A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
What do you think about my overall thesis that they are just that much ahead of other teams and that them not having plank issues is indicative of this?
They don't have one silver-bullet, rather a number of smaller innovations that add up to greatness. The unique front suspension geometry that protects the tires while providing aero benefits. The fantastic heat management of the rear brakes, which is probably from piping extra cooling air through the suspension/driveline shrouds. I'm sure they are at the cutting edge of bumpstop technology as well. Much of this is focused on improving tire life, which they correctly assessed as being the last aspect of this formula with much room for development.
This rise to the top also coincides with their new wind-tunnel coming online, so they are probably getting a meaningful advantage there. And Andrea Stella leads this team as an engineer with intellectual humility rare in this glamorous, ego-driven sport. I'm not surprised he brought some NASCAR guys over to pick their brains, could you imagine Pierre Wache doing such a thing?
Another amazing drawing by ohad_bark: A look at McLaren’s floor edge evolution over the past two seasons.
There’s a clear trend: the design has become increasingly aggressive, with sharper steps and vortex-generating geometry to better control outboard airflow.
Note: Sorry for the quality but is taken form his instagram account.
I mentioned in the team thread that there are a few unique features to the new edge wing on the new floor.
I don’t recall seeing the shape of the last ‘wave’ of the edge wing on any other car and the integration of the brackets are sublime.
I remember looking at Red Bulls floor in 2022 and thinking how far ahead they were with the black (carbon fibre?) brackets compared to the metal brackets on the Mclaren.
Now McLaren have surpassed not only Red Bull the entire grid! They are using the black brackets as part of the overall shape of the edge wing, others are following suit but are still using metal brackets.
Credit to Red Bull I believe their latest floor is the closest to the McLaren from a manufacturing point of view
No offense to those on this thread or this forum but I have to say that we are hitting a low when we talk about a barely discernable bulge. While much of it is standardized from the manufacturers, I'm more interested in what makes F1 "the pinnacle" of motorsports. Things like what McLaren hopes to gain by making their own gearbox, clutching systems that smoothly engage the regen system without upsetting the brake balance near the limit at corner entry, similarly how the electric motors are engaged without upsetting balance or traction. How fuel flow limits are enforced when there is recirculation to the sump tank and a team could take advantage of a brief period where the sump tank gets depleted faster than the flow limit but it soon gets replenished during breaking or partial throttle. Is there a limit on the size of the sump tank? Exactly what is going on with the air flow in these complex brake drums? What about adjusting tire toe-in at the rear to keep heat in the tires at cold races? What about the mysterious world of bumpstops? What about the delicate balance of sidepod inlets and rear "cannon exits" where too much air flow will destroy the air adhesion to the bottom of the rear wing but too little flow will "spill over" the inlets creating weird flows that don't get properly "tamed" or managed by the time it gets to the rear wheel wake and rear wing performance/efficiency gets compromised? (Think of an overflowing bucket) Explain how the kingpin angle affects castor throughout the suspension range of movement. What other mysteries lie under the skin of the engine cover? What things affect intercooler efficiency? What about the science of cooling fluids? What about differentials, torque-steer, corner entrance properties of car rotation? And lastly, exactly what do all those buttons on the steering wheel do? What does "mode 5, setting 3" mean etc.? To me these things are what makes F1 "the pinnacle" and these challenges are what attracts the manufacturers to experiment. If F1 returns to V8s or V10s, then the manufacturers will turn to LMP1 or "hypercar" as the place to experiment and F1 will no longer be "the pinnacle".
These things, real engineering things, are what I'm looking for when I visit a website that bears the name "F1 technical"
Frankly I'm not very much interested in a 10mm change to the shape of the barge-board, a new "flow conditioner" fin or a purported "vortex generator" that looks indecipherably different from the previous one.
Innovation over refinement is the prefered path to performance. -- Get rid of the dopey regs in F1
No offense to those on this thread or this forum but I have to say that we are hitting a low when we talk about a barely discernable bulge. While much of it is standardized from the manufacturers, I'm more interested in what makes F1 "the pinnacle" of motorsports. Things like what McLaren hopes to gain by making their own gearbox, clutching systems that smoothly engage the regen system without upsetting the brake balance near the limit at corner entry, similarly how the electric motors are engaged without upsetting balance or traction. How fuel flow limits are enforced when there is recirculation to the sump tank and a team could take advantage of a brief period where the sump tank gets depleted faster than the flow limit but it soon gets replenished during breaking or partial throttle. Is there a limit on the size of the sump tank? Exactly what is going on with the air flow in these complex brake drums? What about adjusting tire toe-in at the rear to keep heat in the tires at cold races? What about the mysterious world of bumpstops? What about the delicate balance of sidepod inlets and rear "cannon exits" where too much air flow will destroy the air adhesion to the bottom of the rear wing but too little flow will "spill over" the inlets creating weird flows that don't get properly "tamed" or managed by the time it gets to the rear wheel wake and rear wing performance/efficiency gets compromised? (Think of an overflowing bucket) Explain how the kingpin angle affects castor throughout the suspension range of movement. What other mysteries lie under the skin of the engine cover? What things affect intercooler efficiency? What about the science of cooling fluids? What about differentials, torque-steer, corner entrance properties of car rotation? And lastly, exactly what do all those buttons on the steering wheel do? What does "mode 5, setting 3" mean etc.? To me these things are what makes F1 "the pinnacle" and these challenges are what attracts the manufacturers to experiment. If F1 returns to V8s or V10s, then the manufacturers will turn to LMP1 or "hypercar" as the place to experiment and F1 will no longer be "the pinnacle".
These things, real engineering things, are what I'm looking for when I visit a website that bears the name "F1 technical"
Frankly I'm not very much interested in a 10mm change to the shape of the barge-board, a new "flow conditioner" fin or a purported "vortex generator" that looks indecipherably different from the previous one.
Good luck with that... F1 teams are known for sharing their secrets...
What's secret about kingpin angles affecting castor? About bumpstops? About cooling fluid efficiency? About intercooler efficiency? About the challenges of clutching regen systems or electric motor deployment? About rear tire toe-in? About all the steering wheel buttons that we see on camera for the entire race? About the science of differentials? Much is secret, but much is not. We only speculate about these flow conditioning fins and vortex generators, why not speculate about inlet spill over vs cannon exit under wing adhesion? I'm afraid we are majoring on the minors. Oooh look, there is a 10cm bulge that was 8cm last race... Arrrrrgh!
Innovation over refinement is the prefered path to performance. -- Get rid of the dopey regs in F1
