18 rumors again...

B

BebiF1

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This week is was announced that the McLaren MP4/18 chassis will not be taking to the grid this season nor next. Ron Dennis stated that with low test mileage and late in the season that it would not be practical but they will be testing once the ban is lifted in a week or so sending two 18's to Barcelona and two 18's to Monza. Dennis also stated that the 18 is not totally out of the question but the tests will be the deciding factors.

As for what to do with these several chassis' that were built: they will be used as developmental tools for their new car labeled MP4/19 for next season.
 
I really dont think any team is going to build 4 tubs for development cars, then redesign them. The tubs will stay, if anything is will just be subtle changes...different wings, sidepods etc. The cost and time to produce one legal tub is mind boggling (like $200,000 a piece and about 3 weeks of work each) let alone 4. Id bet the farm you wont see any MP-4/19 until atleast 2005.
 
Lots of people had been expecting this annoucement for quite some time now, and as it stands the MP4/17 is competitive, although not quite up to the standard of the Willams or Ferrari if u ask me. I think we can expect to see the MP4/18 on the grid in time for next season, they need a new car as it is. And they woudnt delay releasing a new one for another year, so the next most likely option as Ron Dennis has said is to work on the parts of the MP4/18 which dont work quite right and get them working properly so they can race the car next year.
 
Building 4 tubs? They already have. They were ready to put the car onto the grid until they failed crash tests. McLaren I think just now relized that the 18 on track this year is a far out cry, and it wont happen. Basically McLaren were ready.

As for Saleen's comment. I agree totally. They will work out the bugs on the 18, put a brand new car on the grid for the first race and call it the MP4/19.

As for the off season, even if what I said above wasn't true, they do not have four cars built. They will get them built, because they will ship them to tracks across Europe to be constantly testing during the off season. You can stick one in the wind tunnel all year, and they would not learn as much as putting one on track for a day.
 
To say the 18 is not racing soley because of the failed crash tests are silly. Many cars fail their first try (Jordan and Arrows and I think Williams have in the last few years, and those are the only ones that went public about it) and that never delayed there arrival onto the grid. Even back when Stewart GP came into existance the BBC did a show on its inception and they even said that SGP passed its first try and thats a rather rare thing. Fact is, and yes it is this simple, all McLaren really has to do is annalys where the greatest stress points were and add more carbon fiber to it.

There were many small problems that still needed to be ironed out of the 18 when the testing ban came into effect and that ahs been made public by both Ron and Nobert.
 
I belive McLaren has more reasons than reliablity, and crash tests. If the car is a huge amount faster than the 17D, then why race it this year, if the 17D can get the job done? they can throw a huge suprise onto the grid next year and possibly sweep the season like Ferrari did in 2002. Unlikely with Renaults improvements but who knows. And it is a little more complicated to fix a car than add more carbon fibre. I believe you build tanks by adding more strength, F1 is more about innonvating a new design that could be less weight and less carbon Fiber to pass the tests.
 
In racing you never want to be just fast enough, thats why. But for your innovation theory, its a little bit late for McLaren to be inventing new ways to strengthen its nose. They have a few other more important issues to worry over. An extra wrap or two of CF in the right reasons may all that needs to be done. Sure it adds weight, but in this case we are talking ounces. While yes everybit is important, its a quick and easy solution.
 
F1 is never quick and easy. Unlike NASCAR where you roll your car, and throw some tape on it and win the race, the tinest dent or crack in F1 spells DNF. McLaren did not fail the head on crash, they failed the sidepod impact test. Each of the crash structures in the sidepod must absorb a certain about of energy but no more than the max specified. That way the sidepod disipates energy equally and gives the best oppertunity for a driver to escape injury in the event of a crash. Just adding CF in this area doesnt exactly help. It takes a while to study the data and figure how to add strength or in this case, reduce strength just enough to pass the next test.( one of the sidepod stuctures absorbed more energy than allowed, like .1 more than the max. It is a very percise operation.
 
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