thanks Adie, great pics!

that shark fin is really an integrated part of the body, unlike any other previously seen ones. it's not flat at all, except the part painted in red.

How were you able to get so close to the show?

thanks for vid.

@1;58 - 2:03, you can see quite clearly how the engine cover is shaped. very interesting.

What a change of culture McLaren seems to have made in a few years. It used to be somewhat of a closed team, now it is very open which I think can be contributed to Whithmarsh's leadership.

I'd love to say by being ballsy, but I just walked to the front for the Q&A's. Sat behind Jake and the BBC for the launch, then John Button for the press element. Was a great day, will blog about it in more detail when I've covered the 'newsy' bits.

The telephoto lens on the camera helps too!

I must say that the '25 looks like one mean motor scooter. It ain't graceful, and not particularly pretty, but it sure has presence. At the very least, kudos to McLaren for taking new roads.

Nicely said

It is especially nice to see Ron and Mansour Ojjeh agin. (around 1:40).

And yeah - typo. I obviously meant the MP4-25 not 26 several posts ago.

http://www.fastmachines.com/images/postings/2004williams.jpg

So we don't get our hopes up too high, just because it looks radical.

Just noticed that the engine intake has a splitter too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47033236@N03/...57623308775298/
clearly visible. The upper part maybe for cooling. The second is the biggest, it feeds the engine. Under the normal intake area, there is an intake as well. For cooling again I suppose.

Hi mates:

I´m mclaren spanish fan, i´m impressed with MP 4-25, but i would like it was fast. First impression is positive, little sidepods, engine Mercedes (warranty 100% power and performance) and shark inglet, pretty and beautifull.

I hope and wish this car was fast , i will be in Valencia this monday!!! i can´t wait see it on track!!!


If i can, I will upload photos.

Regards

Goo Mclaren Gooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Any info on the Mercedes engine and what work has been done on optimising fuel efficiency further?

PS - I thought there were rules preventing bodywork near or under the nose? I thought that the main splitter under the driver was as far forward as bodywork could go.

Why is the name MP4 - 25 btw? What does the MP4 stand for?

I wish McLaren a great season, and i'm glad to see that Jenson looks really settled in. Nice looking car, but i'm not too sure about that shark fin. I think, once Jense and Lewis start winning, that I'll get used to it!

Just one thing, they've lost both SAP and FedEx as sponsors. I'm guessing SAP are finalising a deal with Mercedes GP, as they are a German company. FedEx logos used to feature on the collars of the racesuits, and used to look good next to the Mobi 1 logos because of thier similar colour schemes. Whether they have just scaled back thier support or gone altogether, it's a bit of a suprise now that the current WDC has joined.

If anyone can correct me on the above then I'll be more than happy to take it all back.

McLaren Project 4 I think, named after the team Ron owned before getting into F1.

The popular theory is that it stands for 'McLaren-Project 4'. Project 4 was the company that Ron Dennis owned which bought a majority stake of McLaren back in 1980. There was anoter theory that it stands for 'Marlboro-Project 4', with backing from Philip Morris which lasted for donkey's years.

Personally I believe the first one.

Marlboro or McLaren Project 4

allright thanks for the info on MP4 all

If you take a closer look at the spy photo of the Williams you will see that it has many similarities to the MP4-25.
By looking on both cars the difference that strike me the most was that the middle rear section of the mp4-25 is clearly elevated.

I believe that this is made in order to give more space-air flow to the diffuser by clearing the bottom area.If this is so the feeding area at this point should be enormous. When mclaren says that the whole car is built around the optimal function of the diffuser i think this is what they mean. I believe from Monday and so on the discussion about the diffuser could be as great as it was last year at the same time.

Mclaren Project 4, you are correct!!!

I hope MP 4-25 will be fast than MP 4-20, but absolutely Reliability


Regards

Wow what an amazing different approach from Mclaren. The car looks serouisly good.

Wishing them all the luck i so wish Kimi was driving it.

I've noticed FedEx on the overalls of Jenson and Lewis, I'm sure. What I am surprised about, is that Santander is present on the overalls (and quite prominently so), but is not featured at all on the cars. Does this mean they are paying peanuts (relatively to what they were paying before), or does a prominent sticker on the overall costs more than, say, the Aigo sticker on the car itself?

That's a good point, this car wasn't only radical, it also got good figures in the windtunnel - in theory.

It's quite hard to believe that this is the very last Williams that managed to win (in extremis, at that) a race.

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5213/99572596.jpg

The car looks just like "the dead zone carrier" should look like

...and the red fiat punto looks like red fiat punto

I believe a reasonable sized sticker on the car costs more than on a driver because it's more visible during the race. But regarding Santander, they are still a McLaren sponsor, as you rightly pointed out, but they are backing Ferrari moreso. They are staying with Macca becuase the UK is one of their biggest markets at the moment and they will a massive cache now that they have two British World Champions onboard.

But by then it hadn´t that nose..

