McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[Javert]

Sorry Javert - but what is it relative to; if you say differences? Surely there must be a benchmark "0" figure, so to speak? I would've thought RB7; but the RB7 line also moves in your graph

I tried to represent the relative level of the car, in the progress of the year, trying to estimate how much (time) updates and better setup have added to the cars (for example, I gave MP4-26 a 0,5s gain in Barcelona and almost 1s gain thanks to rake setup and other updates in Nurburgring) ... Difficult work but I think to have done well, except in some cases (Turkey and Valencia was difficult to estimate)

EDIT: sorry not to post numbers, but I think they are pretty meaningless. It's just a "visive" try to representation of what has been this season in terms of performance

[kalinka]

Yeah, it's confusing without a reference. Didn't know what to read out of that.

[Intego]

I think numbers wouldn't help as it is estimated anyway. Imagine the car performance starts at a given point (maybe 100) after winter testing and then add the performance gains over the year. Do this for every car (or just the leading three) and out comes – tadaa: a picture of our guessing. But it's a nice approximation, Javert.

But I'm convinced that the teams do that all the time with hard facts, weighted facts, simulated facts, and some subjective values. A possibility would be: norm every circuit to the same length, convert fastest qualifying and race lap (consider compromised attempts) and give points to them. Then points to the tyre usage (how many kilometers), downforce level, corner speed, car balance and so on. Weight the importance of the groups of objects and you know, where you stand.

The more I think of it the more I'd love to have the data. [-o<

[ell66]

car looks great now, obviously made gradual improvements to the cars downforce, and now with that rear wing working we see the boost in qually.

[gridwalker]

I guess you could try mapping you car's progress by plotting your car's average normalised laptime against the standard deviation of the gap to the race winner's normalised lap time. This could reveal some insightful information regarding a team's progress relative to the front on a race by race basis ... though that is far too much work for a day where I'm still in bed at 4pm

[raymondu999]

Yep the MP4-26 looks mighty. It's faster in the straight bits than the RB7; faster in the slow corners; and was faster in the fast corners too; you could see that in all 3 sectors of YeongAm (each sector is focused on each of those traits).

Shame it came too late to do anything about the WDC points; and too late to do serious damage to the WCC though.

[myurr]

Yep the MP4-26 looks mighty. It's faster in the straight bits than the RB7; faster in the slow corners; and was faster in the fast corners too; you could see that in all 3 sectors of YeongAm (each sector is focused on each of those traits).

Shame it came too late to do anything about the WDC points; and too late to do serious damage to the WCC though.

But it gives real hope that this car will be an excellent base for next years. Hopefully for the first time in the last few years they'll be able to start the season with a nicely refined version of the previous years car, with all the benefits of understanding that design inside out, knowing that it all works nicely together, etc.

[raymondu999]

Since the 2009 rules came in force that has been their issue hasn't it? The rear downforce I mean. For some reason they've never been able to crack it. The MP4-24 in preseason was actually decent if it used the MP4-23's rear wing (which they did a lot of the time). The MP4-25 then had the f-duct to allow it to crank up a whole load of rear wing; and finally the MP4-26 was a right mess in Silverstone.

Given what happened in Silverstone; the mind shudders as to what would happen next year with the new exhaust positioning

[myurr]

Since the 2009 rules came in force that has been their issue hasn't it? The rear downforce I mean. For some reason they've never been able to crack it. The MP4-24 in preseason was actually decent if it used the MP4-23's rear wing (which they did a lot of the time). The MP4-25 then had the f-duct to allow it to crank up a whole load of rear wing; and finally the MP4-26 was a right mess in Silverstone.

Given what happened in Silverstone; the mind shudders as to what would happen next year with the new exhaust positioning

To be honest I think that Silverstone was a particularly bad case. Don't forget the car was set up expecting to still have some off throttle blowing only for a last minute change of mind by the FIA giving them 10 - 20 minutes to make setup changes to the car to disallow any off throttle blowing at all. The Mercedes engined cars were the only ones to have that last minute change foisted upon them, with all the others using the same configuration in FP3 as qualifying and the race.

I also take hope from the fact that most of their recent performance gains seem to have come from good old fashioned aero updates and refinement, rather than playing with engine maps and the EBD (as some other teams have done). For me there's no doubt that McLaren and Red Bull have greater gains from the EBD than the other teams, but even without those they would still have the strongest overall packages. Sure the balance between the two may switch, who knows, but I think there still would not be much to choose between them.

Also don't forget that without the packaging for the exhausts they may be able to tighten the rear end of that McLaren to get an even bigger advantage from the side pods.

[Lycoming]

they seem to me to have made mighty gains in rear downforce with that new diffuser they started running at suzuka. but it will be a very important question as to whether they can carry the gains through next year's rule changes, without the exhaust blowing. I hope they can, the new diffuser gurney can be another way to exploit their special sidepods.

myurr; I believe most of their performance improvements have come from a better understanding of the tyres (mainly how to warm them up without destroying them completely) and engine mapping. Aero wise, they'e only done 3 big upgrades this year (that I can think of). The new front wing, the DRS rear wing from spa, and the suzuka diffuser package.

[ell66]

they seem to me to have made mighty gains in rear downforce with that new diffuser they started running at suzuka. but it will be a very important question as to whether they can carry the gains through next year's rule changes, without the exhaust blowing. I hope they can, the new diffuser gurney can be another way to exploit their special sidepods.

myurr; I believe most of their performance improvements have come from a better understanding of the tyres (mainly how to warm them up without destroying them completely) and engine mapping. Aero wise, they'e only done 3 big upgrades this year (that I can think of). The new front wing, the DRS rear wing from spa, and the suzuka diffuser package.

They had a very large upgrade in spain also, including new sidepods, front wing, front wing pillar and exhausts.

[Javert]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJa-GbLDD5g[/youtube]

Stunning sound of exhaust gases in release ... Hot blowing has made his way

In the race they seemed lacking front downforce, maybe now they have too much rear DF ... could cut the wing a bit?

[beelsebob]

Stunning sound of exhaust gases in release ... Hot blowing has made his way

In the race they seemed lacking front downforce, maybe now they have too much rear DF ... could cut the wing a bit?

Just a lack of setup time on the primes I think.

[PlatinumZealot]

Still lacked some DF throught he last sector of Korea. I think the new DRS flattered them in qualifying. Almost there.

[onewingedangel]

I'd suggest it's a possibilty that their front-wing was 'shedding' downforce/drag (the tilting back flexi front-wing) at too low a speed - leading to their understeer.

It would be a set up issue for both drivers as a result of lack of running on friday - and something McLaren would not want to say in public.