2025 McLaren F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

It seems now that the flexi wing saga has subsided, McLaren's tyre temperature management is being framed as the next significant factor contributing to their main advantage. This could indeed be the case, and it probably is a contributing factor. However, I think it's not accurate to assume that rear tyre temperature management, specifically, is McLaren's biggest advantage over their competitors.

Why are you incensed by this discussion?

In my opinion, this entire aspect of their performance is not a "one-trick-pony." The design of the rear brake drums alone cannot be the sole reason for superior temperature management, particularly from an area so heavily constrained by technical regulations. I think there's more to it and you would need to design the whole rear end of the car with it in consideration.

The Mclaren is like an onion. It has many layers. We discuss some of them from time to time. Andrea Stella said the flex-wing was used to reduce drag.

“In our case, we want to shed a little bit of drag and a little bit of load, but as long as you do it within the regulations, and that’s the case, then it’s more of a technical point rather than a legality point, if that makes sense.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/mclaren-f ... n-red-bull

Last year Mclaren had a mini-DRS system which was also used to reduce drag. It is not to say that the Mclaren is a one-trick pony in any area, but the car is in fact the sum of its many parts. A flexi-wing, a mini-drs there, a floor, a cooling system, and so on. Each time that something goes away, they lose something, no matter how small. If you lose too many parts, then it's no longer the car that it once was. Mclaren haven't reached that point yet.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there's a tendency to entirely ignore McLaren's performance in Imola when discussing this topic.
You can't logically claim that McLaren's strong pace at Miami was primarily due to high track temperatures and then discard Imola as a relevant data point. McLaren was in a league of their own in Miami under those conditions. However, at Imola, where the race saw track temperatures ~ 3-4 degrees Celsius higher than in Miami, Max Verstappen was, at the very least, a match for them.

Imola was front limited. Miami was rear limited. Mclaren has a unique ability with rear axle temperature management. Stella credited it for Mclaren's performance in Spain.

Stella:

“Yes, I was a little surprised that we had such a clear advantage, as I’d expected Red Bull to be a little closer based on some of the similar circuit characteristics we found at those tracks.

"But in hindsight I think the very high temperatures associated with the rear axle - and that’s where our car performs very well. One characteristic of Spain is that the corners are very long - unlike Imola, where they are short. -Stella

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mark ... -red-bull/

We have some insights to origin of the mechanism. It was revealed by Red Bull earlier in the year:

— According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull remains unconvinced and has been monitoring McLaren’s brake ducts, claiming:

“Many blue areas around the brake vents on the McLaren tyres, while all the other cars showed a lot of orange and red.”

This is a direct observation of the phenomena which we are speculating about. There is no ruling against it. It is up to others to replicate. This specific detail doesn't come down to suspension, wings, or floors. The actual brake drums have cool spots. They are cooling the rear tires and doing it better than anyone else. The mechanism lies within.

The flexi-wing saga is not over yet IMO, we have to see maybe the next 2-3 races to confirm, however Barcelona is a good track to test its impact. Tough conditions on the race as well, but it seemingly did nothing to McLaren's pace in both long runs and low fuel performance runs.

I have some initial indications, but not about Mclaren. https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 7#p1290827 As I said, it's an onion. No one is looking for a silver bullet, but you have to understand that these discussions are relative. We are not comparing Mclaren to Sauber. No one thing on the Mclaren is worth the 1 second margin to Sauber. It is vs the Red Bull, Mclaren, and the Ferrari. When the difference between the cars is smaller, then you can discuss the small factors which could give 1 tenth and another tenth. It adds up to the difference between the cars.

But either way, I am mostly awaiting on RedBull's rumored rear corner updates. I am ready to eat my words if they make a clear jump in performance from that alone, but as things stand right now, I am personally very sceptical.

If they are able to extract more heat from the brake tins, they will cool the tires for which the drivers complain are too hot. If the update fails, they will not cool the tires better. So the result is implicit. Don't confuse the outcome for a "wrong objective". There's a reason that in 2017-2019 we saw the crazy wheel rim designs and the rim blowing. It was to cool the tires. There's a reason that Mclaren's brake drums are "blue"

[mwillems]

Perhaps instead of cooling the tyres, they simply do not heat the tyres as much?

