McLaren's Zak Brown: 2017 Formula 1 cars will look 'meaner'
Formula 1's new generation of grand prix cars will look "meaner", according to McLaren executive director Zak Brown
This year's overhaul of the regulations means the much faster 2017 cars will use wider tyres and feature significantly enhanced aerodynamics.
"The cars are going to be faster and I hope the racing is better and closer," said Brown at Autosport International, which he opened on Thursday morning.
"Anytime you get a rules shake-up, it means there will be someone will get it more right than anticipated and someone will get it more wrong than anticipated.
"The cars are going to be very fast, they look great and they are going to look meaner with these bigger and wider wings."
Several teams have announced launches, with Renault currently the first to unveil on February 21, ahead of the cars making their track debut in pre-season testing on February 27.
Brown said McLaren had yet to lock-down a launch date but the staff at the McLaren Technology Centre have been given a glimpse of its 2017 challenger.
"We're working on the launch date right now," he said. "It's going to be right before the Spain test, so late February.
"We've shown it to the guys and girls at McLaren and we're very excited for our future.
"We've just signed off on the car livery and I think the fans will be excited to find out what the car looks like both technically and visually."
McLaren finished a disappointing ninth in the constructors' championship in 2015 after a tough first year back working with Honda.
But improvements in reliability and performance for the Japanese manufacturer during the 2016 campaign, coupled with a strong chassis, enabled the alliance to fight towards the front of the midfield and improve to sixth.
Brown is targeting a similar step this season.
"Everyone is working well together and pushing hard," he said.
"2015 was a pretty painful year for the team.
"2016 was a good step forward, but still not where you would expect McLaren to be.
"So if we can make that step from 15 to 16, 16 to 17, I think we're heading in the right direction."
LIBERTY WILL 'DO WHAT FANS WANT'
Liberty Media is edging closer to taking control of F1, with the FIA set to discuss the matter at a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council next week.
Brown believes F1 needs to be brought closer to the fans and thinks the American company's arrival will aid that.
"One of the things we need to do is get the fans closer to the cars," he said.
"I spent a lot of time with Liberty and I think they are going to lead with 'what does the fan want?'
"F1 is a little guilty of 'what do we want?'
"We need to understand our audience is the fans."
Tech secrets of a Formula 1 legend
Formula 1 teams will sandbag in 2017 winter testing, says Pirelli
Top 10 Brabham drivers ranked: Piquet, Lauda, Gurney and more
Its 30 years since the Brabham team started its last world championship grand prix. Time to pick out the best drivers of the once-great Formula 1 squad.
Why F1 2022 tech isn’t all about porpoising and sidepods
Once fears over identikit Formula 1 cars were allayed by visibly different approaches to sidepods and floors, other novel design features have cropped up around the rest of the car.
Bottas feels greater "human effect" on F1 car performance at Alfa Romeo
Valtteri Bottas feels he is able to have a greater "human effect" on the performance of his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 car compared to what he found at Mercedes.
Norris: Long-term McLaren F1 deal allows for better work-life balance
Lando Norris believes his long-term Formula 1 deal with McLaren has allowed him to strike a better work-life balance and relax more away from racing.
The 10 stories to watch out for across the rest of the 2022 F1 season
It’s 13 down, nine to go as the Formula 1 teams pause for breath in the summer break. But what can we expect to happen over the next three months from Belgium to Abu Dhabi? Here's the key storylines to keep an eye out for the rest of the 2022 season
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
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
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior