McLaren MCL39

[Venturiation]

This is the official McLaren MCL39 car thread. The thread has been created to facilitate discussion specifically about the MCL39 car.

[CjC]

Very hard to tell, but is the distance between front and rear wheels different? Front wheels feel a little further ahead.

Also, is there a splitter inside in the sidepod inlets with two channels or just conditioning, or do I need new glasses?

A horizontal or vertical splitter?

[mwillems]

Very hard to tell, but is the distance between front and rear wheels different? Front wheels feel a little further ahead.

Also, is there a splitter inside in the sidepod inlets with two channels or just conditioning, or do I need new glasses?

A horizontal or vertical splitter?

It's horizontal, but it looks like it's conditioning.

The volume of the inlet doesn't look like it is more than last year as it appears to be a fair bit narrower in the top section.

[mwillems]

It looks like the increase in angle of the rear wishbone arm matches the angle of the pull rod and the pull rod is placed in front of it. If that’s true then that could contribute to keeping the wake created by two separate arms be smaller and more similar to the wake left by a single arm. That would mean cleaner airflow going back along the car.

Again, perhaps my eyes, but this suspension also appears to be leaning forward more into the wheel.

I'm looking forward to seeing some side by side comparisons.

[Chuckjr]

Well it's safe to say Macca is going balls deep in the anti-dive department. Wow.

[organic]

[mwillems]

Very hard to tell, but is the distance between front and rear wheels different? Front wheels feel a little further ahead.

Also, is there a splitter inside in the sidepod inlets with two channels or just conditioning, or do I need new glasses?

Which pictures best show this? I can’t see

Yours for both.

In the Mcl39 pic of front suspension, there is a faint horizontal line above the top arm. It fades at the sides so it isn't an artifact I don't think.

Also your pic seems to show that mclaren have placed some mounting points slightly rearward with the arms coming slightly forward.

In the original RB design, they slightly lengthened the nose to achieve the lean. Nothing indicates that we have from these pics.

[Vanja #66]

[mclaren111]

The Race:

Stella's description of the MCL39 as "bold" and "aggressive" may sound incongruous for a car which ostensibly looks so similar to its predecessor but the boldness on the inside - beneath the external skin - indicates some new fingerprints on this car: Rob Marshall's.

The extra real estate which has been found for the aerodynamicists to exploit is derived from a redesigned monocoque, many component redesigns and a re-evaluated cooling layout.

This packaging is prime Marshall territory. This is the first McLaren that Marshall has been involved in from the conception stage and he will have played a major part in bringing McLaren up to the cutting edge in this aspect.

[mwillems]

The Race:

Stella's description of the MCL39 as "bold" and "aggressive" may sound incongruous for a car which ostensibly looks so similar to its predecessor but the boldness on the inside - beneath the external skin - indicates some new fingerprints on this car: Rob Marshall's.

The extra real estate which has been found for the aerodynamicists to exploit is derived from a redesigned monocoque, many component redesigns and a re-evaluated cooling layout.

This packaging is prime Marshall territory. This is the first McLaren that Marshall has been involved in from the conception stage and he will have played a major part in bringing McLaren up to the cutting edge in this aspect.

https://www.the-race.com/content/images ... ison_3.jpg

This is just what I expected. Little on the surface, some Aero changes and an awful lot of chassis changes to help the car get a fraction closer to the ground without bottoming out, whilst giving a stable platform to the Aero and some work to help the front end be a bit more nimble and grippy.

It remains to be seen what these changes really mean for performance in cold or wet, or through the chicanes and corners with multiple sharp steering inputs, but certainly what we are seeing is what was expect and written about in the first posts of the speculation thread.

Particularly around the fact that this is the first chance Rob Marshall gets to shape the chassis and suspension, particularly with RMs knowledge of Anti Dive.

It's just a shame that so many of the changes, even aero, are hidden to us. Really, what we are seeing barely scratches the surface.

[mclaren111]

[Emag]

Honestly, this is a much bigger (visual) change from last year than launch spec MCL38 was to the Abu-Dhabi spec MCL60. Last year was particularly anti-climactic because people in general expect new cars for the new season and then it turns out the new car is difficult to differentiate from the old one.

But they really pushed things with this one and there are obvious differences with the MCL38.

Again, so far we don't really have a proper reference. We have to wait for the other top teams to see if any of them have pushed the boundaries even further or somehow come up with some radical and novel solution.

But even last year, with a car that visually looked like a mild evolution to the 2023 final-spec, they improved performance significantly in their weakest areas. So really, the amount by which the car has changed in the flesh isn't really correlated with performance gain. For all we know, this car could be a dud.

The real test is the laptime. If they have improved things significantly relative to the competition, then how much they changed or not doesn't matter at all.

[mwillems]

There are differences, yes. But I think most are not visible to us, including the floor.

Point i make is we are barely able to understand yet what they are doing with the car.

But this is what Stella has said. Most of the cars change is unseen.

But it is there, and it is fundamental.

[Vanja #66]

Yesterday's analysis

[taperoo2k]

The Race:

Stella's description of the MCL39 as "bold" and "aggressive" may sound incongruous for a car which ostensibly looks so similar to its predecessor but the boldness on the inside - beneath the external skin - indicates some new fingerprints on this car: Rob Marshall's.

The extra real estate which has been found for the aerodynamicists to exploit is derived from a redesigned monocoque, many component redesigns and a re-evaluated cooling layout.

This packaging is prime Marshall territory. This is the first McLaren that Marshall has been involved in from the conception stage and he will have played a major part in bringing McLaren up to the cutting edge in this aspect.

https://www.the-race.com/content/images ... ison_3.jpg

This is just what I expected. Little on the surface, some Aero changes and an awful lot of chassis changes to help the car get a fraction closer to the ground without bottoming out, whilst giving a stable platform to the Aero and some work to help the front end be a bit more nimble and grippy.

It remains to be seen what these changes really mean for performance in cold or wet, or through the chicanes and corners with multiple sharp steering inputs, but certainly what we are seeing is what was expect and written about in the first posts of the speculation thread.

You can't really tell an awful lot from a shakedown test. Playing it safe might well have seen McLaren slide backwards, so going aggressive with the design is the way to go. I think there is a bit of overlap with the '26 regulations on some of the aero, so I'd not be surprised if we see teams testing bits that don't end up on the '25 cars.

Particularly around the fact that this is the first chance Rob Marshall gets to shape the chassis and suspension, particularly with RMs knowledge of Anti Dive.

His skill with packaging a chassis and suspension design, should give McLaren an edge they've not had before. Rob Marshall was just as important to RB's success as Newey was. It's a real coup McLaren were able to get Marshall.

It's just a shame that so many of the changes, even aero, are hidden to us. Really, what we are seeing barely scratches the surface.

It's all part of the fun trying to figure out the aero and mechanical changes to the car. What I really want to see is the car with the engine cover off, just to see how intricately packaged Rob Marshall has managed to pull off and how it impacts the aero philisophy of the car. Front suspension looks like it's designed to maximise the airflow conditioning and to ensure the car has a more stable mechnical platform.