McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes

[KingHamilton01]

McLaren haven't really brought anything special to the car, I mean Slimming down the sidepods would surely bring an advantage? but all we have had is new front/rear wings, diffusor updates, suspension updates and mechanical one's! I will be interested to see what McLaren do with the rest of the season to try and gain some sort of advantage on new car for next season!

[flyboy2160]

If you couldn't hypothetically post a picture of the car part on the 2014 car you're discussing, don't post here. Don't post here hypothetically about the 2015 car.

[jagunx51]

McLaren haven't really brought anything special to the car, I mean Slimming down the sidepods would surely bring an advantage? but all we have had is new front/rear wings, diffusor updates, suspension updates and mechanical one's! I will be interested to see what McLaren do with the rest of the season to try and gain some sort of advantage on new car for next season!

is this new ?

[mikeerfol]

Same old issue for McLaren
https://twitter.com/f1fanaticlive/statu ... 4172230656

[McMrocks]

McLaren haven't really brought anything special to the car, I mean Slimming down the sidepods would surely bring an advantage? but all we have had is new front/rear wings, diffusor updates, suspension updates and mechanical one's! I will be interested to see what McLaren do with the rest of the season to try and gain some sort of advantage on new car for next season!

is this new ?
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... 0/mcla.jpg

these strakes on the rw endplate? no those were on the car since Germany (they just disappeared for drag reasons in Monza (and Spa?))

[Dipesh1995]

Have McLaren got smaller cannon-style hot air exits this race or is it just the angle of the image?

[CptPeanut]

McLaren haven't really brought anything special to the car, I mean Slimming down the sidepods would surely bring an advantage? but all we have had is new front/rear wings, diffusor updates, suspension updates and mechanical one's! I will be interested to see what McLaren do with the rest of the season to try and gain some sort of advantage on new car for next season!

I believe that the side pods have stayed the same because the radiators are angled differently to other teams so in order to slim the pods they would have to completely repackage the car, something that isn't a 5 minute job.

[Gaz.]

McLaren haven't really brought anything special to the car, I mean Slimming down the sidepods would surely bring an advantage? but all we have had is new front/rear wings, diffusor updates, suspension updates and mechanical one's! I will be interested to see what McLaren do with the rest of the season to try and gain some sort of advantage on new car for next season!

I believe that the side pods have stayed the same because the radiators are angled differently to other teams so in order to slim the pods they would have to completely repackage the car, something that isn't a 5 minute job.

Indeed under the skin their sidepods are completely different, although I'm surprised they didn't see their stable mates in Australia and wonder why they were the odd ones out:

Mercedes:


Williams:



Force India:




McLaren:

[SectorOne]

The path of that airflow just seems insane and not very efficient but what do i know.

[Duke]

Yes you wonder how it works at all really. Odd layout.

[George-Jung]

Maybe because it creates more 'space' for a bigger undercut?

[SectorOne]

Maybe because it creates more 'space' for a bigger undercut?

Well looking at the sidepod masters of the last 4 years, Red Bull had virtually no undercut in that area.
They even morphed the floor with the sidepod with a nice gradient.

[George-Jung]

Maybe because it creates more 'space' for a bigger undercut?

Well looking at the sidepod masters of the last 4 years, Red Bull had virtually no undercut in that area.
They even morphed the floor with the sidepod with a nice gradient.

True, but they had blown diffusers.. which are no longer around.
But before I get mis-understood, I did not mean to say that this is the reason they did it, but that it could be an option.. to get as much air to the rear as possible?

[SectorOne]

but that it could be an option.. to get as much air to the rear as possible?

I would guess and say that now without exhaust blown stuff it´s even more crucial to get as much air in that area.
But again, i don´t know anything about this, just speculating.

Here´s the gradient on the current car.
It does feel slightly less pronounced but i haven´t gone back and refreshed the mind on the older cars.



Edit: any aero guy that can enlighten us?

[Dipesh1995]

I would say that the large undercut is trying to get as much air as possible to rear of the car. The larger the undercut, the less likely air flow could leak from the top of the floor to underneath it and disturbing the flow underneath the car. Also, the larger and tighter the undercut, the faster the velocity of the air is around the sidepods as a stronger low pressure region is created around them and towards the coke bottle area thus increasing the velocity of the air which would then flow on top of the diffuser increasing downforce. Obviously if the sidepod undercut is too aggressive, then there is chance the air flow will stall so there is a balance of increasing the velocity of the airflow around the sidepods and towards the coke bottle without stalling it.