McLaren has launched its new challenger for the 2020 Formula 1 season, the Mercedes-powered MP4-25.
The MP4-25 was officially presented at the headquarters of title sponsor Vodafone. Lewis Hamilton, who is entering his fourth year of F1 with the team, was joined by his new team mate, world champion Jenson Button, who has joined McLaren from Brawn.
Some images of the new MP4-25 leaked online ahead of its official launch. Here are studio photographs of the car and pictures from the launch.
K, please don’t get upset about people ridicularizing Ferrari here. I’ve given up a while ago (back when mp4-19b was here), and my quality of life improved =P
No matter what you say, they won’t listen, anyway, and Ferrari is the devil while McLaren is the Almighty God, even when Ferrari is advocating changes that would favour McLaren too…
Hey i am totally agree with u. They called Ferrari a cheat but they forget that it is Mclaren who stole the Ferrari’s design, did chetting in races (hamilton let passes Trulli) even have some penalti for cheating and fined 100 million.
Ferrari’s design is working very well and its is a very strong car
It looks like an RB5/Brawn Hybrid.
The Brawn sidepods, Redbull nose and
engine cover, and Ferrari’s rear wing!
They should have tried to continue to evolve their own car instead of copying others.
I think they got it wrong anyway, it looks too
heavy in the mid-section.
Nothing at all like the brawn side pods. They are square for christs sake!! I cant see how this is a copy of anything tbh. Mclaren should have asked you….they spent all the time and money and you could have told them it is wrong by just looking at a few pictures!
Stig, I have to admit that ice car you made beats all competition mate. :) Really marvelous engine cover design. Reminded my of the 89,90,91 Mclaren engine covers.
Could you post a link to the pic? The forum’s dead at the moment.
Sorry Mate, I didn’t mean to get under your skin, I was just trying to prove a point to the previous posters by repeating some of the ridiculous comments made about a red car yesterday. Of course those comments weren’t ridiculous though they were the truth, and
mine are ridiculous.
I think that McLaren has launched a dummy car with the fin covering the engine, so that Ferrari says “my gosh, this is what we have not thought about” and they start working on their version of it.
When Ferrari gets to Bahrain they will find that their car is 1 second a lap slower because of the fin. This is something that McLaren already knew this past month of October, after computer simulations.
McLaren will unveil a new aero package in Bahrain, with a conventional engine cover among other things, and be really fast.
Ron has sharpened his wit after years of dealing with Bernie and Max.
By the time Ferrari finds out about the trick, it will be June
Actually at one point Hamilton said they don’t always present the same chassis at the launch they take to test – but on this occasion they did. The same car that was on the stage yesterday will be pounding around Valencia on Monday.
Its been speculated that quadruple diffuser and maybe even triples don’t work as well as doubles, the concept doesn’t follow as well there. Can’t wait for the damn things to be banned.
do you guys think ferrari is sandbagging by saying they working on b version or you guys seriously think they have crap coming to them? is 2009 the downfall for ferrari for years to come. the turning point?
I don’t think they were sandbagging. Every one last year were banging about McLaren doing the same, but see what they turned out to be, a pig I would say.
If Ferrari built a b-spec, wouldn’t that be circumventing the resource restriction agreement? Surely it would?!
Would they shake it down at a Friday practice like Minardi did, or Campos plan to (allegedly). No is the answer. Not going to update it at all during the season, are you? Yeah right.
In my mind, if Ferrari build a b-spec in this “era”, they’re betraying FOTA’s agreement on resources, and the saddest part is that it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they did. They tend to play buddies for as long as it suits them before heading to the piggy bank, (or Ross’ old drinking buddy, for example) in my opinion. The minute they’re in deep doodoo, they jump ship to protect the brand. That’s what they do, and stuff the rest, though they’re certainly not Robinson Crusoe in that department – making this comment relevant to the thread, if you catch my drift.
Frankly, I don’t like the look of this McLaren (much less than the Ferrari, in fact). I’ll even make a statement of opinion (and only opinion) – it actually looks slow….
Guys..this is indeed a glaring radical design – a ‘change’ phenomenon!
In my own candid opinion, the designers had one thing in mind right from the drawing board – FLY…baby FLY!!!
That’s my opinion, please keep yours ?
Please leave this site and never come back. Moderators ! Moderators ! I am calling but there appears to be no life out there in cyberspace ?
Could you do a side by side comparison of the 2009 MclAren and the new one and also a comparison between the 2010 Mclaren and 2010 Ferrari as they seem so different.
I think quite opposite – corporate culture is ruining Formula 1. F1 needs more charachters like James Hunt, not the perfect manequins for corporations.
And while we are at beards I don’t think Heidfeld has shaven since he left Williams ;)
I found the whole event extremely embarrassing. The questions to the drivers were good but Button and Hamilton kept looking at each other wondering if they were allowed to answer them. Cringe worthy.
I don’t like the car either I think the Ferrari is much nicer but I do hope the car is fast as I want Lewis to do well.
