Is there any analysis of why the MP4-29 was so bad?
Discussion
I remember in the first year of the hybrid era when Mercedes' engine was hilariously better than everyone else, despite having the same engine Mclaren still laboured around failing to score podiums.
I'm sure it was mentioned that the problem was the wrong fuel and oil (maybe Mclaren couldn't use that oil injection trick) but can't dig it up.
I'm sure there was a write-up somewhere and with Mclaren once again returning to having the same engine as other teams, it would be interesting to see what may be in store.
I'm sure it was mentioned that the problem was the wrong fuel and oil (maybe Mclaren couldn't use that oil injection trick) but can't dig it up.
I'm sure there was a write-up somewhere and with Mclaren once again returning to having the same engine as other teams, it would be interesting to see what may be in store.
Flooble said:
I remember in the first year of the hybrid era when Mercedes' engine was hilariously better than everyone else, despite having the same engine Mclaren still laboured around failing to score podiums.
I'm sure it was mentioned that the problem was the wrong fuel and oil (maybe Mclaren couldn't use that oil injection trick) but can't dig it up.
I'm sure there was a write-up somewhere and with Mclaren once again returning to having the same engine as other teams, it would be interesting to see what may be in store.
They did score 2 podiums in the first race, somewhat fortuitously.I'm sure it was mentioned that the problem was the wrong fuel and oil (maybe Mclaren couldn't use that oil injection trick) but can't dig it up.
I'm sure there was a write-up somewhere and with Mclaren once again returning to having the same engine as other teams, it would be interesting to see what may be in store.
They were contracted to use Mobil fuel and oils whereas the Mercedes engine was designed for Petronas. Although the engine seemed fine in the Williams and I assume they used Petrobas as a result of their sponsorship deal.
It probably just wasn't as good as other cars. Its predecessor, the MP4-28, didn't win any races, score any podiums or set any pole positions (it did set one fastest lap though, Perez at Malaysia).
If you remember the last two years of the V8 era.
McLaren arguably had the best car at the end of the 2012 season and all they needed to do was make slight tweaks like everyone else to be seriously competitive in 2013 whilst it was the last year before the new rules.
Instead they tore up the design and went radically different and it didn't work at all and the car was even worse in 2014 with the new rules.
Prodromou will have helped aero wise and they've made changes in personnel since then too so I'd expect them to be up with Renault themselves.
McLaren arguably had the best car at the end of the 2012 season and all they needed to do was make slight tweaks like everyone else to be seriously competitive in 2013 whilst it was the last year before the new rules.
Instead they tore up the design and went radically different and it didn't work at all and the car was even worse in 2014 with the new rules.
Prodromou will have helped aero wise and they've made changes in personnel since then too so I'd expect them to be up with Renault themselves.
F1GTRUeno said:
If you remember the last two years of the V8 era.
McLaren arguably had the best car at the end of the 2012 season and all they needed to do was make slight tweaks like everyone else to be seriously competitive in 2013 whilst it was the last year before the new rules.
Instead they tore up the design and went radically different and it didn't work at all and the car was even worse in 2014 with the new rules.
Prodromou will have helped aero wise and they've made changes in personnel since then too so I'd expect them to be up with Renault themselves.
McLaren have a habit of chasing the silver bullet of competitiveness.McLaren arguably had the best car at the end of the 2012 season and all they needed to do was make slight tweaks like everyone else to be seriously competitive in 2013 whilst it was the last year before the new rules.
Instead they tore up the design and went radically different and it didn't work at all and the car was even worse in 2014 with the new rules.
Prodromou will have helped aero wise and they've made changes in personnel since then too so I'd expect them to be up with Renault themselves.
Sometimes they are successful, second brake pedal in late 90's. F-Duct in ~2010. But, more often then not they end up with something that costs them months in making it just work, MP4-18, u shaped side pods, octopus exhaust, etc.
