Mebbe, as much as Williams.

There is still a blanking plate. I wander if there is a double decker hidden behind it? It looks a VERY similar shap to the Williams.

does anyone have a clear picture of the Brawn diffuser? and maybe up the brightness of it too please? The new diffuser on the 24 looks similar shape to the brawn if my mind serves me correctly? Maybe thisw is the first evolution of a brawn esque diffuser, and maybe see new parts for it come melbourne? Because after all, these parts werent ready on sunday, which means they've only just been finished iand shipped in the past 5 days, how many more parts are still on their way? hopefully lots

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/123812

Hmm, the more I look at it, the more I think it's just a different "plate".

No, they've curved it down, it is very very similar to the brawn, they just have to take the flat covering piece off and it'd be almost identical

but the brawn dips a lot further down.

Thats what I thought initially, but the edges of the triangular part don't seem to connect with the rest of it to form a channel unlike the Brawn one. Could just be a precurser to an update?

I've only just noticed the change in profile of the top edge of the nose/chassis.

From about level with the baseline of the race number, to just aft of the pushrod, the top edge bulges out. I suppose it has a role in flow conditioning.

Strange that I hadn't noticed it before, it seems to have been there from the start, but the shadow it casts is often lost in the grey airbrushed stripes and reflections in the silver.

I first noticed it in this picture.

Richard

Oversized (out of the diffuser size limits), double-decker, illegal (if smashes the field in Melbourne).

Seeing the latest McLaren diffuser, I think they must and will copy the Williams/BGP-style diffuser, if it won't be banned.

The reason I think it is a double decker is.. http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/124056

In that photo you can see (if you look at the x3 view) the flow vis is being used - inside the scoop of the diffuser which is now blnked off.

I think McMerc are just getting one part of the diffuser done and working before looking at the working on the next (the top part of the double decker). Maybe at a straightline test/Friday pratice at Melb'. Either way it looks like a marked improvment already.

If it is a Double decker i want mcleren williams toyota and Brawn to share a
sponsorship deal and have to have a double decker logo painted into the diffuser.

Is it this bit in red thats making it a double decker?

I suppose if they removed it, it'd be to structurally weak?

yes - from what i understand the surface on the crash structure is what makes it the double decker.

The red part is whats making it a diffuser.

While we're on the subject of diffusers, this was the amendment that the FIA made to the diffuser rule.

ARTICLE 3 : BODYWORK AND DIMENSIONS

(Ammemndment 18/03/09 (Mav)

One of the purposes of the regulations under Article 3 below is to minimize the detrimental effect that the wake of
a car may have on a following car.
Furthermore, infinite precision can be assumed on certain dimensions provided it is clear that such an assumption
is not being made in order to circumvent or subvert the intention of the relevant regulation.

They must've introduced this amendment for a reason, ie the controversy over the Brawn and other diffusers. From what I gather from this they're saying that the reason they introduced the new diffuser rules was to stop the wake effecting the car behind. Correct me if I'm wrong but i thought they moved it further back and restricted the height of the diffuser to prevent it 'coupling' up with the rear wing and therefore providing more downforce and increase in wake.

Brawn's solution does stick to the letter of the law in that no part is visible from beneath the car because the first level blocks any view from beneath so technically they can do whatever they like above this level. In brawn's case they seem to have cut back the top of the diffuser in effect moving the moment where the air can escape from underneath the car closer to the rear axle allowing it to couple up with the air flow from the rear wing. I would say that their solution and probably Williams and Toyota's is an attempt to 'circumvent or subvert the intention of the relevant regulation' so therefore illegal? what do people think? I'm not a technical boff as you can probably tell but i'm just trying to understand the ruling before we get to melbourne. Whether people think Brawn are illegal or not, the FIA made this amendment for a reason and I think we have to assume they have someone in their sights. Thoughts please!?

I have to say I'm amazed by the breackneck pace at which Mclaren has been introducing updates. You often hear teams say "the car will look totally different by Melbourne", but this is the first time I've actually seen it happen. We were all expecting Mclaren to build a B-spec, but it seems to me they already have a de-facto B-spec. And are probably working on a C-spec allready, coyping the Williams/Brawn/Toyota solution further.