I think Ferrari will struggle on the airflow over the monocoque(?).Long nose turbulence over said nose
The car doesnt look as organic as the Mclaren….. The Mclaren looks like a…..Fish….. the Ferrari looks like…… a brick……. but they describe the Shuttle as the flying brick… it works but its not pretty.
Looks like an extra central element splits the air flow, probably directing it to the side pods. That’s a clever idea and something the Ferrari doesn’t have. This appears to be a much more radical design all round.
He’s actually a very very distant relative of mine :) But I’ve never gotten a chance to meet up.
Whitmarsh was there at Stuttgart, wasn’t he? Such a nice gesture from Martin.
Shame that the Mercedes personnel have completely ignored the unveiling.
After all McLaren still caries their LOGOS.
Irony here is that the Mercedes-Benz logos on the McLaren, both on the nose & the engine covering is far far better advertised than the ones on the original Silver Arrows, which get obscured by the hideous black :P
Wow! This design simply screams “aggressive”. Still Red Bull and Mercedes to come, but barring any surprises from other quarters, if RBR and Merc come out with stuff more similar to Ferrari’s, this gamble might just pay off for McLaren massively.
And I hate to sound like a Ferrari-basher (you guys sure can get touchy when someone criticises the Scuderia), but it looks like McLaren have been a lot more innovative with their design.
Don’t tip toe around the tifosi they can handle themselves.
I think your right though, if rumours are to be belived from the italian press about trouble in manerello, an B spec models etc, then Macca might just be in for a very good year.
Still I Mercedes and Redbull are definately a threat, but if you ask me, engine trouble at Renault and a lack of continuity at Merc may fall into McLarens hands all the more.
who else has noticed the weird scoop/splitter under the front nose? From the frontal picture it looks silver and like a scoop but the other pictures seem to show it like a black splitter. any ideas?
Also the front wing is extremely similar to the one Hamilton tested in practice at Valencia (i think it was?. He managed to damage an end piece going wide into the wall though i think and didn’t run it in the race…
so are all the cars going to have a blank diffuser until testing? the pics i saw on bbc showed ferrari had a blank diffuser as well. the 2010 cars look obese compared to the 09’s. the front wings seem to be the only place the designers can go aero crazy! lol. in 08 it was the whole car…in 09/10 its just the front wing lol. almost feel sorry for them lol
I’ve been looking at the front nose even closer and i’m really surprised nobody else has noticed this!?
Take a look at the underneath of the nose. There is a splitter/scoop. These three pictures demonstrate it well, the 3rd picture showing the engineers hands inside it:
This is an extract from the MP4-25 tech spec off the McLaren website “Bodywork – Carbonfibre composite. Separate engine cover, sidepods and floor. Structural nose with intergral front wing. ” Note ‘Structural nose with INTERGRAL front wing’. Granted that could be just describing that the front wing is integral with the nose, but technically it is detachable and bolted together, so i think that is hinting towards the integral wing underneath the nose shown in the pictures.
Quite an interesting feature, very similar i think to the old central ‘spoon scoops’ of the pre 2009 regs front wings. Circumventing the regulation that limits the central 500mm section of the wing between the lowest plane and a set distance above it to be an aerodynamically neutral shape pre-determined by the FIA.
Another feature of it is that it aims airflow towards the sidepods, considering the intakes are unusually small, it could help force feed air into the ducts.
Two other points on this, it adds a structural cross support between the two wing supports, effectively making the front wing stiffer and less likely to swing and move like the RB5 experienced last season. And also it makes the air flowing underneath it expand into a large space under the nose as it tapers upwards after the scoop, creating a low pressure sucking the car down, which Renault spoke off as a reason for their choice of a low nose in 2009.
So all in all, more downforce, more cooling and more structural support.
Yea I’ve just looked into that. Still it’s definetely bigger and considering it’s been built as an integral part of the design (I’d have thought so anyway) then it should work effectively. On the whole though the design of the car is very developed and intricate.
I must’ve missed Neil’s reply earlier, but I think this is a really interesting feature on the car. We’ve got the vertical black elements either side of the nose, the splitter that Dan mentions, and what looks like the mandatory camera mountings very low to the ground (correct me if I’m wrong). That whole area looks very highly developed.
Plus the air intakes for the brakes which overlap across the inside of the wheels. Very intricate design work.
Yup – it’s effectively a more developed version of the Williams’ snow plough. Sitting at that height it is above the bargeboard exclusion zone. It has two functions – create low pressure below the nose and divert air to the sidepods.
You’ve got to be quite careful about what you do under the nose because that is the easiest way to trash the airflow to the floor.
I dont think they know if they will really run the shark fin.. I dont think an area that large goes blank on a high profile teams car. They have all the space back there for the merc logo and look where it ended up..its as if they placed the logos for a more traditional airbox/engine cover.
This is a very interesting design. Whitmarsh wasn’t kidding when he said it was.