I haven’t seen such an analysis anywhere, but who better to analyse it than the guy who drove it, eh?
I’ve collated some of Button’s comments which give very good insights into the behaviour of MP4-29 than any outsider could muster, to be honest. Most of his comments are after friday practice.
He had this to say after driving the MP4-30:
Last year, the car [MP4-29] had a lot of downforce initially when you hit the brakes but it was very on the nose on turn-in, and when you turned in you lost all front end at apex, whereas this year [MP4-30] it does what you hope it will do, so you can be precise.
It is a good start. We don't have enough downforce to fight with the Mercedes [if we had the same power], for example, or even a couple of other teams. But the basic philosophy is definitely right. I have not driven a McLaren like this before, not in the way it works.
I'm not saying it's the quickest McLaren I've ever driven, because it's not. But in the way it works the basic car is very good so it means you can build on it. The airflow is very clean so you can just add downforce whereas before you added downforce and it would change the characteristics of the car. But it still needs a lot of work to be competitive.
Australian GP
Our car balance isn’t quite there yet – we’re still struggling a little in the high-speed corners. In the low-speed corners, we’re looking reasonable, and all our electronics are working well. I don’t think our outright pace is quite as good as it looks on the time sheets, but we’ve got a good understanding of the car and overall I’d say we’re looking okay.
Malaysian GP
We’re finding it tough out there today – especially in the heat. We’re not as strong as we’d like to be in high-speed corners – and, when you have downforce issues, they’re further amplified by the hot weather. So our long runs were tricky – in terms of both tyre degradation and outright pace.
We’re now going through the data, but the upgrades we brought here seem to be giving us something – so that’s encouraging – but there’s a lot of work still to be done.
I’m sure people are getting excited about individual lap-times, but they don’t count for too much around here because you can usually overtake. It’s the long runs that you need to analyse, and that’s where we’re finding it a bit more difficult.
Bahrain GP
In terms of pace, we took a step forward this weekend. Moreover, our degradation was positive and I think we did a very good job understanding our tyres. Only one team were demonstrably quicker than us today – Mercedes – but sadly they were a lot quicker than us. Having said that, our long-run pace was very good, especially over the last few laps, so I reckon we could have raced very hard to the finish on the Primes. But unfortunately I didn’t get that opportunity.
It’s tough for all the team, because they all worked really well and really hard. We were set for fifth place at worst and a podium finish at best, and that would have been a very positive outcome for all of us.
Chinese GP
It was pretty difficult out there. It felt a little bit like qualifying yesterday: we just couldn’t get the front tyres working – they just grained.
[This problem was there on Friday, and they couldn’t solve it for the race]
We’ve got a few upgrades for the next grand prix, in Barcelona, but they won’t be enough to close our performance gap to the fastest cars. But the guys are doing their best, and a result like this is disappointing for everyone, especially for the mechanics and the guys back at the factory, because they’ve all been working so hard.
Magnussen adds this: Our car lacks downforce – that’s its main problem. The way it’s set up, and how it feels, has always been positive; it’s just low on grip, that’s all. So, clearly, we need to work as hard as we can to create that missing downforce.
Spanish GP
In this afternoon’s warmer temperatures, it was harder for us to get the car working properly. When you’re limited on downforce, the car seems to operate properly within a very narrow temperature range. This morning, I think we looked quicker than we actually were. We’re now trying to work on the balance to improve our long-run pace a little more – and I think we can make the car a bit stronger for tomorrow.
After qualifying:
It’s pretty tough for everyone out there [in qualifying] – the track doesn’t have much grip, so we spent each session working away at the car’s balance to try and find something that works. We almost got there, but still had too much understeer for the final run. Still, it wasn’t too bad: we probably could’ve found a little more time within the set-up but it probably wasn’t going to be enough to make much of a difference.
