Another ‘double’ diffuser for McLaren in Bahrain

McLaren announced today that they are using a different diffuser in Bahrain than the one from Shanghai. This one was considered intermediate compared to the double diffuser, for example, of Brawn GP.

« We have a new adaptation of our conventional diffuser, » said McLaren Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh to Auto Motor und Sport.

These changes undertaken from China, a week ago, are based on the Court of Appeal’s verdict regarding the Brawn, Toyota, and Williams diffusers, deemed entirely legal.

Although these three teams have several tenths of a second advantage per lap, the other teams have not yet found the key to success when it comes to their slight advantage.

According to Whitmarsh: « It provides a bit more support but does not represent a giant leap. »

« Aerodynamic engineers have not yet discovered the true potential of the double diffuser. It is a challenging field. »

« If we had started the year with the same diffuser, the entire car would have been designed on this basis. »

This morning, on the Sakhir circuit, Heikki Kovalainen’s MP4-24 had that now familiar small paint mark to help visualize airflow.

Ferrari is also working on a new diffuser, which should be ready by the next Grand Prix in Spain.