I think it’s interesting that they covered the rear diffuser area. Macca is making big deal about the fact that they have an “extreme solution” for the diffuser, so they probably think they have something that will give them an advantage and don’t want to reveal it.
Someone mentioned the bits under the front wing. I find this part interesting; they look like “front” diffusers, if you will. This could be a very advantageous thing to have on the car that could correct for some of the rule changes pushing the car in a direction taking away front grip and pushing the grip balance toward the rear.
Whereas Ferrari look like they’ve copied the Red Bull nose, McLaren look to me like they’ve taken Brawn’s front nose and raised it.
1st of all I am a Mclaren fan.. And I became a fan because of all the beautifull cars they always created.. But I must say this is the most uglyest silver truck I have ever seen.. The engine cover looks like a giant piece of nothingness.. And yes the car actually look slow.. So we will have to see on monday if this car is fast & innovative or just plain ugly & slow.. Good luck Mclaren ; )
Has any1 taken a look at the joining end of the fin? It is not straight but rather zig-zag finely covered with the red paint …… only God knows what that supposed to entail :)
I have been unable to make a comment since first seeing this car because I have been so obsessively looking at every intricate detail in the photos.
This car is sex on wheels, everytime I look at it the David Guetta and Akon tune just keeps going through my head “damn, you’s a sexy b***h!”
This car has so many little intricate devices on it. It pushes the boat out so far, and to think this is launch spec! What will it have on it a Bahrain.
Out of the two cars launched so far this one is going to dominate!
My prediction before any other cars launch is the McLaren in current spec will be 1.5s faster than the Ferrari at the first test.
The WDC is staying in the UK this year! Now I just have to figure out which one of my boys is bringing it home…. thats the only tight choice this season!
My first impressions are positive. The new car looks original and unique and I especially like the new radically innovative looking shark fin. It looks less bulbus and more agressive than last years car. It does however come across as looking heavy in the middle but I suspect its because of the new shark fin. Again I’m curious to see how different and how far the new double diffuser design has been taken. I’m also really surprised how much longer the car is so as to incorporate the larger fuel tank.
Naturally I hope this all translates well to the track and we see some good strong results…
the new mclaren looks much bigger and much heavier than any of the other cars. i know the people in charge of designing it are among the best in the world and who am i to question them, but i have a nagging worry they’ve gone too far with enlarging it to accomodate the extra fuel. it seems logical that the smaller cars will be better in the bends. anyway, won’t know true dimensions till its out on track; studio photos can be misleading.
the car is functional, its tail creates more downforce, you will notice that the inlet continues to the end right up to the tail of the car. Many people have said that it prevents downforce, quite opposite, infact it creates more with the vacuum of air moving to the very back of the car as there seems to be no outlet for the air itself at the back. From what I can see it provides the car with more stability.
I should see no problem with this design legally considering last years double diffuser controversy.
If this car does not pass FIA standards, so too Jenson Buttons car of 2009, which means he would not have taken victory & return his crown.
grant
29th January 2010, 11:42
I think it will blow ferrari away
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 11:45
No it won’t. It’ll annihilate them ;)
K
29th January 2010, 11:55
Here we go….
Gilly
29th January 2010, 12:10
K, please don’t get upset about people ridicularizing Ferrari here. I’ve given up a while ago (back when mp4-19b was here), and my quality of life improved =P
No matter what you say, they won’t listen, anyway, and Ferrari is the devil while McLaren is the Almighty God, even when Ferrari is advocating changes that would favour McLaren too…
Hammad
29th January 2010, 12:57
I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of Mercedes and Schuey bashing as well… especially if they do well
K
29th January 2010, 13:43
I’m not upset, I just find it funny that people are so quick to say these things.
Ferrari is probably my favourite team but I’m not a hardcore Tifosi, I don’t really mind if they loose.
Rubel_Frm_BD
28th February 2010, 9:15
Hey i am totally agree with u. They called Ferrari a cheat but they forget that it is Mclaren who stole the Ferrari’s design, did chetting in races (hamilton let passes Trulli) even have some penalti for cheating and fined 100 million.
Ferrari’s design is working very well and its is a very strong car
griff
24th July 2010, 13:57
ridicularizing? That’s not even a real word
Vince
29th January 2010, 14:22
It looks like an RB5/Brawn Hybrid.
The Brawn sidepods, Redbull nose and
engine cover, and Ferrari’s rear wing!
They should have tried to continue to evolve their own car instead of copying others.
I think they got it wrong anyway, it looks too
heavy in the mid-section.
thestig84
29th January 2010, 15:30
Nothing at all like the brawn side pods. They are square for christs sake!! I cant see how this is a copy of anything tbh. Mclaren should have asked you….they spent all the time and money and you could have told them it is wrong by just looking at a few pictures!
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 15:35
Stig, I have to admit that ice car you made beats all competition mate. :) Really marvelous engine cover design. Reminded my of the 89,90,91 Mclaren engine covers.
Could you post a link to the pic? The forum’s dead at the moment.
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 15:36
And I bet you could have even made this complex Shark fin!
