2024 Mclaren Formula 1 Team

[mwillems]

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... .%E2%80%9D

An extremely strong response for "those believing their own BS" that the rear wing made anything more than a minor difference.

[Farnborough]

Interesting they changed it on the fly to specifically counter front .? graining. Speculation, but likely would incorporate brake balance further forward, no coast into brake zone, higher diff locking possible in corner in trying to "push" front of chassis into front tire "conflict" mildly.

Hard application of brake with front bias (this is what "brake magic" did ) to generate more wheel temperature, lateral understeer to promote more tire temp, combination too bring up overall wheel & tire assembly in to sweet spot and reduce graining.

Another parallel tidbit: no (or not many) lockups going into corners on race day (or on cold tyres coming out of the pits), versus lots of lockups in practice, from a wide range of drivers and teams. Brake bias adjustments for that would be further to the rear normally? Obviously factoring out adjusting the braking point and driver skill.

It was interesting to hear views from the team perspective in trying form actions in countering this aspect of tire compromise.

Its using MV example (in a McL thread, but with purpose) in Brazil how he changed from dry track norm to really lengthening the brake phase, rolling in from far out with gentle application, pulling downchanges very slowly to give rear bias and stability under low grip condition, this to effect fine balance at turn #1 in passing others including OP. There was more coverage of him to appreciate this shift in driving, and easy to use it as illustration.

I didn't see anything much of Lando in car at Las Vegas, to appreciate what he changed, hence my projection of what's available to the driver ultimately. Late braking severity, possibly sharply cascading downshift to rotate in final phase of corner entry, all could be method used to shift emphasis. Bring front temps up into range though pays big dividend in driver confidence, then into significant pace enhancing exponential loop as it just gets faster with risk then starting to drop away.

Something I saw in FP1 or 2 (couldn't find clip again) was OP with right rear hanging "on the line" as left turn approach initiated, to just and only just rub the barrier on approach to corner entry, not even comments about it but oh so good to see a driver tread that fine taunting line as he gets the chassis moving around in those confines. He has my admiration certainly.

[venkyhere]

I don't know whether it's already been discussed, but something 'non-ignorable' worth noting :
Piastri finished +8s behind Norris, despite Norris having an extra 22s pitstop, so actually it's a +30s. That's nearly 0.6s per lap, on race pace, over a 50 lap race.

How did he fall so far back ?
Stella mentioned how they went for extreme changes using the steering wheel and Norris had to change his driving style, to post laptimes similar to the leaders, on the final H stint. My guess is that this is where the difference lies, in that Norris was able to hustle the car with the new settings, whilst Piastri wasn't.
It wasn't as if one guy had free air and the other was caught up behind slower traffic. They both were one behind the other, from very early in the race, weren't they ?

[Ben1980]

I'm not at all techy. But my query on the amendedments to all rear wings, why design it as it was if negligible impact? Or were they designed as they were changed to, but with the "trick" knowing it can be sorted.

I would expect the team to downplay it's impact though.