Canadian GP
We’d been trying to adjust the balance all through the weekend, but we really struggled in free practice this morning. Still, it’s a positive that the changes we made for qualifying were a clear step forward. My fastest time in Q3 was almost good enough for eighth – I lost out by just two hundredths – but ninth is probably better in terms of starting position on the grid, because it’ll be on the clean side.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s going to be hard to read the tyres’ behaviour in these very hot conditions. They’re very easy to grain, so if you can look after them throughout a stint, it could make a big difference in the race.
We come out of this weekend knowing that there’s a better overall feel about our car – it’s encouraging that we’re making progress.
Austrian GP
For us, it was a relatively productive day. We’re still struggling with graining on the Supersoft tyre, as we did in Canada, but the Prime seemed good on both our short- and long-runs. Our aim will be to make progress and, at tracks that are less suited to our package, to not drop too much ground to the teams ahead of us.
British GP
Our car felt okay today, but we’re still trying to find the right balance in the high-speed sections. We’re struggling with understeer, trying to get more front-end grip from the car.
It’s tough out there because it’s so windy: this year’s cars have less downforce than before, which makes the wings very important. When they’re affected massively by the wind, it makes it difficult to get any productive back-to-back results during testing.
It’s proving tricky for us to get the Prime tyre up to temperature, too; as soon as we back off for a yellow flag or for traffic, we can’t get it working again. It’s very difficult. However, the Option tyre looks good and is able to last for a reasonably long time.
German GP
Looking at the timesheets, you’d say we look quite good, but we’re finding it a little bit tougher over the long-runs. I think we’re overheating the tyres under traction. It’s so difficult to manage the tyres in these temperatures, and it’s especially hard to get the Supersoft tyre working correctly without overheating it.
Looking ahead to tomorrow: our long-run pace didn’t look too strong on Friday – we struggled in the hot conditions, but I think we’ll hopefully be better if the predicted cooler conditions roll in for Sunday afternoon.
Hungarian GP
I had a relatively good run on the soft tyre using high fuel, so I’m feeling happier about that, but the balance over a single lap is something we need to concentrate on tonight. It was quite difficult to be consistent; the car felt different from corner to corner, from lap to lap. I like a precise car, and we didn’t quite nail that today – but I think we know why that is and we’ll change it for tomorrow. I’m not too worried.
Belgian GP
In the first sector we’re quickest, in the third sector we’re a tenth or so off the pace, but in the middle sector we’re almost a second down. So we’ll have to work on getting the balance a bit better, and hopefully we can improve in the areas we’re already strong in, too. Overall, I’d say our car feels reasonably nice to drive around here, but the circuit demands a low-downforce aero configuration, and that’s given us some areas to work on, especially with the Prime tyre, on which we’re struggling a little as I say.
[The car’s base setup was straight line speed than cornering performance here]
Italian GP
We’ve looked pretty good all weekend, and we gradually tweaked the setup and balance through every session. On my final flying lap in Q3, I didn’t get a clean middle sector – I lost a little bit of time through the Lesmos – but we probably qualified better than expected. I’m a little surprised at how quick the Williams cars have been – we didn’t expect them to be that far in front of us – but we’re the third-best team on single-lap pace, which is nice.
[Speaking about the race]This wasn’t the result I was after – but the was good fun nonetheless. It’s just a pity that we didn’t quite have the race pace we’d hoped for: when you start fifth and sixth, you’re not just looking for a points finish, you want a bit more than that. If we’d had a clear run, I think we could have done a bit better – but, in the traffic, it was easier for the cars around us to pick us off than it was for us to pick them off.
Singapore GP
It’s always good getting to grips with this place – it’s so different from most of the circuits we visit, and it’s such fun. We tried a few things on the set-up this afternoon that didn’t work so well for us; but at least we know what to do tomorrow, and, all things considered, it’s not looking too bad, particularly compared with some of the others around us.