Vince
29th January 2010, 16:13
Sorry Mate, I didn’t mean to get under your skin, I was just trying to prove a point to the previous posters by repeating some of the ridiculous comments made about a red car yesterday. Of course those comments weren’t ridiculous though they were the truth, and
mine are ridiculous.
AP
30th January 2010, 4:19
It looks craptastic!
It would win the award of ugliest car I have seen in a while….
Gman
29th January 2010, 16:58
Oh yeah :)
Bartholomew
30th January 2010, 11:06
I think that McLaren has launched a dummy car with the fin covering the engine, so that Ferrari says “my gosh, this is what we have not thought about” and they start working on their version of it.
When Ferrari gets to Bahrain they will find that their car is 1 second a lap slower because of the fin. This is something that McLaren already knew this past month of October, after computer simulations.
McLaren will unveil a new aero package in Bahrain, with a conventional engine cover among other things, and be really fast.
Ron has sharpened his wit after years of dealing with Bernie and Max.
By the time Ferrari finds out about the trick, it will be June
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th January 2010, 11:11
Actually at one point Hamilton said they don’t always present the same chassis at the launch they take to test – but on this occasion they did. The same car that was on the stage yesterday will be pounding around Valencia on Monday.
Rog
14th February 2010, 15:53
that comment just about sums up the views on this site. I doubt any of you have even been to a race let alone seen a n F1 car in the flesh.
‘Ron’, my friend, has nothing to do with F1 and hasn’t for the past two years.
All we need to do now is keep our ridicules comments to ourselves and watch the red cars win the championship again.
Remember, It is better to remain quiet and be thought of as a fool that to open your mouths and have it confirmed
three4three
14th February 2010, 16:12
So you must be some kind of pro then Rog. Well done!
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 11:43
Funny how the shark fin bisects Voda Fone on the rear wing. They could have done a better job of the front nosecone section.
Thanx for the pics Keith.
Scribe
29th January 2010, 11:51
Huh, could you clarify that statement.
From below the front wing it looks much less agressive then it does from the top.
So radical top nose, tried and tested undernose? What would you have them do?
Brad D
29th January 2010, 18:18
If that fin is attached to the wing like i think it is it’s going to significantly reduce the amount of airflow over the wing.
Jim N
29th January 2010, 11:44
What an incredible looking car. If it goes as well as it looks it will be unbeatable!
UnicornF1
29th January 2010, 11:48
Great looking car!!!
Gusto
29th January 2010, 11:49
Have you noticed the inner wheel fairing with brake duct an winglet, is this on any other car?
Scribe
29th January 2010, 11:54
Last year that started cropping up all over the place. The brake ducts have become a fully aerodynamically active area under the new regulations
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:05
but the way it overlaps the inner sidewall hasn`t been seen before?, I stand to be corrected
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:08
This will create a massive low pressure diff between the out an inside of the wheel, the duct is there just to transport the air travelling in away
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:12
me thinks restarts an safety car could be fatel for them brakes
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:20
Doh, Air travelling out away!
Gusto
29th January 2010, 11:52
And the no photos rear end
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 11:56
haha :D love the description on the triple/quadruple decker diffuser covering :P
Scribe
29th January 2010, 12:18
Its been speculated that quadruple diffuser and maybe even triples don’t work as well as doubles, the concept doesn’t follow as well there. Can’t wait for the damn things to be banned.
Xibi
29th January 2010, 13:13
I noticed that too… Looks interesting doesn’t it? :D
Gusto
29th January 2010, 11:55
the rear fin is more like a tadpole tail and less like a drywall partion between airflows
commodore
29th January 2010, 11:56
Hey Keith, any comparo pics bet’n this, the ferrari and the mclaren 09 ???would help .. thanks.
grant
29th January 2010, 11:57
do you guys think ferrari is sandbagging by saying they working on b version or you guys seriously think they have crap coming to them? is 2009 the downfall for ferrari for years to come. the turning point?
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 12:02
I don’t think they were sandbagging. Every one last year were banging about McLaren doing the same, but see what they turned out to be, a pig I would say.
I think ferrari are well past their glory days.
Welcome back the dark years of 1979-2000.
Toby Bushby
29th January 2010, 12:39
If Ferrari built a b-spec, wouldn’t that be circumventing the resource restriction agreement? Surely it would?!
Would they shake it down at a Friday practice like Minardi did, or Campos plan to (allegedly). No is the answer. Not going to update it at all during the season, are you? Yeah right.
In my mind, if Ferrari build a b-spec in this “era”, they’re betraying FOTA’s agreement on resources, and the saddest part is that it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they did. They tend to play buddies for as long as it suits them before heading to the piggy bank, (or Ross’ old drinking buddy, for example) in my opinion. The minute they’re in deep doodoo, they jump ship to protect the brand. That’s what they do, and stuff the rest, though they’re certainly not Robinson Crusoe in that department – making this comment relevant to the thread, if you catch my drift.
