Vodafone McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes

[f1316]

Its clearly just going to be another refinement, perhaps different cascades on the FW inline with side pod differences maybe splitting the floor at the front to control the airflow under the car better?

Well, McLaren themselves are saying it's a big visual change to the sidepods, so....

Yes, and Lotus called their updates "interesting", which is lanaguage not usually used for refinements.

[matt_b]

I suspect it will be something very similar to what Torro Rosso have, as McLaren cannot raise the chassis during this season(which offers more aerodynamic improvement with more clean air). Instead they have to find other solutions to get more clean airflow from the front of the car to the rear diffuser, the Torro Rosso style fits this solution. Should be interesting to see what else they have brought along.

[Coefficient]

I suspect it will something very similar to what Torro Rosso have, as McLaren cannot raise the chassis during this season(which offers more aerodynamic improvement). Instead they have to find other solutions to get more airflow from the front of the car to the rear diffuser, the Torro Rosso style fits this solution. Should be interesting to see what else they have brought along.

I doubt they will have a double floor concept. If the rumours of tunnels are true I think it is more likely to be an extreme version of Red Bull's tunnel starting from the front of the sidepod. The STR concept clearly isn't working well enought to offset the C.O.G issues it creates so Mclaren are unlikely to do that IMHO. Happy to hold my hand up and admit buffoondom if I'm wrong but STR have had flow attachment issues with their concept so Macca would be brave to try it.

[godlameroso]

If they are making "inverted U pods" it's a brilliant execution of something that I've been considering for the last two years. Audi did this with their R15, and their DTM cars, it's actually odd to see F1 take this long to run with the concept. As usual though it appears RB was 'at that party' already. In fact it's the through body aero that is essentially the last place to get any decent aero gain seeing as the lack of regulations pertaining to most of the sidepod area.

[astracrazy]

All this talk of big visual changes to the sidepods and tunnels points to a red bull back end to me (but more extreme)....

but surely the cog issues simular to Toro Rosso will be created by inverted U pods?

[beelsebob]

All this talk of big visual changes to the sidepods and tunnels points to a red bull back end to me (but more extreme)....

It doesn't point to anything – scarbs litterally made the idea of inverted U pods up, it's an interesting idea though.

[matt_b]

If the rumours of tunnels are true I think it is more likely to be an extreme version of Red Bull's tunnel starting from the front of the sidepod

Wouldnt that require alterations to the rear and floor? Definitely sounds like a huge upgrade with plenty of time to be found.

[Holm86]

All this talk of big visual changes to the sidepods and tunnels points to a red bull back end to me (but more extreme)....

It doesn't point to anything – scarbs litterally made the idea of inverted U pods up, it's an interesting idea though.

And sounds like a packaging nightmare. And a high CoG.

[raymondu999]

They will be bringing "special" updates to ensure Hamilton victory for his 200th GP.

When did he sprout another 100? Did he inherit them somewhere?

No he's right... Mclaren will be bring the stepped nose/ raised chassis in another 100 races...

D'oh! My bad

[Coefficient]

All this talk of big visual changes to the sidepods and tunnels points to a red bull back end to me (but more extreme)....

but surely the cog issues simular to Toro Rosso will be created by inverted U pods?

It's not as extreme as an inverted U-Pod the way I invisage it in my tiny little mind. I would imagine a tunnel opening not much bigger than that of the Red Bull starting under the main sidepod opening. I doubt this would require much alteration to the sidepod internals or affect C.O.G much.

[otbsti]

If they are making "inverted U pods" it's a brilliant execution of something that I've been considering for the last two years. Audi did this with their R15, and their DTM cars, it's actually odd to see F1 take this long to run with the concept. As usual though it appears RB was 'at that party' already. In fact it's the through body aero that is essentially the last place to get any decent aero gain seeing as the lack of regulations pertaining to most of the sidepod area.

Good point... I'm also wondering why it's taken F1 teams so long to come to this concept. Perhaps because they have always had other ways to produce rear downforce that they considered to be less obtrusive??

[Owen.C93]

All this talk of big visual changes to the sidepods and tunnels points to a red bull back end to me (but more extreme)....

but surely the cog issues simular to Toro Rosso will be created by inverted U pods?

Whitmarsh said different sidepods front to rear.

[Huntresa]

They either shield of the cutout as i said in the Lotus E20 thread, or they just do u-sidepod upside down, not hard to imagine the U upside down rly, and they alrdy know how to package that so it shouldnt be diff upside down.

[rifrafs2kees]

They either shield of the cutout as i said in the Lotus E20 thread, or they just do u-sidepod upside down, not hard to imagine the U upside down rly, and they alrdy know how to package that so it shouldnt be diff upside down.

I had thought about this very concept weeks after the the mp4-26 release....the flow over the diffuser will be massive. Ultimately decided it would be a bad idea overall for the super high drag that will be incurred. Also it'll be a packaging nightmare....Cg could be high also. Wonder if someone can do a CFD study on this concept

[N12ck]

They either shield of the cutout as i said in the Lotus E20 thread, or they just do u-sidepod upside down, not hard to imagine the U upside down rly, and they alrdy know how to package that so it shouldnt be diff upside down.

I had thought about this very concept weeks after the the mp4-26 release....the flow over the diffuser will be massive. Ultimately decided it would be a bad idea overall for the super high drag that will be incurred. Also it'll be a packaging nightmare....Cg could be high also. Wonder if someone can do a CFD study on this concept

I wont run CFD on it, but I will run a flow simulation on it to see where the air goes, I already had this modelled on CAD ages ago, so I will publish some images soon