McLaren
The biggest visual change on the McLaren came from its revised livery and apart from it, evolutions were not easy to spot on the MP4-30’s bodywork. However, major developments were brought under the skin, i.e. to the Honda power unit.
The inlet plenum chamber, which still sits quite low thanks to the inlet variable trumpets being oriented at 90 degrees, is no longer made of aluminium but of carbon (see the white arrows on the picture above).
In an effort to make its power unit more robust, Honda has altered several components on its RA615H without spending any of the nine tokens it was allocated at the start of the season. Indeed, engine suppliers are allowed to bring evolutions for “reliability, safety or cost-saving reasons”. Only when Honda is wholly satisfied with reliability will the Japanese constructor start using its tokens, mainly on the ICE and ERS.
Looking at the pictures above (see yellow arrows), one can see the exhaust now has an insulating blanket, a flexible metallic sheet that keeps more heat in the exhaust. Theoretically, this improves the evacuation of exhaust gasses, which in turn increase the turbine rotational speed and leads to better energy recovery. As ever, there is no small gain in F1.
Speaking of which, Honda has been able to unlock some extra horsepower thanks to a new fuel blend provided by Exxon Mobil.
