16 replies to this topic

[SparkPlug86]

And here we go! The Technical thread for MCL37 is live...

 

MCL37 is due to launch on 13th February at the MTC - you can follow a live stream from here:

https://www.mclaren....023/car-launch/

 

 

25.01.2023 - MCL37 is fired up for the first time!

[GlenWatkins]

38 days!

[sladealonso]

https://twitter.com/...1g8n5RKf9hbjAhQ


Scarbs seems to have noticed a change in radiator package for 2023.

[benb53]

Favourite time of year! Dreaming of gains (please god).

[Red5ive]

I would love it if McLaren had managed to somehow ace the development of this years car and were up the top of the pile but I really cant see anything than more of the same unfortunately.

 

At most, best of the rest at certain tracks and very much in the mid-field at the others.

[mclarensmps]

I haven't seen too much last year to indicate it would be anything more than what you say, but I still lie in hope

[kumo7]

https://twitter.com/...1g8n5RKf9hbjAhQ


Scarbs seems to have noticed a change in radiator package for 2023.

 

The last one from OSCAR's shot is a 33?

[BertoC]

After 2022 I'm not really expecting much, the 36 really deflated my expectation of what the team is capable of but, I'm a Mclaren fan. What we do best is suffer expecting a miracle. I'm so good at that at this point it's almost an art.

[aray]

Yeah! Not expecting miracle anymore. My only hope is to reduce the gap with front-runners.

[Rumblestrip]

My impression from the interviews Key and others gave last year was that a lot of the concepts which the grid converged on towards the end of the season were ones they considered themselves, but turned down as they didn't have enough trust in their modelling/tools. I'd like to think the change to the radiator package shows they might be braver this year and trust themselves a bit more.

[Alburaq]

Yeah! Not expecting miracle anymore. My only hope is to reduce the gap with front-runners.

 

Well that's the most realistic thing Mclaren, Alpine, Alfa, Haas, AM etc can do for now: to reduce the gap with the 3 front-runners bit by bit until they catch them. The big lead that the big 3 have built up, thanks to their unlimited and 2x, 3x bigger budgets (until 2020-2021) and better infrastructures, can not be closed overnight. 
Unless one of them messes up, (like Ferrari in 2020 with its engine, or particular circumstances occur, like the 2021 freeze and rule mods...)

 

 

 

Regarding the MCL37, that car has many low hanging fruits and room for big and immediate improvements IMO, because Mclaren did many questionable technical choices* in 2022, and it seems they are addressing them with this car.

 

*Like the charge air cooling system they used, and the way they packaged it along the other systems in the sidepods + the sidepod and tunnel shape etc. 

https://i.imgur.com/MO6dSvO.jpg

 

But this year, it seems they are using the Merc water-air intercooler that was designed for that compressor and is used by every other Mercedes team, instead of those 2022 MCL air-air coolers and their 20 miles-long pipes... And this should open up a lot of possibilities for Mclaren and unlock a lot of performance... 

https://i.imgur.com/C4a9cSo.jpg

But they opted for an interesting monocoque shape in 2022 (its rear end is like a monolithic block with llittle to no undercuts), and put the cockpit very backwards like RedBull (but they didnt exploit that feature as hard as RB) and these 2 technical choices could come in very handy in 2023.

 

--> Mclaren = 2023 vice-champion at Spa. 

https://pbs.twimg.co...=jpg&name=large

 

Edited by Alburaq, 28 January 2023 - 10:49.

[kumo7]

Well that's the most realistic thing Mclaren

https://pbs.twimg.co...=jpg&name=large

This shot is interesting… the rear wheel has so much difference with that Google paint job. Oh well it rained harder when the shot on McLaren was made that the RedBull.

[Rumblestrip]

 

Well that's the most realistic thing Mclaren, Alpine, Alfa, Haas, AM etc can do for now: to reduce the gap with the 3 front-runners bit by bit until they catch them. The big lead that the big 3 have built up, thanks to their unlimited and 2x, 3x bigger budgets (until 2020-2021) and better infrastructures, can not be closed overnight. 
Unless one of them messes up, (like Ferrari in 2020 with its engine, or particular circumstances occur, like the 2021 freeze and rule mods...)

 

 

 

Regarding the MCL37, that car has many low hanging fruits and room for big and immediate improvements IMO, because Mclaren did many questionable technical choices* in 2022, and it seems they are addressing them with this car.

 

*Like the charge air cooling system they used, and the way they packaged it along the other systems in the sidepods + the sidepod and tunnel shape etc. 

https://i.imgur.com/MO6dSvO.jpg

 

But this year, it seems they are using the Merc water-air intercooler that was designed for that compressor and is used by every other Mercedes team, instead of those 2022 MCL air-air coolers and their 20 miles-long pipes... And this should open up a lot of possibilities for Mclaren and unlock a lot of performance... 

https://i.imgur.com/C4a9cSo.jpg

But they opted for an interesting monocoque shape in 2022 (its rear end is like a monolithic block with llittle to no undercuts), and put the cockpit very backwards like RedBull (but they didnt exploit that feature as hard as RB) and these 2 technical choices could come in very handy in 2023.

 

--> Mclaren = 2023 vice-champion at Spa. 

https://pbs.twimg.co...=jpg&name=large

 

 

 

I don't know if you post over at f1technical.net, but that certainly seems to be the opinion there.

 

Hopefully these changes work, but at least we can see them trying something different!

[kumo7]

I don't know if you post over at f1technical.net, but that certainly seems to be the opinion there.

Hopefully these changes work, but at least we can see them trying something different!

recent McLaren seems to me very conservative.

[alframsey]

I would love nothing more than McLaren to get back to the front of the grid, I just cannot see it though. I love the team and always have but I do struggle to identify with it nowadays, its a very different team to the one I supported in the late 90s and through the 00s.

[Rumblestrip]

If the Pirelli tyres for this year prove to have the intended characteristics it'll be interesting to see how they change the McLaren's handling. Maybe it'll finally suit Norris' driving style?

[f1rules]

i posted in f1tech also, someone there spotted an undercut on last nights video, later in the video this is shown, could it be the new sidepod "side" cover and undercut design

Edited by f1rules, 01 February 2023 - 09:08.