By Carlo Platella
McLaren launches the challenge to Ferrari. In the last three races the Woking team has shown that it is not far behind the Cavallino team, now trying to get ahead of its opponents with the first package of updates. He makes his debut in Miami a package initially planned for the launch version of the MCL38, effectively completing what was intended to be the starting point of the season. The changes to the car are numerous, outlining developments conceived as a single block, designed to interact with each other rather than as the sum of individual modifications.
Schedule change
During the presentation phase, Andrea Stella had put his hands forward, explaining how some aerodynamic and mechanical projects were still incomplete. The words of the Team Principal suggest that the Miami package was already in development even before launch of the car. McLaren preferred not to rush the process, taking all the months necessary to calmly complete the projects in the pipeline. A choice that also allowed us to refine the innovations based on the car’s shortcomings that subsequently emerged during the tests and during the first races.
The new developments in Miami therefore bring together all the experience gained at the end of last season, which was not realized in time for the start of the new championship, to which is added that accumulated in the first races of 2024. That of Florida also coincides with the first package developed entirely in the new wind tunnel owned and latest generation. A significant help and which allowed us to analyze in detail the aerodynamic facets that were previously difficult to appreciate.
The news
As often happens, the most important innovations are also those least observable from the outside, concentrating below the background, entirely renewed on the MCL38. It is however possible to appreciate the evolution of the external edge, which maintains the setting of the beginning of the year, but with a greater elaboration of the rise which encourages the lateral extraction of the flows, generating aerodynamic load at the center of the car.
The new bottom interacts aerodynamically with the bodywork, which has also been renewed. With the MCL38 McLaren has reversed the design of the side radiator vents, preferring to lengthen the upper lip instead of the lower one, moving away from the 2023 geometry as done by Red Bull. The air intakes at the start of the championship were therefore still rough, representing the first stage of a different philosophy. In Miami a first refinement is appreciated, with the mouths widening and squeezing upwards.
As already seen on many other cars, the crushing of the side vents allows you to flare the girth firmly. From the side, in fact, the new shape of the lower bodywork stands out, with a more accentuated recess which helps to transport flows with greater energy towards the rear. All to the advantage of the performance of the diffuser, the load released from the bottom and the aerodynamic efficiency. The changes to the bodywork also tell of important mechanical work done under the skinstudying a different arrangement of the radiators, wiring and electronic boards to optimize the overall dimensions.
A complete package
The new bottom-belly combination interacts with an aerodynamic structure surrounding the car which has been optimized in every part. There new front wingfor example, characterized by a decisive downward curve of the main profiles and by the different trend of the adjustable flaps, corrects the setting of the flows that hit the car.
These in turn are affected by modifications made to the front suspension, especially in the fairing of the arms and in their anchoring points to the frame. The flows thus present themselves with a different structure once they reach the entrance of the Venturi channels and the outlets of the lateral radiators.
In the official documents McLaren states that it has also made changes to the rear suspension, although no particular innovations stand out from the outside. Also reported are changes to the aerodynamics of the front and rear wheel assemblies, including the brake cooling ducts and external diffuser deflectors. However, it is definitely more appreciable the new beam wing low load single profile, designed both to improve local aerodynamic efficiency and to interact differently with the diffuser and the upper wing.
The objectives
Overall, however extensive, the Miami package does not present itself as a revolution. On the contrary, the various modifications appear more like of the refinements of the specification from the beginning of the year, telling of a team convinced of the basic concept of the MCL38, which now reaches a new level of maturity. The objective is to cure the car’s shortcomings partly inherited from 2023, demonstrating a concept that was not overturned during the winter. Rotation in slow corners, aerodynamic penetration and stability in fast corners constitute the three main areas of intervention of the American package.
The weekend in Miami will provide the first feedback on the quality of the work carried out, but to express a more complete judgment we will have to wait at least a couple of Grands Prix, physiological for data collection and adjustment of the set-up. While in, at Imola Ferrari will respond to McLaren, in turn introducing a large package of updates. The month of May will say a lot about the possibility of witnessing a duel between Woking and Maranello for second place in the world championship, as well as about the chances of the two teams to get even closer to Red Bull.
