No: The skirts only sealed the area underneath the car, but the ground effect itself was generated on the entire underside of the body (Venturi effect).
Understood. I didn't mean exclusively there but that the side pods had been an area where a good deal of downforce had been generated in the past. The way I read his post was that this was an area never subjected to this sort of stress before. BTW As far back as the March 701 side pods were generating downforce independent of bottom venturi.
I think the last Mclaren car that really looked radical and different from the rest was the 2004 version, and we all know how that went.
The look of the Mclaren is great IMO. But what it says on the tin v how it performs is another matter. Who knows for sure either way, what I do know is it can't start soon enough.
I have been hearing mostly doom and gloom from the majority of McLaren employees for the past three weeks (as has been typical for many years now). Let's see how they do in qualifying. I'm speculating they will do far better in qualifying than they do in practice, again as usual.
But it's the race that matters. Reliability has been their problem so far this testing season in addition to lack of pace.
That was part of the problem. They didn't get many test miles so reliability is still an issue. Also, they are entering the season with a new exhaust they haven't tested. It's a risk no matter how you look at it. It may work out, but most of the time that you rush into something in racing it rarely works out to your benefit.
They looked really good in P2 but I still think teams are holding back. Nonetheless they're def. going to be a podium capable car now that they got rid of that **** exhaust system they were trying to run. EDIT: Also I noticed Hamilton/Button using the ARW throughout the whole lap which you can't do in quali or the race and I don't know how many competitors were doing the same thing.
I still think P1 is a little bit more indicative of every team's pace but McLaren certainly looks alot better. This is going to be one hell of a year!
From what I read on other sites RB and SF were doing tire comparisons etc. whereas McL where trying to get some good news....I think Alonso is right-no one is showing their form yet. I see a RB front row...
+1 RB is the strongest and in race form in testing they were amazingly fast. Tire degradation is a variable that no team seems to have a consistent feel for yet. Should be fun in qualy tomorrow!
I am right there with you. The second row will either be Alonso and a MB driver or Alonso and a Mclaren driver. Still undecided there...... Newey essentially stated they are .3-.5 quicker than anyone else. They need to pray they have the correct pit stop strat though.
If what I'm reading is true, the McLs did their laps on fumes and soft tires, Fred had soft tires but more fuel than the Mcls and the RBs are basically fooling around and haven't gotten serious yet...Alonso despite testing various grades of tires still unsure about them and we will have an interesting Sunday to say the least....
Where did you read it? I am having a hard time finding info on that. Some wild stuff this year with the moveable rear wing. Last year top speed was around 305kph, this year is 314kph so far. The S3 top speeds just before turn 13 were around 295, and Schu did 305kph (!!). We might see more than one team in the 1:23s....
Yikes ! Then the gap from Ferrari to the next. When Adrian went to Red Bull years ago I felt he could design a winner IF RB was serious and spent the cash and affort. Which I didnt think they would. My bad.