Regarding the quote of the rear axle and Miami... He does say heat, but he isn't saying specifically it was the drums. More traction on the rears, better contact patch, less sliding... are other reasons why the rear tyres may not overheat, the car simply doesn't stress them so much.

The Mclaren is great on starts and on corner exits, its rear traction has been showing itself all year.

[AR3-GP]

Perhaps instead of cooling the tyres, they simply do not heat the tyres as much?

Regarding the quote of the rear axle and Miami... He does say heat, but he isn't saying specifically it was the drums. More traction on the rears, better contact patch, less sliding... are other reasons why the rear tyres may not overheat, the car simply doesn't stress them so much.

This doesn't explain this:

— According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull remains unconvinced and has been monitoring McLaren’s brake ducts, claiming:

“Many blue areas around the brake vents on the McLaren tyres, while all the other cars showed a lot of orange and red.”

It is a profound discovery. 1 car shows something that no other car does. I already posted here before about how the MCL39 didn't have the slow warmup weakness of the RB19 and the SF24 which were great Sunday cars, but at a price. It's not about silver bullets. It's just a case of other teams understanding that Mclaren has A,B,C,D,E on their cars, and they would also like to have A,B,C,D,E to bring them closer.

The Mclaren is great on starts and on corner exits, its rear traction has been showing itself all year.

I haven't noticed anything special about Mclaren starts. They have some good ones on a day when others have bad ones but they also have some bad ones on a day when others have good ones.

Russell had the best start in Imola. Norris didn't have a good one in Spain. Piastri had the best one in Jeddah. Verstappen had the best one in Japan. Not a clear trend to me. Rear traction in a race stint is connected to tire temperatures among other things.

[BMMR61]

Oscar has been usually very strong on starts, yesterday he smoked them to turn 1 denying the much discussed likelihood of a slipstream overtake. Admittedly he was on brand new softs as opposed to 3ish lap olds immediately behind. Lando.... well he just got caught out on reaction - the lights went out in about 0.5 second, unprecedented, but no excuse. Pundits like Rosberg (and previously Brundle) have remarked on the excellent traction out of medium to high speed turns.

[BMMR61]

Toto confirmed it was an engine failure I believe. But a 49 point lead in the WDC is a very good buffer. I think if Max finished 3rd it would be a concern. But not really now.

Toto said on F1tv interview that was an oil problem and they need to investigate. So was not heat related.

And I keep my opinion that RB strategy was today the best, at least for them to put a constant and sensitive pressure on the two McLarens. Without the SC we might have a different outcome, Maybe for Oscar no problems but for Lando for sure a big headache.

I don't think so. Both McLaren had a faster pace and it was only the lap cars making things seem closer than they were. The only real difference is that Max most likely would have finished in 3rd and Hulk won't get a very complimentary classification.

BTW, anyone caught that they listed three drivers for the driver of day honors, and one of them was Kimi. 30 seconds later he is out of the race.

Frankly Kimi isn't having a generally astounding rookie season so far, for someone the media has been buzzing about nearly a year in advance! Shows how unfair all the hype is because the lad is doing fine without the unnecessary promotion! At this point, 9 races in and we compare how Oscar was doing (Silverstone 2023, robbed of podium) it's pretty close if their experienced teammates are used as a benchmark.

Anyway, sometimes, quite often, these DoDs seem far from a meritocracy, there've been some pretty astounding examples this year. I can understand Nico Hulkenberg getting the nod yesterday - superb drive and well rewarded. Shouldn't detract from a perfect drive by Oscar, well measured and fast when he needed to be. How mature is he already, and getting better all the time. He was quietly but clearly miffed by his failings by his high standards at Imola and Monaco and put in the second best drive (to Baku 2024) of his short F1 career. Having live timing running was very instructive how he kept plenty in hand throughout his medium tyre stint, really dropping the hammer before his pitstop.

[bauc]

What a great performance by the team, 1-2 superb drive by both drivers, I see some critic Lando's start, but forget that he was on the dirty side, and for Barcelona, P3 is better than P2 for a race start but NVM, overall great great race, fully in control, Max was aggressive with a 3 stop, but it was still a couple of seconds away so all good.

Also I'm relieved that this flex saga is now dead, in fact Mclaren had the biggest ''flex'' this weekend dominating all practice session, qualifying and the race.

[mwillems]

Lando was fine on Sunday. I felt that it would have been a big statement to win here and take the Championship lead, but Oscar kept it.