Frankly, I don’t like the look of this McLaren (much less than the Ferrari, in fact). I’ll even make a statement of opinion (and only opinion) – it actually looks slow….
JV
29th January 2010, 11:59
It looks like the hungry beast.
Far better than ferrari.
What’s abt diffuser?
spawinte
29th January 2010, 12:00
That really is a breathtaking car
Bartholomew
29th January 2010, 12:02
Holy Moses ! spectacular — the best looking Mclaren ever.
The unique vision of Ron taken forward as a sleek elegant spaceship.
kaushal
29th January 2010, 12:02
Even though MP4-25 looks good, but Ferrari’s 2010 is stunning.
[Apologies to all UK fans who are supporting all U.K based team- McLaren]
Calum
29th January 2010, 13:43
I agree the Ferrari is better, the white wings make it.
Calum
29th January 2010, 15:49
I agree the Ferrari is better, the white wings make it so. That said the #mp4/24 looks smart.
Kutigz
29th January 2010, 12:05
Guys..this is indeed a glaring radical design – a ‘change’ phenomenon!
In my own candid opinion, the designers had one thing in mind right from the drawing board – FLY…baby FLY!!!
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:27
I would beg to differ, the designers have taken the design perfection of nature, it looks like a slippy eel, an a angry at it!
Dane
30th January 2010, 12:03
Design perfection of nature? eel? It just looks like an F1 car dude
Rob
29th January 2010, 12:44
That’s my opinion, please keep yours ?
Please leave this site and never come back. Moderators ! Moderators ! I am calling but there appears to be no life out there in cyberspace ?
UncleJingo
31st January 2010, 0:49
wot are you going on about?
JooE
29th January 2010, 12:09
the title is ours baby
Gilly
29th January 2010, 12:14
Beautiful cars never won any titles… Williams’ current form is a proof of that
Its Hammer time
29th January 2010, 12:37
Do you work for Williams? This is one beautiful and as martin brundle says: A beautiful car is normally a fast one.
Tim
29th January 2010, 13:39
It think you’ve got it the wrong way round – a fast car is, by definition, beautiful.
James_mc
30th January 2010, 18:12
Brawn was rank.
Actually the car looked ok, the colour scheme was naff though
James
29th January 2010, 12:11
Interesting to see that the diffuser has been covered up on the Mclaren.
grant
29th January 2010, 12:15
yeah cause they haven’t developed it yet. still just a blank. He He. jokes
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:32
It will be a Fish Tail lol.
GeeMac
29th January 2010, 12:12
It looks spectacular!
Zeke
29th January 2010, 12:24
Have they lengthened the wheelbase compared to the 09 car.
ajokay
29th January 2010, 12:25
Yes, all the cars will have longer wheelbases this year to accomodate the larger fuel tanks.
wyzeman
29th January 2010, 12:31
YEs, good to see his old helmet livery coming out again!
ajokay
29th January 2010, 12:26
Button’s gone back to his Union Flag helmet colours:
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?photoID=144162&catID=4673
Excellent. Looks smart.
K
29th January 2010, 13:44
Agreed.
Paul Steele
29th January 2010, 12:33
Could you do a side by side comparison of the 2009 MclAren and the new one and also a comparison between the 2010 Mclaren and 2010 Ferrari as they seem so different.
Thanks
GeeMac
29th January 2010, 12:35
I’m surprised they have managed to sculpt the sidepods so much, I expected them to be a lot bulkier.
Luke H
29th January 2010, 12:36
Where’s the Santander logos? Interesting
Charlie
29th January 2010, 13:10
Keep up, mate…!
Luke H
29th January 2010, 13:37
They are still being sponsored by them as it’s on their overalls, didn’t know they weren’t putting the logos on the car anymore.
chunter
30th January 2010, 0:11
I think the Santander logos ended up on the Ferrari.
Mouse_Nightshirt
29th January 2010, 12:37
The front nosecone sides are similar to the renault last year but they’ve hidden the horrif looking bits with cunning colouring…
Megatetsu
29th January 2010, 12:42
Well spotted I didn’t notice that
dave
29th January 2010, 12:39
THOSE EXHAUSTS WILL HEAT THE TYRES UP A TREAT ON THE WARM UP LAP!! SUPER STARTS HERE WE COOOOME!!! :-);-):-);-):-)
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:44
190mph airflow should keep them cool, but safety car will be demanding on this car.
Alex
29th January 2010, 12:39
Stupid shark fins. Hated those ever since the first teams used them.
francois
29th January 2010, 12:45
Looks like the shark fins join onto the elements of the rear wing here if you look closely.Quite curious as to how that would work tbh.
Gilly
29th January 2010, 13:42
RB5 was just like it for the whole 2009 season…
Chazzers
29th January 2010, 16:55
I’ve never been a big fan of the shark fin, but i have to admit that McLaren got it right. This is a beautiful car.
Gusto
29th January 2010, 12:42
Was glad to see Jenson almost clean shaved, Formula One is no place for beards, it looks so unprofesional.
