2017 Rules Based On "McLaren" concept???

[SR71]

Just posing a question to the F1T community as I've been reading comments but haven't seen any source.

On several websites I've read that the technical and body work regulations for 2017 are being based on a concept put forward by McLaren. Now I can understand that teams could develop concepts and submit them for review and regulation adoption. It does lead me to a few questions:

1) is this even true? Does anyone have a source or are these just rumors?

2) if true, was Mclaren asked to create a vision concept? Were multiple teams asked

3) if true, what kind of advantage does this give Mclaren? They could be years ahead in development. Is this the big promise Ron gave to Alonso?

Any information would be great!

Thanks,
SR71

[godlameroso]

If it is true, knowing Mclaren and the way they operate, plus Alonso's luck I wouldn't be surprised if it backfired on them. I also heard that it was a joint proposal between Red Bull and McLaren. In any case I think the whole thing is silly, the new formula is still young. It's taken F1 3 years to get the top cars back to levels seen in 2012 with more power and stickier more durable tires and slightly more weight, goes to show how powerful those blown diffusers were. I think a clever suspension isn't enough to replicate it, and the chassis on it's own can't develop that kind of slow speed downforce that they could with the blown diffusers. So yeah McLaren may have a leg up on a good chassis design, but I have a feeling that it won't be enough because there's something other teams do that Mclaren doesn't that gives them an edge in slow speed downforce. It's not exhaust blown diffuser, but there is some blowing going on.

[Jolle]

Any concept would be no more then a couple of weeks of development. So if there is something of an advantage, that's about it.

[McMrocks]

I doubt that McLaren started developing a car for these rules for years with the uncertainity whether the teams agree on this concept.

Other than that i doubt that the other teams had agreed if it gave a big advantage to McLaren.

And if i remember correctly the "McLaren concept" is just a watered down version of the initial plan that was denied by Pirelli.

[mclaren111]

You are 100% correct McMrocks =D>

[Gaz.]

Mclaren providing SECUs didn't give them an advantage either. To be fair they are probably the straightest team on the grid when it comes to this kind of thing.

[bhall II]

Mclaren providing SECUs didn't give them an advantage either. To be fair they are probably the straightest team on the grid when it comes to this kind of thing.

...except for that whole "Spygate" thing in 2008.

In any case, "authorship" of the rules doesn't necessarily confer an advantage. The three teams represented in the OWG - Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault - suffered mightily when those rules were implemented, reportedly because they interpreted the new rules as intended, while the other teams interpreted the rules as written. That outsider perspective enabled Honda/Brawn, Williams, and Toyota to identify the loopholes that allowed double-diffusers, components the OWG - thus Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault - had no intention of creating.

[Jolle]

Mclaren providing SECUs didn't give them an advantage either. To be fair they are probably the straightest team on the grid when it comes to this kind of thing.

...except for that whole "Spygate" thing in 2008.

In any case, "authorship" of the rules doesn't necessarily confer an advantage. The three teams represented in the OWG - Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault - suffered mightily when those rules were implemented, reportedly because they interpreted the new rules as intended, while the other teams interpreted the rules as written. That outsider perspective enabled Honda/Brawn, Williams, and Toyota to identify the loopholes that allowed double-diffusers, components the OWG - thus Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault - had no intention of creating.

If my memory serves me well, McLaren even did most of winter testing with an 2008 rear wing because they couldn't get enough DF form the new one, giving the car an awkward balance problem.

[Just_a_fan]

That outsider perspective enabled Honda/Brawn, Williams, and Toyota to identify the loopholes that allowed double-diffusers, components the OWG - thus Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault - had no intention of creating.

I seem to remember Brawn saying that the loophole was actually pointed out to them by either him or Williams. Nothing was done by TPTB and the rest is history.

[bhall II]

Brawn said certain rules were open to interpretation. It was ignored, because most teams were already in the advanced stages of development for 2009, and no one wanted to backtrack.

[aterren]

There was a really good interview / podcast with Ross Brawn published last month. I would highly recommend it. https://www.acast.com/motorsportmagazin ... motorsport

[Thunder]

Not really a McLaren Concept.

The original Concept was from Red Bull (2m wide Cars with 1,80m wide Bodywork). Merc and Pirelli lobbied against it and the Concept was watered down to 1,40m wide Bodywork. McLaren simply brought forward that maybe a compromise (1,60m wide Bodywork) would be the way forward. And that was decided.

[godlameroso]

I thought body work was still 1400mm wide but the floor will now be 1600mm

[SR71]

Not really a McLaren Concept.

The original Concept was from Red Bull (2m wide Cars with 1,80m wide Bodywork). Merc and Pirelli lobbied against it and the Concept was watered down to 1,40m wide Bodywork. McLaren simply brought forward that maybe a compromise (1,60m wide Bodywork) would be the way forward. And that was decided.

Awesome, thanks so much for that info. Actually thanks to everyone, I think this is a pretty interesting technical story.... would love to know more.

[SR71]

There was a really good interview / podcast with Ross Brawn published last month. I would highly recommend it. https://www.acast.com/motorsportmagazin ... motorsport

+1 if i could...