Tech analysis: McLaren MP4-29

McLaren offered the first chance to see a 2014 Formula 1 car from different angles when it revealed its MP4-29 on Friday.

It's clear the team has worked long and hard on the design and the challenges of the new rules, as the car is far more complex and considered than the other 2014 machines seen so far.

Starting at the front, McLaren's approach to the new low nose tip rules is as literal as both the Williams and Force India, but it has smoothly integrated the front wing mounting pylons into a rounded leading edge to the nose cone.

By using the wing pylons in this way the team can gain a little downforce from the low pressure created under the nose.

The front wing itself is a departure from McLaren's more conservative wing design of recent years. It features no less than six elements near the wing tips and the endplates sweep outwards to direct airflow around the outside of the front tyre.

New cascade winglets are mounted to the front wing, including a new pair of triangular flicks to further divert the air around the tyres.

McLaren's front pullrod suspension was an area identified as a problem in its troubled 2013 car, so it's no great surprise that the team has switched back to a pushrod arrangement.

This switch is allied to a change in front suspension geometry which mounts the wishbones at a flatter angle, further aided by the lower nose - which unlike other cars seen so far slopes gently up towards the cockpit without a step.

With its new 1.6-litre Mercedes V6 turbo engine, the car has hugely increased cooling demands and McLaren has sought to reduce the size of the sidepods as much as possible.

Despite huge inlets to the sidepods, they are still deeply undercut at their fronts.

To reduce the volume of the sidepods McLaren feeds the gearbox oil cooler from a duct inside the rollhoop. All the heat from the sidepods is then vented through a pair of double barrelled outlets above the gearbox.

With Matt Morris signed from Sauber last year, the Swiss team's influence is evident with a small cooling chimney being an option on the front of the sidepods.

Overall the sidepod philosophy appears to route a lot of flow low down around the car's side rather than sweeping it down over the sidepod's top surface. This delivers the airflow around to the diffuser, and to help this the floor is recessed around the sidepods to directly deliver the air to the centre of the diffuser.

These double barrel cooling ducts may well reduce in size, as those fitted to the launch car appear to be unnecessarily long. This might be to hide the detail around the top of the gearbox and exhaust.

Making up for the loss of the beam wing has been a focus in the rear design

This bodywork flanks the exhaust pipe, which is cleverly integrated into the rear wing supporting pylon, which takes an inverted Y-shape to form a wing above the exhaust.

Not on the launch car but seen in the associated video footage is a flap mounted to the wing support strut above the exhaust. This will help the exhaust to replace the upwash effect lost via the removal of the beam wing, which is banned this year.

As well as the new front suspension, the rear suspension layout appears to be very different and exploits a very low gearbox top.

This arrangement appears to be aerodynamically led, to allow a very low exhaust position that may subsequently be joined by more complex bodywork in this area.

As mentioned the rear suspension elements are arranged to aid airflow in the absence of the beam wing. The rear trackrod and lower wishbone both angle backwards to mount on the rear crash structure, far behind the rear axle line. This places them in the closest possible proximity to the top of the diffuser.

Although last year was a disaster for McLaren, its response has been to focus a huge amount of effort into the design for its new car.

For all of this apparent complexity the car is sure to have even more intricate bodywork fitted by the time it reaches Melbourne.

McLaren may still be in the spotlight as issues over its management swirl around, but it can at least be confident that the car's design process has not suffered from the disruption.

MCLAREN VIDEO: Sam Michael explains the MP4-29