SLOT GAMES: MCLAREN BEATS FERRARI 11 TO 8
McLaren had already introduced a brand new floor concept in Austria, which featured two elongated slits associated with a pair of long, L-shaped slots in front of the rear tyres. The goal is to fend off tyre squirt, i.e to keep the dirty wake coming off the rotating rear wheels away from the car’s diffuser.
McLaren presented a new floor design at Austin, which achieves the same effects but clearly draws inspiration from a similar set-up introduced by Ferrari last month in Singapore. The SF15-T had eight slots pierced on its floor along with one L-shaped slit placed right in front of the rear tyre. The British team has upped the ante and gone for an 11-slot installation, while keeping two L-shaped openings.
Finally, it’s worth noticing that the front wing has also been slightly tweaked in order to accommodate the car’s revised attitude, with McLaren following into Red Bull’s footsteps and running its MP4-30 with a higher rake angle (i.e. high at the rear and low at the front). Racing director Eric Boullier confirmed to F1i after the race the upgrades had worked well.
