McLaren equipped their MCL39 with five upgrades at Monte Carlo
McLaren have brought a raft of circuit-specific upgrades for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix as the team is eager to find the right aerodynamic configuration for the narrow streets of the Principality. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest tech debrief.
As for the track characteristics, Monaco features narrow streets, tight turns, steep climbs and descents and the famous tunnel that leads onto the harbour.
From a technical point of view, it is a very complicated race: the cars run with maximum aero downforce and with very limited overtaking opportunities, qualifying generally plays a key role in determining the winner.
McLaren have brought a plethora of wings to Monaco as the Woking-based outfit is trying to figure out what the best aerodynamic package is for the Principality.
While teams usually run their highest-downforce rear wing, McLaren brought a medium-high downforce rear wing that sits between the medium and high downforce rear wing assemblies.
It doesn’t necessary mean that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will run this configuration, but the team wanted to check whether the MCL39 works better with a slightly less downforce around the narrow streets of Monaco.
“A medium-high Downforce Rear Wing sitting between the medium and high downforce Rear Wing assemblies has been made available for this track, featuring an efficient reduction in Drag compared to the high downforce wing,” noted McLaren.
The papaya team also brought two versions of beam wing for this weekend. The first one is a medium downforce beam wing while the second one is a medium-high downforce version.
There are also changes to the front suspension and front corner to cope with the tightness of this track.
The team has updated the front suspension geometry for this weekend “in order to deal with the unique cornering challenges that this circuit brings, the front suspension geometry has been modified.”
Furthermore, the team has a modified front brake assembly that allows increased cooling. “Given the significant brake cooling demand of this circuit, an option to increase brake cooling on the front axle is available to deploy should this be required,” the team stated.