Magnussen adds: It’s still difficult to say where we are right now, pace-wise, but I think we ought to be okay. We’re still trying to evaluate and get the best from the new package – but we’ll study it carefully tonight and see if we can get any more out of it for tomorrow.
[JB on qualifying]...during Q1 I’d already dialled the front wing settings up to their maximum, and, as the circuit gripped-up into Q2, I struggled because I didn’t have enough front-end [grip]. I did everything I could to compensate, by using the differential and engine braking, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Russian GP
It’s been a tough year for us but over the past few Grands Prix it’s been clear that we’ve been improving. Today’s result, fourth and fifth, is the best we’ve had for a little while, and the 22 World Championship points that Kevin and I scored are very welcome from a Constructors’ World Championship point of view.
US GP
Our car sometimes struggles in windy conditions, as do I: it’s a lot more difficult to be precise when you’re driving in the wind. It’s in slower corners that we’re most affected – such as the start of sector three. And it was certainly very windy today – especially this afternoon.
It was so close between Kevin and myself on every run this afternoon. My fastest lap wasn’t amazing – it’s quite difficult to string a lap together around here, because you struggle with the inconsistencies caused by moderate grip, high winds and low ambient temperatures.
I just went backwards [in the race] today. The only fun bit of the afternoon was my fight with Fernando. But, apart from that, it was pretty dull out there. It’s unusual for our car to suffer tyre degradation as damaging as we did today, and I experienced particularly significant issues with the rears. Their surface temperatures were getting really hot, yet their core temperatures were dropping. That meant we were slipping and sliding around, and as a result I was really struggling compared with the drivers around me.
Brazilian GP
The new asphalt changed the character of the circuit quite a lot, which is a shame. What’s also strange is that our maximum speed is quite a way off that of the front-runners – our downforce levels don’t look too dissimilar, but we wouldn’t have been able to match the best top speeds without taking the wing off. There’s a lot of work to do overnight, but I think we understand where the issues lie.
So you get the picture. The car didn’t have the widest of sweet spots, to put it mildly. The different fuel supplier didn’t help, but there was a lot more going on in terms of aero, suspension tricks and consistency in tyre performance.
I’ve collated some of Button’s comments which give very good insights into the behaviour of MP4-29 than any outsider could muster, to be honest. Most of his comments are after friday practice.
He had this to say after driving the MP4-30:
Last year, the car [MP4-29] had a lot of downforce initially when you hit the brakes but it was very on the nose on turn-in, and when you turned in you lost all front end at apex, whereas this year [MP4-30] it does what you hope it will do, so you can be precise.
It is a good start. We don't have enough downforce to fight with the Mercedes [if we had the same power], for example, or even a couple of other teams. But the basic philosophy is definitely right. I have not driven a McLaren like this before, not in the way it works.
I'm not saying it's the quickest McLaren I've ever driven, because it's not. But in the way it works the basic car is very good so it means you can build on it. The airflow is very clean so you can just add downforce whereas before you added downforce and it would change the characteristics of the car. But it still needs a lot of work to be competitive.
Australian GP
Our car balance isn’t quite there yet – we’re still struggling a little in the high-speed corners. In the low-speed corners, we’re looking reasonable, and all our electronics are working well. I don’t think our outright pace is quite as good as it looks on the time sheets, but we’ve got a good understanding of the car and overall I’d say we’re looking okay.
Malaysian GP
We’re finding it tough out there today – especially in the heat. We’re not as strong as we’d like to be in high-speed corners – and, when you have downforce issues, they’re further amplified by the hot weather. So our long runs were tricky – in terms of both tyre degradation and outright pace.
We’re now going through the data, but the upgrades we brought here seem to be giving us something – so that’s encouraging – but there’s a lot of work still to be done.
I’m sure people are getting excited about individual lap-times, but they don’t count for too much around here because you can usually overtake. It’s the long runs that you need to analyse, and that’s where we’re finding it a bit more difficult.
