In Woking, in addition to a new wind tunnel, another fundamental F1 facility of the third millennium is under construction
McLaren is serious: in 2019 the English team returned to play an important role in F1, finishing the season in fourth place and returning to the podium in Brazil with Carlos Sainz. In addition, the team now led by Andreas Seidl has already formalized with Mercedes the agreement for the supply of power units starting from 2021, a season that will see F1 change its skin due to the new technical and sports regulation. The McLaren-Mercedes duo is the one who signed the last title for the Woking team in 2008.
Seidl pointed out that the area in which McLaren is more behind than the top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull is aerodynamics, which is why a new wind tunnel is under construction in Woking. This will not be the only infrastructure coming to allow the papaya-colored men to continue their climb to the top of F1. According to the Spanish newspaper El Confidential, in fact, a new Mclaren simulator is under construction. At the time of McLaren Lewis Hamilton had been very critical of the Woking simulator, pointing out that he could switch to the play station now and it would be the same.
James Key, technical director of McLaren snatched from Toro Rosso, underlines the importance of the new Mclaren simulator that will be available to McLaren pilots: “It’s completely new, the technology has changed. This third generation of simulators is very different from the previous ones ”.
About the Mclaren new simulator and what exact improvements were sought from McLaren’s third-generation simulator, Key said: “A better representation of the car model, quicker processing. So you can add more dimensions.
“The thing with the car is it’s multidimensional. An aero map – there used to be a set of curves and it was a surface, now it’s loads of surfaces that all somehow interact. The same with tires. Same with certain aspects of the engine, and it’s certainly the same aspects of suspension as well.
“And the more processing power you get, the more you’re able to combine those effects and better replicate what the car does.
“So, as that’s increased over the years, you just have to put more maths into it and get a more representative model out”.
“Combined with that, I think all teams better understand what a driver really needs to feel to replicate the car because you can’t generate sustained G-levels [in the sim]. You’ve got to give better indications of what the car is doing.
“And I think previous simulators were very strong in some cases and weak in others. So we’re addressing those weaknesses and making it better.
“So, ultimately, it is to give a globally better representation of the car.”
