Current McLaren

Arguably one of the big teams in Formula One but lately they don't seem to be able to get the basics right.
Some of their strategy and decisions in the last few years has left more than a few observers scratching their heads.

Just a few for starters:

• Leaving Kimi out on a badly flat-spotted tyre, resulting in it exploding on the last lap.
• Leaving Hamilton out on tyres so badly worn they were down to the canvas; Bridgestone themselves demanded that McLaren bring him in and McLaren refused, keeping him out for a few more laps. That decision arguably cost Hamilton the first rookie WDC and is one which will haunt him and McLaren for the rest of their days.
• Not sending Button and Hamilton out to get banker laps in during Q1.
• Sending Hamilton out on used tyres in Q3, with rain forecast, meaning it would be impossible to set a fast lap time on his second attempt on new tyres.

Their major updates seem to send them further down the grid, instead of challenging for pole positions and wins. As the season progresses they tend to get worse before getting better, by which time it is generally too late.

It's often said of them "write them off at your peril", but is this necessarily true?

The last time they won the WCC was in 1998 and their last WDC was 2008, before that 1999.
Their days of regularly winning championships seem to be well and truly behind them.

It's all well and good coming up with reasons why they haven't won championships.
The fact remains though, they have won just one WDC in the last 12 years.

So where to now for McLaren?

(I wrote this in rather a hurry so I will flesh it out when I have more time.)

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Thanks, The Pits. With regards to the exhaust changes. Three obvious radical concepts built around these that I can think of are McLaren's U-pods and their octo-exhaust as well as Renault's front facing exhausts. There are many other examples including McLaren's coander exhaust design and of course Mercedes' necessity to re-architect their car as they were not able to integrate a very good exhaust blown diffuser solution on their old challenger. It was something that they hadn't anticipated or foreseen in their base design.

 

[The Pits]

McLarens U pods were not related to the exhaust regs. Renaults front exit exhausts were radical, and would have resulted in a redesign, but the change to exhaust regs from 2011 to 2012 were far bigger than the future proposals, and the Renault 2011 solution was far more radical than McLarens this year.

As I understand it, McLaren have moved to a new concept at the front, which has caused issues at the rear. Changes at the rear to exhausts would have been more likely to affect the old lower nose design than the new, and they are much more likely to get a better answer, providing they can work it out, which is the big question. In this area, they are effectively behind the other teams, as they are starting a year behind.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Well I have no reason to disbelieve Martin when he says that they had gone as far as they could with last years car and so started again.

We shall see as the season progresses, also they started developing the 2014 car in the middle of last year and maybe they are using this year to test out some of the parts for next years car to try and get a head start, who knows, I don't cuz I don't work for McLaren although I would love to, I could do with some OCD pounding into me you should see the state of my cooker.....

 

[ExtremeNinja]

The Pits. The U-pods were directly as a result of the discovery that you could blow the floor through the exhausts. It was a reaction to that designed to direct further airflow to that part of the car.

I don't disagree that the exhaust reg changes are not the most significant of all rule changes but I don't subscribe that they are not significant. If the coander exhausts are no longer possible then they will want to direct the air differently from the front to the back. The effect therefor will require changes in the car's aero from nose to tail.

Mephistopheles. I don't disagree with Martin on that pont too much either. Well not entirely. He makes a good case. Unfortunately word is that he may be making a u-turn on this and revert to last years car. this makes me think that whilst his statement seems sensible and justifable, in practice it may have turned out to be a big mistake and one which he will have to admit to. The next couple of races will be telling and a decision will be made one way or the other. I hope for his sake that this works out for him otherwise that's a pretty massive fubar on his record.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I guess so, we shall see I'm not to bothered about it really If McLaren have made a mistake and Martin admits to the mistake then good for him it takes a big man to admit he's wrong especially when he has the worlds press waiting to pounce....

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106141?source=mostpopular

McLaren rule out reverting to last year's car.

 

[Titch]

Will Mercedes still want Paddy Lowe for next year ?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

That's that settled. Let's hope they can make this year's car quick then or that is throwing good money after bad. Should be interesting to see how they progress.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I've thrown good money after bad on plenty of cars I've owned in the past....

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Reading that article, the engineers say that the car is not lacking downforce but performance operating window is too peaky. Whitmash then says that "we know it [the car] has potentially more downforce than last year's car."

So is it lacking downforce or not? Sorry for being nit-picky.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Stick me in the seat it will have more downforce than it could possibly cope with...

 

[The Pits]

ExtremeNinja The Upods were to get airflow to the beam wing, inside the zone in which the exhausts were operating. They had issues with the exhausts that year too.

 

[Slyboogy]

Stick me in the seat it will have more downforce than it could possibly cope with...

They'll be saying in the commentray constantly, "That car's firmly planted to the ground!"

 

[ExtremeNinja]

http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/2011/02/04/mclaren-mp4-26-l-shaped-sidepods/

You are absolutely correct, The Pits. Thanks for putting me straight.

Still think the exhaust reg changes will prove to be a big factor in rework of the car's aero philosophy for 2014, though.

 

[The Pits]

Yes, but no bigger than the changes for the last few years, which, for most, have simply relied on evolution rather than revolution, notwithstanding the Renault point.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Hmmm. I'll have to look up the reg changes again. I thought that the coander effect driven exhaust gas direction and any blowing of the diffusers with exhaust gasses was going to be completely impossible with the new regs. I'll head back fro a rummage on Scarbs but happy to be corrected again if I am wrong.

 

[The Pits]

It may well be, but it was only 2010 when only Red Bull were doing it, besides, a few tweaks to the diffuser (I exaggerate a smidge) and bobs your uncle.

I think the overall high nose concept is something which Ross Brawn stated as the way forward in 2009, as it is the best way of feeding the diffuser, the exhaust piece made a big difference, but I am not sure so much of a difference that its removal will necessitate a complete change of philosophy.

I am however, only surmising. I would also add that the rule changes between last year and this did not require a wholesale change, but some teams made one.

there was a good piece by Gary Anderson about car design, very high level, but informative.

Also good to have friends in the know

 

[Lewywo4]

If this car has a very narrow operating window and difficult set -up, then having Jenson as the lead driver will be a double whammy. If it is an attempt to tune the car more to Buttons style, well it hasn't worked

It seems as though according to Jenson, designing a car around his style, may have been the way to go, but could be a contributing factor to the problems now facing the MP4-28. As Button said, " My input is massively important to how the car is and I've been able to do that with this car since half way through last year. That's what really gives me confidence for 2013 because the team has really listened to my direction ".....and....." It's far better to design a car around my style. And that's what we've tried with this car. "

 

[Il_leone]

well something did not correlate between the simulator and the wind tunnel at Mclaren

Can't believe they've got it that wrong

same problems Ferrari had in prevous years the testing data does not match the wind tunnel

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Difference is that Ferrari had a flawed system whereas McLaren had a massive oversight on the data they were inputing and using to test. One is technical and the other is more technical-operational, if that makes sense. McLaren's screw up seems much more of a fubar borne of poor decision making.