M840TR wrote:mclaren111 wrote: ↑26 Mar 2019, 14:05
M840TR wrote: ↑26 Mar 2019, 12:16
Packaging, sidepods, bargeboards etc etc.
Sorry to be a stickler...Those are just differently shaped to last year...
Philosophy = A theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for ideas, notions and doctrines...
Thus, I still don't know what MCL34's new philosophies are...
Alright. Main changes:
Packaging: Previous philosophy for Mcl32 & Mcl33 were focused on CoG. All the weight was at the bottom with a vacancy on top. This obviously wasn't good for aero as the bulky sidepods blocked air moving towards the diffuser and cleared it for the rear wing. Hence the drag issue. This year is the opposite; aero over CoG.
Sidepods: Moved back to be less sensitive from tyre wake. Crash structure moved up to widen the undercut.
Bargeboards: Longer this year which lessens drag and manages tyre wake better - hence no diffuser stall in corners - which was apparently one of Mcl33's main issue.
The only concept carried over from last year is the nose and rear suspension; rest are regulation based changes like front & rear wing etc.
That is a great post!
I guess we need to add the following:
A) Front suspension: The team is now using a raised front suspension, which will require a few races to understand it’s behavior and reaction to changes at the track.
B) Sidepods: It is important to note that the upper crash beams have actually been moved to the “lowest” position, with the sidepod now residing a top of it (when one is looking a picture of the front of car, the portion below the side pod that extends into the bargeboard (black) is the crash beam)... This changes not only how the car gets cooling, but most importantly how air moves on top and below the Sidepod “entrance” which is wider than in previous year
C) Rake: I had my suspicious based on the initial renderings, but the car seemed to have less rake than in previous years... This is a “massive” change in regards to air management through the car and a surprising one since the tendency was to use high rakes, Mclaren has had a high rake / short wheel base for most of the hybrid era... Even though they haven’t gone to a Mercedes concept (long wheel base low rake), they are closer to it today than to Red Bull (actually, in this regard Ferrari is the closest concept for them).
D) Wheel Base: The car has grown in regards to last year and this will also have an effect in how they manage air around the car.
All of the above changes (adding the ones for Packaging, Bargeboards and Sidepods) imply a very different way of managing air around the car and how the car is setup... If we think about the rest of the teams, their aero concepts or philosophies have been maintained from previous season with the obvious introduction of the new wings and some tweaks, but for the most part same philosophies in regards to how the air is managed towards the back of the car (an example of this is Racing Point, which during testing used a 2018 car with some 2019 parts during testing and wasn’t way off the pace).
The change in concept / philosophy for the team implies that they will have an slow start of the season since they have to learn and understand it’s behavior, if the car starts reacting the way they expect it to changes in setup and the parts coming in, that means that the concept works and their rate of development and improvement should be very interesting (which is encouraging considering that they are in the mix with the midfield at this point).
I have a theory on what is causing the balance problems for Mclaren and if I’m right, they will fix it and once they do, they should/could make a big leap in times / positions.
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