Daniel Ricciardo did not have an easy season in 2021, as he hardly ever got comfortable behind the wheel of the McLaren MCL35M, especially compared to Lando Norris.
However, after the first pre-season tests with the new 2022 F1 cars, McLaren technical director James Key said the change has eliminated some of the weaknesses of the latest Woking-built cars.
One of the big keys has been to move from such complex aerodynamics to a simpler concept where teams no longer have as much freedom to come up with extravagant designs.
“I would say overall it’s been an easier car to manage so far,” Key explained of the new McLaren . “I think when you look at the way we’re creating downforce now, we’ve got some ‘brute force’ elements – a front wing and flat bottom that are huge, very powerful.
“There’s a lot less complexity to all of that. I think when you have simpler, not-so-refined aerodynamics, like last year, it’s easier to have a stable working platform, because you’re creating big surfaces and not small details.”
“I think that has helped us, compared to last year. Overall, I would say we have taken a step in the right direction, but for sure we still have work to do,” he added.
The first few days of pre-season testing were positive for McLaren , as both Ricciardo and Norris set competitive times in the new MCL36. Key believes the team has managed to improve their package and get rid of their main areas of concern.
“We can see that the strengths and weaknesses of the car are starting to emerge. And obviously we’re looking at how we can improve the weaknesses, but I suspect those weaknesses are similar for everyone, such as the sensitivity of the height of the car relative to the car. to the asphalt.”
“I think both drivers have felt good with the car, there haven’t been any big concerns to date. But let’s see how it works out in Bahrain, a different track.”
Key said McLaren was aware of some of the weaknesses in its car from last year, such as its low-speed cornering performance, but believes that with the complexity of the old rules it was difficult to resolve those problems without triggering others.
“We could see from the data what the strengths and weaknesses were, but given the complexity of those cars, particularly with the aerodynamics and set-up options, we didn’t have clear opportunities to address the weaknesses.
“With the arrival of the new cars, it was a good opportunity not to fall into the trap of repeating the same negative behaviors, which we have been monitoring very closely.”
“That is not to say that we have solved all the problems that we had, but thanks to this new opportunity we were very aware of what we had to do,” concluded James Key .
