McLaren MP4-31: Anteprima

Abbiamo fatto la 30..facciamo anche la 31. 

Notizie sulla macchina ancora molto poche, però da varie interviste raccolte durante la fine 2015 ci sono alcuni indizi..

1) Promodou dice nuovo concept aero, mentre morris parla più di un'evoluzione che rivoluzione 


Over the last couple of seasons, the team slightly lost its way aerodynamically," Prodromou said. "It became obvious that if we'd carried on with the previous concept, there'd only be so much we could achieve.
"So we've begun to establish a new aerodynamic concept, and a different way of working, too. That new concept has majorly shaped where the team's heading in the future. "Next year's car will be an evolution of this year's, so we need to keep developing it right until the final race."
Director of engineering Matt Morris said that the MP4-31 in 2016 would be an evolution of this year's car, warranting the longer development curve for the 2015 model. "The 2016 regulations aren't significantly changing and we're not going through the process of introducing a new engine, as we've done for the last two years," Morris said. "So we'll keep developing. A lot of what we learn at the track this year will naturally evolve into next year's car."

http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2015/04/30/mclaren-planning-to-develop-mp4-30-until-abu-dhabi/"



2) Newey dice che faremo un salto come la Ferrari 2015 e che il problema era una MGU-H troppo piccola.


Tech chief Adrian Newey has tipped Honda to deliver a 'good step' in 2016 that could help McLaren overhaul his own Red Bull Formula 1 team.

"I believe Honda, what we have seen, will make a good step. I think their internal combustion engine is a reasonable engine.
"Their problem this year has been that they made the recovery units on the turbo, the MGU-H, far too small. But that is an easy problem to address over the winter.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/newey-sees-honda-as-a-threat-for-2016/






3) Una recente intervista di Arai fa trasparire obettivi più conservativi per il 2016 a livello di motore intendendo che prima di tutto dovranno essere riparati gli errori fatti (e mi tranquillizza),  ma si ribadisce che la filosofia size-zero verrà confermata (in ogni modo si tenderà a una PU compatta, e ciò mi preoccupa). Primo obiettivo 2016? Q3




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----------- That in turn is our obligation as well (laughs)
What should we tell, I wonder. Thinking about the "uninterested" group that we just talked about, while factors like awesomeness of development and car technology should certainly play a role, 80% of them would get attracted mostly by the kind of factors like "team uniform is cool", "driver is handsome" etc, I imagine. So, we've been thinking it's our duty to approach and solicit those people and actually trying various methods. But just showing Sakura facility does so little to move those people, I reckon. 

------------ Seeing Arai-san's comments so far, i fear most people including the said 80% people must be thinking like "only words and nothing happens". Even though you are doing something incredible.
Hmm

-------------- Going for size zero, that is generally thought is impossible to be achieved, is about executing Honda Soichiro's principle "you cannot know whether it's possible or impossible unless you try it", right?
No, we are not doing it because you cannot know unless you try it, but because we are convinced that size zero is a must in order to win.

------------- So, if that intention/vision is made clear, it will be transparent that there is significant value in challenging itself, then that 80% people would grow such notion "don't know details but it's awesome anyway" as a result, I imagine.
I think that's impossible. I think people who have no interest in technology would not understand.

-------------- Might not understand technology itself, but still might be able to understand the attitude of targeting high?
I feel it's unlikely to reach to that phase of perception unless you have solid idea about what the target is exactly. People who like technology, eg students of technical collage, should be able to understand it, but not so optimistic in terms of ordinary public.

-------------- I mean it would be nice if such conception as "what's important is in targeting high itself, not about achieving stable but low" came across.
We have always been intending/striving to do exactly that (laughs)

------------- I think it's not communicating well.
Then there must be flaw in my talking, or else, I'm not sure, but if it's not coming across well, that itself is the issue certainly.






---------- One thing I'd like to make sure - ongoing development for next year is carrying over the concept of size zero?
Yes of course.

