 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |
2005 McLaren MP4-20 news, pictures, and information | ||
| Tweet | ||
'A lot of time, effort and work has been invested in the new car, wîth the engineers working more for us than ever before,' said Kimi. 'My first impression after these few laps is a good one, however, the work for me and my driver colleagues starts only now.' The Finn will continue to drive MP4-20 until Thursday, when Juan Pablo will take the wheel.'Since MP4-20 was fired up for the first time at 02:30am on the morning of Thursday 20th January at the McLaren Technology Centre, the anticipatory atmosphere of the car's initial run within the team has been building and we are pleased to have completed its shakedown this morning,' said Ron Dennis, Team Principal, West McLaren Mercedes. 'Today's unveiling is the first tangible demonstration of the team's preparations for the 2005 season, a year that has the potential to be exciting and positive for all the teams, our Partners and the fans alike. There is feverish work taking place across the team to achieve the best possible result for the this year'
The design of the MP4-20 has been heavily influenced by significant revisions to both the sporting and technical regulations that govern Formula One in four key areas: engine lifespan, limitations on tyre use, aerodynamics and race weekend format particularly for qualifying.
'A Formula One car is a fully integrated machine,' commented Martin Whitmarsh, CEO Formula One, West McLaren Mercedes. 'As a consequence, regulation changes to the extent we have seen ahead of the 2005 season, have had a major impact on the configuration of the entire package. The revisions created an interesting challenge for our design team under Adrian Newey, Mike Coughlan and Neil Oatley, and the result is a car that looks quite different from last year. Mercedes-Ilmor on the engine side has to cope wîth similar technical and timescale challenges.'
The aerodynamic modifications have led to the most visible differences on the car, to the design of the chassis, which has been exclusively developed in the design office and wind tunnel facilities at the McLaren Technology Centre. These include the raising of the front wing by 50mm, restricting the height of the diffuser to 125mm and bringing the rear wing package forward by 150mm.
McLaren Racing's Technical Director Adrian Newey added, 'With the regulations, particularly on the aerodynamic side, being set comparatively late resulting in even harder and more dedicated work from all members of the team to get MP4-20 on track today. This has seen positive collaboration wîth all our Technology Partners, particularly Michelin in adapting to the extended use requirements of tyres for the coming season, when they have to last the entire race distance. The spec for MP4-20 was set in May 2004 and this saw the start of wind tunnel work at the McLaren Technology Centre. The timescales have been challenging but that is all part of the excitement of Formula One.'
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said: 'Formula One of generation 2005 creates a host of new challenges for all the engineers involved, as well as bigger cuts and restrictions overall than ever before during the last decade. The engine's lifespan is doubled due to a change in the regulations, which allows the engines to be replaced only after two races. This modification was announced extremely late, putting even bigger strain on the engine people. Additional strain was caused by the demand that performance be maintained despite the doubling of the lifespan. The new rules concerning the aerodynamic limitations and the use of only one set of tyres per race are no less challenging; it was therefore an interesting and busy winter not only for our engine technicians but also for the team's chassis engineers. With the West McLaren Mercedes MP4-20 we hope to have created a powerful package of chassis, engine and tyres, which will enable us to resume the performance and results which our team scored in the second half of the year and particularly in the final third of the season wîth last year's MP4-19B.'
'Of course, everyone within our organisation was lòòking forward to the initial laps and results of the MP4-20 on the first test day,' Martin Whitmarsh continued. 'The focus in these early stages will be systems, aero and component evaluations before we start lòòking at more comprehensive programmes towards the end of the week. We have an intensive schedule to complete before the cars leave for Australia on Wednesday 23rd February, which will see us test at Valencia, Jerez and back to Barcelona. By the second week in February at Jerez, we will have the second MP4-20 chassis in attendance, wîth the third due to come on line in the following week.'
Pedro de la Rosa will test alongside Kimi today in the MP4-19B, evaluating components and systems alongside the programme for the 2005 car, sharing driving duties during the week wîth Alex Wurz.Source - DaimlerChrysler
| Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Race | |
 | A dramatic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit this evening saw Michael Schumacher finish just outside the points in 11th place whilst Nico Rosberg retired following a collision. • An incident on lap one which damaged his front wing caused Nico to box for a new nose dropping him to P21 • He subsequently retired on lap eight after a heavy collision with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan • Michael was going well on a one-stop prime/option strategy and was running in eighth place by la...[Read more...] |
| 2012 German Grand Prix: Preview | |
 | Round 10 of the 2012 Formula One World Championship marks the second home race in succession for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team. The German Grand Prix takes place on Sunday 22 July at the Hockenheimring which is just 100kms from the Daimler and Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart. • The 2012 German Grand Prix will be the 33rd held at Hockenheim; Mercedes-Benz power has won twice, in 1998 & 2008 • This year's race marks the tenth anniversary of the circuit's redesign and the constructio...[Read more...] |
| 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix: Dangerous Like a Wounded Animal | |
 | Sunday March 26th, 1989 would break with sunny skies. As the day grew later and later the already warm weather only grew hotter and hotter. It was clear the 18th Grande Premio do Brasil would be absolutely torrid as far as the weather was concerned. But in the Benetton pits, one man would not be thinking about the weather as much as the dream that was about to come to fruition with the start of the race at two in the afternoon. Ever since he began to race karts at the age of ten, Johnny Herb...[Read more...] |
| Monaco GP – A challenge for seventy years | |
 | At the previous round of the championship in Barcelona, where Fernando Alonso produced yet another fantastic drive in his Ferrari F2012 to take second place, the majority of teams had introduced new packages to coincide with the first European race of the season. If some elements had failed to deliver a clear picture of their benefits, there was usually talk of waiting to see how they would perform in Canada. Had the designers and engineers forgotten that, before going to Montreal, the F1 circus...[Read more...] |
| Formula One - Spanish Grand Prix | |
 | Kimi Raikkonen bagged his second podium on the trot in Barcelona, charging hard to finish third behind first time grand prix winner Pastor Maldonado and, by just half a second, Fernando Alonso. The Finn was disappointed not to finish on the top step, though, claiming that the Lotus E20 had the potential to have won every race this year so far. Nevertheless, he is now fourth in the Drivers' Championship, just 12 points behind leaders Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Starting on the sec...[Read more...] |
Drivers:
Pedro Martínez de la Rosa
Juan Pablo Montoya
Kimi-Matias Raikkonen
Alexander WurzTeam
West McLaren Mercedes2005 SeasonPoints: 182
Position: 2
Engine: Mercedes FO110R
2004 Entry: MP4-19
2004 Entry: MP4-19B
2003 Entry: MP4-17D
2002 Entry: MP4-17
2001 Entry: MP4-16
2000 Entry: MP4-15
| Similar Automakers | |
| Aston Martin | Bentley |
| Bugatti | Devon |
| Ferrari | GTA |
| Koenigsegg | Lamborghini |
| Lotus | Maserati |
| Maybach | Porsche |
| Rolls-Royce | Spyker |
| Tesla | |
| McLaren: 2001-2010 |
| Similar Automakers |
| McLaren History |
| Other models by McLaren |
| Manufacturer Website |
2005 Formula One Season
| F1 M14 | M19C M1B | M23 M26 | M6 M8 | MP4-12C |
© 1998-2012. All rights reserved. The material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
