By Carlo Platella
The one seen in September is a title-winning McLaren, with three victories and three pole positions in as many Grands Prix. In just a few months the Woking team has overturned the hierarchies with Red Bull, thanks to the two development packages introduced in Miami and Zandvoort, I was worth four tenths each. The effectiveness of the updates is also due to the new wind tunnel, whose dimensions have made it possible to delve deeper into a chronic weakness of the British single-seaters.
Size matters
Woking’s brand new wind tunnel enters service in October 2023. Created to replace the previous one, it stands out for its latest generation data collection instruments and sensors, but not only. The new simulation chamber is larger than the previous onean aspect of no small importance in a period in which Formula 1 cars are among the longest and widest ever. In fact, enjoying extended spaces is fundamental for effective development, as moving the scale model away from the perimeter of the tunnel reduces the aerodynamic interaction between the walls and the flows that hit the car.
“If a part of the car model is too close to the walls, you are disturbing the flow and therefore the data is incorrect”explained Alan Stovold, Senior Manager of Infrastructure Research and Development of the Woking team, last October. The same in-depth article published by McLaren also stated: “Our wind tunnel will allow us to simulate cornering more accurately, attenuating the impact that the tunnel walls have on the flow outside the bodywork, replicating what the car experiences on the track.”
In particular, the generous dimensions of the new wind tunnel improve the accuracy of the simulations at large steering and yaw angles (the crossing with respect to the direction of the air flow), conditions in which the distances between the scale model and the walls shrink. Where McLaren reaps the greatest benefits is in medium-low mileage curvesespecially on tracks that require higher ground clearances. The developments introduced during the year on the MCL38 optimize its aerodynamics at large yaw and steering angles, when the angle of the flows hitting the car changes and above all the direction of the turbulence generated by the front wheels.
The jump in Miami
Competitiveness in medium-slow corners was a chronic problem for McLaren, even traceable in cars before the ground effect regulations. Even in 2023, when the Baku and Austria updates brought the Papaya single-seaters back to fighting for the podium, slow speed agility remained a limit. “The real area we need to focus on is low speed performance. If we improved there, we could compete for top positions everywhere.” Norris’s comment just over twelve months ago, supported by Stella’s during the 2023 Italian Grand Prix: “From the GPS we saw that we lost a lot of time in the first two Variations. […] We’ve made some progress thanks to the new parts we brought to Monza, but it’s still there of the work that needs to be done on straight line speed and slow corners”.
The situation does not improve at the beginning of 2024, when McLaren turns out to be fourth force in Bahrain. “This track is too narrow, slow and twisty for our car”, the analysis at the time of Lando Norris, reported by The Race. With the May updates, however, things are finally starting to change, as Andrea Stella points out during the Munich weekend: “Looks like the car we took to Miami behaves better at low speedsperhaps even beyond expectations. The picture of our competitiveness is starting to change and slow is no longer a clear weakness”.
Confirmation comes from the track, where McLaren monopolizes the front row in the same Monza whose Variants had been so indigestible in 2023. Victories in the twisty nationals of Baku and Singapore show how the MCL38 is no longer afraid of ninety degree bends, while the successes in Zandvoort and Budapest underline the newfound stability when negotiating longer bends, another weakness until the beginning of the season.
Decisive investment
The decision made in 2019 to invest in a new, more modern and spacious wind tunnel is already proving profitable. Less than a year after its entry into operation, McLaren shows an important growth in the most rewarding curves from a championship perspectivethe longer ones for medium distances. The new tunnel allowed the British team to improve development in a speed range that had remained critical for many years. The choice to show up at the start of the season with a car defined as incomplete is also easy to understand. Postponing the true aerodynamic look of the MCL38 to Miami allowed it to be perfected in the new wind tunnel inaugurated only a few months earlier. A strategy that has so far proven to be correct and which could still provide great satisfaction.
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