I was very happy with how Max dealt with Landos overtake, no unpleasantness. By and large I've felt his racing against the Mclarens has been fair this year.

[BMMR61]

It was another weekend that Oscar dominated. Until recently Lando has tended to have the upper hand, at least until qualifying and when the pressure goes on. This weekend Lando seemed to have released some of his internal pressure. He is criticised of course for his start, put it down to the unexpectedly short period to lights out. No excuses though. There seems to be sunshine in the camp and between the drivers, no signs of title rival angst yet. It's never been a better time to sit back over a non-GP weekend and appreciate the near perfect job the McLaren team are doing.

I know many of us have batted away the "dominant" McLaren talk, and I know I've been one, but it's time to start admitting that this is a dominant team to date. Since Australia and Oscar's unfortunate adventure on the grass and 9th place, there have been two McLarens on the podium for every GP since, and we've only been off the top step twice. More than 200 points up on Ferrari and Oscar 49 up on Max. The perfect start to a season so far.

[Emag]

... cut for better readability

Not sure where the "incensed" vibe came from. I thought I was just tossing my thoughts into the ring on a much-discussed topic. I saw it was mentioned over and over again so I gave my opinion.

Just to quickly clarify a couple of things from my end, as I think there might have been a slight misunderstanding on one point:

- When I used the phrase "one-trick-pony," I was specifically referring to the idea that McLaren's effective rear tyre temperature management could be attributed solely to a singular clever design within the rear brake drums themselves. I absolutely agree the car is a sum of many parts, or an onion, as you say. My point was that a complex thermal behaviour like this likely involves a more holistic design approach across the entire rear end, rather than one isolated magic bullet in the drums, especially given the regs.

On the Imola/Spain discussion and tracks being front or rear limited, that's a fair distinction. However, regarding Spain, it's also interesting to recall the first part of Stella's statement you quoted, where he explicitly mentioned expecting Red Bull to be closer. It certainly seemed Red Bull themselves were a bit dejected after Saturday in Spain, suggesting their expectations weren't fully met either. It just feels like brushing it off as only "Spain is rear-limited, therefore McLaren was strong" might be missing some nuance.

About the AMuS report on Red Bull monitoring McLaren's brake ducts: seeing "blue areas" on a thermal image is certainly an interesting observation of an effect (cooler spots). However, that doesn't automatically reveal the precise mechanism or confirm that the primary cooling influence originates entirely from within the brake drum design itself. It tells us what is happening to the surface temperatures, but the how it's achieved, especially in a way that significantly outperforms others within the rules, remains a question mark. You're making an assumption that the entire solution lies just there, because you (or anyone else) doesn't know for sure.

The comparison to the "crazy wheel rim designs" and rim blowing from 2017-2019 is a good reminder of how rules can be exploited, however, I think it also highlights how different the regulatory environment is now. Many of those intricate airflow pathways and blown axle concepts were specifically targeted and restricted by the FIA precisely because they became so powerful for tyre temperature management while also having a detriment effect on dirty air. The current regulations around the brake drums, ducting, and wheel internals are much more constrained, so it's not fair in my opinion to compare what's possible with current wheel rims to what was possible with those of 10 years ago. You're also making the assumption that McLaren has come up with a genius design that nobody else was able to see in the current regulations after 4 years. Unrealistic in my opinion, especially since you also agree that it's an area that can bring a lot of benefits, if it can be exploited.

Ultimately, I've just been offering my opinion. My core thought is that achieving the kind of rear tyre temperature management McLaren seems to have is unlikely to be possible solely through clever brake drum design alone, mainly because that specific area is so heavily constrained by the Technical Regulations and Directives. I believe it points to a more integrated solution. But hey, that's just my take, and you're absolutely free to have a different view.

[mwillems]

Totally agree. On face value, and I mentioned this in the other thread that it was originally posted in, that it seems to me that the Mclaren is not stressing the tyres as much due to both it's downforce and mechanical grip, which will be part of the solution they have with the suspension.

I looked at the telemetry earlier in the season and could see we were taking a slower entry with a view to taking a higher apex speed and better exit, likely to manage the cars traits. Looking at Monaco and Barcelona this still seems to be the case. There is earlier braking on the Q Laps coupled with higher apex and a strong exit, so I don't see anything new. I'm sure that the brakes are part of it but as you say, it isn't the only thing. This suspension setup is kind to it's tyres, likely designed that way with the cars flaws an acceptable part of what is ultimately a net lap time gain.