----------- So you are not changing concept
Not for now at least. Why, because there is no reason to change in regard to the direction in which we've been going throughout the year, and we cannot see any parts that can be better by changing. It's not like size zero is interfering/obstructing anything at all, so. To begin with, designing it compact is the basis of things, so if that is wrong then principles of everything not just size zero would be denied. To make machinery compact yields various advantages not just about chassis wise but also for many other aspects, but truth is that we are not able to take good advantage of it. So, method of placing the first year as a foundation and maturing it to develop the 2016 car is mutual agreement with McLaren. Maturing the platform by improving shortfall on Engine (PU) as well as chassis side including aero is the way we challenge for 2016.

---------- Isn't cooling the issue for/of size zero?
No, not at all.

----------- If that's the case, then what did you struggle about? What was lacking, what were reasons for not leading to good result?
Regarding what we are in charge of, reliability is one, engine output is one, and deployment issue is one. There is no single issue about cooling.

------------ I thought you were suffering from cooling issue due to the size zero concept that compromised packaging. 
No, not at all. We've overcome that issue in the first few races.

----------- The talk is that Merc has advantage in cooling due to split design of turbine and compressor
I wouldn't buy that. That Merc solution is particularly beneficial for cooling is not true. We do not think Merc's layout is advantageous for cooling. Asked if there's any circumstantial evidence for the relation, I would say no. They are working on their own concept, and I don't believe there is any close relation with cooling itself.

------------ So why do you think Mercedes is such formidable?
That's because they have excellent reliability having managed to use only 4 PUs/season, have no deployment issue, have good engine output, as well as high potential of chassis (laughs)

------------ Why do they have such excellent reliability?
One thing is because they've had long development period.

----------- I predict Mercedes will advance even further for 2016, but McLaren Honda is catching up with them, is that right?
We think that we are not able to make proper fight unless at least catch up, so, we are trying to catch up while recognizing the gap.

----------- Speaking of Honda, I'd like to think "Honda = power"
We are not there at all yet in terms of engine output. It will be tough PU-wise unless everything - reliability, output, deployment and MGU-H - comes together.

------------- There is target figure set within Honda and you are getting closer to it?
Of course we are getting closer, but we acknowledge that there is still obvious gap b/w Mercedes.

------------- Ferrari is now getting extremely close to Mercedes?
No, I consider Mercedes is head and shoulders above the rest.

----------- At the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Alonso set 3rd fastest lap time in the race, also Vandoorne set fastest time in subsequent Abu Dhabi testing, so there are some positives. It looked like there was some light at the end of the season.
It's certain that setup of the car was heading in right direction during Abu Dhabi GP. Team as a whole was feeling positive overall including the fact that both drivers were similarly performing well in the end after having gap on the first day.

----------- Regarding the setup, I reckon that it's impossible to talk about setup properly until power unit start working normally.
That's correct

----------- Around the summer time, some irresponsible rumors spread, which went like "it's McLaren chassis's fault", but I thought that was quite ignorant opinion. It might be true that McLaren has not been on the top form in the past few years hence it's not probable that McLaren possesses the same level of potential as teams like RBR and Mercedes, but looking at it from Japan's side, making power unit decent is priority before talking about Mclaren, in my opinion. 
Power train is what we are responsible for, so we must pull ourselves together, but in 3 days running of Abu Dhabi GP, there was no problem on engine side while we applied some tweaks. So I think we managed to achieve that as a result of improving car's overall balance more and more.



------------ It feels to me that the testing after Abu Dhabi GP was the first time McLaren Honda managed to gather good amount of lap like 99 laps without any trouble?
Actually not really so, there were instances in the in-season testing where we could collect good mileage.

------------ Still, lap times weren't so good overall iirc. For example, at Abu Dhabi GP as well, Alonso was 9th in FP2, which gave hope for going through to Q3, but lost out in Q1 after all.
He was setting personal best in S1 and S2, then suffered from puncture in S3 so couldn't be helped. That's how racing is like as well. The whole team was excited about the prospect, so we were all disappointed so much.

-------------- Alonso's time of P9 in FP was within 1 sec from the top. Up until then, there was always a gap of at least 1.8 sec or so.
That's the matter of team effort not just engine, so, engine's contribution to the car's performance is one thing and what enabled the good form in Abu Dhabi is another, and there's quite a disparity b/w the two. We separate out these two elements.