Now I just hope that */!è& Mosley won't completely destroy F1 in the meantime.

the a view from someone else on another forum

i cannot link the pictures but i have added a link to the forum

Link

by shir0

The green line on top of the Brawn diffuser is not really part of the diffuser. It's a widened and sculpted base of the rear crash structure. The Brawn diffuser surface edge is made up by (L-R, based on the image): the left most light blue edge, the top-left yellow line, the curvy-middle red line, the top-right yellow line, and; the right most light blue line. So essentially, this is the single continuous line that is created when the diffuser surface is intersected by a lateral, perpendicular plane (perpendicular to the reference plane).

The Williams' diffuser, however, is a different matter. if you remove the 8 vertical strakes from the diffuser and once a perpendicular plane intersects what remains, you are left with an irregular shape instead of a continuous line. The same is true of the Toyota's diffuser.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm guessing (like others) that underneath the blank on the diffuser that McLaren has a Brawn like diffuser.

I can't see any other reason for a diffuser to be so blanked off like that with a wall of solid carbon fibre, I don't see any other team with something similar

Now, if it is a Brawn diffuser, then I presume its blanked off incase they are termed illegal, so then it all depends when clarification is given, if it is still unsure at the start of the GP, then they might run with it blanked rather then risk disqualification after the event with an illegal diffuser.

Maybe they need new (more higher) crash structure as on BGP.

What would happen if McLaren's pace is comparable to Renault, if Hamilton could be fighting and winning against Alonso but Heiki could be struggling against Nelson Piquet?

Lord of the rings 4

Annomander, Do you think we are near of pace for Australia??

McLaren improved more but how knows...!!

Regards

Well according to the autosport magazine we're about 1.8 seconds behind after the barcelona test, some are suggesting we have improved by a second so that would put us in the mix with the renault williams and maybe toyota.

well, someone has to talk rubbish i guess.......obviously in this case, it's you

I'm the last person you should be asking! I havn't a clue! Just hoping for the best

I thought we might be competitive but Haug still sounds a bit gloomy

But then hasn't the same article (on the web) put us 4th with Ferrari 5th!

Here's a couple interesting pics.

The small hole (for the starter?) in the diffuser is quite large here
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo-lar...ge/l_dg0_4932-4

The hole is small here.
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo-lar...163_HiRes.jpg-4

Small here
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo-lar...747_HiRes.jpg-4

This seems very strange

For reference the Uber-fuser

i echo these thoughts. It was definitely a positive week for mclaren, and then you get haug saying weve improved but not where we want to be. In fairness to us, thats pretty fkn vague. Im just hoping that the improvements they made this week are replicated by the new parts they try in Melbourne, given the new melbourne parts wouldve had probably been through two weeks of development from the barcelona test. im still hopeful of a podium if things go well.

Yeah i know, wasn't being serious. Truth is no-one knows until melbourne. Although i was slightly deflated by haug's 'we're to far away' comment.

Well McLaren want to be way ahead of everyone so thats what why they are saying that they are not where they want to be.
I think that at the moment they are around the pace of what Renault was at the end of last year - quick enough to take points from the front runners but not enough to truly win races, yet

I don't know if this is what the team is hoping for but seems to me that the green viz-flow fluid is spreaded very evenly in this new diffuser.

If someone's seen a pic of the old diffuser covered in fluid please post so we can compare.

Judging by those pictures I think the part behind the new triangular section does indeed connect to it, like the Brawn's. The shadowing seems to indicate a curve, and the hole in it is at the same point in relation to the triangular part, from two angles. Can we assume then that the "plate" part is just a cover at the moment, ready to be taken away to reveal a double decker?

Here's a pic from autosport of the other diffuser avec flow vis. Can probably find a bigger one elsewhere - http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/124056

HAUG SAID THAT IS DIFFCULT TO REACH Q2 FOR THEM!


THEN ON THE ENDE HE SAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



motorsport-total.com

I wonder if McLaren have simply taken the KERS out, not because KERS didn't work, but because without it they can better balance the car?

Sorry, not about the fluid but about 'unevenness', but does anyone know why McLaren has different exhausts each side?

kar, i think you might be right

Check your PM's.

also notice how the new exhaust is located on the same side as the flowvis, i have a feeling they are working on a new hot air outlet in conjunction with the double diff, brawn has no apperant hot air outlets also, could be it is lead out through the diff, but the again they could just be testing the impact of the new layout. Anyhow, in the old design, hot air and exhaust are lead out the same place. The new design looks like there is no hot air outlet where the exhaust are

Different cooling requirements on either side of the car. They have been using asymmetric inlets as well.

