The final significant change for McLaren 2023 F1 car may be a ‘conceptual evolution’ modification. That is being pushed for approval.
The team aims to make one more push for its current MCL60 before a historic moment. When it runs its 2024 vehicle through its new wind tunnel for the first time.
Team principal Andrea Stella claims that additional advancements are on the way to help it capitalize on recent podium places in Britain and Hungary. These advancements go beyond the specialized low-drag solutions that will be required for fast courses like Monza and Las Vegas later this year.
He said.
“We are working on an evolution of these concepts for post shutdown. There is another kind of round [of changes to] the bodywork and floor. We still have to sign this off, and we have a few more days of work, but if we are successful, then we will definitely attempt to bring it in one of the events soon after the shutdown.”
Even if McLaren’s most recent improvement represented a significant advancement. Stella is wary of having too high of hopes for the following development.
Even while McLaren was surprised by how much the most recent update produced. He is fully aware that the next one might not be as successful.
He said
“I think we kind of understand what happened with this one, but what we are working on is not only simple millimeters, it is a bit of a conceptual evolution. So, there’s a degree of uncertainty with aerodynamic evolutions. And, really, the evidence comes only when you test these kinds of things trackside, because even if you have a good wind tunnel correlation, and good CFD correlation, you’re always a little bit on the edge of knowledge. And I think this is the same for every team.”
The 2023 vehicle is nearing completion as McLaren F1 is ready to test a prototype of its 2024 rival in Working’s new wind tunnel.
The team is still debating whether to do that this week or immediately following its required summer break. But it will happen before Formula One returns to Zandvoort later this month.
As the team avoids bringing its 2023 challenger across from the Toyota facility it has recently used. Stella claims that this point will signify the change of development towards next year.
Stella is unconvinced that McLaren will be able to use ideas for their 2024 vehicles on this year’s challengers. Despite other teams talking about doing so.
He said.
“On next year’s model, there’s not much you can develop that you can apply to this year’s car, because things are very interlinked and tangled. It’s very difficult to have a solution that works on next year’s car, and then you can apply to this year’s car.”
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