From that photo you can see how high the front of the MP4-24 really is. And because of the height the front suspension is quite abnormal-looking also, or the front is high so that could have the suspension like that or perhaps it's a bit of both. Hopefully McLaren haven't forgot that however great the windtunnel figures might be, a human still has to be able drive the car with some comfort.

Maybe there's KERS batteries under his legs.

Nice car, thanks to Renault, as someone said, and thanks to the old rear wing.

why thanks to Renault

True, i think i remember them building a car where the cockpit was to small to fit their drivers. Can't they all go test somewhere hot i need some meaningful information.

Renault get, by far, the lowest benchmark, IMO.

let them be uncomfortable

It was only Mansell who couldnt fit. They designed the cockpit around Mika who was half the size.

no they f..... up after that also, i think it was the newey designed 18 or 19 they had to redesign because the cockpit was to small, and the drivers were so uncomfortable

I vaguely remember the cockpit of the MP4/18 being (too) small as well.

Wurz couldn't fit into one of the designs, not sure which one off the top of my head though.

It was when Wurz was testdriver and he is a rather tall fellow, so they had to modify it to fit him. I think it was when Montoya was driving, around 2005/2006.

Oh, common, the 20 was designed for the race drivers so they had to fit the extinguisher somewhere else for Wurz.
You remember Wurz, the tall one?


Fu**** up ...

Was in 2005 when De la Rosa drove at Bahrain because cockpit wasn't yet modified to fit Alex

ahh yes you guys are right although i seem to remember its was more than the extinguisher, well hopefully we are to clever not to let something like that happen again

Thanks for the explanation, it had gone totally over my head

No bad words on the 20 please ;)
That was the most beautiful McLaren to date, pure beauty!

damm that is a beauty, did we really have the horns already back then

and if kimi hadnt hit oil in france, and lost his lead to M.S that car would have won the championshio if i remember correctly, damm that was a good year

possibly bad taste, but possibly interesting thought:

if it weren't for his poor record in f1, would there be a mechanical benefit, and so a differently designed nose, if they employed alex zanardi?

I personally love the look of the new car, though we need more pics of it with the '09 rear wing!

I also agree that the 20 was the best looking McLaren of recent years

He is too short.

There were some ups and downs. Montoya never really warmed to the team or car and not to forget Kimi's puncture during the last lap of the Nurburgring/European GP. Oh well, that's history now, I do have a new wallpaper:

http://www.imagesf1.com/2005/Mclaren/22.jpg

Replace the number at the end of the url to see the whole series. There are some very nice shots
I still think Kimi shouldn't have left McLaren despite his world championship at Ferrari.

Well he did flatspot his tire leading to the suspension failure.

Yes he did, at the Schumacher chicane to be precise.
He was on a roll that race, the puncture wasn't good for my mood that day.

offtopic alert


This is MP4-24 thread

I couldn't agree more. I get the impression that he still hasn't really become comfortable over there. If only he had been willing to stay for one more season I'm very sure he'd have won the WDC (even though he did win it with ferrari). Point is, and this is totally imho, if he'd then gone on to win the 2007 wdc, he would have been much more incline to stay with macca.

Although, come to think of it, kimi and alonso in 2007 both in macca. That would have been fun to watch...

Consider also Hamilton in a Williams at best possibly, and one M Schumacher in a Ferrari

anyone know why we ditched the gold at the back of the car. Looks great on the 20. Reminds me of the gold they used on the McLaren F1. Back to the 24, and it does look good, i'm slightly worried about the sidepods with everyone else having very shapely pods and ours looking quite outdated really. Pat Fry don't let us down.

McLaren have a huge number of highly talented engineers, aerodynamicists and other such personnel. As such, I can only imagine that they have some reasoning for the shape of the car if it seems odd. A lot of work has gone into designing it.

Take a look at this picture. The fin (back edge) of the air box is transparent.
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...4/diapo_150.jpg
.. or it's just a reflection from yhe mirror paint?

Hm, also here
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires...4/diapo_163.jpg
too good matching of the contours. But who knows.

I don't think it is you know.

The continuation of the colours is too line perfect to be a reflection

eg: where the e carrys on in the first pic.
if it was a reflection, what would account for that in vodaphone,


FREAKY!

Nope 100% transparent.

Take a look at 163 and the hidden exhaust that you think is a reflection, and then the little bit popping out, perfect match, no reflection.

It is see through, you can see the see one of the suspension arms from the left rear.

does look transparent, the reflection of the rear wing doesn't reflect voda, looks transparent. Pastic on a formula one car ????

aha was it that year, yeah well it was a joined decission by the team and him, but it wasnt good for the mood i agree, but a great year nevertheless. Yes i would also have liked him to stay on. He gave me the best race ever. Suzuka 05 or 06. Holy crap his move on fisci
Back to the 24, i have almost no fears, the mclaren engineers know what they are doing, what worries the most, is the front suspension and the fact that while almost all other teams have moved the driver forward, and in general making their rear ends longer mclaren has choosen a different route it seems.
Frontsuspension, because if it doesnt work, so so many changes needs to be done, its something you dont change over night or weeks, even the chassis has to be redesigned if its the geometry.
But so far it looks good

I hope theres a good performance reason,
otherwise, McLaren, please stop p*ssing around with things that don't matter!

good spot, thats transparent

It was a suspension failure, caused by a tyre flat-spot, that made Kimi retire - and it wasn't the last lap either

But it looks awesome,

I can't tell for sure, but it looks transparent to me.

Good catch.

Maybe this is a byproduct of the new paint process that's been alluded to. Would love to know more about it.

LOL


I remember when they introduced chrome paint, done with a new special process, looked great but pity the car broke down all the time, but yes, it looked awesome

not transparent...

Look at the picture ending with 149 and know what embarrassment feels like ;)

Last or second to last.

OK, I went and looked at every picture again with a fresh eye. The damn fin is transparent. The funny thing is that you don't even notice because there is so much reflection going on.

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/121627

Take a look at this picture again, up close. The fin is more white than other parallel surfaces. There is no way that every picture that has been taken is from the the exact angle as to create a perfect mirror. This is so strange to me.

it was in round 58 of 59 it happened, and offcourse they went for the win, thats the reason im a mclaren fan, all or nothing

Now when I look at this picture, it is clearly a reflection because the lettering on the tires reverses. May be like looking through a disc where you have to have a light source behind it to notice it's transparency.


http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/121627