McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[Pierce89]

Scarbs explains the new rear wing: http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/07/1 ... rear-wing/

Been thinking about this a bit, I'm confused.
I looked at the speeds at silverstone and they are in the ballpark compared to other cars and scarbs also says the car is roughly on the pace with regard to top speeds... so efforts to make the DRS more efficient are only going to increase that.. but the car (as it stands) is some distance behind the RBR, so how will making the DRS better help overall lap time ? Maybe its a gamble to try and qualify higher, and try to keep the competition behind through the race ? surely thats optimistic though as the car would have to defend with no DRS vs a following car running DRS ? there must be an improvement on the performance when DRS isn't deployed as well ?

The other changes are obviously trying to improve the wing - the slots are more intricate and must of taken quite a bit of effort in the wind tunnel/modelling stages to come up with such a specific design.
The removal of the pillar must also clean up the air as it exits the rear of the car and I guess improve the air speed too ?

I'm far from an expert on aero, but I'd like to understand it more.

The reason for the new DRS is to get closer to Red Bull in qualifying where it's use is unlimited. In race pace they've already been there or therabouts. Qulaifying is where they get beaten. If Lewis could get a pole the race pace would be there for the win. Mclaren's main problem however is the RED RESURGENCE baby.

Yep, but say one of them gets pole by a tenth or two, with no DRS the RBR/Ferrari would be examining his gearbox, into DRS zone and theres no way you could defend.. The only way this would work is if the new wing is better when DRS isn't deployed, so they could stay close to the car thats just overtaken and keep swapping for the lead and hopefully jump them in the pit stops ?

I don't think you're giving Mclaren's race pace enough credit. From the lead, Hamilton or Alonso can KILL vettel. The RB7 seems to flounder in annother car's wake.

[Crafty]

I don't think you're giving Mclaren's race pace enough credit. From the lead, Hamilton or Alonso can KILL vettel. The RB7 seems to flounder in annother car's wake.

hmm, Webber didn't seem to flounder behind cars in China..

McLaren race pace is good but I'm not sure its on the pace of the RBR. Ferrari is still a bit of an unknown, I think they've made progress but I think they were also helped by the EBD removal at Silverstone.

I think McLaren are probably a bit smarter at strategy.

[siwillems]

I don't think you're giving Mclaren's race pace enough credit. From the lead, Hamilton or Alonso can KILL vettel. The RB7 seems to flounder in annother car's wake.

hmm, Webber didn't seem to flounder behind cars in China..

McLaren race pace is good but I'm not sure its on the pace of the RBR. Ferrari is still a bit of an unknown, I think they've made progress but I think they were also helped by the EBD removal at Silverstone.

I think McLaren are probably a bit smarter at strategy.

Not sure i would agree with you there.

[SiLo]

Well they are, but they make more mistakes. 6 and two 3's really.

[timbo]

McLaren looks VERY stiff in FP1.

[ajdavison2]

Also they both appear to be running the old rear wing towards the end of the session

[Florio]

It's quite spectacular to see how many upgrades McLaren bring that don't work at all. Unless it was for comparisons. But still, throughout alot of the season, theres been many times the car is almost identical to the race before, as none of the upgrades actually work.

[PlatinumZealot]

any pictures?

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

1417: Ferrari tell Fernando Alonso to come into the pits so that they can fit in a four-lap run on the primes before the end of the session. Meanwhile, BBC pit-lane reporter Natalie Pinkham reports that Jenson Button was running with a one-off test exhaust, which failed, and his session is over as they have not got the time to change it back over.

Octopus exhaust ?

[Coefficient]

1417: Ferrari tell Fernando Alonso to come into the pits so that they can fit in a four-lap run on the primes before the end of the session. Meanwhile, BBC pit-lane reporter Natalie Pinkham reports that Jenson Button was running with a one-off test exhaust, which failed, and his session is over as they have not got the time to change it back over.

Octopus exhaust ?

Doubtful, more likely a refinement of the existing format, possibly incorporating the Jet Pinch as seen on the Merc outlet.

[matt21]

[PlatinumZealot]

Why you guys no pics?

[Byronrhys]

Why you guys no pics?

I'll post a few is no one doesn't.

[MuseF1]

Anybody got a pic of the new rear wing they tested in fp1? it looks like they have changed the slits on the rear wing endplate extensions from vertical to diagonal, but its hard to tell for sure when the cars on track

[thestig84]

Only remotely interesting picture I have found so far...