Could McLaren adapt to a Mercedes engine?

How easy would it be for McLaren to adapt its car for a Mercedes engine, given the similarities with the Honda engine?
Guus van Lienen, via email

It's a lot easier to change the power unit package today than it was a few years ago. One of the more useful things the FIA has done over the past few years is to define the length of the engine bay and the engine-to-chassis and engine-to-gearbox pick-up-point locations.

This means that the overall geometry of the cars can be fairly similar. It's the detail of the intrusions into the chassis and gearbox for the oil tank, hydraulics, turbo, etc, as well as the cooling system's requirements, that will be the time-consuming design process.

Performance doesn't just come by doing something like fitting a Mercedes engine, it comes from sorting the detail out better than the other teams using the same componentry.

When you have teams like Mercedes itself, Force India and Williams using the same power unit since 2014, they will have gone through all the permutations on the installation and have ended up where they are currently.

To get to this level and also be in a position to maximise the use of a very different power unit at the circuit will not be easy or immediate - even with the experience of running the engine in 2014.

If McLaren makes this shift then it will still take time for it to get up to speed. Mercedes will probably help (but not that much), but remember the two are in competition and the last thing Mercedes needs to do is jeopardise its own championship-winning potential.

How is it possible that a team like Ferrari can fail to realise the extent of the damage on Sebastian Vettel's car after the first-corner incident in Canada? They have live telemetry, which might not have been quite as useful due to the immediate safety car and slower speeds, but they all have a live TV feed. I recognised from home that as soon as a significant load was placed on that front wing it would fail.
Kyle Geekie, via email

It did confuse me a bit as well. You could see the hit was fairly dramatic, but the driver's last view of the front wing was when he got onto the car on the grid. From there on, while he's sitting in his little cocoon he has no view of any of that part of the car and he's totally reliant on the feeling and/or the team telling him the scale of the problem.

I think the root cause of the problem is that the current generation of engineers are solely data driven. As you say, when the car was running behind the safety car the loads were so low that no-one could detect the level of the failure. Gone are the days of sticking your head over the pitwall and having a look.

You can take this to the extreme that a team will contact its home base to check what the weather is going to do at the race track. I remember the days when you used to hold your hand out to see if it was raining or put your finger up to see which way the wind was blowing. Ah, memories, where would we be without them?

How much of Ferrari's success this year can be attributed to James Allison's involvement in the 2017 car, and should the rest of the grid be concerned that Mercedes will be well out front next year now he is working at Brackley?
James Frankland, via Facebook

I'm not quite sure. I would imagine the initial concept would have come about when he was still there, but the optimisation of it would have been well after he was gone.

The interesting thing will be if Ferrari can keep up development of its bargeboard and sidepod concept. When you have gone your own way in comparison to your rivals, it can be a double-edged sword. It means others can't follow your development direction, but also you have to set your own development direction.

I don't think we will really know the answer to the above question until about two-thirds of the way into the season. But until now, other than when Ferrari has had a bit of bad luck or tripped itself up, it has fended off the opposition pretty well.

As for Mercedes, I'm pretty sure it will be a strong contender in 2018. But as we've seen from the start of this season, strange things can happen. Who would have thought that, given the main changes for this year were aerodynamic, Red Bull wouldn't be a frontline contender and that Ferrari would be the one challenging, if not beating, Mercedes.

The big fix F1 needs is one to close the gap between the midfield and the front. We need to see more teams with the possibility of challenging at the sharp end. For that to happen, new owner Liberty Media needs to at least temporarily be putting its hand into its pockets to help small teams with their development budget.

Something like €10million to the privateers like Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso would go a long way to closing that gap.

Seeing Toyota so fast at Le Mans has me wondering... why did they fail in Formula 1?
Anthony Goode, via Facebook

Toyota has been exceptional at Le Mans - although it yet again missed out on a maiden victory in the event this year - and has a great car for the discipline, but the only competition in the same league was the two Porsches. After that it was all LMP2 cars, which in Formula 1 would be like taking Mercedes and Ferrari and comparing their performance against a small team like Force India...

Wait a minute, actually that's what we currently have.

It was great to see an LMP2 car almost pulling off the win against the might of the big boys. Comparing it like this just shows that no matter what the formula is, there are always those that have and those that just do a damned good job with what they have.

In F1, Toyota thought that being Toyota would be enough to arrive at the front and blow the others away. When that didn't happen, the Japanese side of the company started to get more involved and instigate its way of working. From there on in it was just going to get worse.

Toyota had, and still has, a fantastic facility in Germany. I visited it on a couple of occasions and the equipment Toyota had at its fingertips was second to none.

