McLaren F1 Considering a Radical Design Change for Its 2021 Car

Although the Formula One has not reached the halfway point of the season yet, the McLaren F1 team is already starting to train its focus on the 2021 season.

In essence, the Woking squad is trying to figure out how to eke out the car’s best performance. Though the 2021 car is still in development, the team is considering a move away from a high rake concept.

Truthfully, the Red Bull team were the ones that pioneered the high rake design. However, many believe that this concept has reached its developmental zenith. Interestingly, McLaren revealed that it may consider adopting Mercedes’ low rake design.

However, Technical Director James Key confessed that the team could face huge risks in changing concepts. This is even more dicey, considering that 2021 is the final year with the current rules in place.

Key acknowledged opinions that the high rake design does not have much to offer. On the other hand, even if a low rake design was the right call in the long run, there is a headache of changing car philosophies.

“It’s risky, you know, but I think there is, from our own studies, some evidence that you could see how both [concepts] could work,” he told Motorsport.com.

“And while I don’t think the high rake philosophy is dead necessarily, it does make you step back and think, well, maybe there is more out there that we could be finding at a lower rake.

“And in fact we’ve got some ideas and thoughts on how that might work.”

Will this work out for McLaren?

According to Key, McLaren needs to watch out for potential downforce loss in the short term if they switch to a new concept. A good example is the Racing Point team, as they struggled to get up to speed before finding their feet.

He also noted that the outfit needs to exercise caution due to the all-new cars for 2022. This is largely because any potential gains have a limited shelf life.

The good news is that the switch does not require any major mechanical changes. So, elements like the suspension will remain similar.

That is much easier to adjust than a wholesale change of parts, but the same cannot be said from an aerodynamic perspective.

SOURCE- Motorsport.com