Bahrain GP
In terms of pace, we took a step forward this weekend. Moreover, our degradation was positive and I think we did a very good job understanding our tyres. Only one team were demonstrably quicker than us today – Mercedes – but sadly they were a lot quicker than us. Having said that, our long-run pace was very good, especially over the last few laps, so I reckon we could have raced very hard to the finish on the Primes. But unfortunately I didn’t get that opportunity.
It’s tough for all the team, because they all worked really well and really hard. We were set for fifth place at worst and a podium finish at best, and that would have been a very positive outcome for all of us.
Chinese GP
It was pretty difficult out there. It felt a little bit like qualifying yesterday: we just couldn’t get the front tyres working – they just grained.
[This problem was there on Friday, and they couldn’t solve it for the race]
We’ve got a few upgrades for the next grand prix, in Barcelona, but they won’t be enough to close our performance gap to the fastest cars. But the guys are doing their best, and a result like this is disappointing for everyone, especially for the mechanics and the guys back at the factory, because they’ve all been working so hard.
Magnussen adds this: Our car lacks downforce – that’s its main problem. The way it’s set up, and how it feels, has always been positive; it’s just low on grip, that’s all. So, clearly, we need to work as hard as we can to create that missing downforce.
Spanish GP
In this afternoon’s warmer temperatures, it was harder for us to get the car working properly. When you’re limited on downforce, the car seems to operate properly within a very narrow temperature range. This morning, I think we looked quicker than we actually were. We’re now trying to work on the balance to improve our long-run pace a little more – and I think we can make the car a bit stronger for tomorrow.
After qualifying:
It’s pretty tough for everyone out there [in qualifying] – the track doesn’t have much grip, so we spent each session working away at the car’s balance to try and find something that works. We almost got there, but still had too much understeer for the final run. Still, it wasn’t too bad: we probably could’ve found a little more time within the set-up but it probably wasn’t going to be enough to make much of a difference.
Canadian GP
We’d been trying to adjust the balance all through the weekend, but we really struggled in free practice this morning. Still, it’s a positive that the changes we made for qualifying were a clear step forward. My fastest time in Q3 was almost good enough for eighth – I lost out by just two hundredths – but ninth is probably better in terms of starting position on the grid, because it’ll be on the clean side.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s going to be hard to read the tyres’ behaviour in these very hot conditions. They’re very easy to grain, so if you can look after them throughout a stint, it could make a big difference in the race.
We come out of this weekend knowing that there’s a better overall feel about our car – it’s encouraging that we’re making progress.
Austrian GP
For us, it was a relatively productive day. We’re still struggling with graining on the Supersoft tyre, as we did in Canada, but the Prime seemed good on both our short- and long-runs. Our aim will be to make progress and, at tracks that are less suited to our package, to not drop too much ground to the teams ahead of us.
British GP
Our car felt okay today, but we’re still trying to find the right balance in the high-speed sections. We’re struggling with understeer, trying to get more front-end grip from the car.
It’s tough out there because it’s so windy: this year’s cars have less downforce than before, which makes the wings very important. When they’re affected massively by the wind, it makes it difficult to get any productive back-to-back results during testing.
It’s proving tricky for us to get the Prime tyre up to temperature, too; as soon as we back off for a yellow flag or for traffic, we can’t get it working again. It’s very difficult. However, the Option tyre looks good and is able to last for a reasonably long time.
German GP
Looking at the timesheets, you’d say we look quite good, but we’re finding it a little bit tougher over the long-runs. I think we’re overheating the tyres under traction. It’s so difficult to manage the tyres in these temperatures, and it’s especially hard to get the Supersoft tyre working correctly without overheating it.
Looking ahead to tomorrow: our long-run pace didn’t look too strong on Friday – we struggled in the hot conditions, but I think we’ll hopefully be better if the predicted cooler conditions roll in for Sunday afternoon.
