M840TR wrote:Chicane wrote: ↑14 Oct 2020, 07:44
Mercedes has two customers already and one thing they are very good at it is fixing the issues on an urgent basis. The PU will make yet another step next season as Mercedes continue to adapt their PU to operate on a single ICE mode.
For McLaren they have had experience with every type of PU layout since the introduction of this engine formula. McLaren complete a full circle going from Mercedes to Honda to Renault and now back to Mercedes . The integration should go smoothly by and large barring a few niggling issues.
McLaren will gain aerodynamically at the rear with a more compactly packaged Mercedes PU. The weight distribution will be better with a split turbo layout and the cooling demands of the Mercedes PU are modest compared to the Renault.
McLaren are trying to understand the impact of 2021 nose downstream and all this pain that they are going through now will be worth it. Without any Friday running and back to back comparison you cannot t extract the maximum potential of the aero package. I think by the end of the season McLaren will have a solid understanding of the new aero bits.
I'll add a few points to this rather starchy portrait by saying that Mclaren went through 1 more PU change in 2017 with Honda shifting to a split-turbo layout. That's a shift in 2014, 2015, 2017 and then 2018, all for entirely distinctive engines. That surely must've honed their integration skills a bit.
The Mercedes PU also is more compact in the middle - look at the RP or the Williams's intercooler packaging for example.
As for the nose, I don't agree that it cost lap-time. The Renaults and RPs were on average a tenth or two ahead by Silverstone and Norris with the new nose in Nurburgring demonstrated that they carried over that gap. Sainz's was the only Mclaren beckoning a bit of head-scratching. But what do you expect after significantly altering the bargeboards without the concomitant setup alterations - at the top, the 2 downwash vortex generators were replaced for 5 smaller yet conventional ones, and at the bottom outwash section the downward angled fins are now blunted.
However, this doesn't account for Norris reverting to a pre-Sochi setup. Given that the new nose and front-wing remained untouched, he must be referring to some underlying changes, which regardless indicates to no-flaws in the aero updates.
That’s also what I was wondering in regards to the comments of going back to “pre Sochi” spec... Norris run the new wing and new nose, with only missing the bargeboards bits... That wouldn’t be a pre Sochi setup in regards to Aero.
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