Vodafone McLaren Team 2012

[Red Schneider]

Behold, the godlike powers of the McLaren F1 pit crew.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100738

Autosport

After much focus on the team's performances in the pits this year, the McLaren pit crew completed a 2.6-second stop at Lewis Hamilton's first stop in Valencia to set a new benchmark in F1.

...

"The guys are ignoring all the criticism, because they know they are good and we already had the fastest stationary time in Montreal before the Valencia performance," Michael told AUTOSPORT.

[ajdavison2]

Except that it was 2.9.. 0.3 seconds is a big exaggeration in f1..

[stefan_]

I am sure that I saw 2.9 on the fast one. 2.6 is a little bit exagerated - maybe they can make 2.6 if they forget to put a wheel on or something; after all, we are talking about the guys that have a bigger percentage in screwed up pit stops rather than good ones.

[Nando]

I thought the actual pit stop was 2.6 then Hamilton´s reaction time was the 0.3s

[beelsebob]

I thought the actual pit stop was 2.6 then Hamilton´s reaction time was the 0.3s

The article asserts 2.3 then 0.3, it seems they got it all one reaction time shifted.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I know this is going to light X's fire and all, but McLaren are studying Ferrari's pull rod front suspension and possibly use the same in 2013. It should be said that OmniCorse hasn't been in the rumor business much if at all this year so if they're reporting it, they have a good source.
Some of us know how funny this is because the pull rod front suspension was supposed to be the cause(or much of it) of the F2012's problems, but we now that this to be completely incorrect. That said, I can see more than just McLaren switching over in 2013.


http://www.omnicorse.it/magazine/19282/ ... la-ferrari

[Speedster]

What would be the supposed advantage of a pull-rod vs push-rod suspension? I get the technology, but why would a team want to change to it?

[Red Schneider]

Off the top of my head, aero benefits and lower center of gravity, I believe.

[Paul]

It might also be a head start with development for 2014 with its lower chassis.

[raymondu999]

I think at the front, aero benefits will be minimal. The primary aero benefit at the rear, as I understand it - is down to the fact that the chassis at the rear can end lower. (If they were pushrods, they would have to have SOMETHING to hold the rockers up high - which the pullrod doesn't need) CofG will be my call.

[QLDriver]

Well - clearly McLaren have made an improvement on their pitstops, with Jenson and Lewis topping the timesheets for net pitstop times, and for individual pitstops.

Shame about the car performance!

[raymondu999]

I don't think McLaren were as slow as the results suggested, in terms of the underying "core" pace. Someone brought up to me a theory. McLaren have generally been very data/academically driven as a team, and due to that, they're not used to making up for lost data, and not react as quickly, and so the lack of dry running hampered them. Thoughts?

Im sure someone could probably shoot this down with a recent example, though they escape me right now...

[QLDriver]

I would agree that Silverstone has the potential to be an outlier. Given that no one had good data or setup time, it follows that the setups used in the race had to be based on old data from previous races. Some did better than others. I think McLaren are off the leading pace right now but I don't think the sky is falling!

[Vanja #66]

I have been reading text stating that when Vodafone steps out, Coca-Cola will step in as McLaren's top sponsor... Does anyone else have some other information on that?

[raymondu999]

Are Coca Cola already sponsoring them? I don't suspect Coca Cola will be too happy, with Lucozade having a massive logo on the rear wing...