GeeMac
29th January 2010, 12:45
It’s McLaren policy to be clean shaven… that’s why DC went all stubbly when he went to Red Bull.
Gusto
29th January 2010, 13:03
I remember J Vill with a beard, it just aint right lol
gabal
29th January 2010, 13:46
I think quite opposite – corporate culture is ruining Formula 1. F1 needs more charachters like James Hunt, not the perfect manequins for corporations.
And while we are at beards I don’t think Heidfeld has shaven since he left Williams ;)
TommyB
29th January 2010, 12:54
I found the whole event extremely embarrassing. The questions to the drivers were good but Button and Hamilton kept looking at each other wondering if they were allowed to answer them. Cringe worthy.
I don’t like the car either I think the Ferrari is much nicer but I do hope the car is fast as I want Lewis to do well.
Gusto
29th January 2010, 13:12
I think Ferrari will struggle on the airflow over the monocoque(?).Long nose turbulence over said nose
The car doesnt look as organic as the Mclaren….. The Mclaren looks like a…..Fish….. the Ferrari looks like…… a brick……. but they describe the Shuttle as the flying brick… it works but its not pretty.
sainaa
29th January 2010, 12:55
This is the ugggliest McLaren ever.
John H
29th January 2010, 13:02
Strange aero just underneath the nose going on there. Is it an air intake?
Neil D
29th January 2010, 14:07
Looks like an extra central element splits the air flow, probably directing it to the side pods. That’s a clever idea and something the Ferrari doesn’t have. This appears to be a much more radical design all round.
Charlie
29th January 2010, 13:12
I remember last year when everyone was saying the 09 car looked beautiful … until they put it on a track lol…
Beauty does not make speed. Good engineering does.
PJA
29th January 2010, 13:24
First impressions are that it would great if it wasn�t for the shark fin/anvil engine cover.
halifaxf1fan
29th January 2010, 13:43
Nice looking car.
Is this a Lewis Hamilton design? Has Mclaren released the tally of how many points of downforce Lewis found on this car?
gabal
29th January 2010, 13:50
McLaren always looks stunning on launches while the surroundings around it are bright. On track it looks a lot darker boring gray.
It would have looked fine it if wasn’t for the barn door they attached to the engine cover. I wonder how will it perform in the crosswind.
Steven
29th January 2010, 14:07
Jenson has reverted back to his original colour scheme for his helmet, no sign of the Monster Energy drink logo.
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/1324303
Salut Gilles
29th January 2010, 14:19
No RB5 nose? That’s a first.
Maybe it’s there a little, but it’s hard to tell.
sato113
30th January 2010, 14:08
how can you say that when only 2 cars have been launched?!
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 14:36
Was Norbert Haug present at the launch?
Scribe
29th January 2010, 14:37
Loosing his voice apparently.
May have been a diplomatic illness but his voice was going at the Mercedes launch.
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 15:08
He’s actually a very very distant relative of mine :) But I’ve never gotten a chance to meet up.
Whitmarsh was there at Stuttgart, wasn’t he? Such a nice gesture from Martin.
Shame that the Mercedes personnel have completely ignored the unveiling.
After all McLaren still caries their LOGOS.
Irony here is that the Mercedes-Benz logos on the McLaren, both on the nose & the engine covering is far far better advertised than the ones on the original Silver Arrows, which get obscured by the hideous black :P
Icthyes
29th January 2010, 14:39
Wow! This design simply screams “aggressive”. Still Red Bull and Mercedes to come, but barring any surprises from other quarters, if RBR and Merc come out with stuff more similar to Ferrari’s, this gamble might just pay off for McLaren massively.
And I hate to sound like a Ferrari-basher (you guys sure can get touchy when someone criticises the Scuderia), but it looks like McLaren have been a lot more innovative with their design.
Scribe
29th January 2010, 15:51
Don’t tip toe around the tifosi they can handle themselves.
I think your right though, if rumours are to be belived from the italian press about trouble in manerello, an B spec models etc, then Macca might just be in for a very good year.
Still I Mercedes and Redbull are definately a threat, but if you ask me, engine trouble at Renault and a lack of continuity at Merc may fall into McLarens hands all the more.
Dan Bigham
29th January 2010, 14:46
who else has noticed the weird scoop/splitter under the front nose? From the frontal picture it looks silver and like a scoop but the other pictures seem to show it like a black splitter. any ideas?
Also the front wing is extremely similar to the one Hamilton tested in practice at Valencia (i think it was?. He managed to damage an end piece going wide into the wall though i think and didn’t run it in the race…
wasiF1
29th January 2010, 15:09
To me the main difference between Ferrari & McLaren is the engine cover apart from the aerodynamics.
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 15:37
Engine cover is a part of the aero package dear Wasi.
YeaMon
29th January 2010, 15:58
Don’t really like the looks. The fin, nose, front wing, etc all look wrong. Can’t give any specifics but overall I like the ferrari better.