Hungarian GP
I had a relatively good run on the soft tyre using high fuel, so I’m feeling happier about that, but the balance over a single lap is something we need to concentrate on tonight. It was quite difficult to be consistent; the car felt different from corner to corner, from lap to lap. I like a precise car, and we didn’t quite nail that today – but I think we know why that is and we’ll change it for tomorrow. I’m not too worried.
Belgian GP
In the first sector we’re quickest, in the third sector we’re a tenth or so off the pace, but in the middle sector we’re almost a second down. So we’ll have to work on getting the balance a bit better, and hopefully we can improve in the areas we’re already strong in, too. Overall, I’d say our car feels reasonably nice to drive around here, but the circuit demands a low-downforce aero configuration, and that’s given us some areas to work on, especially with the Prime tyre, on which we’re struggling a little as I say.
[The car’s base setup was straight line speed than cornering performance here]
Italian GP
We’ve looked pretty good all weekend, and we gradually tweaked the setup and balance through every session. On my final flying lap in Q3, I didn’t get a clean middle sector – I lost a little bit of time through the Lesmos – but we probably qualified better than expected. I’m a little surprised at how quick the Williams cars have been – we didn’t expect them to be that far in front of us – but we’re the third-best team on single-lap pace, which is nice.
[Speaking about the race]This wasn’t the result I was after – but the was good fun nonetheless. It’s just a pity that we didn’t quite have the race pace we’d hoped for: when you start fifth and sixth, you’re not just looking for a points finish, you want a bit more than that. If we’d had a clear run, I think we could have done a bit better – but, in the traffic, it was easier for the cars around us to pick us off than it was for us to pick them off.
Singapore GP
It’s always good getting to grips with this place – it’s so different from most of the circuits we visit, and it’s such fun. We tried a few things on the set-up this afternoon that didn’t work so well for us; but at least we know what to do tomorrow, and, all things considered, it’s not looking too bad, particularly compared with some of the others around us.
Magnussen adds: It’s still difficult to say where we are right now, pace-wise, but I think we ought to be okay. We’re still trying to evaluate and get the best from the new package – but we’ll study it carefully tonight and see if we can get any more out of it for tomorrow.
[JB on qualifying]...during Q1 I’d already dialled the front wing settings up to their maximum, and, as the circuit gripped-up into Q2, I struggled because I didn’t have enough front-end [grip]. I did everything I could to compensate, by using the differential and engine braking, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Russian GP
It’s been a tough year for us but over the past few Grands Prix it’s been clear that we’ve been improving. Today’s result, fourth and fifth, is the best we’ve had for a little while, and the 22 World Championship points that Kevin and I scored are very welcome from a Constructors’ World Championship point of view.
US GP
Our car sometimes struggles in windy conditions, as do I: it’s a lot more difficult to be precise when you’re driving in the wind. It’s in slower corners that we’re most affected – such as the start of sector three. And it was certainly very windy today – especially this afternoon.
It was so close between Kevin and myself on every run this afternoon. My fastest lap wasn’t amazing – it’s quite difficult to string a lap together around here, because you struggle with the inconsistencies caused by moderate grip, high winds and low ambient temperatures.
I just went backwards [in the race] today. The only fun bit of the afternoon was my fight with Fernando. But, apart from that, it was pretty dull out there. It’s unusual for our car to suffer tyre degradation as damaging as we did today, and I experienced particularly significant issues with the rears. Their surface temperatures were getting really hot, yet their core temperatures were dropping. That meant we were slipping and sliding around, and as a result I was really struggling compared with the drivers around me.
Brazilian GP
The new asphalt changed the character of the circuit quite a lot, which is a shame. What’s also strange is that our maximum speed is quite a way off that of the front-runners – our downforce levels don’t look too dissimilar, but we wouldn’t have been able to match the best top speeds without taking the wing off. There’s a lot of work to do overnight, but I think we understand where the issues lie.
