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[1Lemon]

Won't there be three teams with it? McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull? That's quite a daunting threesome if they've all got it.

I thought Red Bull's use of pull rod suspension was at the rear of the car, rather than the front?

Just Ferrari and McLaren have the pull rod front suspension

Stop knowing all this technical stuff, you're making the rest of us look bad!

[NHcheese]

The front wing is what they need to focus on, the front wing shakes a lot, more than the red bull. Also the ride is very rough, the drivers cant show its full potential as it rocks over bumps. They were better off with upgrading last years car or not trying hard to make major changes which critically ended up in ruining the car.

[myownalias]

The front wing is what they need to focus on, the front wing shakes a lot, more than the red bull. Also the ride is very rough, the drivers cant show its full potential as it rocks over bumps. They were better off with upgrading last years car or not trying hard to make major changes which critically ended up in ruining the car.

McLaren will have a new front wing for Monaco, they were going to test it in Spain but elected to stick with the old spec wing... guess that McLaren know what their doing *fingers crossed*

[racechick]

I think they had to stick with the old wing, because after going to the expense of driving one wing out and flying the other out they realised there wasn't enough time to get it passed by the FIA. OOPS!

[LewEngBridewell]

The front wing is what they need to focus on, the front wing shakes a lot, more than the red bull. Also the ride is very rough, the drivers cant show its full potential as it rocks over bumps. They were better off with upgrading last years car or not trying hard to make major changes which critically ended up in ruining the car.

McLaren will have a new front wing for Monaco, they were going to test it in Spain but elected to stick with the old spec wing... guess that McLaren know what their doing *fingers crossed*

[NHcheese]

I read that the reason they were so fast in Jerez was that someone fitted a part the wrong way round which lowered the ride height exessively and that was why they were so quick in testing. They could not keep that because it would not work on more bumpy tracks.

[racechick]

Yes. That was the case.

[PartsaS]

I doubt that was the case... Seems too foolish, to be true.Was it really an accident? or a panic attempt to save the day? We know the height of the ride of a car effects it's aerodynamics n grip etc. but beside that one-day incident, the car had been developed for months. The team expected to be fast enough, before the testing started.

[racechick]

No. It was widely reported. It was a mistake.

[What's Burning?]

I have to say that I have more faith in McLaren figuring out the issues with their car than I do with Mercedes figuring out the issue with theirs. No doubt that the Merc is head and shoulders the fastest single lap car this year, but it's also the worst on tires.

This is really fascinating as a fan not only the natural driver's competition between Button and Hamilton, but also the Manufacturer's competition between Mercedes and McLaren. It's good for F1.

I think though that if McLaren figures theirs out, they'll still only be competing for a podium, if Mercedes figures theirs out, they'll be competing for race wins.

[NHcheese]

Or they could make a mistake every race and complete laps in twenty seconds with 1000000000kg of downforce.

[Jabberwocky]

I think the part that was put on wrong put the front wing too close to the ground for it to pass scrutineering

[NHcheese]

Its all about the ride height! LOOK...

The way airflow behaves in the small gap between the ground and an F1 car's underfloor is extremely sensitive and very aerodynamically powerful. The lower to the ground it can run, the more downforce that can be produced as the air pressure difference between the underfloor air and that in free-flow around the upper surfaces of the car increases - and it is this difference in pressure that sucks the car harder to the ground.

A 1mm reduction in ride height can give a downforce increase worth around 0.1s per lap. The normal limitation is the car grounding out as the downforce through the faster corners grinds the car into the ground. Allowance has to be made for the addition of around 150kg of fuel at the start of the race - and for the fact that parc ferme regulations do not allow a change of ride height between qualifying and race. If that were not the case, the cars could be run much lower during qualifying when they are running light, with low fuel levels.

At the ride height range in which an F1 car normally runs, the McLaren's underbody airflow detaches, separating off and dispersing rather than following the downforce-inducing form of the floor and diffuser. As this happens, much of the downforce is released, the car moves up on its springs as a result and thereby moves out of the critical ride height window where the air detaches. With the airflow now working as it should once more, so the downforce builds again, forcing the ride height back down to the critical level and triggering the detachment. Hence the car behaving like a bucking bronco, particularly around the bumpy Albert Park circuit in Australia.

Just as the McLaren's airflow can be made to behave normally above a certain ride height window, so it seems there is a ride height below which it will also work. But that ride height is too low to use in race conditions - and therefore cannot be used in qualifying either, because of the parc ferme regulations. It is believed the car was running with this super-low ride height when it set the fastest time of the first day at Jerez testing.

At Malaysia the car was improved compared to Australia by the team running the car relatively high, above the ride height that triggers the most severe of the buffeting phenomenon. Although such a ride height sacrifices downforce to rivals that can run lower without problem, reducing the bouncing brought more gain than the loss from reducing peak downforce.

The team believes it learned a lot about why the detachment problem is arising from on-the-hoof modifications made in Sepang, including crudely 'cutting and shutting' the contours of the diffuser, in order to energise the flow better around the crucial areas where it is detaching.

Whilst it's surprising that the powerful simulation tools of McLaren did not pick up on the aerodynamic problem before the car actually ran, the team is running absolutely flat-out in the break before China to have heavily upgraded cars in Shanghai for Button and Sergio Perez. Don't bet against a total transformation of form.

Also apparently Mclaren are getting engines from honda.

[Hammer278]

Whilst it's surprising that the powerful simulation tools of McLaren did not pick up on the aerodynamic problem before the car actually ran, the team is running absolutely flat-out in the break before China to have heavily upgraded cars in Shanghai for Button and Sergio Perez. Don't bet against a total transformation of form.

Should've put a large bet indeed.

[Jabberwocky]

At least the know what the problem is now. They are still going to be in thw back foot because they don't know what the car running with down force is like. It will lead to other twething problems