So this is the jet air shooter towards the rear wing. Looks great. Williams had one, this one has camera mounted on its both sides. A smart solution.

Just got back after 13 hours of travelling, having spent the last 19 hours looking forward to seeing the launch. Haven't read any of the thread comments yet, but am so incredibly excited by what 'we' have unveiled today. The car looks 'proper' and to me is a thing of great beauty; purposeful, dynamic, cutting edge. I'm somewhat tempered by my memories of seeing 18 for the first time, but this seems altogether more radical, at least for McLaren. To me it shows a team which is confident in it's abilities, unshackled and back to being purely focused on engineering, bullish even, given the recent trend for a more conservative evolutionary approach shown in recent launches. It's as if the team has rediscovered it's essence in going its own way and I haven't felt this much anticipation for their new car since '98 (although it's a shame they won't at least test it in papaya). They're even talking about passion again without out it being hidden behind corporate sensibilities and goals which could lead to the accusation that it was all about a technical exercise. It's a statement of intent beyond my most hopeful imaginations. Of course, what ultimately counts is the lap time, but for me it's already a winner because the ethos behind the original team is back, and subsisting within the modern incarnation of Mclaren which for me is the best of both worlds.

http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/2010/press...10/the-team.php

Where is Neil Oatley

IIRC he is going to the road car side.

The 3 cars so far look really cool, but also really long, kinda like stretched limousine F1 cars. Especially the McLaren. I know how they have bigger fuel tanks but I don't remember old F1 cars i.e. the FW14B being that long? Or maybe its an illusion, maybe old cars were that long? Set me straight!

I don't think so, he is McLaren designer since '88 and designed 6 championship wining cars. Maybe retirement

as long it performs on track.


will there be a big difference between fuel tank size across teams?

I think you are right. IIRC, in the old days, with no refuelling, the driver sat further forward, and perhaps partly for that reason legs were often injured in accidents.

It's possible that the current safety regs force the teams to sit the driver further back, or maybe it's felt that the car balance requires it. Or maybe the driver has more control and feel if he's not too far forward.

Last year when Red Bull launched their RB5, I had a feeling it would be good just by looking at it. This year I'm getting that same feeling with the MP4-25, only stronger. I really won't be surprised if this car won both championships.

Apparently I was misremembering about FedEx still being on the driver overalls, I checked the launch pictures and they are not on it. I think I was confused by an older picture.

damn good shots
especially the one with Lewis and Jenson (black& white)
exactly at the right moment
The expression on their faces
I like it

I hope to to see more pictures like this during the season, Lewis & Jenson having fun.

Was Gary Paffett present at the launch?

McLaren were delighted when Jenson claimed he'd be the 2010 WDC.

Wonder if someone on the grid next year builds a car that has a higher fuel tank (i.e. taller car) instead of a longer wheelbase? Wonder how they will get round the casino hairpin?

I don't think (what was her name) was given a proper chance. IIRC, there are elements seen on the front of the Williams that are now part of present F1 "norms" - the top-of-nose aero channeling like Newey's Redbull, the way the front wing mounts, and the "platypus" nose. I think if they'd continued to develop it properly they may have ended up where we are today, but a lot sooner.

It's curious how split people are on the look. I think it looks great.

What are the regs concerning the area of the front wing as it leads the front wheel? It seems that Ferrari has their front wing a bit further forward - which I would think maximize the leverage of the downforce of the front wing, which would make me think "why don't they all do that?"...?

Exhausts look dangerously close to the rear suspension.

/ hope the tunnel through the fin proves to be something tricky like some sort of heat-energy recovery system (also allowed in the regs, right?)

hahahahahahaha

Its a shame that the Force India isn't very good this year, either, cuz they looked promising last year.

Its good to see that Williams is back up at the front again, though, dont ya think? Its been a while.

Oh, and did you see USF1?! Wow! What a debut. Dont think anybody expected them to get those kind of results in their first few races!

Nice idea, Alx09!

Technically it 'was' Marlboro Project 4 when Marlboro assisted/brought in Ron to buy a majority stake of McLaren in 1980. The early chassis plates even had Marlboro under MP/4. Despite this, the team never referred to the chassis as a Marlboro Project 4. This was quietly dropped before Marlboro and West departed and thus it has been assumed it is McLaren Project 4 ever since. The '/' also changed to a '-' at some point recently.

Remember, this was at the end of the Seventies, when JPS tried to call the Lotus a JPS, Ligier was sometimes referred to as a Gitanes Talbot/ Talbot Gitanes etc


With reference to someone asking if a B-Spec would be built due to the drawing number. When I was there, the car was always referred to MP4/X-A at the start of the season, irrelevant of future plans.

The biggest issue with a taller fuel tank is a) CofG goes up and car handling could varey even more better full and empty and b) higher bodywork in that area will disturb more air onto the rear wing, which is critical (hence, the low bodywork at the rear, engine cover (not tansparent!) fin etc.