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Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes MP4-24
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How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge

While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton

Engineers love to solve problems, it’s the day job. So a comprehensive rules change can be a fantastic opportunity to show off your skills. However, there are a couple of key challenges: how do you set the performance targets; and are there any loopholes that you have missed?

Setting a performance target isn’t usually overly difficult. Formula 1 cars are on a continual development schedule, mainly aerodynamic. The mechanical development tends to be done to make the aerodynamics work better. This is why you have to have regular rule changes – to slow the cars down and prevent them exceeding the safety level of the circuits.

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