Formula One - McLaren still perplexed with Red Bull’s flexi-wings
McLaren admitted that they were not able to make any progress in understanding Red Bull’s low-riding front wing between the summer break.
The last two rounds of the season created a lot of controversy about the front wings of the Red Bull and Ferrari. Photos and video footages showed that the endplates of the front wings were very low to the ground giving more down force to the care. Rival teams demanded the FIA to give a clearer ruling on this issue.
The wings of the cars will be subjected to more severe tests this weekend at Belgium during FIA testing. All the teams seem confident and believe they do not have to make any changes. The managing director of McLaren, Jonathan Neal, stated his team will make sure the MP4-25 passes the test as they will be working very closely with the FIA. However, Jonathan admitted the team would have to wait for its rivals results.
“To be honest, I've read all the trade magazines, I've seen all the footage on the FOM website - we can't explain at McLaren why the [Red Bull and Ferrari] cars operate in the way that they do. We know that ours does not but I am sure that we have spent a lot of time looking at the car and trying to figure out what is going on. That is really just speculation on our part that is a discussion for the FIA and those teams to have,” he told the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in.
“I presume, because Charlie [Whiting the FIA's chief technical delegate] has issued some clarifications for the coming race, that he has some level of disquiet about what is happening or maybe what is about to happen, which is why he's taken the action that he's done. We're working with the FIA and our first job this weekend is to make sure that our car complies fully with all the regulations, so that's what we are doing. There have been no big revelations since Hungary that I'm aware of,” he continued on to say.
McLaren has been struggling in the past couple of races to score some serious points and lost its lead to Red Bull and Mark Webber in the constructors’ and drivers’ standings respectively. Lewis Hamilton is just 4 points behind the Australian in the drivers’ standings while Jenson is 14 points behind him. The team needs to work on the car to make it more consistent as there are just seven races left in the season.
Paddy Lowe, McLaren’s engineering director said the team will try three front wings at the Spa Francorchamps however, did not give any details about the specifications of the wings. He stated they will be bringing a variety of front wings in Belgium and test them on the Friday Practice and choose the best one for the Grand Prix. While talking to the journalists at McLaren Technology Centre this Monday, Lowe pointed out the unusual down force levels of the circuit because of which the team uses the wings that are backed off more than the normal levels. This makes the characteristics of the wings quite different, making it somewhat unpredictable.
He added that the front wing is one of those things that the team still has to test at the track to distinguish between one another to get the best results. The team has some idea, which one will work best, but they are not taking any chances and will test two to three wings this Friday.
Despite all the media attention around the front of the MP4-25, McLaren’s main focus in on the rear near the blown diffuser, for the remainder of the season.
Lowe admitted that Red Bull has set the standard in the exhaust area as it is one of the most important feature the team needs to work on and that the team is working very hard in order to recover the difference there.
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