The exhaust exit is at the lighter and more shiny shade of grey toward the rear of the floor, for anyone who might not already know. No starter hole exits for them... AFAIK nobody is directly using the starter hole for an EDB effect this season because steps were taken to outlaw them. Perhaps someone has more detail on that they can share. The purpose of the Ferrari and RBR current configuration is to try and get as close as possible to the effect of a blown diffuser from last season, i think.
I'd agree with Scotty on this. Ferrari and Red Bull seem to have come up with similar exhaust solutions. They are simpler than the McLaren O-Box and the Renault FEE. Renault seem to be getting a handle on their FEE, although it remains to be seen how reliable it really is. Way back when Renault FEE first hit the scene I posted a comment on how difficult I thought their task was.
Exhaust length increases problems - exponentially. And it becomes very hard to model. You are mixing acoustic/vibrations/resonance with extreme heat and explosives. Even without that, you simply have the huge heat dissipation and shielding issue.
If the O-Box is, in fact what McLaren have come up with then they have the problems I've described above, plus they have a "second" chamber now attached to their exhaust system (forget about whether it's legal), I'm wondering if its at all possible to actually make it work? If they do it will be absolutely impressive. This second chamber must present huge problems because of the effect of the resonance within the exhaust. In the current crop of engines, resonance works pretty much like a turbo, by forcing unburned gasses back into the chamber for extra combustion. The MP4-26 now has this 2nd inviting chamber in their exhaust system, along with the twists turns and additional length.
Every engine has to be tuned to its exhaust, at best this is a nightmare for McLaren at worst, sorry to say this, but I think it might just be too much. I think a lot of the problems Macca's have had could well be related to this. Engine changes... heat problems.....
The O-Box may well be something like cold fusion - impossible to achieve (so far) but there is a never ending steam of very smart people who think they can make it work
So back on topic, what would happen on Saturday?
McLaren are really in a tough place. What they need is more testing time, and, my guess would be testing time to see if they really think they can make the O-box work. I'd guess there's even a fair chance that they might opt out of it and choose to run with some reliability. Go back to a more conventional exhaust might be my bet. It also avoids the "legality" minefield.
