Mclaren MP4-30 Honda

[PhillipM]

To be honest, the more I watch, the more I think Alonso was deliberately playing with the car, to see how benign the handling was beyond the limit - something the Ferrari has struggled with over the years lets not forget - and that was also stated as an aim for the aero department early on - that they'd rather have consistant downforce with an easy to drive car, rather than chasing peak downforce.

[RZS10]

Barely any corrections at the steering wheel during cornering and on turn in especially, looks good so far

I know the car was not going full speed, still means something, it is not terrible

[fawe4]

Barely any corrections at the steering wheel during cornering and on turn in especially, looks good

With the times posted, you don't expect anything else.

[bauc]

Barely any corrections at the steering wheel during cornering and on turn in especially, looks good

With the times posted, you don't expect anything else.

Guys,Guys..... I know that you don't wan't to leave any stone unturned, but please remember this car is far from optimized and it did very ''few'' laps on the first test at Jerez. So lets wait and see how it will turn out in Melbourne

[Chene_Mostert]

Barely any corrections at the steering wheel during cornering and on turn in especially, looks good

Yes it looked very stable at a 1:27.6 but Ferrari looked just as stable at 1:20.8.

[Sukhoi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjfJno0hXg

5:51 and 5:57

There is space under the gearbox

[zfast]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjfJno0hXg

Around 5.50 in, you can see a lot of space between the floor and the bottom of the gearbox/ rear crash structure. Nice detailing on the floor there too.

Per the design philosophy of making the aero targets more achievable, it looks a lot softer ride than in previous years, should help give the drivers more confidence in the car. Or at least won't hurt as much going over a curb....

[hollus]

Nice catch with the space under the gearbox, Sukhoi. And look at that rake!

[ollandos]

The controller for the Honda Formula 1, Yasuhiso Arai, has no doubt that the difficulties encountered this week will be overcome and the next test in Barcelona the engine will work more accurately.
" There are many difficulties that we had this week, which will be repaired before testing in Barcelona, ​​so we will continue our work. The new engine will be best at a level at least. The way we explore the topics are step by step. Some parts will be eventually. But not all. Several are tested even will get the final confirmation for them just before Melbourne , "he told autosport.com.
The Arai, said he has full confidence that Honda and McLaren, can go it very well this year and hopes that the wrongs of Jerez, not due to a huge mistake in the design.
" There is a big issue. We still have a lot to check. Some parts, however, have already been ratified , "added the Japanese.

[PlatinumZealot]

Nice catch, Sukhoi. And look at that rake!
http://i.imgur.com/TY8kJf4.jpg

Could they be using honda's special "scroll" gearbox that was designed for the top secret 2009 honda ra109 that never raced? They designed this geartrain to be contained in a small barrel (or a scroll) it had no forks but had all the gear change mechanisms built around the circumference of the scroll. The gearbox itself was about half the size of a normal gearbox. Honda had released a few drawings of it. Infact if you look in the honda ra109 thread you will see it. No doubt honda must have been developing this gearbox since then and could possibly have encouraged mclaren to use it on the car??

[Manoah2u]

i assume honda will provide the gearbox for Mclaren alongside the actual engine, so it could be that honda has used that concept for this gearbox. Then again, Williams have a tiny gearbox aswell [though i don't know if that technology is similar to honda's 09 concept], which i think they could 'design' a tad different to have it 'hanging' up like the MCL gearbox in the photo instead of as low as possible on the floor achieving the lowsest COG.

[SiLo]

Aren't Merc the only other team to do something similar? They have loads of space around the rear and under the gearbox as well, but not to this extreme. Impressive stuff from the McLaren guys there.

[FW17]

What does this mean?

The heat exchanger will be mounted high above the compressor to keep it away from the turbine which brings about a significant saving in weight. Contrary to Mercedes they have not separated the compressor and the turbo which remains close to the exhaust.

Of course despite moving the weight to the top of the airbox and thus raising the centre of gravity of the car the aerodynamic advantage should outweigh this. Although this was also the reason behind many of the Ferrari teams problems last year. They would go to extremes in regards cooling which would hinder the power unit but be recovered with aero performance… supposedly.

With the radiators returning to a more traditional layout for the Woking squad, the airflow should be much improved from last year. Of course many publications will credit Peter Podromou as the architect behind this decision yet he arrived merely six months ago and is unlikely to have had much impact on whatwould have already been a heavily discussed concept between Mclaren and Honda.

Ultimately, as demonstrated in Jerez, this is without doubt a work in progress – one which Fernando Alonso needs to be delivering results as quickly as possible if he is not to regret leaving Ferrari last year.

[tranquility2k4]

Formula1 España ‏@F1Stars_spain 49 mins49 minutes ago

McLaren filming day at @Circuitcat_es @ScarbsF1 @andrewbensonf1 @AndyGPUpdate @ramp95FI @LuisFeF1 @StopAndGoF1 @spontonc @antoniogranato

[George-Jung]

Nice catch with the space under the gearbox, Sukhoi. And look at that rake!
http://i.imgur.com/TY8kJf4.jpg

So if I understand it correctly, the gearbox is "floating" ?
Didn't know this was even possible, great spot!