On Monday, the McLaren team unveiled the MCL60, the 2023 car. According to Mark Hughes, a technical expert on the official website of the championship, the concept embodied in the previous model has been further developed, and the car should be free from the shortcomings that interfered with the team riders last year.
The new McLaren MCL60 is first and foremost a further evolution of last year’s MCL36, which the team has extensively upgraded throughout the season. McLaren immediately warned that the car will be significantly improved in the future, but at an early stage of the season it will look something like the one that was presented today in Woking.
Judging by all the cars already presented in 2023, the main focus of the team is on improving the efficiency of the bottom, which uses the principle of ground effect. By improving this area, you can achieve a more noticeable increase in speed than in the course of finalizing body parts and wings.
Any changes in the external geometry of the machines are only derivatives of attempts to achieve more efficient operation of the bottom. For example, we can see that the McLaren designers created a noticeable space under the front of the side pontoons (probably by repositioning the radiators) to more freely position the intake elements of the venturi tunnels that are under the bottom. You can see that the shape of these elements has been completely revised.
The technical regulations allow considerable freedom in choosing the height at which the inlet part of the tunnels can be located, and it seems that McLaren was able to change the angle at which these elements are oriented. The goal of this decision is to achieve an ever-elusive balance between a good level of downforce and the stability of the car’s behavior during cornering. This task is very difficult to solve under the current regulations, many teams faced similar difficulties last year, not only McLaren.
Lando Norris insisted on this direction of finalizing the car in 2022, as well as Daniel Ricciardo, who is no longer collaborating with the team.
“For my part, I demanded what I needed,” Lando said at the presentation of the MCL60. “I spent a lot of time discussing all this in detail with the engineers so that they understand what problems we are facing, because certain aspects have not changed much for several years.
But this year I have shown more perseverance. Maybe the new car will suit me better, but that’s not the only thing: the MCL60 should also be faster. Daniel and I often complained about the lack of speed. If we manage to take a step forward in this area, then the riders will be able to squeeze more out of the car.”
The suspension design remained the same – pushers in front, traction in the back. The change in the upper part of the side pontoons was probably dictated by a different arrangement of the radiators.
McLaren intends to compete for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, but they talk about it with caution, not excluding that they may not immediately reach this level. But the next set of technical updates is already in the plans, work on it is underway and will be completed only after a few races.