------------ At Hungary Alonso had to miss out qualifying due to trouble. Scenes like that gives me the impression that such situation of KMag unable to start the race due to the trouble in reconnaissance lap of the opening race was continuing and recurring and things hadn't really changed.
I'd like you to tidy things up once, you'll see that's not the case actually (laughs)

------------ General impression-wise it's passing along like that way, I think. Then it finally went fine at Abu Dhabi, sort of (laughs)
Within ourselves we aren't feeling that way

------------ As an individual wanting to support Mclaren Honda, we could see some positives at Abu Dhabi, so it feels good to go into off-season like this, maybe we can expect good result next year. But that wasn't because Honda PU has advanced a lot suddenly, is that correct?
Yes. So as I've said repeatedly, even without changing PU, there's something that can affect and change things quite a bit. So, one thing is that it's extremely essential to get the setting right, and another is that if you mess up with it things can go utterly wrong. For example, Williams at Monaco was impossibly slow. They were so far back even with Merc engine, so you'd get totally lost in such situation. In the race, it's so crucial to optimize everything within the 3 days.

------------- Of course there are uncontrollable troubles like punctures as well as some issues on McLaren side, but impression is more like "PU related trouble occurred again". But even at Abu Dhabi, Honda's PU hasn't changed much?
You'll find out that's not precisely the case actually if you examine the data carefully

----------- Conversely, suppose Mercedes is 100, where is Honda?
That will be self assessment (laughs). As a matter of reality, we've fought 19 races for one year and haven't even gone through to Q3 single time. Thus, we are not yet at the level where we can give score to ourselves. We as a team are not even able to go into top 10 at Quali, so realistically, to be able to go into Q3 is the first step that we have to achieve in 2016.

------------ I can see it in detail at last (laughs)
If I said here now "we will be on podium next year", some people would think it's nonsense. I don't think it's easy either, and in order to display our comprehensive capability, it's essential to provide solid power unit, gain good mileage and take more time for raising the car's performance. Regarding where we'll place the target, I think we can no way say we'll aim for win when we haven't even managed to make it into Q3 yet. Before the 2015 season started, we sure had aspiration of wanting to be on front row, or closer to the front, but as a matter of reality, when saying such things, we were realizing that we were far from reaching that level yet. However at the same time I didn't want to discourage fans supporting us into thinking "totally hopeless", so to some extent we had to say something cheerful, or rather we had to affirm the target we were sharing within the team by declaring/proclaiming "that's where we are aiming for", in order to encourage/inspire ourselves as well.

----------- I see
So we are extremely angry/frustrated at ourselves. There is this gap out there, and finding out how to close the gap as quickly as possible is what we have been working on. And we are made to realize that the gap hasn't narrowed much through one year of challenge. There, regarding the objectives of 2016, if we said "we are going to be on podium" here now, some might think "you must have realized the reality after one year of experience but still say the same thing again". We've already felt the pain so harshly in the very early stage of 19 races, so we are aspiring to move up the field even by one position. We will be explaining/showing that it is getting better, but if we said something abrupt/audacious like "get on podium", then we would lose fans supporting us. That's what I think now.

--------- Engine output, reliability and deployment. Which element is lacking the most?
All of them actually (laughs), 1/3 for each.

------------ ICE is there or thereabout among the field, but increasing output sacrifices reliability, or something like that?
Of course something like that happens, where the parts that has been fine previously are not fine anymore if you increase the output level. However it's deployment issue that disappoints fans the most, isn't it. 120kW of power becomes zero in the middle of straight, so for example when you can add 160bhp to 300bhp, you are forced into a situation where you cannot use that additional 160bhp. Actual horse power is higher than that, but that's how things are like, so you get passed so easily.

---------- in terms of laptime, the difference doesn't become that big actually, but if you see the moment of overtaking, it looks extremely huge.
That's right. It dishearten the fans so much, also such scene is so explicit, so it looks completely hopeless. But if you look at lap time, the difference is not as big as what it looks like actually, but it is symbolically plain to see, so. From spectators viewpoint, deployment not running out is such important factor. Of course in order for overtaking, we cannot fight with deployment that runs out. We reckon that we wont be able to fight properly unless we work out all 3 elements. You told me while ago that we were giving the impression that we're not running much. That's the issue of the reliability, sure at least it's not so good to halt a session by trouble, so that's the first thing to overcome. There's another matter to address in output, but solving deployment issue is vital/urgent.

