23-02-2018, 14:14
(23-02-2018, 14:07)German Sanchez escribió: Why first-class McLaren contains hidden gems
This is a season of big change for McLaren. There's plenty to be excited about from its new design beyond a change of engine supplier and a new paint job
By Gary Anderson
Published on Friday February 23rd 2018
RSS feed
Latest
News
Trending
Plus
After three years of Honda struggles is McLaren ready to turn the corner and show its true potential? For the entire grid, the true measure of competitiveness is Mercedes. That team has dominated since the hybrid power unit regulations were introduced, but in the short-term McLaren's immediate measure will be Red Bull and, possibly on a few occasions, the works Renault team. Which of these three teams using the same power unit will come out on top?
On many occasions last season, Fernando Alonso stated the McLaren was the best chassis in the pitlane. Now, he should have the power unit to prove it. Even when the overall package wasn't up to the Mercedes level, Red Bull has still managed to pull off a few wins over the last few seasons, so assuming that Renault has burned the midnight oil on power unit development over the winter, 2018 will offer no hiding place for McLaren.
McLaren says the MCL33 is an evolution of the 2017 chassis, and it does look very well detailed in all of the critical downforce-producing areas. The team also stated a few weeks ago that the design philosophy was going to be about producing a car with stable aerodynamics, allowing the drivers to get the confidence to push to the limit in all circumstances. Both of these are very positive statements, and although the McLaren orange colour scheme won't do much for its overall performance, that also looks good.
The bargeboard area and the floor section is very intricate. Casting an eye over something as complicated as this is wrong - it's best just to say it has lots of components in all the right places
Starting at the front wing, the concept is the now-standard multi-element component, which goes in line with McLaren's statement about stable aerodynamics. You need these slot gaps to control the aerodynamic stall as the front wing gets lower to the ground, but they are even more important in instigating the airflow re-attachment when the wing moves away from the ground. Both of these changes in aerodynamic load need to be progressive, otherwise the driver will be confused about available grip levels.
On the inside of the front wing endplates is a conglomeration of turning vanes. These set up a turning moment on the airflow to help it go around the outside of the front tyre. They do not make sense to the naked eye in the same way the Ferrari package does, but extensive CFD analysis and modelling will have gone into the location and shape of these components to allow them to all work as one in enticing the airflow to turn that little bit more efficiently, so we'll have to assume McLaren knows what it is doing.
The front wing pillars are very long and, although one component, they are split into four elements with three slot gaps. These are there to pull more airflow under the front of the chassis. Basically, the outer front wing endplates and outer turning vanes mentioned above are there to turn the airflow around the outside of the front tyre, and these wing mounts are there to pull more airflow under the chassis, opening up a space for the front tyre and allowing the front wing trailing edge wake to pass between the inside of the front tyre and the sides of the chassis.
The vertical turning vanes under the chassis start to turn the airflow back outwards to help the performance of the bargeboards, and also try to fill up the hole behind the front tyre, which creates significant turbulence.
The bargeboard area and the floor section where the drivers knees would be is very intricate, with lots of open ended slot gaps, each of which will be setting up small vortices that in turn will help the performance of components further downstream. Casting an eye over something as complicated as this area of the car and going into detail of how it all works would be wrong, as there are probably thousands of man hours involved in refining this detail. Best just to say it looks as though it has lots of components in all the right places to optimise the airflow to the leading edge of the underfloor.
The sidepod outer-corner vertical vanes are similar to the Renault, in that they sweep rearwards. These are there to pick up the front tyre turbulent wake and reduce its negative effect on the undercut of the sidepods. This undercut is critical to the performance of the bargeboards, as it's the area that allows the low pressure at the rear of the car to influence what happens at the front of the car. Opening this area up, with the cooling constraints required within the sidepod and the cooling inlet, improves the aerodynamic efficiency of just about everything.
The front suspension is again conventional, with upper and lower wishbones and a pushrod operated inboard suspension system. There is no Mercedes-style trickery in this area, other than the steering trackrod seems to be mounted inline or inside the lower wishbone, which gets it out of the airflow.
The radiator inlets are fairly simple in that they are high up and a letter box style. Internal airflow and cooling efficiency is critical on these cars as they will have to cool in ambient temperatures of 10C up to and in excess of 40C, so if less airflow is required for cooling it leaves more to create downforce. The inlet is simple with a fairly small leading edge radius, this will mean that the airflow separation point where the airflow decides what is going into the radiator and what is traveling around the outside is well defined and won't alter too dramatically with speed when the radiator blockage builds up.
McLaren has done a first-class job. There are lots of bits in all the right places, but only the team knows if more development is required
On top of the sidepods there are six small vertical-ish turning vanes pulling the airflow down into the swept down area of the sidepods and the coke bottle area. Connecting up the low-pressure area at the rear of the car to the front is vitally important. It is impossible to push the air across and around the car, you can only pull it.
McLaren has three small slots in the floor in front of the rear tyres, helping to seal the underfloor and diffuser in this area, but it also has two long slots down each side of the floor. McLaren is the first team to do this. These will further help seal the underfloor from airflow just being pulled underneath the car, reducing its performance. They will act like a skirt by allowing the low pressure behind the car to pull airflow through these slots onto the top of the floor, as opposed to it being pulled underneath.
It is what is under the engine cover that matters more than the shape of the engine cover, and in this area is contained all of McLaren's hopes for the season ahead. Packaging the Renault power unit efficiently will have been the major task, and I'm sure the engineers at both McLaren and Renault will have done a first-class job in this area.
The Renault turbo packaging is different to the Honda, as explained by McLaren's technical director Tim Goss, so there is bound to be some difference. The engine cover has just been extended in such a way as to cover parts of the rear suspension that were previously visible when McLaren ran Honda engines. The engine cover will just wrap all the internal requirements, creating the minimum blockage for the rear wing.
Again, there is nothing elegant about the integration of the halo - it is what it is. We will all get used to it and if it does save a life then it will be a job well done.
As for the diffuser and the detail of the rear of the car, well, that will have to wait until the first test, but it is a critical area for the car's overall performance, so I'm pretty sure that McLaren will have as many trick bits in that area as it does on the rest of the car.
From what I can see, McLaren has done a first-class job. There are lots of bits in all the right places, but only the team knows if it has got the best from them or if more development is required. I think with the Renault power unit package, McLaren is back on the right path.
The interesting thing will be how high up the overall ladder it can start the season from, and more importantly, where it stands compared to Red Bull and the works Renault team as the season progresses.
1000 gracias, voy a leerlo.
@jgarciaillanf1
![[Imagen: tiolavara.png]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kdtPzb99cBg/S7yBbEj_bHI/AAAAAAAAALA/fah_ANf2S0A/s1600/tiolavara.png)
