McLaren MCL34 Launch
More MCL34 analysis to follow…
McLaren’s 2018 season was not the revolution that the Woking based team had hoped it would be, even with the introduction of the Renault power unit. However, their new 2019 contender – the MCL34 – might just be the car to boost the team up the grid.
Starting from the front, for 2019 only five closed main horizontal elements are allowed which can be seen on the McLaren MCL34 below (top and middle). It is interesting to note that the inboard sections of these elements are much more tapered and curve downwards more on the real car (middle) than what the rendering suggests (top) as highlighted by the red circles. Furthermore, the real front wing has 7 visible mounting points, where the rendering has none. This is why it is so important to take the renderings with a pinch of salt. They are only useful to hint towards the general design philosophy of the car, only when the cars hit the track can the details be accurately analysed.  Front wing comparison between the MCL34 rendering (top), the actual MCL34 at launch (middle) and the MCL33 at the Abu Dhabi GP last year (bottom)
The McLaren MCL34 features a similar nose to last year’s car, with three inlets. The lighting makes it difficult to see whether the actual MCL34 also has a vertical element within these inlets, however the rendering suggests that there is one in the central inlet highlighted in blue, but we will have to wait until we see th...