As an example, at Jordan we had one test rig for suspension components and when you wanted to test a front wishbone you set up the jigs required to support that component and you tested it. When you wanted to test a rear wishbone you changed the jigs required to support it and tested that component. Toyota just bought a rig for every suspension component on the car.

Never in the history of Formula 1 has a team spent so much to achieve so little.

Braking distances in F1 are minuscule due to carbon brakes, so the drivers' 'art' of outbraking in order to cleanly overtake (without an accident) is hardly possible. Should carbon brakes be banned to increase braking distances and improve the likelihood of an overtake and improve the show?
Mark Marriott, via Facebook

Short braking distances aren't only down to carbon brakes, they are also down to the car's grip level.

With solely a change to steel brakes, some braking distances would be just as short but the disc and pad management would become a nightmare.

Liberty and Ross Brawn need to get very involved in coming up with a reduction in braking efficiency, while keeping the safety levels that we currently have.

I'm pretty sure there is something that could be done with the size and quantity of brake pads and disc sizes that would increase braking distances by something like 50%. Currently, they are too short to actually see when the driver is braking and what he's doing during that process.

It's a bit like the pitstops; they are actually too fast to see and take in. If they were around twice as long - let's say five seconds - and with fewer people involved, I'm pretty sure you would be able to see more detail and actually take in what is an incredible feat of teamwork.

It was announced at Le Mans that there will be active aero in LMP1 in the future. Do you think this is a good idea, and would it be a good idea for Formula 1 to consider doing this?
Andrew Smith, via email

I suppose the bigger question that needs to be answered first is will there still be an LMP1? This year there were two teams plus a single privateer. One of those big teams has gone home with its tail between its legs and, in reality, it might never return, so that would leave Porsche. I don't think it will stick around to race itself, especially now it has a hat-trick of wins under its belt and an overall tally of 19.

If that were to happen then LMP2 would very quickly become LMP1, and with the budgets they have, active aerodynamics would be the last thing they would need or want.

Formula 1 is similar to the World Endurance Championship. You have the teams that have the budget and manpower to take on anything, which is Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull. Then you have the real racers from Force India rearwards that are doing what they can within what they have. Very few of them have that golden goose that will send them a cheque at the end of the month if they overspend.

Personally, I would side with what Monisha Kaltenborn said last week. Formula 1 is too technically-driven, and it's that way because of the few and not the majority. Yes, we want it to be cutting-edge, but we also want it to survive en masse and not just for the few.

Did what happened at Le Mans, with an LMP2 car nearly winning and only a delayed Porsche that had a hybrid problem salvaging victory, show the folly of such technology in motorsport? The LMP2 teams and manufacturers are spending a fraction of the money, after all.
Fiona Adams, via email

The more complicated you make anything the more chance there is of failure, and that is exactly what happened. It's a pity the LMP2 car didn't win because the powers that be would have taken more notice - and the history books would never have forgotten it.

Having challenging technology is a good way to go in the World Endurance Championship. It is, after all, supposed to be a manufacturer formula and it's the manufacturers that want to showcase their technology.

If they have the budgets to incorporate whatever is thrown at them, then fine; but remember there were only two manufacturers in the LMP1 fight, so they are not exactly queuing up at the door to compete.

If they suffer a failure and lose the race because of it, then it only shows they are not on top of what they are using or doing.

I'm all for what LMP2 is about - good racing and an impressive depth of field.

Do you like the WRC and who is your favourite champion?
Robert Lawrence, via Facebook

The World Rally Championship is, to me, the ultimate example of man against machine. They are driving with the reactions of a snake; they get a run through a section in a rental car, make a few notes and then attack it weeks, if not months, later in a car that just wants to throw you in the hedge every metre you travel. The conditions are changing by the second and they have to give it their all while not having a clue as to what the opposition is doing.

It's interesting that you ask this question this week, as Robert Kubica has just had his first F1 test since his 2011 rallying accident. He came through the Renault test with flying colours, but going back to his and even Kimi Raikkonen's rallying days, they were pretty fraught with accidents. Rallying through a stage on the limit in the mist and fog is very different from 60 laps around a grand prix track.

Take Kris Meeke, for example. Yes, he has had a few too many accidents this year, but Kris is a driver who just wants to win; he knows that he can, but he won't if he isn't on the limit all the time.

Citroen has given him a car for this year that doesn't allow him the feeling that he needs to recognise where the limit is. But that doesn't mean he doesn't push and as we have seen, sometimes it ends in disaster.

The other way is just to back off a bit and finish. Then Citroen would be saying he isn't fast enough. No, Kris, keep doing what you're good at and it will come together.

I think it's the multi-championship-winning drivers that I have most respect for. Take Sebastien Loeb, for example; he just went from win to win. To be able to do that consistently takes some doing.

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