2018 McLaren F1 Team - Renault

[adrianjordan]

No and you aren't either so step down from your high horse.

Mercedes put a lot of very early work into their 2014 car, Honda into the 2009 car. So enough of your crap.

By the end of 2019 when McLaren are still nowhere it will become a realistic option to increase focus on 2021.

One thing you don't understand for sure is that teams do think that far ahead no matter what situation they are in.

Mate, the 2021 regs aren't even final yet.

There's always the crystal ball...

I thought Merc had that and that's why people gave them so much stick for not waiting another lap to pit Hamilton once it rained.... Or maybe they did and that's how they knew that his tyres would do the trick anyway....

[alexx_88]

Really, how optimistic can we be for 2019? They haven't fundamentally altered the structure of their technical team, so why would the 2019 car be so much better than the 2018 effort of the same people? The only one who left was Goss, but they haven't brought anyone new to replace him afaik.

[adrianjordan]

Quick thought. I read over in the TR team that Honda will be allowed to bring updates as often as they can regardless of penalties...

Should Mclaren say to Renault, give Stoffel development PU and we'll run them for you to help improve the PU quicker for next year.

Fernando is bringing in the bulk of the points at the moment anyway, so would it be a worthwhile sacrifice?

[diffuser]

12e4

[diffuser]

Based on what we saw them testing in Germany. I think we're gonna see a bargeboad/midwing update. Maybe even t-tray and front wing.

I didn't see any new bargeboard & midwing parts in Germany. Development starts at the front, always. That's why they were testing FW and brake ducts mostly. Maybe a new floor too.

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

[Big Tea]

I think they will have turned the corner now because they have changed the way they are talking, and hopefully thinking.
It has been viewed as everything was alright they just needed this one big holey grail upgrade and they would win again.

They now realise what most saw and are looking to make incremental steps building on what they have right.
The big stumbling block was not accepting things were not right. Once they stabilise the design, they have a wealth of development that did not work due to basic faults, so they can probably bring more than one back at each test session and make ground every race.

[M840TR]

Based on what we saw them testing in Germany. I think we're gonna see a bargeboad/midwing update. Maybe even t-tray and front wing.

I didn't see any new bargeboard & midwing parts in Germany. Development starts at the front, always. That's why they were testing FW and brake ducts mostly. Maybe a new floor too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

[RonDennis]

All i hear is a yet to be identified aero issue, which is also a statement from a journo. I guess the truth will out at somepoint.

Well according to the guy from McLaren they've made some good progress on finding out what went wrong. Zak Brown said in Germany that the car has several problems, which probably means it's fundamentally flawed. So I would expect that they're fully switching to 2019 quite soon, because you can't polish a turd.

I don't think McLaren can improve much if any this year. Their next chance will be 2021 where hopefully the new rules will shake everything up and McLaren concentrate on the 2021 car very early. Also hopefully by that time Renault have a better engine or McLaren change to a better engine by a new manufacturer.

It is not looking good for the next few years.

Working on the 2021 car, I'm glad you ain't running a racing team.

Not that it matters much, but anyone knows why, under the safety car period, Alonso was not allowed to unlap himself?

He was 2 laps down.

No and you aren't either so step down from your high horse.

Mercedes put a lot of very early work into their 2014 car, Honda into the 2009 car. So enough of your crap.

By the end of 2019 when McLaren are still nowhere it will become a realistic option to increase focus on 2021.

One thing you don't understand for sure is that teams do think that far ahead no matter what situation they are in.

They're using a new front wing in 2019, so it's probably important to get that right instead of aiming for a year without any rules. So enough of your crap of throwing away another two years. This car is fundamentally flawed and I don't see any reasons why they shouldn't be able to fix their problems. If they can't do it next year, why should they be able to do it two years later. If you're talking about wins and podiums, yeah that's not going to happen any time soon, at least not based on pure pace.

I didn't see any new bargeboard & midwing parts in Germany. Development starts at the front, always. That's why they were testing FW and brake ducts mostly. Maybe a new floor too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg7gZtJW4AEZw5B.jpg:large

As far as I know they only introduced a couple of small new parts. More parts for a new concept should arrive in Hungary according to various Spanish sources.