I saw the "incensed" comment, nearly replied to it yesterday, but chose to walk past it. I'd already thrown my oar in enough. Think it is more to do with that individual than you.

[Mostlyeels]

Anyway, sometimes, quite often, these DoDs seem far from a meritocracy, there've been some pretty astounding examples this year.

I think it counts towards the F1 Fantasy league, which probably contributes to gaming it too.

[AR3-GP]

... cut for better readability

Not sure where the "incensed" vibe came from. I thought I was just tossing my thoughts into the ring on a much-discussed topic. I saw it was mentioned over and over again so I gave my opinion.

Just to quickly clarify a couple of things from my end, as I think there might have been a slight misunderstanding on one point:

- When I used the phrase "one-trick-pony," I was specifically referring to the idea that McLaren's effective rear tyre temperature management could be attributed solely to a singular clever design within the rear brake drums themselves. I absolutely agree the car is a sum of many parts, or an onion, as you say. My point was that a complex thermal behaviour like this likely involves a more holistic design approach across the entire rear end, rather than one isolated magic bullet in the drums, especially given the regs.

Ultimately, I've just been offering my opinion. My core thought is that achieving the kind of rear tyre temperature management McLaren seems to have is unlikely to be possible solely through clever brake drum design alone, mainly because that specific area is so heavily constrained by the Technical Regulations and Directives. I believe it points to a more integrated solution. But hey, that's just my take, and you're absolutely free to have a different view.

It feels more like a game of whack-a-mole here where if anyone would suggest that something is benefitting the Mclaren, others would suggest it's a mirage, or "not it". What is "it"? The Mclaren is the sum of many parts.

They were benefitting from the flexi-wings (front AND rear). Stella told us why (drag reduction) but now the narrative is that it was really nothing at all, "negligible gains"...Why did they develop it then?

The brake ducts are not constrained. There are phenomenal illustrations of the differences between some teams in the brake duct thread and why teams are interested in this area.
Mercedes: https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 9#p1290949
Mclaren: https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 8#p1284698

There are other reasons for good tire management. Having lots of downforce is a part of it, but Red Bull was the fastest car in T14 in Spain...they have "downforce". Having a good mechanical platform is useful, but Lando Norris said Red Bull is good in the low speed corners too: https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/05/ ... -weakness/. Red Bull recently introduced Mclaren style sidepods and made a step, by copying. We are not comparing a Sauber to a Mclaren. We're talking about the last 2-3 tenths that separate Mclaren from the others and those incremental gains come from some of the many subjects which have been discussed, and others which have not. RBR is a championship winning F1 team. If they think there are improvements in the wheel corner area that they can make, then it's probably true. The "Blue, orange, and red spots" discovery is profound. It's something which other teams cannot ignore.

Arguing that every visible thing on the Mclaren is negligible and not worth anything has the opposite effect. It implies that there is one larger "thing" that actually makes the difference. I'm not sure that's what you intended. That is the definition of "1-trick pony". Mclaren have had incremental gains in a few different areas and some of them have been discussed here. The reality is the differences between the cars are quite small, and that's why they can lap within 2-3 tenths of one another. That last bit, tends to end up being the physical differences between the cars.

[Emag]

It feels more like a game of whack-a-mole here where if anyone would suggest that something is benefitting the Mclaren, others would suggest it's a mirage, or "not it". What is "it"? The Mclaren is the sum of many parts.

They were benefitting from the flexi-wings (front AND rear). Stella told us why (drag reduction) but now the narrative is that it was really nothing at all, "negligible gains"...Why did they develop it then?

The brake ducts are not constrained. There are phenomenal illustrations of the differences between some teams in the brake duct thread and why teams are interested in this area.
Mercedes: https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 9#p1290949
Mclaren: https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 8#p1284698

There are other reasons for good tire management. Having lots of downforce is a part of it, but Red Bull was the fastest car in T14 in Spain...they have "downforce". Having a good mechanical platform is useful, but Lando Norris said Red Bull is good in the low speed corners too: https://www.motorsportweek.com/2025/05/ ... -weakness/. Red Bull recently introduced Mclaren style sidepods and made a step, by copying. We are not comparing a Sauber to a Mclaren. We're talking about the last 2-3 tenths that separate Mclaren from the others and those incremental gains come from some of the many subjects which have been discussed, and others which have not. RBR is a championship winning F1 team. If they think there are improvements in the wheel corner area that they can make, then it's probably true. The "Blue, orange, and red spots" discovery is profound. It's something which other teams cannot ignore.

