(Motorsport-Total.com) – Actually, McLaren had planned to test a rotating rear wing on the MCL40 during Friday’s free practice at the Austrian Grand Prix. However, shortly before the weekend, the planned test was discarded: “The reason for this is that we are still in development,” explains team principal Andrea Stella.
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That was already confirmed by Lando Norris on Friday, but the Italian explains the background in more detail: “We identified some issues that could have affected the session,” he says. “Therefore, we decided to postpone this test to a later event.”
In addition, the so-called “Macarena” wing, which was first tested by Ferrari during the winter test in Bahrain and later used by Red Bull during the season, is more of a “nice-to-have” element rather than a truly relevant and important development for the current MCL40.
McLaren needs “more aerodynamic downforce”
“This component is especially useful when you need to reduce drag in straight-line mode,” recalls the experienced team principal, who is also an engineer himself. “That’s good, that’s important, but it’s not the main area where we need to improve our competitiveness.”
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“And internally, it is completely clear to me that this project must not distract from or divert resources away from developing a car that generates more aerodynamic downforce. Because that is exactly what we need,” Stella names the central weaknesses of the current McLaren.
When assessing the MCL40 compared to the current top car of the championship leaders, the Mercedes W17 driven by George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, Stella estimates the deficit at about three to four tenths of a second per lap, with “70 percent in the corners and 30 percent on the straights.”
“Almost everywhere we go, the car with more downforce simply seems to dominate,” the McLaren team principal also recalls that “Ferrari is currently probably the fastest car in the corners” and therefore was not without reason able to win in Barcelona.
McLaren has “promising projects in the pipeline”
In Spielberg, Mercedes was almost unbeatable because their power unit had an advantage on the long straights. However, it is noticeable that “McLaren loses significant lap time on the straights compared to Mercedes,” Stella notes.
The cause of this deficit is a mystery to the Italian. The obvious assumption would be that the McLaren has higher drag and therefore does not reach the same acceleration level; however, the team also considers differences in the use of the Mercedes powertrain possible.
“The reasons for the deficit in the corners are clear: their car generates more downforce than ours,” Stella knows. “We are working on that, and we have promising projects in the pipeline that will soon be used on the racetrack.”
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“The 30 percent share on the straights could be related to higher drag on our car, but we are also investigating how we use the power unit, because the speed deficit is quite significant.”
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Based on GPS data, you can see that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri “probably lose one and a half tenths, or at least one tenth, on the straights,” emphasizes the team principal. “We definitely need to get to the bottom of that.”
“The result is a difference of a few km/h, but the causes can be varied. This is a typical problem when analyzing competitor cars: you cannot precisely distinguish how much is due to drag and how much to the power unit.”
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“When we talked about power utilization at the start of the season, it was more about the sensitivity of deployment,” Stella recalls. “Deployment depends heavily on driving style and how you distribute energy release over the lap.”
“In this respect, we have made good progress and are working well with [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains] HPP. Thanks to HPP’s support in developing our own tools, we now have better tools and more effective collaboration.”
“Minimize all sources of drag”
“I think we are now better at exploiting the potential of the power unit regarding electrical energy usage,” believes the Italian. “But we also have to consider the performance of the internal combustion engine (ICE).”
“As I said: I cannot comment on differences in the power unit – even if you assume the power unit is identical, there could be differences in drag. You have to admit that Mercedes has lower drag than us; we use different gear ratios, which can also play a role.”
“There may be other sources, but the only thing I know – and what we can influence – is that we have to minimize all sources of drag on the MCL40,” says Stella. “That is exactly what we are focusing on while working closely with HPP.”
“At McLaren, we definitely have potential regarding speed on straight sections, but the most important factor is grip in the corners,” emphasizes team principal Andrea Stella, once again providing the reason why the unusual “Macarena” wing currently has no priority at McLaren.
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