap, brake ducts, underchassis turning vanes, etc).

[Thunder]

Part of the Reason why the change in Philosophy might be slower than expected surely comes down to Track Test Time. With next to no Winter Testing and reliability issues still ongoing Aero Development must have been seriously hindered.

[bauc]

Part of the Reason why the change in Philosophy might be slower than expected surely comes down to Track Test Time. With next to no Winter Testing and reliability issues still ongoing Aero Development must have been seriously hindered.

A bit OT, but I can't wait for the winter testing to start and to see mp4-31 in action.

[GoranF1]

Part of the Reason why the change in Philosophy might be slower than expected surely comes down to Track Test Time. With next to no Winter Testing and reliability issues still ongoing Aero Development must have been seriously hindered.

A bit OT, but I can't wait for the winter testing to start and to see mp4-31 in action.

its going to be 5 seconds per lap faster than 30 in Jerez!

[turbof1]

Well, I think we'll settle for 1.5-2s. That would be fantastic enough .

[DiogoBrand]

My opinion about next season is that, while I definitely think they'll improve, I really don't believe they'll be better than 4th.
Of course the power unit will get better, but I don't think they'll match Merc's pace for this year, and definitely won't match Merc's pace for next year, not to mention Ferrari and possibly Red Bull if they get a proper PU.
About people saying they'll be on the run for the top in 2017, I doubt that as well, if we do get that 'revolution' on the regulations, the teams with established philosophies in my opinion seem better suited to perform well on a new philosophy, but of course anything can happen with such a big rulebook change.
Those are my (likely not accurate at all) predictions.

[dren]

Don't discount Williams, either. They have a chance to make strides with their chassis. McLaren will probably be duking it out with FI, TR and Haas. I bet Lotus/Renault takes a step backwards.

[fawe4]

Don't discount Williams, either. They have a chance to make strides with their chassis. McLaren will probably be duking it out with FI, TR and Haas. I bet Lotus/Renault takes a step backwards.

It really depends on two things. Whether they substantially improve their engine, and whether FIA will do anything about mercs.