KimiRai wrote: ↑21 Oct 2023, 12:18
GoranF1 wrote: ↑21 Oct 2023, 08:15
So Peter Prodrumou is a better aerodynamics than Dan Fallows after all.
K1Plus wrote: ↑21 Oct 2023, 11:56
It wasn't, Peter was always better, just that he was sidelined while Key was at McL and didn't provide much input. That's why they decided to change the technical structure.
I'm interested to see what Fallows and Blandin have prepared for next year.
Lol, the nerves of some people. Ridiculous.
Having someone like Newey by your side guarantees you a great car, but not always the best. The best, for eight years, was at Mercedes, and the father of them all was Aldo Costa. Results come from many ingredients and the designer is a key one, but not the only one. Newey creates great cars because he has a specific team around him, a specific wind tunnel, a specific computer with many gigabytes that does the simulations, the CFD, the CAD design, the calculations, etc... The technical director is a piece on which other crucial elements pivot, but he is one of several and all of them have to work. Costa was sacked from Ferrari 'for not working'. He came to Mercedes and it worked. The key was not so much who was ultimately responsible, but all the technical and human tools at his fingertips.
Another glaring example that explains all is the Peter Prodromou you mentioned. This British engineer of Greek origin is very much in Newey's style. He drank from his knowledge for years, and according to many was an extension of him. Their ways of working are quite similar. Neither of them touches a computer, or at least not to project. Ideas flash in their brains at any time, and they pester the senior engineers at any time by saying "do this". It is the latter who are responsible for bringing to life the solutions, parts and designs born in the mastermind's head.
But many McLaren fans were throwing fireworks and uncorking sparkling wine to celebrate the successes to come in Woking thanks to his arrival back then. Well... er... since 15 October 2014, the day he was announced as the man ultimately responsible for the design, titles have not come, and victory has been just one. It was an Italian day in 2021 when the now defenestrated Daniel Ricciardo came first at Monza. The first victory of the Prodromou era took exactly seven seasons and one hundred and thirty-eight races to arrive. And it was the only one, without taking sprint races into account. The conclusion is simple and the evidence conclusive: signing a Newey's disciple won't give you strong results per se if you don't accompany it with more. And we are talking about complex mechanisms. Wind tunnels that take months and almost years to calibrate, co-engineering teams that have to dance to the same beat, a racing team that works, technology acquisition, simulators, measurement and testing systems, and a thousand other little details that bring the podium a little closer.