Before clicking "submit reply", first, take a deep breath and think what you write.

We need zero tolerance on this thread.

Different exhaust pipe exit configuration, left - right.

And a retro New Wave style painting on the diffuser.

theyve borrowed the green colour from brawngp

Before clicking "quote", first, take a deep breath, and consider the "ignore this user" button from his profile

People quoting stuff like this almost defeats the object of such a service for people that employ it.

If someone haven't seen it yet:

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news/20...e_09032007.html

You can translate it into english by google translate tool.

Motorsport-Total.com/sid) - Mercedes proposes alarm: Sports boss Norbert Haug has a few days before the start of the Formula-1-season 2009 first openly acknowledges world champion Lewis Hamilton is not the slightest chance to have. "Wir müssen uns nach den Testergebnissen darauf einstellen, im letzten Drittel der Startaufstellung zu stehen", sagte Haug vor dem ersten Rennen am 29. "We have to get after the test results to adjust, in the last third of the starting line-up to stand," said Haug before the first race on 29 März (8.00 Uhr MESZ/live bei 'Premiere' und 'RTL') in Melbourne im 'sid'-Interview.

The diffuser vertical blades are not parallel.
It seems to be projected to move the air in diagonal, so that the air has room to expand not only in the vertical axl, but also in the horizontal and create more downforce.

Does it speed up the air more and create downforce [Bernouly effect],
or
Downforce is created bcs the air expands and creates a low pressure zone that sucks the back of the car towards the ground?

i find it a bit amusing that mclaren spend all that effort covering up their car with screens and human shield when its entering/leaving the garage (and also when it was on the flatbed after the little fire) and yet they paint the most sensitive parts bright green for all the world to see.

i guess they had to make compromises when chasing performance, and their usual high secrecy is being sacrificed.

Australia preview quotes: McLaren

Lewis Hamilton: "There is no better place to begin the FIA Formula 1 World Championship than in Australia. The weather is fantastic, the facilities are excellent and the people of Melbourne make us all feel extremely welcome. Most importantly, everyone arrives with an air of enthusiasm and expectation.

"Despite weeks of winter testing, it's still difficult to know exactly who has the best package, and finding out over the weekend in Albert Park is always fascinating. Perhaps Vodafone McLaren Mercedes doesn't come to Melbourne with the same prospects to challenge at the front that we experienced in both 2007 and '08, but the whole team will be working tirelessly to help us move back to the front."

Heikki Kovalainen: "I had a great race in Melbourne last year on my debut for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It's a track I love - a circuit that you really have to attack with a lot of enthusiasm if you are to get the best from the car. The fast esses at the back of the circuit are probably the most demanding corners – getting it just right is a hugely satisfying feeling.

"Elsewhere, I enjoy the 'back to school' feeling of the new season – you meet up with everybody, share your stories from the winter and look forward to another good season. Everybody in our team is really motivated and, while we probably won't start the season as favourites, we will work around the clock to get back there."

Martin Whitmarsh, team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "We go into the start of the 2009 season fully aware that we do not yet have the technical package that will allow our drivers to fight at the front. In Formula 1, there is nowhere to hide: that's what makes our sport so demanding and yet so endlessly fascinating.

"And as a team that goes Grand Prix racing with the expectation of winning races and challenging for world championships, we therefore go to Melbourne with realistic expectations. Nonetheless, we begin our season with huge determination to re-assert ourselves at the front and we will not rest for a moment until we have done that. Most importantly, we haven't forgotten how to win."

Norbert Haug, Vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Melbourne is the city where – 12 years ago – McLaren-Mercedes achieved their first of 58 Grand Prix wins since then. After a total of four victories at Albert Park, this time it may not be possible to repeat Lewis's success of last year.

"Considering our test results we will not be as competitive at the season opener as we intend to be, and so I do not expect a qualifying result at the front of the grid. However, we will all work hard to return to the front as soon as possible and in Melbourne everybody in the team is fully motivated to do everything to achieve the best possible result."

McLaren plays down Australia chances
story here