So you get the picture. The car didn’t have the widest of sweet spots, to put it mildly. The different fuel supplier didn’t help, but there was a lot more going on in terms of aero, suspension tricks and consistency in tyre performance.
Edited by Dr Z on Sunday 24th September 19:36
Thanks guys, interesting stuff. Makes it seem like next year could be another challenging year for Mclaren. I guess they will have a free pass for 2018 as they have started the design late, need to integrate the new engine, can't just evolve this year's car etc. Anyone fancy making a prediction for 2019?
I've got a really bad feeling McLaren are going to find out their chassis is not quite what it is cracked up to be next year. In the pre hybrid era the Mercedes engine was still better than the Renault, although not by as much as it is now, and they were beaten by Red Bull for 4 years on the trot.
I see little reason to think with the same engine, they will beat Red Bull next year, or even 2019.
I see little reason to think with the same engine, they will beat Red Bull next year, or even 2019.
What has changed is they know how to develop a car. That's what all the changes at the team were because they were just
not good enough for a long time.
They will be one of the top 4 now which is better than being last with your engines paid for.
Imagine Honda suddenly find 500hp next year. yawn.
not good enough for a long time.
They will be one of the top 4 now which is better than being last with your engines paid for.
Imagine Honda suddenly find 500hp next year. yawn.
My understanding was that for some time McLaren chased absolute peak downforce for their designs. This seemingly gave them very small operating windows to find a 'sweet spot'.
Since those days the philosophy of the aero has changed entirely.
There's no value in looking at the chassis performance of McLaren with the Mercedes engine in 2014 or earlier when assessing their chances with [x] engine in 2018, as there's no material carry over.
Since those days the philosophy of the aero has changed entirely.
There's no value in looking at the chassis performance of McLaren with the Mercedes engine in 2014 or earlier when assessing their chances with [x] engine in 2018, as there's no material carry over.
There is a confidence in the way the team is working at the moment. Analysing the deficiencies and sorting them out, while evolving the car year on year, since Prodromou took over at the end of 2014. It feels like the last three years have been a build up, one brick at a time.
Before that, you never knew what you're going to get every year and when you had it, you didn't quite have the understanding of the package to extract the performance. It has been rumoured that this year's Honda is one of the lightest PU on the grid, designed with low CoG in mind. It also has a high power mode for qualifying, that the Renault PU lacks, funnily enough. If Honda sort their reliability next year, I can see RBR running the Honda in '19. The Honda's design characteristics sounds right up Newey's street.
This year's McLaren is one of the lightest cars on the grid, allegedly. And one that runs the most extreme rake angles. With the Renault, the packaging and cooling will affect the car, along with the weight distribution. 2018 will probably be the first real test of where this car truly is in the pecking order. Interesting times.
Before that, you never knew what you're going to get every year and when you had it, you didn't quite have the understanding of the package to extract the performance. It has been rumoured that this year's Honda is one of the lightest PU on the grid, designed with low CoG in mind. It also has a high power mode for qualifying, that the Renault PU lacks, funnily enough. If Honda sort their reliability next year, I can see RBR running the Honda in '19. The Honda's design characteristics sounds right up Newey's street.
This year's McLaren is one of the lightest cars on the grid, allegedly. And one that runs the most extreme rake angles. With the Renault, the packaging and cooling will affect the car, along with the weight distribution. 2018 will probably be the first real test of where this car truly is in the pecking order. Interesting times.
The Woking windtunnel wasn't up to scratch which is why Mclaren, (like others), now use the Toyota facility in Cologne. I had also assumed that they were behind the curve on developing CFD tools, which is why there were never strong correlations for when aero updates were tested on track.
ralphrj said:
They were contracted to use Mobil fuel and oils whereas the Mercedes engine was designed for Petronas. Although the engine seemed fine in the Williams and I assume they used Petrobas as a result of their sponsorship deal.
Williams never used Petrobras, that was just a sponsor. They used Petronas as per Mercedes.Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff