McLaren win arms and legs race as new MP4-25 car is approvedMcLaren have sparked a new arms - and legs - race in Formula One after the controversial car which they hope will carry either Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button to this season’s world title passed pre-race scrutineering in Bahrain.
By Tom Cary in Manama, Bahrain
Published: 8:37PM GMT 11 Mar 2010
Shape of things to come: Jenson Button gets to grips with the new McLaren in testing Photo: EPA
Ahead of Sunday's curtain-raiser a number of teams are considering protests over
the design of the MP4-25, which not only has a 'slot' on the rear wing that helps to reduce drag but, in what is believed to be a first for Formula One, allows the driver to channel air flow from an 'inlet' in the chassis using his body - believed to be in the form of either his knee or his elbow.The overall effect is to give the car a straight-line speed advantage of as much as six miles per hour, a significant gain that could aid overtaking. While McLaren's design is unlikely to prove as influential as the 'double-diffuser' which completely overshadowed the start to last season and allowed Brawn GP to steal away with six of the first seven races, it is bound to upset rival teams.
Using the body to channel air effectively circumvents the law against "moveable parts" and has led to allegations that McLaren's concept is against "the spirit of the rules".
There are also suggestions that by approving the design the FIA, Formula One's governing body, has opened a can of worms that could have safety implications. Drivers who should be concentrating on the road may be more concerned with moving their arms or legs.
When testing begins no other team will be able to replicate McLaren's 'inlet' innovation since chassis have to be approved, meaning Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes – their likely title rivals – will have to find an alternative way to channel air through the cockpit. And even if they manage to do so, it will take them weeks to design and test their versions.
McLaren's delighted team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, admitted it was a relief that no other team had cottoned on in time. However, he cautioned that it was too early to say if it would prove decisive.
"It's like anything you have on the car. You want to expose it as late as possible and you want it to be as difficult as you can possibly make it for people to copy it," he said. "But I think I'll only be smug – if that's the right expression – in Abu Dhabi if we win the championship. We appear to be competitive but we're not complacent."
Whitmarsh did confirm, albeit euphemistically, that his racers were using their bodies to channel air flow, joking that McLaren's rivals would have to find other ways of "cooling their drivers" to achieve the same effect.
He added that the clever chap back in Woking who had the Eureka moment would deserve a pat on the back if it proved decisive in the title race.
"This was a very creative and ingenious individual in our company who came up with the idea and we've developed it," Whitmarsh said, although he would not be drawn on the name of the individual. "Maybe in time. Secrets in F1 have a remarkably short shelf-life and we will make sure that, in due course, the individual gets quite a lot of credit."
McLaren, who were in constant contact with the FIA over their secret design during the winter, believe that any protests from rival teams would be doomed.
"From what I understand, there are no grounds for a protest," Whitmarsh said. "I don't think everyone yet understands the nature of the systems that are on our car. So if they put a protest in, it would potentially be on a wrong set of assumptions as to what we've got. We will see."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who first raised concerns about McLaren's rear wing, admitted his team were unlikely to protest.
"It looks like it's legal so we will look at developing our own version," he said. "Engineers are creative people. I'm sure ours will find another way of doing it."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motors ... roved.html AYRTON SENNA...The Greatest Of All Times.
Ayrton Senna da Silva
In Life Unbeatable - In Death Irreplaceable
Now I know what Brawn fans felt like last year, when Brawn was very clever and then others copyed him - can be a disappointing feeling, even though it was a big big advantage and took other half the season to get the diffusers work correctly