Arguing that every visible thing on the Mclaren is negligible and not worth anything has the opposite effect. It implies that there is one larger "thing" that actually makes the difference. I'm not sure that's what you intended. That is the definition of "1-trick pony". Mclaren have had incremental gains in a few different areas and some of them have been discussed here. The reality is the differences between the cars are quite small, and that's why they can lap within 2-3 tenths of one another. That last bit, tends to end up being the physical differences between the cars.

1) Not what I was suggesting, but it's pretty fair to say that everything that is visible, it's easily copy-able. If a significant part of the advantage was where other teams could see it, then you can kiss your long-lasting advantage good bye, because it will be on your competitor's cars as soon as their logistics allow it, yet nobody has come close to replicating the idea so far. Since I am touching on this part to begin with, addressing your last point, no, it doesn't have to mean that there is one larger thing that makes the difference. It implies that there's a collective of design choices and implementations that together create the advantage that McLaren is currently enjoying.

2) McLaren has always had the same stance on flexi-wings. It's the rest who were claiming it has significant balance implications. Asking why a Formula 1 team developed something even for marginal gains is redundant, even as an attempted irony. A part that brings 0.001s advantage is always worth putting in the car for a formula 1 team. It's also something that has hardly any development cost. Not a new feature by any means, its been part of the sport since forever. They said it wouldn't change much even if restricted, so far they're right on their evaluation. That doesn't mean they wouldn't be better off with it.

3) The fact that the brake ducts are complicated does not negate the fact that they're restricted. Everything is complicated in Formula1. But teams don't have anywhere near the same freedom they used to have around brake drums. The PCM stuff, which with the benefit of hindsight is turning to be more of a self-promotion by the original source rather than a legit idea, is highly unlikely to be possible at all under current regulations. Which goes back to my previous assessment. How is it that McLaren has come up with such an intricate legal brake duct design that none of the other teams managed to in 3 years of these regulations? It must be some crazy exotic piece of engineering since according to RedBull it completely blows every other team's rear temp management solution out of the water.

4) T14 is not a valid data point. McLaren had a smaller rear wing and they were arriving at T14 quicker so they couldn't take the corner flat. One corner alone can't be used as an indicator of who has more downforce. Alpine also took the corner flat, they're nowhere near RedBull and McLaren. Being good in low speed corners doesn't automatically mean you have a good mechanical platform either. You're looking at things in isolation. It's the overall balance that is most important, not how good you are at one particular area/corner.

5) Your Sauber to RedBull comparison, is in my opinion, spun around. It's precisely because RedBull and McLaren are at the sharp end of the field that it's so difficult for competitors to catch up. Sauber may have plenty of areas they can improve on to close that gap. RedBull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are exploiting the current regulations at the absolute limit. The closer you get to that limit, the more difficult it is to find the next tenth in laptime.

But as I said before, you're inclined to your opinion as I am to mine. Until proven wrong, I maintain that McLaren's rear temp management solution is unlikely to come from their brake duct design alone. The fact that RedBull believed it's not possible to get that sort of cooling through air alone just enforces my belief.

A final thing to add to this, you're also kind of using this RedBull source as the word of god. We don't really know what exactly they observed. There is no sense of scale whatsoever. All we know is that they saw blue spots where other team's were red. Yeah, okay cool, what is red and what is blue exactly? I can make a scale where 60 degress is white, 65 degrees is red hot and 55 degrees is dark blue. Context is important. Also, where exactly was this measurement taken? And when? Which track, which lap, which session, which corner, what was the speed, etc ... Too many variables we don't know.

I’ll step back, we can agree to disagree and move on. I just wanted to share my perspective. If future events prove me wrong, I’ll gladly admit it

[mwillems]

I think he could read a menu and think it was being unreasonable with him.

That's genuinely one of the most bizarre and left field responses I've seen from AR3 or the forum in general, it barely even seemed to relate to the original post, which clearly just wanted to try and engage constructively.