[Xero]

I didn't see any new bargeboard & midwing parts in Germany. Development starts at the front, always. That's why they were testing FW and brake ducts mostly. Maybe a new floor too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg7gZtJW4AEZw5B.jpg:large

Are you sure? Looks different to me. The tallest element extends up beyond the attachment section for the canard. The rest looks identical though.

[M840TR]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg7gZtJW4AEZw5B.jpg:large

Are you sure? Looks different to me. The tallest element extends up beyond the attachment section for the canard. The rest looks identical though.

It's just the angle of the two photos that makes it seem so.

[M840TR]

Well according to the guy from McLaren they've made some good progress on finding out what went wrong. Zak Brown said in Germany that the car has several problems, which probably means it's fundamentally flawed. So I would expect that they're fully switching to 2019 quite soon, because you can't polish a turd.




Working on the 2021 car, I'm glad you ain't running a racing team.





He was 2 laps down.

No and you aren't either so step down from your high horse.

Mercedes put a lot of very early work into their 2014 car, Honda into the 2009 car. So enough of your crap.

By the end of 2019 when McLaren are still nowhere it will become a realistic option to increase focus on 2021.

One thing you don't understand for sure is that teams do think that far ahead no matter what situation they are in.

They're using a new front wing in 2019, so it's probably important to get that right instead of aiming for a year without any rules. So enough of your crap of throwing away another two years. This car is fundamentally flawed and I don't see any reasons why they shouldn't be able to fix their problems. If they can't do it next year, why should they be able to do it two years later. If you're talking about wins and podiums, yeah that's not going to happen any time soon, at least not based on pure pace.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg7gZtJW4AEZw5B.jpg:large

As far as I know they only introduced a couple of small new parts. More parts for a new concept should arrive in Hungary according to various Spanish sources.

We will know come Thursday. All they said was that it was a big or relatively bigger upgrade.

[Jolle]

Every big team is spreading its development over several years. Of course there are two main parts of the car (when you are not making your own PU) mechanics and aero. Aero development is very dependent of specific rules and is limited in the amount of CFD and tunnel time. This is developed new every rule period and then tweaked and developed over that period of rules. No team will put any serious time in 2021 aero. Not only don’t they have any clear vision of the rules, all time could be wasted and not used on the 2017-2020 car.

Mechanics is very different. Some designs are used for several years. Like small things, steering racks, peddles, and are redesigned after a while. Other more complex and inovating designs can take several years of development. In this area it’s quite possible the big teams are already working on 2020 and beyond components. Like new suspension ideas or cooling solutions.

It’s not like the whole design team shifts work one day from 2018 to 2019. At a team like McLaren there are several groups of engineers with a set time window and area, from 2018 up to 2021 and beyond. It’s more the question “How much CFD and funnel is going into the ‘18 and how much in the ‘19 car”

[diffuser]

I didn't see any new bargeboard & midwing parts in Germany. Development starts at the front, always. That's why they were testing FW and brake ducts mostly. Maybe a new floor too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg7gZtJW4AEZw5B.jpg:large

Maybe, I'm hoping they're replacing the split carbon fiber for a steal rod cause they're going to change all that.

[M840TR]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiihmJBXcAAEOZO.jpg

They look to have modified the chicken wing in that picture too .

It's the same. They just removed that quasi canard up top and put flo-viz. If there's anywhere I'm expecting an upgrade it's the floor leading edge and area behing bargeboard to guide air underneath the floor and towards diffuser.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg7gZtJW4AEZw5B.jpg:large

Maybe, I'm hoping they're replacing the split carbon fiber for a steal rod cause they're going to change all that.

The steel rod is only for structural support. The canard is a actually a pretty clever element (Renault, Ferrari etc have variation of the same concept) that catches air up top and directs it to the undercut. It's probably not what's hurting them but a little aero testing never hurts so they removed to see its effect.

[diffuser]

Right, the metal bar is only for support. If you go back into the RBR midwing/Bargeboard build up. It start with a support like added.