Part two of McLaren’s extensive chassis tweaks arrived in Monaco. A series of minor alterations were made to the floor/diffuser, front-wing and sidepods in Barcelona, including smaller cooling outlets at the back of the car which shows that Honda are making progress on the thermal management side of the power unit.
For Monaco the team have continued to play with blowing air through the front axle (which works in conjunction with the outwash from the front-wing) and with that a new set of front brake ducts were required.
The previous iteration utilised two separate inlets stacked on top of each other to feed the disc and calliper with cool air – the new design encompasses both of these ducts (the two larger openings side-by-side), plus an additional channel which directs airflow through the axle (the small opening underneath the inner channel), into one D-shaped housing. This is accompanied by a horizontal guide vane below to steer flow around the front tyre and manage its wake.
