McLaren hopeful of a good show at Buddh International Circuit with new upgrades – Formula 1 news
McLaren will be looking to close the gap between them and rivals Red Bull by upgrading their car for the Indian Grand Prix this Sunday.
The biggest upgrade to McLaren’s car will be the front wing. Vodafone McLaren team technical director Paddy Lowe said, “We have a new front wing, so that's the main thing and something we hope to take forward through to the last few races of the season.
But we are winding towards a close with what we'll bring in terms of updates this year. But things like the front wing will carry forward to next year as the regulations on the front are exactly the same.”
The technical regulations regarding the front wing configurations have remained unchanged for 2012, but a lot of coverage has been given to a loophole discovered by Mercedes. Although McLaren has remained cold over the innovation and said that they have
looked into it but are not bothered by it at the moment.
The innovation basically diverts airflow to produce a blown diffuser effect and increase performance. However, McLaren maintains that they have looked into it and are not very keen to instil it into their car yet.
Talking about the new Buddh International Circuit, Lowe said, “It looks like a very exciting circuit and it looks like it as many similarities to Korea where we've just been in the sense that you have a first section with long straights and slowish corners
and then the second half of the circuit is dominated by a lot of high speed sequences.”
Korea was great for McLaren, they got a pole position for the first time this year and Lewis came back to his form, by securing second position behind Red Bulls’ Sebastian Vettel. This is why McLaren feels that India will prove to be a good venue for them
with a lot of similarities to the Korean circuit.
It will be interesting to see with all the teams gearing up for the unknown Buddh International Circuit, how drivers and their respective cars perform remains to be seen, but one aspect that seems probable is that it will turn out to be an entertaining event.
The race begins on Sunday, October 30, 2011.
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