Mclaren Mercedes MP4-25

[ringo]

They probably don't mind glances of the diffuser,but they may have a problem with detailed pics of the inside of the diffuser by the spectators above the pit lane.

The times seem respectable this time around. It seems Mclaren know they have the speed, and are focused on having good foundation for further development mid season. I have no doubt in my mind about this car's competitiveness.
Can't wait till driver #2 gets in the car tomorrow; though he may misrepresent the car's true speed by a couple tenths.

[vall]

They probably don't mind glances of the diffuser,but they may have a problem with detailed pics of the inside of the diffuser by the spectators above the pit lane.

The times seem respectable this time around. It seems Mclaren know they have the speed, and are focused on having good foundation for further development mid season. I have no doubt in my mind about this car's competitiveness.
Can't wait till driver #2 gets in the car tomorrow; though he may misrepresent the car's true speed by a couple tenths.

it is still far from 6 tenths

[outer_bongolia]

Isn't Button sitting still too high compared to Hammy? His helmet looks like its still covering the lower holes and halfway up to the upper one.

[ringo]

They probably don't mind glances of the diffuser,but they may have a problem with detailed pics of the inside of the diffuser by the spectators above the pit lane.

The times seem respectable this time around. It seems Mclaren know they have the speed, and are focused on having good foundation for further development mid season. I have no doubt in my mind about this car's competitiveness.
Can't wait till driver #2 gets in the car tomorrow; though he may misrepresent the car's true speed by a couple tenths.

it is still far from 6 tenths

I am expecting the Ferarri to be be slower by 6 tenths when Massa steps in.

[myurr]

Is that hole in the back of the wing mirror new?

Edit: pinhole camera to look at tyre temps / wear maybe?

[countersteer]

http://twitpic.com/12lyuj

Diffuser? note that they covered the rear wing too. hmmmm...

[segedunum]

Says who?

Says what they've actually done, if you follow the test action. Button and McLaren spent the best part of three hours having only done a handful of laps this morning. They didn't do that for nothing. The fact remains that they're still using those devices and the paint for a reason, and it's a point of discussion. There is no reason to be defensive about it.

....and look like they're the team with the new aero ideas and not your beloved Red Bull.

[-X I did think we'd be able to keep some objectivity and state why we believe the things we do and not act like children, but apparently we can't.

RB's aero is proven. Balance and packaging is going to be everything this year with 70 kilos of fuel hurtling around under several Gs of force and the odds are you're not going to do handle that well with something that looks like a pregnant whale, even with a diffuser the size of Brazil. People are getting too excited about so-called 'radical ideas' and the size of their diffusers - which McLaren appear to still be doing R and D on. If you have an idea as to what they're doing beyond "It's all normal and there's nothing wrong" then I'm all ears.

McLaren are known for being a well organised, meticulous F1 team.

Sounds like something straight out of the marketing department...... Sadly, it still doesn't answer the question as to what they're doing. Which is why, of course, they haven't won a constructor's championship for over ten years and barely scraped a driver's championship in that time having been in a prime position to walk it, and win others. I'm afraid that's not personal - they're facts.

It might well all be over now as I've predicted unfortunately. They have a proven, winning car that they've already tested much of last season and the way they've packaged the car with the additional fuel alone suggests to me that they might well run and hide. It could well take other teams the best part of a year to catch up with that, and many of them might need to design new cars...

With quotes like that I'm not sure how much objective insight you feel you're going to be able to give as to what McLaren should or shouldn't be doing, and how much trouble you feel they're already in.

Nice that you ferreted around for something you think helps you. Yep, and I stated why I thought that, and I don't mind re-quoting it - Red Bull were a long way ahead speed-wise at the end of last season and the other teams were, and are, playing catch-up with the continuity they have. Do we deny that they weren't now to avoid hurting peoples' feelings?

Continuity pays with the state of the regulations as they are, and radical and 'edgy' new concepts are going to take development and testing time that teams haven't got. That's the point being made. Ferrari have certainly hit the ground running in that respect and surprised me, and no, they're not exactly my absolutely favourite team.

[SZ]

segedunum, consider a few things;

The testing times so far have been all over the place. There's really no understanding as to who's immediately quick and who's not. The only thing for sure is that one certain team with a car devoid of sponsors is likely baiting for them on low fuel more than any other team, and that's about it.

ALL TEAMS use flow viz paint, most simply mix it such that it's not visible in in daylight.

A team is in trouble when they're making rushed modifications to parts ahead of what they've got available in their development program, and so far, everything McLaren's put on the car is tooled bar playing with the aperture for their second duct, which is a likely small effect anyway.

