Featuring some 16,000 components the 2013 McLaren MP4-28 is a fairly major departure from the 2012 car, as the team hopes to take a major step forward. “We have pushed all the areas you can with a car that will have no carry over into next year, when everything will go into the bin” reveals McLaren’s Sam Michael.
The new car is expected to be a regular podium finisher and driver Jenson Button thinks he has a very real chance of his second World Championship
It is immediately apparent from the front suspension which features pull rod actuated dampers, following the lead set by the Ferrari F2012. This layout whilst it presents some structural challenges provides an aerodynamic advantage. “The aerodynamic gain is enough to outweigh the kinematic and structural issues a pull rod layout creates. Having the pull rod, dampers and torsion bars all mounted lower in the chassis helps bring the centre of gravity down” Michael explains.
At the rear the exhaust layout is essentially a carry over from the MP4-27 but McLaren is known to only put vague exhaust solutions on display at the car launch. It is likely that this design will change by the time the car arrives at Jerez, note the wide area of thermal barrier coating. (the darker section of the bodywork). The Diffuser on the launch car featured no strakes and is clearly a component only used at the car launch, the proper version will not appear until the car arrives at Jerez.
The front upper crash structures sit slightly forward of the sidepod ducts, in the same way recent cars from Enstone (Lotus & Renault R31) have.
The splitter at the front of the car is a carry over from the 2012 design – it will likely change in testing.
At the rear the floor on the car is a very simplified design, expect a far more intricate solution when the car runs in Jerez. A major car update will be implemented for the Barcelona test and a second update at the Australian Grand Prix.
The brake duct shows some interesting scope for adjustment (note the slotted inserts) a more complex design will likely appear in Barcelona. This area of the car is crucial on all current F1 cars and developments are frequent.
In 2012 the MP4-27 had a clever method of managing brake heat which helped the team get the best out of the tyres. This device though has been dropped for 2013 however “we don’t have that concept of design on this car but we achieve the same in a different way, using the learning we got from that research” Michael explains. We have no images of the brakes yet!
The upper rear wishbone design is fascinating, note the change in section of the forward element, and the forward sweep of the rear. The pull rod is also clear to see in the above image. McLaren has done a lot of work on the rear suspension and transmission in an attempt to free up volumes around the rear wing, and especially the lower beam wing. The problems the team had with the gearbox in 2012 have been put down to ‘errors in procedure’. Whilst the term is vague and the teams engineers would not be drawn on that it seems that perhaps the inspection or manufacturing process was flawed or not adhered to. The team says it has solved the issue.
The roll hoop on the MP4-28 is cut from a solid billet of aluminium and was targeted to be 5% lighter than the one used on the 2012 car, McLaren’s engineers thought that the 2012 design was marginal when it came to passing the pre season crash tests but it passed easily MP4-28 version had even more material removed reducing weight at the highest point of the car.
This reduction in weight at the top of the car which carried through to other areas has allowed McLaren to raise the height of the chassis to the maximum allowed. Recall that the 2012 car had a much lower chassis than any other on the grid (though Marussia also had a low chassis). The hump on the nose is not evident due to the fitment of a non structural ‘vanity panel’. Sam Michael explains that “it is a bit of a non issue for us, having a hump on the nose is not ideal in aerodynamic terms but the gains and losses are tiny.”
TEST 01: JEREZ
Chassis: MP4-28A-??
Testing at Jerez gave a look at the McLaren’s diffuser for the first time as it was not fitted at the launch event.
TEST 02: BARCELONA
Chassis: MP4-28A-??
McLaren ran with pod wings attached to the MP4-28 for the first time, though these were visible in some renderings issued by the team.
A good look at the rear end of the MP4-28 on pit road, clearly showing the arrangement of the rear suspension elements and the crucial areas above the diffuser.
TEST 03: BARCELONA
Chassis: MP4-28A-??
“After completing over 5,000 kilometres, through dry and wet conditions, we have collected plenty of data from MP4-28A. A large part of winter testing is taken up with methodically working through many systems checks and verifying that the correlation between design and track is solid – that’s more important in modern F1 as track testing opportunities are so limited.” – Sam Michael
A new front wing made its debut at Barcelona with revised upper elements and a different main plane, the old version (above) has two flicks on the underside of the main section whilst the new version has only one (below).
RACE 01: ALBERT PARK, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Car: 05
Chassis: MP4-28A-05
Result: 9th
Car: 06
Chassis: MP4-28A-06
Result: 11th
MARTIN WHITMARSH “Jenson and Checo both drove very hard and very well today, in difficult conditions, making no errors, so I want to say ‘bravo’ to both of them. As always, Jenson managed the very challenging tyre degradation issues he faced quite brilliantly, his ninth-place finish pushing his career total of world championship points past the thousand mark: a truly remarkable personal milestone.
Having said all that, a ninth-place finish and an 11th-place finish don’t constitute much of a result by our sky-high standards, and ultimately the 2013 Australian Grand Prix weekend must therefore go down as a disappointing one for all at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. Our car simply hasn’t been quick enough here, but undoubtedly our drivers and engineers got the maximum out of it this afternoon and you can’t ask for more than that.
Now the task that faces us is simple, if not easy: we’ll work incredibly hard to bring more pace to the MP4-28’s performance envelope. Our engineers are the best in the business, so I’m confident that they’ll do just that.”There have been suggestions in the paddock that it may be pertinent for the team to revert to the stronger McLaren MP4-27 instead of trying to continue the development of the new concept MP4-28. Especially as the team has to dedicate substantial amounts of its limited wind tunnel time to the MP4-29.
RACE 02: SEPANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
Car: 05
Chassis: MP4-28A-05
Result: DNF (excessive tyre wear)
Car: 06
Chassis: MP4-28A-06
Result: 9th
Martin Whitmarsh: “After having finished only ninth and 11th last weekend in Melbourne, today in Sepang we saw clear evidence that all the hard work we’ve been doing over the past week has resulted in some significant gains in terms of car development. Obviously, however, we’re very disappointed that Jenson lost a hard-earned and well-deserved fifth place, perhaps even third or fourth, as a consequence of a pitstop problem caused by a wheel-gun issue. Jenson did absolutely nothing wrong and reacted correctly to the green light, by the way.
Checo, too, put in a solid and plucky performance all weekend, earning his first points for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes this afternoon, and recorded fastest lap at the very end of the race.
Clearly, therefore, although as I say we’re very disappointed for Jenson, the truth is that he could and should have finished at least fifth – and, although by our own high standards that’s not remotely good enough, it plainly shows that we’re going in the right direction from a car-development point of view.”
RACE 04: JIADING, SHANGHAI, CHINA
Car: 05
Chassis: MP4-28A-05
Result: DNF (excessive tyre wear)
Car: 06
Chassis: MP4-28A-06
Result: 9th
McLaren arrived in China with much tighter bodywork at the rear of the MP4-28 note the much larger area body work with a thermal barrier coating.
A look at the front brake design on the McLaren
RACE 04: SAKHIR, BAHRAIN
Car: 05
Chassis: MP4-28A-03
Result: 10th
Car: 06
Chassis: MP4-28A-02
Result: 6th
