McLaren MP4-27 Launch Feb 1st

So we're all getting ready for tomorrow's reveal and here you can express your opinions regarding the new car, however McLaren is already bracing itself for a battle over the legality of its new MP4-27.

According to McLaren Applied Technologies managing director Geoff McGrath, the new car, which is launched tomorrow, will feature obvious design innovations which could potentially attract protests from rivals.

There are technical innovations on the car which will be immediately obvious when you see them," said McGrath, who added that McLaren is "getting ready for a fight" over its new machine. It is understood that McLaren is focusing on single-lap speed with the MP4-27, which it hopes will allow it to take more pole positions and control races from the front.

McGrath added that beating qualifying master Sebastian Vettel will be crucial if McLaren is to be successful in 2012, particularly as its analysis indicated that the raw pace of last year's MP4-26 was superior towards the end of the season despite Red Bull and Vettel's run of poles.

"He must be a brilliant driver, because by the end of last season we definitely had the best car and he was still whupping us," McGrath said.

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Will be interesting to see the design innovations on the MP4-27 and the reaction/possible legality issues that it may create amongst it's rivals. I love the qoute by McGrath, basically insinuating that even with a faster car at the end of the 2011 season, Jenson & Lewis were still being beaten by Vettel.......nice confidence boost and support for your two drivers there going into the new season.

John wrote:
Jenson & Lewis were still being beaten by Vettel.......nice confidence boost and support for your two drivers there going into the new season.

It's actually quite clever if you think carefully John, He's putting the pressure on Seb before the season even starts

If what McGrath say is the case, the mp4-27 is going to be something special. Special enough - we wont have an idea until at least testing. fingers crossed.

mclaren really need to start pulling things out of the hat.

11am Launch - http://www.mclaren.com/formula1 - discuss!

Would like to see more pictures if someone can gain access to them, however it looks like McLaren have once again focused on designing a car for the catwalk instead of trying to compete with the Red Bull..........hopefully i'm proven wrong. The nose looks more beautiful than the caterham for sure (legality issue possible) & the sidepods are another interesting change with the controversial L-Shaped sidepods being removed. Would like to see the position of the exhaust in more detail. Lewis stating the wing-mirrors had been redesigned was a comical moment! Also both drivers stressed that the main objective was to increase rear-end downforce after the removal of blown diffusers and that driving in general in 2012 will be tougher, as the rear ends of cars will slide around more.......advantage Lewis?

Thoughts?

Its purdy

Its purdy, Mclaren cars are always purdy (bar 1994 was it? with the peugeot engine) but will it perform on the track! It better do!!!

I hope it does, same goes with the Ferraris, Mercedes' and Renaults because if that finger runs away with it again, I would be livid

me too!!!

Must admit the more I look at the MP4-27 in detail the more I start to realise that this could be another 'finger' year. There's nothing majorly innovative to this design, it's just a re-configured 2011 car that has adjusted to the new regulations. Promises of a 'major, controversial design' are indeed a long way short of what has been revealed.

Further to this is Mark Hughes' Analysis - http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/22058/7472256/Mark-Hughes-on-the-MP4-27

Though it does depend on what RB come up with. Now the blown diffuser has gone, the RB could be nothing like it was in previous years.

Crash.net have a fairly decent gallery. You need to register for the hi-res photos though.

http://www.crash.net/f1/picturearchive/176379/1/photos

From what I've seen it's actually fairly ordinary-looking. Nothing immediately obvious stands out in the way of innovations - questionable or otherwise. Maybe they'll be more apparent on the hi-res pics.

From an angle it looks quite beefy. Side-on it has a great profile...particularly like the return of the low nose (no awful-looking step / bulges as on the Caterham). From the top, it looks quite slender and delicate. Front wing looks massive and the rear wing tiny...then again that may be down to the camera / lens used. Notice they've gone back to regular-shaped sidepods.

Most interesting comment for me is that they've gone for single-lap qualifying speed with this design, rather than superior race pace. Can't say I blame them for trying a different tactic, as having superior race pace last season quite often didn't help.

Well that contradicted what they said on the live unveiling. They said they had concentrated on a "racing car".

Thinking about it and reiterating what ive read others say about the car is possibly that wont be the exact car that starts the season and Mclaren have unveiled as little as possible - otherwise teams will copy any ideas they've had.

Clever if that is the case.

ferrari set to release car on there website due to snow , Please dont have that platypus nose! man is that ugly

Force India have released their car, was on SKY sports this morning. Its got the platypus nose as well

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,12040_7478259,0.html

Ferrari car, it's got the platypus nose as well


http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12477/7478233/Force-India-unveil-VJM05

Force India car


http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12479/7471731/McLaren-unveil-the-MP4-27

Mclaren Car

Thought folks may like a comparison to the MP4-26. Biggest difference appears to be the floor. It sits higher from the floor and its more raked - looks like the RB floor from last year.

Mclaren's innovations were difficult to find but they are significant on the underside of the car. As I was saying the McLaren has a tray/tongue system under front of their chassis which is the major development. The MP4-26 used a relatively low chassis compared to their rivals last year, by increasing the car’s rake or re-designing the floor to copy that of the Red Bull, has ultimately allowed McLaren to increase the height of the chassis slightly from the ground and still found themselves within the rules without making much changes to the nose design - avoiding the platypus.

i cant stand the platypus nose

John wrote:Mclaren's innovations were difficult to find but they are significant on the underside of the car. As I was saying the McLaren has a tray/tongue system under front of their chassis which is the major development. The MP4-26 used a relatively low chassis compared to their rivals last year, by increasing the car’s rake or re-designing the floor to copy that of the Red Bull, has ultimat ely allowed McLaren to increase the height of the chassis slightly from the ground and still found themselves within the rules without making much changes to the nose design - avoiding the platypus.

Potentially very promising then.

Critical_mass wrote:Thinking about it and reiterating what ive read others say about the car is possibly that wont be the exact car that starts the season and Mclaren have unveiled as little as possible - otherwise teams will copy any ideas they've had.

Clever if that is the case.

In an article I read, (can't find it now), McLaren said they already have a number of upgrades in the pipeline, though they didn't say when these would be introduced.

If they do have an ace or two up their sleeves, it is very prudent to keep their rivals guessing as long as possible. Still I imagine they'll want to test the "basic" configuration fairly thoroughly, just to get some benchmark performance data.

Yeah exactly, give as little away as possible. Though i really hope Mclaren arent playing the game where they give the impression they have more and when it comes to it, they havent got anything up the sleeve at all.

Just had a closer look at those comparison pics you posted CM. It is quite striking how much higher the floor is...maybe a couple of inches at the front and about 3-4 at the back. The front wing is also considerably higher - looks nearly double the height of the MP4-26's.

I'm also wondering what those black fins/vanes are, protruding behind/below the rear wing.

Yeah its looks alot how the RB looked last year.