F1 uncovered: The repeated McLaren update tactic used in Saudi Arabia
McLaren arrived in Saudi Arabia with a handful of new parts for the MCL39, as they looked to further improve its performance, whilst being mindful of not damaging their current position relative to their rivals.
A modified diffuser layout and rear brake duct winglet were noted by the team in the car presentation document, as the team looks to improve the aerodynamic output at the rear of the car.
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The team also raced their lower downforce rear wing offering for the first time in Saudi Arabia, having tested it during pre-season but chose to abandon the solution when the rain hit in Australia.
The solution is still in the same design family as the one that we’ve seen McLaren race at other venues this season, albeit the elements take up much less space within the allowable box region.
The modifications of the diffuser largely appear to centre around the shape of the keel section, with the more shapely design used in the opening few rounds of the season exchanged for something much more simplistic.
The much flatter surface (arrowed) extends up from the base of the diffuser to the underside of the crash structure, whereas previously there was a notched section in the centre, around the starter hole (inset, arrowed).
This shape is possible due to the design of the starter motor hole region within the crash structure (smaller inset, arrowed), with McLaren’s aerodynamicists obviously finding it beneficial for performance in earlier stages of the development cycle.
Having nudged the needle elsewhere around the floor and diffuser design, it appears that their area of focus has now shifted to this region, albeit this was just a test piece according to McLaren, run on both cars during Friday’s Free Practice sessions, with the older components put back onto the MCL39 for the competitive sessions.
However, that’s not to say we won’t see it again, as this was a tactic employed by McLaren last season, whereby they’d announce a new part, test it on a Friday and then it might not be seen again for a couple of races, as it’s re-introduced at a more suitable venue.
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This was not isolated to the diffuser either, as they’ve also made some further changes to their rear brake duct, with modifications made to the winglet arrangement this time around, with them having already made an adjustment to the lower deflector at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Aston Martin were another team looking to make performance gains at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as they introduced a new upper flap for their rear wing to reduce downforce and drag at the Jeddah circuit, whilst providing an extra option in the pool for future events too.
The rest of the rear wing assembly remains the same, with just the camber of the flap and trailing edge trimmed to reduce the load and drag being generated.
Racing Bulls have taken a similar approach with their rear wing, opting to reduce the camber and incidence angle of the upper flap, whilst also introducing a smaller lower beam wing element, in order to reduce the assembly’s overall downforce and drag.
They’ve also combined this with a revision to the front wing too, as a trimmed version of the upper flap has been deployed in order to help balance the car front-to-rear.
Sauber took a more expansive approach to reducing downforce and drag on the C45, as they introduced an entirely new rear wing, beam wing and endplate layout.
Both the upper flap and mainplane have been minimised when compared with their predecessors, as they take up much less space in the allowable box region.
Meanwhile, the bi-plane style beam wing arrangement has made way for a much more slender, single element beam wing layout, whilst the endplate has been redesigned to work in conjunction with this.
There was also a new front wing upper flap installed on the C45’s of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, with the flap providing a step change in downforce to help rebalance the car, front-to-rear.
Out of view, there were also changes made to the central section of the car’s underfloor, as the team looks to improve performance with non-circuit specific updates, with the floor a considerable contributing factor in that regard.
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