---------- Getting into Q3 as a first target sounds underwhelming, but only 10 cars can go through, so it would be nice if more people understand how high level it actually is.
You get thrown out by just 0.x seconds, so I would like that to be understood more for sure.

----------- I think the difference between mass production car and F1 is, same as weapons, that performance is massively prioritized over cost. Take piston as an example, anyone can see it's polished and glittering, but why is it like that? I'd like Arai-san to explain something of that sort to the public at each and every opportunities.
it's so delicate and detailed like a watch, yes. Precision/quality of each component is extremely high as well.

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http://www.f1-stinger.com/f1-news/news/2015/12/19/058720.php

Force India preparati che la 31 ti farà il c*lo! 

Intanto sulla macchina è comparso magicamente Chandon
http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/partners/

Chiedo a voi perché la situazione non mi è chiara,Johnnie Walker e SAP alla fine lasciano o restano con noi?

Chiedo a voi perché la situazione non mi è chiara,Johnnie Walker e SAP alla fine lasciano o restano con noi?

hanno già lasciato...infatti nella foto della 30 postata qui sopra si vedono solo gli sponsor che avremo il prossimo anno!

Chiedo a voi perché la situazione non mi è chiara,Johnnie Walker e SAP alla fine lasciano o restano con noi?

hanno già lasciato...infatti nella foto della 30 postata qui sopra si vedono solo gli sponsor che avremo il prossimo anno!

Ah ok,perché nella sezione "Parteners" ci sono ancora sia SAP che Johnnie Walker

Chiedo a voi perché la situazione non mi è chiara,Johnnie Walker e SAP alla fine lasciano o restano con noi?

hanno già lasciato...infatti nella foto della 30 postata qui sopra si vedono solo gli sponsor che avremo il prossimo anno!

Ah ok,perché nella sezione "Parteners" ci sono ancora sia SAP che Johnnie Walker

abbiamo anche tag heuer ancora,ma non da mettere sulla vettura.... evidentemente ci sono quote o accordi che li tengono come partner ma non come logo sulla livrea
....non sapri con esattezza

Chiedo a voi perché la situazione non mi è chiara,Johnnie Walker e SAP alla fine lasciano o restano con noi?

hanno già lasciato...infatti nella foto della 30 postata qui sopra si vedono solo gli sponsor che avremo il prossimo anno!

Ah ok,perché nella sezione "Parteners" ci sono ancora sia SAP che Johnnie Walker

abbiamo anche tag heuer ancora,ma non da mettere sulla vettura.... evidentemente ci sono quote o accordi che li tengono come partner ma non come logo sulla livrea
....non sapri con esattezza

Speriamo che il logo Santander andrà a finire sulla vettura 

Chiedo a voi perché la situazione non mi è chiara,Johnnie Walker e SAP alla fine lasciano o restano con noi?

hanno già lasciato...infatti nella foto della 30 postata qui sopra si vedono solo gli sponsor che avremo il prossimo anno!

Ah ok,perché nella sezione "Parteners" ci sono ancora sia SAP che Johnnie Walker

abbiamo anche tag heuer ancora,ma non da mettere sulla vettura.... evidentemente ci sono quote o accordi che li tengono come partner ma non come logo sulla livrea
....non sapri con esattezza

Speriamo che il logo Santander andrà a finire sulla vettura 

Pure SAP non comparirà più??? nella foto sopra non si vede perchè non è inquadrato il muso

Una volta Santader compariva, dove c'era Hugo Boss

Sul sito McLaren seguendo il link di Frenk TAG non appare più. Penso che sia attendibile

Speriamo che la livrea della MP4-31 sarà rivoluzionata...
La prima livrea (quella argentata) della MP4-30 mi piaceva molto,invece quella nera stanca dopo poco

La Suber diffida dei miglioramenti della McLaren

L'ingegnere di pista della Sauber Erik Schuivens è diffidente che la Sauber possa rimanere davanti alla McLaren nel 2016, se il fornitore del motore del team, la Honda, guadagnerà secondi con il suo propulsore.

