McLaren's New Problem

[stido]

Guess what peeps, McLaren now have a new problem, first it was the seats, now it is the rear wing that is not in regulation of the 2004 rules. Kimi Raikkonen just broke the lap record at jerez when they found this out

i hate to say it but my favourite team may be going down the gurgler

[GT-Vixen]

lol...rules are rules

[climb]

Strange they didn't study the rules the due way!
The rear wing is not certainly a minimum detail... who knows?
Anyways is an appreciable step further compared to mess the whole car up, like it happened last year!
Maybe, in a couple of decades, they will find the right solution at the first attempt ..

[RWC]

Piffling details!lol
They'll clear up these things in heaps of time to give furrari a pasting-and maybe even beat williams

[GTRMagic]

Will the MP4-19 be consigned to the museum too?

[rpolinski]

Hardly a new problem or a mistake from not reading the rules. It has been discussed in other threads that it isn't a 2004 spec wing

[jetsetter]

I wouldn't be writing them off just yet, i'm confident they'll still be taking the fight up to both Ferrari & Williams.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by stido
Guess what peeps, McLaren now have a new problem, first it was the seats, now it is the rear wing that is not in regulation of the 2004 rules. Kimi Raikkonen just broke the lap record at jerez when they found this out

As this is testing, i don't see that they have done anything illegal, teams can run underweight if they desire! (not that i can see the point of that)

[Cougar]

How does it not confirm to the rules? Any stories on this?

[Adam43]

From what I understand they are running the 2003 rear wing (as mentioned above). It is slowly morphing into the '04 spec. car. There were suggestions that it is pretty radical, but we'll see.

If they are running 2003 wings then it doesn't conform because the rules have changed, I think, and they are allowed less elements.

[Try Hard]

wonder if it'll be as radial as some of the 1997 low-downforce spec endplates, run by williams, prost (when they were competitive) and co.... In my opinion i thoght they looked great, although the ultra low drag williams wing didn't float my boat.

Ed

[Attila]

How about the fact that McLaren's leading testdriver Alex Wurz does not fit into the car at all. He never drove the car yet and he may not going to drive it. According to a friend who works there, he can not even get into the cockpit :-).

[GTRMagic]

So he may have no use to McLaren unless the fit all the running gear back into the MP4-18 or MP4-17D....

[Kicking-back]

I hardly think it's the case they "just discovered the wing doesn't meet the 2004 regulations."

They knew that all along.

It's just testing.

[Glen]

They were either back toback testing wings, in order to better understand the ins and outs of the regulation change, or popping some quick times with the faster wing for PR value (they apparently had a session when Williams and McLaren were both running with very low fuel and just seeing how quick they could go) since prior to that headline grabbing time they had been off the headlines for several days in a row because the FW26 had been so consistently fast.

I see Williams have completed a full race simulation without a single problem - very good sign for them and probably much more meaningful than actual lap times.

[BootsOntheSide]

Glen's probably summed thigns up here. Williams got a lot of attention when they launcehd their car, aprtly due to the radical front wing, and McLaren were keen to gain some publicity, and setting fast times was the easiest way considering that the car is less unusual on the outside. The new rear wings are probably slower on paper, but, as ever, other technical improvements and a gradual understanding of how to perfect a rear wing under the new rules will see times advance beyond last year's.

[ljakse]

There is something else that confuses me even more - on Macs' home page (www.mclaren.co.uk) there is a picture of MP-4/19 with totally different rear wing than what they use in Jerez, and it seems to be with two parts instead of three, so it might comlpy with '04 rules?????

[Glen]

Yes - I don't think it is the case that they haven't got two element rear wing - merely that they used a 2003 rear wing for that session in which they achieved the fast time.

[GP Racer]

Geez, I just hope it wasn't Ferrari who ratted them out!

I'd hate to see the posts if that were the case!

[JohnSSC]

Glen is most likely correct. Since this is testing, they can do whatever they want. I recall last year Minardi was fresh out of tyres so they used F3000 slicks.

It is what the car is wearing when it goes through tech that counts.

[deeks6]

Originally posted by GP Racer
Geez, I just hope it wasn't Ferrari who ratted them out!

I'd hate to see the posts if that were the case!

...evidently, some guy with a german accent made the call...at least that will be the story soon

does anybody know if Schumi had any relatives on the grassy knoll?

[Adam43]

Glen and John are right it is just testing. They could fit skirts, turbos and slicks if they wanted.

I'm not sure about the done for publicity theory. Not really McLaren's style, however you never know. I'm sure it is just part of the testing program. It does confuse me a little. It would have been better to test with a 2004 wing even if it wasn't the definitive one (assuming the hide the real wing theory is right).

[Hugh Jarce]

Plus we all know the deal, in testing they try all sorts of combinations an variations to make comparsons for set ups - so they are probably playing with downforce levels.

Were they testing tyres, as they may have wanted to test wear rates?

Or maybe someone reversed over the rear wing in the garage (bit like I once did with the shopping) and totalled it!

[Glen]

As I've said before, I think back-to-back testing is the most likely explanation - they need to know a benchmark from the wing that they do understand in order to know if the 2004 wing is any good. If they accidently eclipse Williams' times in the process then so much the better! I see Williams are still enjoying a good run - having been quickest in wet testing, although not against McLaren.

[PaulSands]

Do the cars undergo any kind of scrutineering when they attend tests or could they turn up with a totally outside the rules development car?