This year McLaren approached the season conservatively, they even said that at the car debut press release, and then we saw they were true to say that.

exactly, this is the same story from mclaren each year,(except last) i reserve my judgement until testing begins, last year the armchair critics were right and the mclarens engineers was not, so lol. But yes typical mclaren statement, stating the obvious, what everybody is trying

Can you back that statement up with some press releases from McLaren from previous years?

I am no engineer - hell, I dont even know how to put oil into my own car or change a tyre on the thing. But I know about lots of other things... including PR.

... so (for my benefit) lets forget engineering for a moment ...The only reason why the press is interested in whether next year's car will favour oversteer or understeer or tend to be neutral is that LH is said to favour understeer and JB is said to favour oversteer/neutral cars. The only reason Macca are seeking to clarify the position at this time is to convince the (British) media that JB will get a fair crack of the whip and there will be no favouritism towards LH by pointing out that the 2010 car is neutral. Given that this is a very convenient thing for Macca officials to say at this time, I take it with a grain of salt. You chaps who understand the engineering side of things may see no need to look behind what you consider to be a statement of the obvious from Macca but from my non-engineering point of view I see primarily an effort to generate this sort of headline (which is typical of the way that the British press has received the information):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorspor...son-Button.html

As far as JB is concerned, we cannot reduce his decision to go to Macca to whether or not he is satisfied that the car will not favour one driver more than the other. I think it was a bit more complicated than that.

At the risk of seeming to be unreasonably stubborn - I am going to stick to simplicity and wait to see how things turn out as, not being an engineer, I have trouble understanding how the team could completely ignore what they know to be their current driver(s) requirements of a car, when designing their 2010 machine, in the interest of achieving some sort of hypothetical fastest possible car. Engineers on this and other forums assure me that this is the way that racecar design is done but my experience of people says that such a clinical approach is not likely to be pursued without compromise .... and even engineers are people.

Well the 18 is what happens when you let Adrian Newey run unchecked. His penchant for pushing everything just beyond the limit & praying it holds together really came to light with that debacle. No doubt he's a genius, but remind us all again when the last time one of his cars won the championship? They pretty much come close but ultimately lose out to reliability.

See. 2003. 2005. 2009.

There're gazillion things you have to think about when you design a car, I really doubt drivers' preferences are top priorities for them.

09 was fairly reliable. But whether those Renault engines exploding had anything to do with aero packing.. well yeah.

Though Newey did create the 18, we cant forget the next year he was 100% commited to was the 19B ;-)!

Paffet testing today.

Pic: http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?p...&catID=4406

- Basic front wing
- still testing with wheel covers (even though banned next season)
- only half length sidepod winglet
- the V cutout floor is back again!
- I think everyone now using the smaller front 2010 tyres.

I smell a beginning phase of a comparison work. I don't think they'll run the crappiest season starter version of the car for all 3 days.

Please remind us how come it was Newey's fault that Mercedes/Renault engines couldn't hold up in 2005 and 2009?

Paffett fastest at the moment with a 1:19:426 with a Silverstone Spec MP4-24. The fastest lap we did at Jerez was 1:17:812 on the last day of testing when the track was rubbered in at the Track Temp was 41 degrees. I wonder if we are running an older car to correlate and compare Weight Distributions?

He seems to be testing the sausage indeed. Why is that? Are they afraid he trashes an updated '24?

Well the Silverstone spec '24 had no KERS, so that could have something to do with it.

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?p...&catID=4406

Turvey was with last aero version of MP4-24... I have no idea what McLaren actually do in today`s test, maybe it was comparison work, but we can`t read into the times...

i agree they must be looking at weight distribution stuff and aero testing.

Those look like 2009 front tires

An F1 car is rebuilt before every event.

McLaren MP4/24
MP4-24-01 - Launch only

MP4-24-02* - Car 2 (Kovalainen) Raced Barcelona, Monaco, Silverstone. Car 1
(Hamilton) Raced Singapore to Yas Marina

MP4-24-03 - Car 2 (Kovalainen) Raced Melbourne to Sakhir and Nurburgring to Yas Marina

MP4-24-04* - Car 1 (Hamilton) Raced Melbourne to Sakhir, and Monaco to
Hungaroring, Monza
MP4-24-05 - Car 1 (Hamilton) Raced at Barcelona, Valencia and Spa

Which chassis raced in Silverstone, they were updated later.