La Sauber, dopo non essere riuscita a registrare un punto nel 2014, è finito ottava in classifica quest'anno, a 31 punti dalla Toro Rosso, e nove davanti alla McLaren-Honda.

Anche se Schuivens spera che la Sauber continuerà a lottare per i punti, teme un maggiore progresso da parte della Toro Rosso, che è passata dal motore Renault al Ferrari.

"Speriamo di fare un passo in avanti, ma le altre squadre faranno anch'esse progressi", ha detto Schuivens, che è diventato ingegnere di gara di Marcus Ericsson per la stagione 2015, a GPUpdate.net.

"La McLaren, per esempio, ma anche la Toro Rosso hanno già avuto un forte telaio durante la stagione 2015 e con una migliore unità di potenza, sarà difficile per noi per batterli. Speriamo di entrare in Q2 e poi in Q3, in modo che possiamo segnare punti senza dipendere dai ritiri altrui. Se riusciremo a farlo, abbiamo fatto un buon lavoro".

Schuivens ha aggiunto che la Sauber ha adottato un approccio evolutivo con la sua nuova macchina.

"Sarà uno sviluppo della vettura 2015, purtroppo", ha continuato a spiegare.

"Naturalmente, molte cose sulla vettura saranno nuove. Ma non sarà una rivoluzione, più una evoluzione. Questo è anche a causa della situazione finanziaria. Più soldi si possono spendere, più si può fare".

Fonte: GPUpdate.net

Oh la Sauber comincia già a cagarsi addosso eh si vede che stiamo facendo proprio un motore pazzesco ...... almeno da 8° posto 

La Suber diffida dei miglioramenti della McLaren

L'ingegnere di pista della Sauber Erik Schuivens è diffidente che la Sauber possa rimanere davanti alla McLaren nel 2016, se il fornitore del motore del team, la Honda, guadagnerà secondi con il suo propulsore.

La Sauber, dopo non essere riuscita a registrare un punto nel 2014, è finito ottava in classifica quest'anno, a 31 punti dalla Toro Rosso, e nove davanti alla McLaren-Honda.

Anche se Schuivens spera che la Sauber continuerà a lottare per i punti, teme un maggiore progresso da parte della Toro Rosso, che è passata dal motore Renault al Ferrari.

"Speriamo di fare un passo in avanti, ma le altre squadre faranno anch'esse progressi", ha detto Schuivens, che è diventato ingegnere di gara di Marcus Ericsson per la stagione 2015, a GPUpdate.net.

"La McLaren, per esempio, ma anche la Toro Rosso hanno già avuto un forte telaio durante la stagione 2015 e con una migliore unità di potenza, sarà difficile per noi per batterli. Speriamo di entrare in Q2 e poi in Q3, in modo che possiamo segnare punti senza dipendere dai ritiri altrui. Se riusciremo a farlo, abbiamo fatto un buon lavoro".

Schuivens ha aggiunto che la Sauber ha adottato un approccio evolutivo con la sua nuova macchina.

"Sarà uno sviluppo della vettura 2015, purtroppo", ha continuato a spiegare.

"Naturalmente, molte cose sulla vettura saranno nuove. Ma non sarà una rivoluzione, più una evoluzione. Questo è anche a causa della situazione finanziaria. Più soldi si possono spendere, più si può fare".

Fonte: GPUpdate.net

Oh la Sauber comincia già a cagarsi addosso eh si vede che stiamo facendo proprio un motore pazzesco ...... almeno da 8° posto 

La Sauber lotterà al massimo con le Manor,la potenza della PU Ferrari non basterà l'anno prossimo poiché noi recupereremo e in più anche Toro Rosso avrà una PU buona

Sul sito McLaren seguendo il link di Frenk TAG non appare più. Penso che sia attendibile

SAP e Jhonnie Walker compaiono ancora, magari rimangono ancora un anno