[AR3-GP]

1) Not what I was suggesting, but it's pretty fair to say that everything that is visible, it's easily copy-able. If a significant part of the advantage was where other teams could see it, then you can kiss your long-lasting advantage good bye, because it will be on your competitor's cars as soon as their logistics allow it, yet nobody has come close to replicating the idea so far. Since I am touching on this part to begin with, addressing your last point, no, it doesn't have to mean that there is one larger thing that makes the difference. It implies that there's a collective of design choices and implementations that together create the advantage that McLaren is currently enjoying.

Seeing something that is visible, doesn't mean you copy it right away because you first have to understand why it would benefit your own car. It took Mercedes 2-3 years to make real sidepods even though they could have just copied it since 2022. There were images of Red Bull's floor in 2022 and 2023. It takes time to understand and then replicate. Williams made Red Bull clone sidepods for this year. They've seen those sidepods since 2022. There are other examples.

3) The fact that the brake ducts are complicated does not negate the fact that they're restricted. Everything is complicated in Formula1. But teams don't have anywhere near the same freedom they used to have around brake drums. The PCM stuff, which with the benefit of hindsight is turning to be more of a self-promotion by B-Sport rather than a legit idea, is highly unlikely to be possible at all under current regulations. Which goes back to my previous assessment. How is it that McLaren has come up with such an intricate legal brake duct design that none of the other teams managed to in 3 years of these regulations? It must be some crazy exotic piece of engineering since according to RedBull it completely blows every other team's rear temp management solution out of the water.

You could turn it around and ask how Mclaren have managed to invent mini-DRS last year, when the wing regulations were well known? Well, that's just what the better teams do. They find clever things to do where no one else did before...Arguing that the regs are restrictive and nothing interesting can be done is not how to win.

5) Your Sauber to RedBull comparison, in my opinion, spun around. It's precisely because RedBull and McLaren are at the sharp end of the field that it's so difficult for competitors to catch up. Sauber may have plenty of areas they can improve on to close that gap. RedBull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are exploiting the current regulations at the absolute limit. The closer you get to that limit, the more difficult it is to find the next tenth in laptime.

There's no sense that we are close to any development ceiling. Mclaren have argued that their rate of progression has not lowered.

Stella says that the rate of development has been consistent with that he has seen during his tenure as team principal, one that helped the team turn around its dismal start to 2023 to constructors’ champion in 2024.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/analy ... /10695628/

A final thing to add to this, you're also kind of using this RedBull source as the word of god. We don't really know what exactly they observed. There is no sense of scale whatsoever. All we know is that they saw blue spots where other team's were red. Yeah, okay cool, what is red and what is blue exactly? I can make a scale where 60 degress is white, 65 degrees is red hot and 55 degrees is dark blue. Context is important. Also, where exactly was this measurement taken? And when? Which track, which corner, what was the speed, etc ... Too many variables we don't know.

I don't think they would invent an observation that was not real or immaterial, and then try to imitate it. It's more logical that the colors have a physical significance from a temperature/performance point of view, and that's why they are seeking to make upgrades in this area. There's no reason to assume they are a bunch of amateurs who missed the context of the images. They are much smarter than we are.




At the end of the day, I think there are gains for other teams to follow in the brake duct area. The evidence is certainly compelling. I can't find the article that I wanted now (I believe it was originally written in German which makes it hard to find from English language search engines). While many of the articles (autosport, motorsport, etc) discussed the colors, one of them said the photos were from the pitstops when the wheels were removed at either Bahrain, Japan, or China.

It is understood that Red Bull has looked at some thermal images obtained from an outside party, which have shown interesting "blue" spots - indicating that certain parts of the McLaren brake drums are remarkably cold compared to others.

Things only get interesting when the mechanics work on the extremely complex cooling system. But that's exactly when McLaren employees line up in front of the car like footballers at the free-kick wall, and you can't see anything.

The question of all questions is why mechanics always behave so suspiciously. That might be the answer. The solution might only be found if one could see what the mechanics are changing, adjusting, replacing, or checking. The regulations regarding brake ventilation are relatively clear. The so-called drum, which encloses the entire assembly and is located directly under the rim, is subject to strict regulations regarding its dimensions. However, the air flow inside and the materials used are free.

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... -kuehlung/


It's no silver bullet, but at the moment Mclaren is the car to have and it's full of good ideas. The other teams should understand and implement them.