McLaren provides an update on the development of its MCL35M

Change and continuity are a bit of a summary of winter 2020/21 on the side of McLaren. 

While the technical regulations are consistent with a certain form of stability, despite significant aerodynamic adjustments at the rear of the flat bottom, the British team is undoubtedly the one which had to adapt its 2020 chassis the most. 

The reason has long been known: the return to the fold Mercedes on the engine level after 3 years of stormy partnership with Honda followed by 3 seasons of reconstruction in the clan Renault. 

« The move to Mercedes propeller led to a number of significant changes, explains Piers Thynne, production director at McLaren in an article published on the official Woking website (UK). 

Basically, this amounts to producing a new car. The number of parts on the MCL35M is similar to that found last year when the MCL35 was built.

The rear of the chassis and the gearcase around the engine are areas that have changed significantly to accommodate the new Power Unit. Switching from one engine to another greatly modifies the architecture of the car, the way in which the different piping and cooling elements are arranged, the control boxes and the electrical installation. ». 

McLaren also had to devote at this transition the 2 development tokens allocated by the regulations. The British team also had to submit its revised chassis for new FIA approval. 

« It's still a major step, continues Thynne. This is a stressful and tense time for many on the team. We were the only team concerned this winter because the others kept their 2020 chassis.

Thanks to good collective work, our new car was able to be approved on time in December. The process was hardly different from previous years even if it was necessary to adapt to the health situation. The FIA ​​was unable to physically travel to attend the crash test. Instead, they followed the operation live by videoconference ». 

Thynne also explains how the team had to adapt to design and produce a single-seater Formula 1 in the midst of a pandemic.

« We were confronted with this new situation quite early because we implemented a strict health protocol from the first lockdown in order to be able to develop and build respiratory assistance devices.he recalls. 

Many things are done remotely, which means an increasing number of online meetings. We also separated and spread out the time slots in the production team to avoid the factory being forced to close completely in the event of a positive test. 

The MTC (McLaren Technology Centre, Editor’s note) has also been divided into separate zones and employees are very strongly encouraged not to leave theirs. When it comes to transferring a part from one place to another, we have relay points which prevent any human interaction ». 

Beyond health measures, Thynne recognizes that the genesis of the MCL35M comes with many challenges to overcome, but he sees this as a sign of a healthy development process. 

« If you don't have any problems, it's because you're not aggressive enough., summarizes the production director. If everything seems easy and clear, it is because you are losing performance by not pushing the limits enough.

The real challenge is not to give birth to the car but to make it evolve constantly and as quickly as possible. You must avoid allocating time and resources to develop parts intended for launch when you could have used these means to anticipate future developments to the latest specifications. ». 

After finishing 3rd in the last Manufacturers' ranking, McLaren, with the strength of its new Mercedes engine and the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo next to Lando Norris, has high ambitions in 2021. As always in F1, we will have to wait for the verdict from the track to find out if Woking has done a good job this winter.