So today's car is purposefully rebuilt to have an early package.

By Silverstone Spec I was referring to the Aero Package moreover than the chassis itself. IMO Turvey will get Diffuser of Justice Spec MP4-24 to gauge his skills whilst Paffett is with the MP4-24 used upto Nurburgring with perhaps a dummy KERS for Weight Distribution comparisons. On the surface the cars may not seem different but I suspect under all that Carbon Fibre there may be a few component being tested for 2010.

Yeah, probably testing a 2010 braking system or something like that

I was just referring to the weight distribution really. They might be gathering more data or something.

Although I've just seen pictures of the DOJ spec '24 from this afternoon, so you guys are right

The packaging plays a big part, by keeping things tight the engine/oil can be insufficiently cooled.

None of Kimi's failures in 2005 were related to packaging as far as I remember. I was usually brand new engines which blew up in practice and it was traced down to poor quality control. In fact recently there was a report how Mercedes dramatically revised their QA procedure and have been more or less bulletproof.

I recall some discussion on the role of FWEPs with the new, narrower front tyres. Perhaps that explains McLaren running the original ones (directing air inwards) and the final ones (directing air outwards).

Mclaren Tuesday's test recap.

If anyone is interested a preview of next years team kit.
https://www.mclarenshop.com/webapp/wcs/stor...151_22155_22155

Well I hope those are poor mock ups as they're not looking impressive, I liked the ribbed (triple layer) shoulders and they've seem to have got rid of them.

"2010 Team Victory T-Shirt"

can anyone remember their victory shoes?

is that supposed to be rocket red cos it looks pretty bloody orange to me! not liking the new team wear, but to be honest i havent liked the team wear since the golden west days! the black fireproof under garments kimi and montoya had in 2005 were great.

£20 for a cap ?

No wonder they're not bothered about Merc leaving

http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/jerez-dec-2.php

Here's a interesting little comparison today in 27 degree track temp the DOJ spec MP4-24 managed a 1:18:7, in similar temperatures Lewis did a 1:21:3 in the Transparent Engine Cover MP4-24.
http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/jerez-mar09-04.php

Oh here's another little tidbit. Remember last year when all the team spent half a day testing the 2010 spec rubber and McLaren spent the whole day testing the rubber, that will be very useful indeed especially when we don't know for certain if teams are testing on 2010 rubber(Someone on the Winter Testing Thread said Andy Stobart said they weren't).
http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/jerez-mar09-01.php

Call that 3 seconds over the season. Pretty good.

Btw, is seems Heikki is released early. No traces of him in drivers section on the McLaren internets.

I bit puzzled by the merchandise for 2010: where are the McLaren logo? Its just Mobil, Mercedes and Vodaphone. I support McLaren and would like the McLaren brand given a bit more exposure.

Also with all the data collected from that 2010 tyre test mclaren would have been using its tyre modeling program all year in preperation for this. Hopefully that proves to be advantageous come the early part of testing/season.

Then you would prefer this
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/1323731

After 2011...

that front wing they tested in practice this year

yes

Q+A with Paffett on this test:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80422

transparent engine cover? i didn't see that, do you have any pics?

Someone missed the early panic days when we grasped at straws eh

Actually that looks like a new hybrid Front Wing. IIRC the one tested during the season had a Single Element behind the Cascade Elements this one has 2 Elements not disimilar to the Pre Nurburgring Spec Front Wing. Also the endplates look a little different I'll try and find a picture to verify this.

no its the same

Yeah I was wrong shame I wasn't watching as eagle eyed during the FP sessions. Inadvertenly however I am intrigued by the fact this Front Wing reverts to a 2-Plane Main Element compared to the Single Element on the Front Wing that helped us get back towards the front of the Grid

I think it was always 2 elements except for the start of season when it was 3?