I do hope it will be on pace, I’m all for having numerous cars with a chance of victory.
BNK Racing
29th January 2010, 16:28
so are all the cars going to have a blank diffuser until testing? the pics i saw on bbc showed ferrari had a blank diffuser as well. the 2010 cars look obese compared to the 09’s. the front wings seem to be the only place the designers can go aero crazy! lol. in 08 it was the whole car…in 09/10 its just the front wing lol. almost feel sorry for them lol
Jess
29th January 2010, 16:54
Sweet Silver Go Brits
CounterStrike
29th January 2010, 17:03
I would like to know how many of you Ferrari fans out there honestly believe that the mp4-25 is the prettier of the two cars.
Hairs
29th January 2010, 23:59
You could show the average Ferrari fan a picture of a naked Kelly Brook and they’d still claim the Ferrari looks better.
Dan Bigham
29th January 2010, 17:39
I’ve been looking at the front nose even closer and i’m really surprised nobody else has noticed this!?
Take a look at the underneath of the nose. There is a splitter/scoop. These three pictures demonstrate it well, the 3rd picture showing the engineers hands inside it:
https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/mp4_25.jpg
https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/mp4-25_studio-3.jpg
and
http://www.mclaren.com/photographic/plogger/thumbs/lrg-5000-img_3006.jpg
This is an extract from the MP4-25 tech spec off the McLaren website “Bodywork – Carbonfibre composite. Separate engine cover, sidepods and floor. Structural nose with intergral front wing. ” Note ‘Structural nose with INTERGRAL front wing’. Granted that could be just describing that the front wing is integral with the nose, but technically it is detachable and bolted together, so i think that is hinting towards the integral wing underneath the nose shown in the pictures.
Quite an interesting feature, very similar i think to the old central ‘spoon scoops’ of the pre 2009 regs front wings. Circumventing the regulation that limits the central 500mm section of the wing between the lowest plane and a set distance above it to be an aerodynamically neutral shape pre-determined by the FIA.
Another feature of it is that it aims airflow towards the sidepods, considering the intakes are unusually small, it could help force feed air into the ducts.
Two other points on this, it adds a structural cross support between the two wing supports, effectively making the front wing stiffer and less likely to swing and move like the RB5 experienced last season. And also it makes the air flowing underneath it expand into a large space under the nose as it tapers upwards after the scoop, creating a low pressure sucking the car down, which Renault spoke off as a reason for their choice of a low nose in 2009.
So all in all, more downforce, more cooling and more structural support.
Neil D
29th January 2010, 18:13
I made a reply about that about 2pm – it’s a fascinating addition!
Scribe
29th January 2010, 18:37
I think you could just about get away with calling that innovative no?
Still I don’t know why they’ve announced it like this. Sureley the other teams will have noticed and will be designing they’re own as we speak.
fantasticplanet
29th January 2010, 19:09
Dan, I think noone mentioned it because it’s the williams f31 snow plow splitter under the nose.
Dan Bigham
29th January 2010, 20:37
Yea I’ve just looked into that. Still it’s definetely bigger and considering it’s been built as an integral part of the design (I’d have thought so anyway) then it should work effectively. On the whole though the design of the car is very developed and intricate.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th January 2010, 23:53
I must’ve missed Neil’s reply earlier, but I think this is a really interesting feature on the car. We’ve got the vertical black elements either side of the nose, the splitter that Dan mentions, and what looks like the mandatory camera mountings very low to the ground (correct me if I’m wrong). That whole area looks very highly developed.
Plus the air intakes for the brakes which overlap across the inside of the wheels. Very intricate design work.
John Beamer (@john-beamer)
30th January 2010, 3:48
Yup – it’s effectively a more developed version of the Williams’ snow plough. Sitting at that height it is above the bargeboard exclusion zone. It has two functions – create low pressure below the nose and divert air to the sidepods.
You’ve got to be quite careful about what you do under the nose because that is the easiest way to trash the airflow to the floor.
Younger Hamilton
29th January 2010, 18:15
The Santander stickers are gone i thought they extended their Partnership with Mclaren Despite signing a 5 year deal with Ferrari
Scribe
29th January 2010, 18:29
https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/mp4_25_5.jpg
they now sponser only the drivers, hence the santander log’s all over their chests.
Scribe
29th January 2010, 18:56
I’ve just noticed something. The back wing doesn’t have a sponser, surley thats one of the most veiwed areas in f1, sometimes one of the most iconic.
Sureley they’ll find someone willing to print a name for cash on what is likely to be a race winning rearwing.
f1nexus
29th January 2010, 19:05
It looks like last year’s Renault.
Toby Bushby
29th January 2010, 23:28
Well put!
Will
29th January 2010, 22:12
Oh, sex on wheels!!! What a beautiful car. I wish mine looked like that. I know no boot or cd/radio but WOW!!!!!
