The changes that helped McLaren challenge Mercedes

At the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend, it was even a thorn in the side of the world championship team Mercedes – to overtake the Silver Arrows and fight hard in the race.

Their approach to making this progress was also measured. Rather than rushing upgrades, it seems to be taking stock of what is happening around it: analyzing the relative strengths of competitors’ designs and adjusting them to work with its own setup.

After all, McLaren was one of the late adopters when it came to the Z-shaped floor arrangement (below). Only the eighth team that did so implemented the solution at the Spanish Grand Prix after using a tapered solution that was more in line with what the rule-makers envisioned when changing the regulations for 2021.

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

The latest update is another example of this approach, as it has added a cluster of outwardly angled fins alongside the widest section of the sidepod to redirect airflow and reinforce some of the flow structures that have already been promoted.

In connection with the introduction of these new fins, the length of the flap at the edge of the bottom has been changed, which, as we can see, is now connected to the fin at the edge of the Z-shaped bottom cutout (red arrow), main picture and bottom left for comparison ).

This is also a design feature we’ve seen on other teams, such as Red Bull (bottom, center), to create even more pinch points in this part of the floor.

McLaren MCL35M ground comparison

Photo by: Uncredited

There is also no uniform template for the placement and alignment of the fins, with Red Bull using five fins that are more closely aligned with the sidepod, Aston Martin switched to four fins for the Austrian GP, ​​but had used three by then (below right). This is because, while teams using them experience an overall performance improvement, they need to be tailored to meet their specific flow needs.

In the case of McLaren, they also opted for a very deliberate change in the angle of the fins, with a steeper angle on the first fin that slopes down to a little much flatter when it reaches the pair of fins that were already found on the old spec Soil.

Also immediately behind it, a second pair of fins has been added, the outermost of which is arched to encourage the same airflow reaction.

McLaren MCL35M floor

Photo by: Uncredited

The arrival of this new group of winglets at the front of the floor has also allowed the team to remove the R-shaped scoop that was added in front of the rear tire a few races ago. The upstream work has likely made this shovel obsolete, with the new solution being viewed as a more efficient way to get the performance the team is looking for.

The Red Bull Ring provided McLaren with the perfect place to prove that their new cooling solution was up to the task, as the altitude puts emphasis on the trade-off between the need to keep the power unit within the operating window and a loss of aerodynamic efficiency Efficiency by opening up the body.

The smaller rear cooling outlet made its debut at the French Grand Prix after the team took a more conservative approach in the opening races as it switched to Mercedes power for 2021.

For the Grand Prix of Styria and Austria, however, the team made further concessions, as the team used cooling fins in the body in addition to the driver to dissipate the heat from the side pods.

Only the right side of the car was opened for the Styrian GP, ​​but for the second race in as many weeks at the Red Bull Ring, the team opened both sides of the car.

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

McLaren has also invested time and resources in developing its own individual development streams, with a new rear wing endplate design that the team introduced at the French Grand Prix against the usual trend.

The lower half of the endplate now has a horizontal row of fins similar to those used above, but oriented differently to allow the airflow to pass through properly. This is very different from the solutions we usually see in this region as the teams here have favored vertical strakes for a number of years.