迈凯伦重大升级在巴库的运作情况
迈凯伦在阿塞拜疆大奖赛排位赛表现不佳，但车队实际上对最新升级感到满意，整个周末都在挣扎。
迈凯伦的重大F1升级在巴库表现如何
尽管在阿塞拜疆的排位成绩不佳，迈凯伦其实对其最新升级感到满意
在最近四站比赛中三次拿下杆位之后，阿塞拜疆大奖赛的排位赛对迈凯伦F1车队来说表现平平，整个周末车队都陷入了挣扎。
兰多·诺里斯在周四练习赛后将MCL40形容为“差距巨大”，他当时落后最快圈速1.5秒——这个数字基本属实，因为他中止了一个更快的单圈，但即使跑完也不可能挽回接近那么多时间。
迈凯伦在第三节自由练习中有所接近——皮亚斯特里落后0.8秒——这位澳大利亚车手在排位赛中保持了这种节奏，最终获得第三。诺里斯再慢0.3秒，由于第三节排位赛中的锁死以及一个导致极速不足的技术问题，最终只排在第五。
车队为巴库带来了一次重大升级，包括修改后的侧箱、引擎盖、底板、扩散器、后悬架和尾翼。那么这些部件是否达到了预期效果呢？
“只看现在的排位赛，技师们说一切都按预期运转，但当你看到落后榜首0.8秒时，那很痛苦，”诺里斯在排位赛后沮丧地评论道，随后又补充说明：“不过，与此同时，我们的时间损失都在直道上。”
迈凯伦自己对升级的反馈是积极的，不过领队安德里亚·斯特拉指出，这些升级本就不应该像匈牙利赛道的那次升级带来那么多性能提升，后者曾使车队的表现有了显著改善。
“这些升级的效果很好，”斯特拉说。“它们相对比较明显，因为这次升级包括了侧箱的形状以及底板。尽管它们可能比我们在匈牙利带来的升级还要显眼，但就对性能的影响而言，效果反而稍微小一些。”
“总体来说，我们对我们测量到的数据感到满意，也对它在性能上带来的影响感到满意。
“在像阿塞拜疆这样的赛道，我们早就知道这对迈凯伦来说会比较艰难。一个原因在于直道速度，这不是我们的强项，另一个原因则与这里没有中速或高速弯角有关。
“所以我们在一个赛车无法展现其最佳性能的区间里不断挣扎，而升级并未从根本上改变这一点，这些升级只是在各种条件下增加了一点空气下压力。”
迈凯伦竭尽全力确保从升级套件中榨取最大收益，直到第三节自由练习赛结束时，诺里斯的赛车左后角仍然涂满了流场显示涂料（flow-vis）。如此晚还使用这种涂料实属罕见，这种涂料能让工程师直接观察赛车上真实的气流情况，而不是仅仅依赖风洞中的缩比底盘模型。
斯特拉解释道：“你们之所以在（第三节自由练习赛）还能看到流场显示涂料，是因为我们在自由练习一和练习二中不断尝试各种方案，然后在第三节自由练习赛中确定了一个方案，并应用到了两台赛车上。我们想进行最后一次检查，确认一切都在按预期进行。我很高兴地说，情况确实如此。”
英文原文
How McLaren’s major F1 upgrade has been working in Baku
Despite a lowly qualifying result in Azerbaijan, McLaren is actually satisfied with its latest updates
After three pole positions in the last four rounds, qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was underwhelming for the McLaren Formula 1 team, which has struggled all weekend.
The MCL40 was described as “miles off” by Lando Norris following Thursday practice, which he ended 1.5s off the pace – a figure that was mostly representative as he aborted a quicker lap but wouldn’t have gained nearly that much time.
McLaren got closer in FP3 – Oscar Piastri was eight tenths down – and the Australian maintained this rhythm on his way to third in qualifying. Norris, three further tenths adrift, ended up fifth due to a lock-up in Q3 and a technical issue causing a lack of top speed.
The team brought a major upgrade to Baku, with revised sidepods, engine cover, floor, diffuser, rear suspension and rear wing. So did those parts function as intended?
“Just thinking of qualifying now, the guys say everything's working as expected, but when you see eight tenths to the top, it's painful,” a frustrated Norris commented after qualifying, before clarifying: “But, at the same time, our time losses are in the straights.”
McLaren’s own feedback about the updates is positive, though team principal Andrea Stella pointed out they weren’t supposed to bring as much performance as the Hungaroring update which led to a substantial improvement in the team’s fortunes.
“The upgrades worked well,” Stella said. “They were relatively noticeable, because in this case they included the shape of the sidepods and also a floor. Even if they were possibly even more noticeable than what we took in Hungary, in terms of impact on performance it was a little bit less.
“In general we are happy with the data that we have measured, and we are happy with the impact on performance.
“In a circuit like Azerbaijan, we knew that it would have been on the difficult side for McLaren. One reason goes back to the speed in the straights, which is not our strength, and the other reason is related to the fact that there are no medium- or high-speed corners.
“So we are constantly fighting in a range where the car doesn't express its best qualities, and this has not been fundamentally changed by the upgrades, which just add a little bit of aerodynamic load in all conditions.”
McLaren went the extra mile to ensure it extracted the maximum from its update, with the rear-left corner of Norris’ car covered in flow-vis right until the end of FP3. This was unusually late to use that paint, which allows engineers to see the actual airflow on the car, rather than rely on the miniature chassis in the wind tunnel.
“The reason why you see the flow-vis even in [FP3] is because we kept experimenting in Free Practice 1 and 2 with various solutions, and then in Free Practice 3 we converged on a solution that we adopted on both cars, and we wanted to have a final check to see that things were going as expected,” Stella explained. “And I'm pleased to say that they did.”
Motorsport.com ·
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