Technical Analysis
The McLaren MCL35 is the first car that both Andreas Seidl and James Key have been involved in right from the start. Their philosophy has been to continue to push the positive resurgence of McLaren, whilst being realistic with expectations, and it is a similar story for this year’s car.
‘One of our targets is to get to the front but compared to where we are now to be able to achieve that in a year is a massive step,’ highlights James Key, Technical Director at McLaren. ‘We also had targets based on what we learned from last year, where we found our weaknesses and how to address those. Some of those weaknesses were quite similar across the teams we’re competing with, so we’ve been looking closely at those areas. I think the medium-term target is to maintain our position and hopefully close the gap.’
Following the pitlane trend, the MCL35 features narrower sidepods and rear bodywork which has presented numerous packaging challenges. Consequently, the gearbox along with the rear suspension has also been modified to achieve this tighter rear end philosophy.
‘From the cockpit backwards it is a very different approach to what we had before. Equally there are a lot of technologies on the front which were only possible to do with the new car,’ says Key. ‘Having said that, the MCL34 is very much the father and the concept behind this car as well. So we’ve tried to carry forward what we learnt last year and then adding what we felt were opportunities we couldn’t unlock on the MCL34 with the geometry we had.’
Nose
Similar to other 2020 cars, the MCL35 has a narrower nose than last year’s car, for improved aerodynamics. However, a narrow nose can pose additional challenges when passing the FIA crash tests. The former ‘nostrils’ at the front of the nose, highlighted in blue below, have been removed, leaving a much smaller inlet, which will most likely be for cockpit cooling.
Front brake ducts
One rule change for 2020 is the fact that the brake ducts are now qualified as listed parts, which means that they have to be designed by the teams, rather than bought in. The shape of the MCL35’s front brake ducts has been remodelled with the top portion now much wider, as highlighted in blue below. This larger surface area increases the amount of available cooling to the brakes, which can be tuned by blanking certain sections off as seen below.
Although the rules simplified brake duct design for 2019, teams still include an array of winglets and elements to help maximise the flow of clean air into the brake assembly, which can then be utilised for rim heating.
READ MORE: What is rim heating?
Packaging
Another key focus area has been the packaging of the sidepods and rear end. The power unit installation as well as the associated cooling and exhaust layout are completely different to last year’s car, which has resulted in narrower sidepods and a tighter rear end.
Matte Paint
Another change to the MCL35 has been the matte paint finish. ‘I think it’s quite a good mix really,’ says Key. ‘There are technical benefits to it. There’s a weight benefit, certainly, but there’s other little things as well and it was actually a combination of coatings. But it’s also been a good close collaboration between the marketing requirements and the technical needs and we’ve found a solution that we’re both very happy with.’
