McLaren released the first images of the new car at 8.38am UK time. Andrea Stella's staff chose that moment to highlight the fact that the 2024 car is called MCL38. Now in F1 we have reached paroxysms, so there is no longer any need to be surprised by anything.
Mercedes, in the renderings of the W15 shown this morning, added a front suspension arm with a game of Photoshop, to catch those who had lightened the photos distributed, to discover some details of Brackley's car. The Woking jokers, however, decided to always erase with Photoshop some parts of the background, visible in one shot and disappeared in another.
McLaren MCL38
Photo by: McLaren
Those Photoshop tweaks!
In short, in the Circus we play cops and robbers, hiding solutions for a few hours which then became visible in the respective shakedowns on the track at Silverstone. Childish, especially when you try to give reasons for these antics by talking about the desire to protect the intellectual property of certain solutions that you don't want to be copied too quickly.
Standard presentation machine?
The “papaya” car placed in front of an orange tarpaulin in the hall of the Woking factory showed itself with a typical presentation look. At first glance it seemed like a slightly evolved car compared to the one that closed the 2023 season in Abu Dhabi, but with a more careful eye some interesting solutions emerged which indicate the direction the technical staff is taking which has been strengthened with the arrival of Rob Marshall, as Technical Director, responsible for engineering and design and David Sanchez, responsible for vehicle concept and performance.
McLaren MCL38, detail of the nose and front wing
Photo by: McLaren
The mouth is higher and narrower
In fact, McLaren, although it tried to “camouflage itself”, provided some interesting insights. The mouth of the radiators at the entrance to the bellies goes against the trend: the idea is not to follow those who have sought a narrower and wider grip placed at maximum height. Aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou chose another path by aiming for an almost square mouth that is half as wide as the others, but is higher. The effect is that the air flow to the radiators of the Mercedes power unit is substantially the same, but the belly is decidedly more… exhausted.
McLaren MCL38
Photo by: McLaren
Belly further back and no tray
Another interesting detail is that the lower tray has disappeared, while a small upper wing profile has appeared, which extends forward and is essential because it supports the mirror support. Compared to the MCL60 that closed the 2023 world championship, in fact, the mouth of the radiators was moved back behind the projection of the rear-view mirror, while the tray protruded forward up to the front attachment of the Halo.
McLaren MCL38, detail of the radiator mouth with the upper protrusion
Photo by: McLaren
Pop an upper lip like on the RB20!
And it should not be surprising if the suppression of the tray and the appearance of an upper extension of the belly corresponds to what could be seen in the stolen photos of the Red Bull RB20 taken yesterday during the filming day at Silverstone. The two most competitive and aerodynamically advanced teams at the end of last championship have followed the same development path which seems to diverge from the others.
The undercut ensures a greater air flow towards the bottom and it is interesting to point out an ogival protrusion of the frame: this is a bulge that was also noticed on the Red Bull RB19 and which could function as a flow conveyor, therefore with an aerodynamic function.
McLaren MCL38, detail of the sloping side
Photo by: McLaren
Sloping side with embankment
The side of the MCL38 is sloping: in the side view it shows a less drawn and more curvilinear line because on the external edge there is the embankment of the shallow and very wide excavation. Below you can see a larger channel above the pavement, thanks to more inclined and slightly raised radiators.
Attention was concentrated on the central part of the car, the one which is destined to produce 60 percent of the aerodynamic load, but there are also changes in the front part: the nose is flatter than in 2023 and the nose always rests on the second element of the wing, given that the main profile is cantilevered with a small central spoon.
Pull rod front suspension
The front suspension remains a pull rod design, but it is worth observing how the arms have been adequately separated to each ensure the lamination of a flow intended for different aerodynamic elements: the Venturi channels, rather than the undercut or the cooling vents. In short, we sought to clean and separate the air in search of maximum efficiency. The rear arm of the upper triangle has been significantly inclined downwards to maximize the anti-dive effect.
McLaren MCL38, detail of the rear end
Photo by: McLaren
Behind it is push and multilink
The rear suspension remains a push rod design, even if the geometry has been completely revised with multilink arms to seek more efficient mechanical solutions in limiting tire wear.
The airbox holds the two ears on the sides of the engine intake in the triangular roll bar. The bonnet maintains a small stem that acts as a crest, while at the root there is a conspicuous bazooka that brings the hot air to the tail. There is no shortage of lateral gills to evacuate the temperature generated by the central radiator placed above the Mercedes power unit.
The rear wing, like the one in front, is not the expression of the development that McLaren carried out in the wind tunnel in view of the first race in Bahrain. Single pylon support confirmed in continuity with last year.
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