Ylan Marcel
30th January 2010, 1:14
The most radical design car since the Williams of 2004!
sato113
30th January 2010, 2:32
i’m glad it’s got #1 on it. :)
Inc0mmunicado
30th January 2010, 4:31
I dont think they know if they will really run the shark fin.. I dont think an area that large goes blank on a high profile teams car. They have all the space back there for the merc logo and look where it ended up..its as if they placed the logos for a more traditional airbox/engine cover.
rabbit
30th January 2010, 5:11
Thats really beautiful !
By the way , what’s wrong with the forum ? I’ve been getting this error message –
ERROR: Could not establish a database connection
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th January 2010, 8:21
It’s down because of the server move. See here: F1 Fanatic round-up: 30/1/2010
MercFan
30th January 2010, 5:19
People are deceived by MP4-25 paint job. The car itself looks rather hideous. “Silver Arrow” only belongs to Merc and they better change it next year.
Paige
30th January 2010, 5:29
This is a very interesting design. Whitmarsh wasn’t kidding when he said it was.
I think it’s interesting that they covered the rear diffuser area. Macca is making big deal about the fact that they have an “extreme solution” for the diffuser, so they probably think they have something that will give them an advantage and don’t want to reveal it.
Someone mentioned the bits under the front wing. I find this part interesting; they look like “front” diffusers, if you will. This could be a very advantageous thing to have on the car that could correct for some of the rule changes pushing the car in a direction taking away front grip and pushing the grip balance toward the rear.
Whereas Ferrari look like they’ve copied the Red Bull nose, McLaren look to me like they’ve taken Brawn’s front nose and raised it.
Mystic
30th January 2010, 5:57
1st of all I am a Mclaren fan.. And I became a fan because of all the beautifull cars they always created.. But I must say this is the most uglyest silver truck I have ever seen.. The engine cover looks like a giant piece of nothingness.. And yes the car actually look slow.. So we will have to see on monday if this car is fast & innovative or just plain ugly & slow.. Good luck Mclaren ; )
David
30th January 2010, 10:48
Now I see that exhaust are directed towards the back, not laterally as it appeared. Thnaks for this great pictures.
cj
30th January 2010, 12:06
that is one ugly looking car
BBQ2
30th January 2010, 12:11
Has any1 taken a look at the joining end of the fin? It is not straight but rather zig-zag finely covered with the red paint …… only God knows what that supposed to entail :)
tool
30th January 2010, 17:20
This car looks sick
UncleJingo
30th January 2010, 17:45
Team Britian has launched. (Clearly I’m ignoring the minor factor of the engine)
UncleJingo
30th January 2010, 17:46
Great to see I can spell….tut
davey (@djdaveyp87)
30th January 2010, 18:16
Wow wow wow wow wow.
I have been unable to make a comment since first seeing this car because I have been so obsessively looking at every intricate detail in the photos.
This car is sex on wheels, everytime I look at it the David Guetta and Akon tune just keeps going through my head “damn, you’s a sexy b***h!”
This car has so many little intricate devices on it. It pushes the boat out so far, and to think this is launch spec! What will it have on it a Bahrain.
Out of the two cars launched so far this one is going to dominate!
My prediction before any other cars launch is the McLaren in current spec will be 1.5s faster than the Ferrari at the first test.
The WDC is staying in the UK this year! Now I just have to figure out which one of my boys is bringing it home…. thats the only tight choice this season!
Harvs
31st January 2010, 6:25
i wouldnt want to touch that car! might loose a finger!
Chaz
1st February 2010, 15:53
My first impressions are positive. The new car looks original and unique and I especially like the new radically innovative looking shark fin. It looks less bulbus and more agressive than last years car. It does however come across as looking heavy in the middle but I suspect its because of the new shark fin. Again I’m curious to see how different and how far the new double diffuser design has been taken. I’m also really surprised how much longer the car is so as to incorporate the larger fuel tank.
Naturally I hope this all translates well to the track and we see some good strong results…
ad
1st February 2010, 16:16
the new mclaren looks much bigger and much heavier than any of the other cars. i know the people in charge of designing it are among the best in the world and who am i to question them, but i have a nagging worry they’ve gone too far with enlarging it to accomodate the extra fuel. it seems logical that the smaller cars will be better in the bends. anyway, won’t know true dimensions till its out on track; studio photos can be misleading.
petepigottcom
5th March 2010, 5:40
the car is functional, its tail creates more downforce, you will notice that the inlet continues to the end right up to the tail of the car. Many people have said that it prevents downforce, quite opposite, infact it creates more with the vacuum of air moving to the very back of the car as there seems to be no outlet for the air itself at the back. From what I can see it provides the car with more stability.
I should see no problem with this design legally considering last years double diffuser controversy.
If this car does not pass FIA standards, so too Jenson Buttons car of 2009, which means he would not have taken victory & return his crown.
fabio pellim
10th March 2010, 19:42
Does anyone know something about that new air entrance on Mclaren’s new car, something that is activated by the driver’s knee???
Rog
11th March 2010, 17:26
well informed bunch arent you all
ah well.. This weekend will show you the car isnt quite up to it…yet