Confused? You won't be, after this week's episode of...McLaren

Lewis tryed the new McLaren, the 'short'one during FP2. After a few laps Lewis toughed the barrier with this so called new version. Problem is / was that McLaren brought only one complete set of this so called 'B' spec, this spec is for testing purposes i guess not for the race sunday. This is in my eyes whats going on atm, is it a bit clear mate?

so, why not go out and practice again in sundays car?

Can't be that confident that they can afford to not practice.

Because they are not allowed a spare car.

He only damaged the support that connects the nosecone to the front wing. They are flying a new one from Woking and he and Heikki will have all new updates tomorrow.

"Confusion" is quite an understatement regarding all this. It looks as if McLaren is trying to overtake themselves in the development race...

I agree. They should have stayed with what they had.

good answer

I agree it seems a massive push, hope it pays off and doesn't backfire.

How can it backfire exactly?

McLaren have nothing to lose and learning that something doesn't work is as valuable as something that does! Something the first half of the season demonstrates!

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That is plain BS, Lewis is very good over a single lap, the more technical the track the better he is.

Actually, you are right, leaving the DDDDDDD aside, he is rubbish over one lap......Thank god that races last more than one lap eh!.....

Exactly, this is my understanding from LH's and MW's comments. Where do these other ideas come from about only testing a B-spec for one practice session? I mean - source? It would mean LH and MW were lying for a start wouldn't it?

Martin Whitmarsh: We have got a series of upgrade packages as evident from today, though maybe not a sufficient number of those parts. But we had a new front wing package here that we tried with Heikki (Kovalainen) this morning. We have had some floor modifications which we tried with Lewis (Hamilton) and we were running a shorter wheel-base version of the car with Lewis today, really something that we are looking for the higher speed circuits, probably frankly for the benefit of Spa and beyond.

[...]

What we were doing with Lewis's car today was we were experimenting with wheel-base. We knew that if you change the wheel base you have to change the floor, the nose and the front wing assembly as well as we had moved the front axle position. In doing that we had insufficient parts. Lewis damaged the nose cone at the start of P2 and we have got parts that are literally in transit here. I don't feel embarrassed about it. I feel frustrated. There are some issues in Formula One for all the sensible prudent reasons that we have progressively cut down testing, the number of things that result from that, (Friday's press conference)

Thanks!

So that must mean either they intend to run the shorter wheel-base car here, or that the nose cone is the same nose cone no matter what the car length? Because he still says that the replacement parts are in transit here, not that it doesn't matter they broke it because it's not for this race anyway?

It will be very interesting to see what version of the car, in what configuration, appears today for practice and in quali.

I just thought of something.

What if the shorter wheel-base car was equivalent to the longer wheel-base on the slower-speed tracks, but should be of benefit on the high-speed tracks?

That would explain MW's comments, and why they are apparently continuing to run the car this weekend, once the spares arrive.

The shorter wheel-base car requires changes to the floor, the nose and the front wing assembly, according to Whitmartsh. So they had no spare parts from that type of nose, what Lewis broke.

Yes, and those spare parts were said by MW to be arriving Friday night, implying that this same car will be run on Saturday. Which contradicts what others are saying on this forum, which is that this was a one-off test of a B-spec car for future races, not for this race.

I read something interesting on BBC, it says that the team took the opportunity of the accident to rebuild LH's car - whatever that means.

Back to your statement, it means they would run the car in FP3 at least. The team had said they would run both specifications back to back before deciding which would actually be raced which means which they will use for qualifying. This is my take anyway.

I honestly don't think the team would be laying out all their cards in public; it is not only the fans that are reading these releases but the competition as well and I bet they would be analysing these releases more than we (poor fans -)).

btw, let's keep everything crossed that there are no more mishaps during the remainder of the weekend otherwise we might be cooked as they are so short of replacement parts.

I think Martin has the rigths to make statements which makes a bit harder for their opponents to find out what the heck they are doing now and for the next races. I'm sure only that they had no enough parts, but I'm not so sure it is shorter or longer wheelbase or for Valencia or Spa. Martin might state the opposite of the truth.

JUSTICE is coming!!!! LEWIS RULES and will win

Just because we're confused doesn't mean the team is

They know Spa is going to be a challenge, trying a change makes a lot of sense. We hear all the time what a problem the front wheels are for the aero, more than ever now with the wide front wing and neutral middle section, so moving them back a bit away from the front wing has to be worth a shot. They can pick which car to run when they see how it works at Valencia.

I just replayed Lewis' spin btw, the car did bottom out heavily at the back immediately before the back stepped out, they must have set it a bit low. Have to hope the couple of laps they got gave them enough data to be going on with.

Fair point.

As i would love to support your feelings and as i am a McLaren supporter, i honnestly think some solid points are in it this weekend. But i dont think a win is a change, podium maybe! Brawn looks just good as the Renault.

exactly, and by moving the front axle backwards, the weight balance moves forwards, and hence should help on rear end stability.

What type is Lewis driving today? The short or normal version?

short

where do you have that info

The session is red flagged but the clock is still counting down - is that normal?

from BBC

Slovalainen is topping the timesheets if they were reversed. What is the guy up to? Driving with his handbrake on?

He purpled the first sector just before the red flag came out...

ah ok thanks, i still have my doubts though, bbc said they were rebuilding hamiltons car yesterday also, im quessing they reversed back to the old spec, with more spare parts, but i dont know

What happend?

To put in the race engine for today.

Vettel destroyed 3rd practice not his fault thou

Why don't they stop the clock ? Rules maybe?

Looks like a mayor blowup?

Testing a shorter wheelbase is quite a substantial development isn't it? I don't remember a team changing wheelbase somewhere during the season?

That would be too easy.

Engine failure maybe? I don´t know, we will se ;)

A lot of work indeed, but Mclaren had effectively given up on this year and rightly so, I think they are taking advantage of the 'luxury' to exploit all possible scenarios as they prepare next year's car
It is also possible that other teams notably Ferrari are doing the same things but are just quiet about it.

It is been reported a gear box failure in another forum.

I'd be damn pissed if I were a spectator and bought an expensive ticket..

Nope, atleast i never heared a team switched to a longer nor shorter wheelbase ... That, i think it just costs to much money, think about it, every team with the budget would bring every reace a different wheelbase.

Kubica told his engineer he will not be going out again due to track conditions.
He is not happy about the car but told the team not to panick.

Session starts in 3 mins

Fair point, they need to change that rule at least for the spectator's sake!

Did Heikki look like he was running the old wing and floor in FP3? Did anyone notice?

Because it would affect the timetable for all the following sessions.