TECH REVIEW: McLaren debuted raft of modified parts at Silverstone
McLaren has continued to turn up the pressure on Red Bull in the 2024 F1 season with the introduction of a new low-downforce rear wing for the British Grand Prix. F1Technical's Balazs Szabo reflects on McLaren's aerodynamic upgrades from the Silverstone round.
While Ferrari appeared to be the closest to Red Bull at the start of the season, McLaren has emerged as Red Bull's main challenger in recent months.
The Woking-based outfit has constantly added upgrades to its MCL36 since the start of the season. At this year's Miami Grand Prix, this relentless development work has enabled Lando Norris to clinch his first career victory and McLaren's first win since Daniel Ricciardo's triumph at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
For the last round in Great Britain, McLaren arrived with a low-downforce aerodynamic package. It was no surprise as reducing drag is key at Silverstone owing to the long full-throttle blast from Luffield, through Maggots and Becketts and onto the Hangar Straight. To meet these requirements, McLaren introduced a new rear wing for the British Grand Prix.
The rear wing's main plane featured a spoon-like curvature, but a fairly flat one. The flap sported a fairly big V-shaped cut-out while the team opted for a downwards curved tip section.
To further reduce drag, McLaren brought three options for the beam wing - low, medium and high downforce. The team noted that "with the target to widen the operating range of the newly introduced low downforce wing, a high-load, mid-load and low-load Beam Wing has been designed to trade downforce and drag efficiently."
Furthermore, the team slightly altered the engine cover, having added a new panel which featured an additional cooling exit. The Woking-based outfit insisted that it allowed "an increase in cooling massflow, resulting in both an increase in overall cooling capacity as well as efficiency."
