Ferrari's main competitor this year? McLaren on the MP4-22’s design philosphy As the world awaits its first glimpse of McLaren’s 2007 car - due in Valencia, Spain later today - the team have revealed details of the thinking behind the new machine’s design, promising “advanced engineering concepts” and “novel aerodynamic solutions”. The MP4-22’s development period commenced before its predecessor, the MP4-21, had even turned a wheel. Initial sketches of aerodynamic concepts and discussions over the design of the clutch and gearbox took place back in December 2005. Initial ideas for the car were developed with Computer Aided Design (CAD) in mid-March 2006, with the first Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations running later that month. The wind tunnel programme commenced in May. During the design process, each of the car’s 11,000 components were reviewed in meticulous detail in the quest for improved performance, reliability and efficiency. The MP4-22’s design also incorporates three demanding new pieces of crash protection legislation. A totally new rear crash structure is noticeably wider and blunter than its predecessor. An extra 6mm-thick laminated panel is now also required to be bonded to the side of the driver cell to guard against penetration from another car or object. Frontal protection for the driver has been improved too, with the velocity of impact in the crash test raised from 14 to 15 metres per second, with a softer deceleration both front and rear. Other regulation changes that have impacted on the MP4-22’s design process include the use of a homologated engine for 2007 and the switch to a single tyre supplier. The construction and profile of the Bridgestone tyres have had an influence on the MP4-22’s chassis dynamics and significantly the aerodynamics. The tyres affect the flow structures downstream of the front wheels, and the team’s engineers have used CFD software - for the simulation of heat and fluid flow - to devise the optimum solution to harness the new rubber. With such detailed simulation increasingly vital in Formula One racing, the infrastructure, manufacturing capacity and technical tools available to McLaren’s design team have played an important role. The MP4-22’s development involved the generation of generation of 4,500 component and 3,500 tooling drawings, The car’s aerodynamic development is ongoing, with around a third of the launch car’s surfaces expected to change before the first race in Melbourne in March. This will be followed up with new aero components being brought to the car every three to four weeks throughout the season. The MP4-22 will make its test debut at Valencia this week, after which development will continue apace on the track and at McLaren's Woking base before its race debut on Sunday, March 18 at the Australian Grand Prix. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
McLaren is doomed to go the way of all other privateers, especially with Adrian Newey gone. They'll be lucky to get a sniff at the podium this year. I may be wrong, but at least I'm certain!
I don't know about that. McLaren is not just your average privateer team. M-B has a heavy interest in the team, almost to the extent where I'd classify McLaren as being the M-B factory team. Newey is perhaps the best designer ever, and he would be a huge loss to any team. However McLaren is one of the very few teams that has the kind of experience to overcome such a loss. To what extent they will overcome it is something we'll just have to wait and see......
Looks like Alonso trimmed his eye brows a little, haha! Car looks nice. The engine cover kind of overpowers everything else. It is huge!
Car looks better, but imo those are the ugliest racing suits in F1. Personally if I were Alonso I'd stick with the plain white one they gave me last month rather than that.
McLaren is the Mercedes factory team, they are hardly a privateer. With the depth of talent at McLaren, they will hardly skip a beat with Newey's departure. This is not the first time that McLaren has come back from a disappointing season, do you not remember the post-Senna Peugot years? Followed by back-to-back World Championships... I think that McLaren is going to come back big in 2007. I wouldn't bet against Alonso winning a third title.
Maybe it wasnt kimi that look so cold in the Mclaren suits, but now fernando looks like a very cold individual. Maybe its just mclaren in general. SCUDERIA FERRARI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Let's go Massa and Kimi!
The post-Senna slide was reversed by the arrival of Newey (and partly by Bridgestone). It will be very difficult to recover in the short term now that he's gone. Look at what happened to Williams after Newey left. I do agree with you about McLaren's depth of talent though. I'm sure they will bounce back, just not this season.
thats by far the most ugliest suits i've seen since BAR's racing days....never noticed, but since when FedEx teamed up with Mac now?
it has always been better. the colour of the car is always unique IMO. but the thing here is, it's not as fast as it looks
The car looks very cool. And apparently McLaren pulled a "Steinbrenner" and made Alonso shave his head!
Looks like a warmed-over 2006 car, just a lot uglier. I agree; with Newey and their top aero guys gone, it looks like they ran out of ideas.
