Sunway Tuner

Everything related to car modification tuning & racing

Posts Tagged McLaren

McLaren to Scrap F-duct?

Aug 25

Posted by Insider in F1, Mclaren

mclaren-to-scrap-f-duct-for-monza-23752_1.jpg

McLaren Mercedes have announced quite a bold move for the Italian Grand Prix, scheduled to take place on the high-speed circuit of Monza on September 10. According to some reports, the Woking based team will not run their innovative F-duct system in Italy, despite the fact that this particular device was actually designed for long straights, such as the one at Monza.

The F-duct was initially developed only by McLaren, after which the concept was copied and implemented by other teams as well. The aerodynamic solution is believed to add some 6 to 10 mph to the car in straight line, where airflow around the car and through to the rear wing is improved via a hand- or knee-activated device.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Hamilton Should Disqualified -Briatore

Jun 29

Posted by Insider in F1, News

boda-flavio-briatore-elisabetta

With every controversy that arouses in the world of Formula One, there is always reason for the figures that are no longer part of the Great Circus to take advantage of the situation and make themselves heard. When Fernando Alonso is in the mix, his former team manager and father-like figure Flavio Briatore cannot stay aside and watch his former protege take the heat from his championship rivals.

According to the former Renault manager, Lewis Hamilton should not have been handed a drive-through penalty in the European Grand Prix at Valencia, but a black flag. The Brit passed the safety car on the track and was penalized by the FIA stewards more than 20 minutes later, when the McLaren driver had already secured enough of a time gap ahead of 3rd placed Kamui Kobayashi to retain his position after his pit lane drive. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Hamilton Backfired

Jun 29

Posted by Insider in F1, News

hamilton-backfires-at-alonso-s-comments-21858_1

Needless to say, when Fernando Alonso opened his mouth after the European Grand Prix at Valencia and accused Lewis Hamilton of not respecting the rules when passing the safety car on the track, a war of words would continue between the two.

Following that statement, Alonso made one more comment that seems to have angered his former McLaren teammate, which was that he would never team up with Hamilton again in his entire F1 career. Being that Ferrari also backed his point of view after the race – which he said was “manipulated” – Hamilton backfired immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Alonso Will Not Team Up With Hamilton

Jun 28

Posted by Insider in F1

alonso-would-never-team-up-with-hamilton-again-21805_1

If it were his decision to make, Fernando Alonso would not pair up with former teammate Lewis Hamilton until the end of his career. The two raced for the same team back in 2007, when Alonso switched from Renault to McLaren Mercedes and Hamilton made his debut in the series with the Woking based team.

However, Alonso left the British team after one season, as he believed the team was favoring Ron Dennis’ – team principal at the time – protege in the championship. Despite the feud between the two drivers, Alonso always stated that his problem was not with the young Brit, but with the unprofessional British team. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Red Bull Exhaust System Copied

Jun 21

Posted by Insider in F1, News

mclaren-mercedes-and-renault-to-copy-red-bull-exhaust-system-21587_1

As Red Bull have been the team to beat from the first race of the 2010 Formula One season, it was only a matter of time until some of the elements introduced by design guru Adrian Newey on the RB6 would appear elsewhere in the pit lane.

Earlier this month, we reported that Ferrari was already preparing a new exhaust system for their F10 – to be debuted as early as this weekend’s race at Valencia – sourced from the one used by Red Bull Racing. The RB6 features a low-mounted exhaust system, which helps the airflow travel more efficiently into the rear diffuser, therefore increasing the downforce level.

The new system is believed to cut more than half of second per lap, and will reportedly be copied by Mercedes GP, McLaren Mercedes and Renault within weeks. Following their consecutive 1-2 finishes in Turkey and Canada, McLaren Mercedes are reportedly preparing a major update of their own for Silverstone, where the new exhausts are believed to make it to the MP4-25. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Hakkinen Return F1 as Manager

Apr 26

Posted by Insider in F1

hakkinen-hints-at-f1-return-as-manager-19675_1.jpg

After some rumors emerged in the media that former double Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen might take on a managing job with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the near future, the Finn himself admitted that returning to the series that made him famous as a manager is somehow appealing nowadays.

“I miss racing every day. It’s very close to my heart,” said the driver who brought McLaren back to the winning map of F1 in the late 1990s.

“I’ll be back but I don’t know when or where. I just know that I will do it again. Perhaps I will come back to F1 as a manager,” added the 41-year old in an interview with Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

McLaren Altered Diffuser

Mar 26

Posted by Insider in F1, Mclaren

mclaren-drivers-confirm-altered-diffuser-for-australia-18500_1.jpg

There have been plenty of reports suggesting that no less than 4 teams were told by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to alter their rear diffusers after the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Although given as certain measures taken by the FIA, the news was never confirmed by the ruling body via a press release or statement.

Well now, only a few hours before the official start of the 2010 Australian Grand Prix, at least we know that one of those teams is definitely McLaren Mercedes. And that’s because both the team’s driver Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button revealed to the media that the Woking mechanics have changed the aforementioned part for the race Down Under.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , ,

No Comments

Hamilton had quite a good race

Mar 14

Posted by Insider in F1, Mclaren

56992_2.jpg

Lewis Hamilton said he was pleased to salvage a podium from the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend given the lack of pace McLaren had shown relatively to the leaders at Sakhir.

The former champion was a second down on polesitter Sebastian Vettel in qualifying, but was closer to the leaders in the race and picked up third behind the Ferraris when Vettel’s leading Red Bull lost power.

Hamilton felt he would have been quick enough to hang on behind the Ferraris had he not run slightly wide on lap one and lost out to Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg - who he then had to follow until the pit stops.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Hakkinen, Be The Hamilton’s Manager?

Mar 3

Posted by Insider in F1, Mclaren

hakkinen-to-become-hamilton-s-manager-17529_1.jpg

Yesterday, it was confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s interests in Formula One and beyond will no longer be represented by his father Anthony. However, the 2008 Formula One champion did not reveal the name of his future manager, as he’s yet to make that decision in the upcoming few weeks. Until then, McLaren put their driver under the management of Monaco based sports management Aces Group.

The aforementioned firm has been ran for some time by long-time manager Didier Coton, but the interesting fact about it is that former McLaren champion Mika Hakkinen is also an employee there for more than a year, since joining Coton in November 2008.

Which takes us to at least the assumption that Hakkinen could take on a management role with Hamilton. While still very close to his former title-winning team McLaren Mercedes, it has been reported that Hakkinen is also getting along quite well with Hamilton also. When asked about it, Coton argued that such an opportunity should not be turned down for anything.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments

Lotus F1 Car is Worse than Minardi’s

Mar 1

Posted by Insider in F1, Lotus

kovalainen-admits-lotus-f1-car-is-worst-than-minardi-s-17397_1.jpg

The last day of testing on the Barcelona track on Sunday marked the official finale of the off-season test in Formula One. Less than two weeks from now, the cars will rejoin an official race track to battle for the first points of the new season, meaning that most of the work should have already been finalized in the garage by now.

If the test on the Spanish track has been quite successful for teams such as McLaren, Ferrari or Red Bull, the newly entrants have suffered for most of the time during the month of February. Struggling with lack of spare parts and an aerodynamic package in an incipient stage, both Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 Team ended the testing in Jerez and Barcelona more than 4 or 5 seconds off the leading pace.

Talking to Finland’s Turun Sanomat, Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen made a comparison between his new T127 model and the Minardi car he used to take to the testing track some 6 years ago. And the results are quite worrying for the Malaysian officials at Lotus.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments