Zak Brown casts shade on Bruce’s legacy

| Photographer Credit: McLaren F1

This weekend in Singapore marks the return of the proper down-force battle in Formula 1 after the low-drag challenges of Spa and Monza. The switch comes as McLaren F1 – refreshingly honest – basically admit their car is currently a lipsticked porker.

Team CEO Zak Brown says they will continue with the current car – not much choice there – “but unfortunately we’ve produced an extremely poor racecar that is not that responsive to changes…that inherently we don’t have a good racecar.”
McLaren is presently sixth in the championship with apparently little hope of improvement.

“I would expect, unfortunately, similar type of results – maybe a little more circuit-specific – over the balance of the year. I certainly wouldn’t expect any miracles.”

Tactfully ignoring ‘our’ F1 team, Autosport has compared the leading three designs and their 2017-2018 iterations.

Many fans will be aware the Mercedes is the longest car on the grid – length equals stability at the expense of a little agility, though of course wing-based aerodynamics and designed-in ‘rake’ both affect this. Recognise, then that the three pointed star goes into the pointy end of the championship with some mechanical and aero advantage. But how much?

Red Bull may be watching developments at Toro Rosso with some concern, but it can take some comfort from its form around low-speed circuits like Monaco earlier this year. The team has maintained its 2017 rake setting for this year and tops the group with a 1.9 degree jack-up at the car’s rear.

Ferrari, as is often the case, appears to have a ‘car for all seasons’ and must be more engaged by its driver line-up. They have a longer wheelbase this year which will make their 1.53 degree rake even more effective.

Autosport reckons Mercedes may not be feeling it is favourite, but its rake is the lowest of the three top teams at 1.25 degrees (up from 1.20 in 2017) while it has retained its 2017 wheelbase length. In Autosport’s opinion, the team’s “brilliant” management of race tactics and strategy have made brought the silver cars to their current points position in the championship.

Mark Baker has been working in automotive PR and communications for more than two decades. For much longer than that he has been a motorsport journalist, photographer and competitor, witness to most of the most exciting and significant motorsport trends and events of the mid-late 20th Century. His earliest memories of motorsport were trips to races at Ohakea in the early 1960s, and later of annual summer pilgrimages to watch Shellsport racers and Mini 7s at Bay Park and winter sorties into forests around Kawerau and Rotorua to see the likes of Russell Brookes, Ari Vatanen and Mike Marshall ply their trade in group 4 Escorts. Together with Murray Taylor and TV producer/director Dave Hedge he has been responsible for helping to build New Zealand’s unique Toyota Racing Series into a globally recognized event brand under category managers Barrie and Louise Thomlinson. Now working for a variety of automotive and mainstream commercial clients, Mark has a unique perspective on recent motor racing history and the future career paths of our best and brightest young racers.

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