The effect of the new front tyres requires an analytical approach anyway. Different teams will do it differently.

RBR's aero is far from proven. The car is yet to set the world on fire save for what it did last year, and the same rule changes that affect McLaren's chances affect RBR's.

All I can see of McLaren is that they're tracking flow phenomena from the front wing endplates and obtaining a tyre wake plot, which is pretty essential for validating CFD modelling. If their car isn't performing as they'd like it's certainly not yet obvious

Until teams start printing just how much fuel they're running in testing, with unknown variances exceeding 150kg I'd not yet be too quick to judge. Teams develop parts three months ahead of schedule usually so unless you see a car sporting parts pre race 1 that looked like hacked versions of what they've got or massive illegalities in testing, there are no major problems. You'll know how fast they are in Bahrain, and even if they're not, your rants are yet to prove much.

[raymondu999]

Button drives, and he's given a testing rig with sensors and probes. Hami arrives and he gets a new diffuser... Smells like Hami and Heikki all over again

[MuseF1]

Button drives, and he's given a testing rig with sensors and probes. Hami arrives and he gets a new diffuser... Smells like Hami and Heikki all over again

I guess button just got unlucky, i mean, all the other teams driver roster is pretty much the same, bar Merc GP.
and look at it this way, if it rains hard in the remaining two tests, hamilton may hardly turn a wheel with a new diffuser.

[lkocev]

I dont know why people keep making a reference to Jenson's seating position, and how his helmet 'blocks' or 'controls' the flow into the central cooling duct. The fact is that seating posotion is based on driver preference. Martin Brundle generally makes comments about things like that. He once made a comment many years ago, I think so in 2005 season where he compared Button's seating position to Schumacher's, saying that Schumacher liked to sit lower for a lower center of mass benifit, where as Button liked to sit higher to have a better field of vision.

A drivers helmet infront of that duct will never 'close' it. The only way to close it, is to seal it properly with a plug or perhaps some tape.

Testing times look good though...

[ringo]

Button drives, and he's given a testing rig with sensors and probes. Hami arrives and he gets a new diffuser... Smells like Hami and Heikki all over again

I guess button just got unlucky, i mean, all the other teams driver roster is pretty much the same, bar Merc GP.
and look at it this way, if it rains hard in the remaining two tests, hamilton may hardly turn a wheel with a new diffuser.

Maybe his times in the rain will be faster than Button's time in the dry, remember the top gear's star in a reasonably priced car lap times?

[ISLAMATRON]

Button drives, and he's given a testing rig with sensors and probes. Hami arrives and he gets a new diffuser... Smells like Hami and Heikki all over again

I guess button just got unlucky, i mean, all the other teams driver roster is pretty much the same, bar Merc GP.
and look at it this way, if it rains hard in the remaining two tests, hamilton may hardly turn a wheel with a new diffuser.

What new diffuser? Link please

[vasia]

Does it? Looks to me like they have obsessive data acquisition rather than any panic or uncharted R&D.

The only uncharted territory I've seen is some "what if" discussions on here.

McLaren are doing what they're doing for a reason, and it can't just be data acquisition. They've spent most of their test sessions doing it now to the detriment of some running. They aren't doing it for the goodness of their health and to fill a few NAS drives where they have a spare few gigabytes.

Oh enough already with your rubbish.

Do you work for McLaren? Do you explicitly know what McLaren is or isn't doing right now during testing? Your posts full of banter are nothing but assumptions. Why don't you go back to the RB6 thread where you belong and continue praising that car.

McLaren right now is doing enough track running, and they are also getting some track data from their innovative test equipment. This track data will be used for more realistic CFD models and simulations, which will prove invaluable during the season with the testing ban.

Last year McLaren by far improved their car the fastest out of any other teams, including Red Bull. McLaren went from being back of the pack at the beginning of the season to competing with the Red Bull cars on pace at the end of the season.

McLaren's car this year is not back of the pack. At worst, their car this year is mid-field, but it's likely to be a solid Top 6 car as well.

Point is, regardless of where their car will place in the field come the first races, McLaren will have the data and experience to achievement massive performance improvements during the season.

[mx_tifoso]

...

Point is, regardless of where their car will place in the field come the first races, McLaren will have the data and experience to achievement massive performance improvements during the season.

That's a good point of view; if you know that you might not be a top car you might as well create a solid baseline with tons of data so that you can learn from it later on and progress. This is especially handy now without any testing during the racing season.