McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes (pre-launch speculation)

[Shakeman]

A cynic (me) would suggest these "legal fight" comments are just trolling for views for their car launch. More eyes on the sponsors logos the better. After those comments who isn't going to be tuning in for the launch, not many here I suspect?

If the quotes are true then that's a pretty damning indictment of the two McLaren drivers by the team at the end of the article. But I don't agree, I don't think the McLaren was the best car at the end of the season as I don't think Vettel is the great driver he's said to be. The RB looked by far the most drivable car.

[raymondu999]

If the quotes are true then that's a pretty damning indictment of the two McLaren drivers by the team at the end of the article. But I don't agree, I don't think the McLaren was the best car at the end of the season as I don't think Vettel is the great driver he's said to be. The RB looked by far the most drivable car.

In any case he's in a much better position to comment than we are. But I don't get how he would know the RBR's theoretical max pace.

[horse]

Perhaps the controversy lies around the last 2 paragraphs?

I'm very curious though. How do the engineers know, "definitely" that their car is faster? Ok, they can run simulations to know the max theoretical pace of their car. But how do they know it of the RBR? Mods, if you feel this is digressing too much, feel free to move the post.

Yeah, I think you must be right. It doesn't look like the greatest PR in the world does it? Basically he's said that the drivers were not good enough to beat Seb even with the fastest car, which is a bit of an "oops" in my opinion.

I would agree that there is no way that they could tell which car was fastest and, frankly, the RB hardly ever looked slow last year. It reads a little arrogant, perhaps, like "Well, we made the fastest car so it wasn't the engineers fault". Yet, higher up he does seem to take responsibility in saying they were too conservative in their interpretation of the rules. Very confusing.

A cynic (me) would suggest these "legal fight" comments are just trolling for views for their car launch.

This is very possible too! But then why pull the story and who has pulled it, McLaren or Autosport?

[Richard]

They'll know the gearing and acceleration of the RB from analysis of the onboard footage. So I presume they're saying that the MP4-26 had comparable performance data by the end of the season but having to play catch up all season meant they were never in a position to put it together on track. They got close, but not close enough.

What puzzles me the most is the comment about not being radical enough in the last few years. The problem last year was being too clever and radical with those elegant EBD slots embedded in the floor when all it needed was a pipe bolted on top of the floor.

[KeiKo403]

If the quotes are true then that's a pretty damning indictment of the two McLaren drivers by the team at the end of the article. But I don't agree, I don't think the McLaren was the best car at the end of the season as I don't think Vettel is the great driver he's said to be. The RB looked by far the most drivable car.

In any case he's in a much better position to comment than we are. But I don't get how he would know the RBR's theoretical max pace.

Given that the RB8 will be another evolution of an already 3-4 year old design I say that McLaren would be easily able to work out RBR's theoretical max pace.

McLaren have been quiet all winter and now they drop this the day before launch! I'm really excited now.

[horse]

What puzzles me the most is the comment about not being radical enough in the last few years.

Do you think the interview might have been meant to be off-the-record?

[Richard]

McLaren have been quiet all winter and now they drop this the day before launch! I'm really excited now.

A cynic would say the McL PR machine is working as planned.

Autosport also look good for getting an inside scoop that was so secret that it had to be pulled off their site.

[KeiKo403]

What are the chances that McLaren have added a few risky peices of bodywork to start a legal row when actually the ace up McLarens sleeve is on the inside of the car. A bit of smoke and a few mirrors.
Sand bag a little in pre season teats 1&2 and then in the final test unleash the beast known as the MP4-27.

[Shakeman]

A cynic (me) would suggest these "legal fight" comments are just trolling for views for their car launch.

This is very possible too! But then why pull the story and who has pulled it, McLaren or Autosport?

Maybe it was an off the record interview that found itself on the record.

It's quite un-McLaren like to be quite so "honest" about their drivers in public.

Sand bag a little in pre season teats 1&2 and then in the final test unleash the beast known as the MP4-27.

Do teams sand bag in testing now? The luxury of sand bagging has surely gone (if it ever happened at all) with such limited testing time. It'd be crazy to unleash a car that didn't quite perform as expected on the final test. More likely it's a case of running light in testing to pick up sponsors for the mid-pack.

[astracrazy]

bit strange making comments about battles regarding the car being legal before its even released.

Its something I'd expect to here after the car is released. i.e let people find things themselves and say these comments as a reaction to people questioning the car. This way they are virtually telling everyone the car could possibly not be legal? Unless its something so obvious, why wait.

[KeiKo403]

bit strange making comments about battles regarding the car being legal before its even released.

Its something I'd expect to here after the car is released. i.e let people find things themselves and say these comments as a reaction to people questioning the car. This way they are virtually telling everyone the car could possibly not be legal? Unless its something so obvious, why wait.

McLaren are bound to have been in contact with Charlie & FIA throughout the design process. I know that the FIA have recently back tracked with Lotus' anti dive solution but McLaren aren't stupid enough to launch a car with legality issues if they haven't had it confirmed as legal yet. Surely??

[Hangaku]

... McLaren aren't stupid enough to launch a car with legality issues if they haven't had it confirmed as legal yet. Surely??

Perhaps this is what the article is eluding to. I think that perhaps McLaren are confident that their car is 100% legal, and maybe they have had sign-off from the FIA / Charlie. As such, this press release (or PR stunt, whatever) is a challenge to the other teams.

It's no coincidence that such a statement is coming from the first major team to release!

[KeiKo403]

... McLaren aren't stupid enough to launch a car with legality issues if they haven't had it confirmed as legal yet. Surely??

Perhaps this is what the article is eluding to. I think that perhaps McLaren are confident that their car is 100% legal, and maybe they have had sign-off from the FIA / Charlie. As such, this press release (or PR stunt, whatever) is a challenge to the other teams.

It's no coincidence that such a statement is coming from the first major team to release!

But if the changes are legal and obvious to fans of the sport why put the design out there for the rest of the other teams to see nearly a week before the first test. You'd think they would want to launch as late as possible.?

[astracrazy]

good point, why not release on test day so other see this late as possible
or
is it a safety net that in case whatever it is is deemed eventually illegal, theirs plenty of time before the start of the season?

edit: as we have recently seen, just because charlie says its legal doesn't mean it is. The FIA can still deem it illegal.

[scarlet]

Interesting to note Geoff McGrath is managing director of McLaren Applied Technologies, which isn't a division directly linked to the building of the car. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_Ap ... chnologies: 'MAT is responsible for taking the company's know-how into non-motorsport sectors.'.

So basically, it's likely that this is just careless chatter picked up by a nosey journo...