the sidepods don't appear to dip down to the rear of the car.... but then the exhausts are cowled in so maybe they've chosen to keep the top serface as smooth as they can?

i'm still weirded out bu the steering arms!!! like a 2006 honda!!!

im hugely dissapointed, i know its just a car and as long as it is fast,but it doesnt have the same detail as i have been accustomed to, from their previous designs, ferrari created a ultra thin beauty, with a lot of details and some interesting solutions, the toyota was actually quit good also, nice frontwing endplates and they moved the rear crash structure to maximise the flow towards the beam wing, very interesting detail. The mp4-24 is just fat. Im not judging whether its good or bad. But some serious shit must be going in thoose huge sidepods as the the team claimed they used kers in the 23, and it was no where near the size of this monster

Seems a cleaner, but slightly more conservative car than the Ferrari on first glimpse.

Still it's really hard to compare with these stock photos. The only thing that we can all agree on, is it is embarrassing seeing the drivers forced to tool around ridiculously with those picture phones.

Summary:

Clean, Bulky, Smooth, low cooling profile (less drag).

Instead of trying to shave every mm they could off the area of the car (Ferrari), they've just let the air flow over the top of the surfaces, hinting at where they'd like the air to go.

Rather than the flip ups and forceful aero parts of last year (2008).

True and they do it every year, it just looks silly. You don't see the Ferrari drivers smoking Marlboros or the Toyota drivers with their Panasonic HD video cams....

I think that the exhaust covers make the rear of the car appear more bulky than it actually is in profile view. If you take them out (even just using paint) then it looks about the same as the Toyota. And I think they are also there as a sneaky way of pretending they are something they are not (I should think their primary purpose is as a flip-up, which is banned apart from as part of the exhaust)...

Could the bulkiness be attributed to Mclaren running KERS for the start of the 09 season, while Toyota and Ferrari will not?

Obi

i just love how the rear wheel looks without the stupid cover...

but ferrari has testet kers on track, so it's surely fitting in that tight package

They could have another package for the KERS setup. And they probably do.

F60 easy the sexiest

A LOT of interesting solutions on that car, I like it. We will have a lot of fun comparing all the new bits on 09 cars.

wow, the tub of the Macca is way higher than the ferrari one!

if you painted it red and white i would laugh at it and call it the normal boring toyota type off style

thanks for that it really illustrates the differences, the Macca looks huge on that pic

Superb car

True. But MP4-24 easily the most masculine!

Let me tell you now that it is pointless until the final aero package comes before Australia. There is no way that Ferrari, Mclaren and Toyota will be using those front/rear wings (Toyota especially have very simple solutions as it stands at the moment, and I don't think for a moment that they will get anywhere near the final design.

I was once told that the most efficient aerodynamic shape is that of a drop of water.
It seems that the shape of the bodyworks looks a lot like one.

Vodafone should go black.

Ferrari's nose looks like the one of a jet fighter and McLaren's like a torpedo.
Toyota is just overall okay but not that impressive in any aspect.

@RedBaron: can you make a 3d-rotation-anim for all the three ?

Yep. Saw it too. Interesting.

Having a bad day, ey?

tha car is good looking, and have more innovative solutions than the other two. So dry your eyes and hold your breath until track time.

Agreed. The car doesn't look agressive, but let's judge it on its on-track performance

I meant the new bits that will pop out on tests, too. But still, there is a lot to think about even now, like cooling and rear wing design on the new Mclaren! Crazy stuff!

The white backgorund is terrible for the cars, IMO.
Can someone phsop Ferrari's background to white just to prove my point?

Thanks.

Interesting that, after having pioneered the undercut sidepods, McLaren is now the first team to go away from that solution. Only at the front is there a bit of an undercut, but the sides seem almost completely straight.

Maybe you hit the nail on the head.. Maybe that is Macca's solution to the short wheelbase of their car, to make it less oversteery, so they get the full dynamic range of their tweakable components.

It doesn't look like the ideal driving position does it? Must feel weird having your legs sticking upwards like that.

They don`t really differ much form last year at the bottom.

Even non-McLaren fans would say their cars usually look good, but this one not so much! Should it be called the whale for it's bulky shape? The sidepods seem very high and the airbox tiny... makes it like a chopped top hot rod, how bout a 32 Ford coupe... quality autocar, not some modern whitegoods on wheel rubbish

I think this car will be popular if it's quick, and rubbished (with the bizarre styling blamed) if it's slow... McLaren Lewis could be banging wheels with Nakajima for P9 in the mid field on their best races in one of the Maccas or another he races/could go on to race (as per Kimi and Coulthard), so we will see if this 'Macca' is quick or not.

Very interesting that the nose concepts from Ferrari, Toyota and McLaren are completely different.

The McLaren exhaust outlet is very radical, if they are getting some exhaust chimney function, good ingenuity.

note: Also Macca the only team to paint the floor, bargeboard, splitter area of the car, doing so in silver paint Maybe there could be some performance advantage in doing this, some hi-tech low drag low weight paint paint that's better than the carbon surface (whose shinyness depends on the 'plastic' to 'carbon' ratio)?

Well, the car is completely closed at the back.
http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/bilder/...d=&b=1232105412

Maybe a cover for the launch?

Got to agree, sex on legs on the side angle. Hopefully the McLaren works well on track.

Thanks for that The Mac looks soo.....conservative compared to the Ferrari and Toyota.

Yeah but a racing car is meant to generate downforce, including whilst it's turning. Teardrop shape is for cyclist's time trail spec helmet Smooth shapes that tapered in a teardrop style at the back were the optimum state of the art thinking for the early front engined grand prix cars of course, cars that did not have downforce built in!

As with last year's car, their bodywork hardly had any openenings. Together with that front suspension layout (steering arm separated), these are the most interesting features and therefore the most interesting car so far.

http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...n/diapo_134.jpg

First 2009 double pillar supported rear wing.

yes i think so to, looks odd

Why, it`s the same as last year.

Isn't the toy's rear also completely closed .

Compare

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?p...111321&catID=10

to

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?p...7061&catID=3792

Notice how the sides of the sidepod are almost completely vertical on the new car as compared to the old one.

Well spotted

Doesn't look too bad. My eyes are definitely starting to get used to the 2009 look of the cars. Of course in the case of McLaren the livery makes the car look good no matter what shapes are.

It looks the rear wing and endplates are one part. That's some quality stuff.

By contrast, there was a rough join between the uprights and front wing on the Toyota.

Nope.

haha, I'll have detailed 1:18 scale models FedEx'd to everyone within the hour!

What did Mclaren do with the air entering the sidepods last year?

Obi