Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 unveiled at Stuttgart

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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


Vodafone McLaren Mercedes today presented the MP4-23, the team?s 2008 Formula 1 car, at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Daimler Board, and Ron Dennis, Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Group, welcomed all the guests to the official presentation, with Lewis Hamilton, who celebrates his 23rd birthday today, and Heikki Kovalainen joined on stage by Pedro de la Rosa and fellow test driver Gary Paffett to unveil the MP4-23. The car was completed yesterday and left the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK at around 18:00 GMT on Sunday and was driven in a Mercedes-Benz Actros to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart-Untert?rkheim, having covered approximately 1000kms, arriving around 10:00 this morning.

Upon arrival in Stuttgart, the car was transported to the 53,000 sqm Mercedes-Benz Museum, one of the world?s largest and most renowned car museums. About 700 Mercedes-Benz employees from the nearby manufacturing plant Stuttgart-Untert?rkheim had the opportunity to attend today?s event at the end of their early shift alongside the more than 400 media and other guests. The Mercedes-Benz employees had the opportunity to enter a draw of which the lucky winners were able to meet and spend some time with Lewis and Heikki.

Following today?s event the car will be transported to the Circuito de Jerez in Southern Spain, where on Wednesday 9thJanuary Heikki and Pedro will start the test programme with two MP4-23 chassis at a private test. The team will remain at the circuit for five track days, excluding the weekend. Lewis will drive the 2008 car for the first time on Thursday 10th January alongside Heikki.

LEWIS HAMILTON

?The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 is the coolest birthday present you can get, well it is for me anyway! To see the car for the first time at such a great place as the Mercedes-Benz museum makes it an even more memorable day. I have had the past three weeks off and spent the time training and relaxing with family and friends. I know how much work has been going on in Woking, Brixworth and here in Stuttgart and it is a great looking car. My engineer has told me that approximately 14,000 manufacturing man hours have been involved to produce the car in time for today. I will be testing it for the first time on Thursday. It is going to be a busy time but myself, Heikki, who I welcome as my new teammate, and everyone within the team is looking forward to it as we push forward together.?

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN

?Today is my first official event as a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver and it hasn?t come soon enough. After joining the team on the 14th December, I have already spent some time at the McLaren Technology Centre getting to know everybody and working with my engineers. It is also great to be here at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart today to meet the Mercedes-Benz employees, media and VIP guests for the first time as a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver. I was able to learn a lot last year, and hope to take that knowledge into the 2008 season. I am looking forward to contributing to the development of the car during the six main tests in the build-up to Melbourne. It is a really exciting time for me to be joining Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.?

Dr DIETER ZETSCHE, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT OF DAIMLER AG AND HEAD OF MERCEDES-BENZ CARS

?I am confident that, with Heikki and Lewis, we?ll have a very strong driver team on the track. All of us at Daimler are extremely proud of the tremendous track record of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. They prove once again: You can?t be with Daimler or Mercedes-Benz without wanting to belong to the best ? that?s in the DNA of our company in a way. And that applies also for the motorsport.?

RON DENNIS, CHAIRMAN & CEO, McLAREN GROUP

?The ultimate goal of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is to fight for both the Drivers? and Constructors? World Championships. We are looking forward to another competitive season as we look to build on the momentum of last year. Every single member of the team has worked extremely hard since the end of the 2007 season to get the MP4-23 on track as soon as possible, to ensure we have the maximum amount of testing time available before the cars leave for Australia. We are all extremely pleased to have the opportunity to launch our new car at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart underlining the strength of our partnership.?

MARTIN WHITMARSH, CEO FORMULA 1, VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES

?Development of the MP4-23 began in earnest 10 months ago and everyone in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart have worked very hard during the last few weeks, and particularly over the Christmas period, to make today?s presentation here in Stuttgart happen. In addition we have continued to benefit from tremendous support from all of our Technology Partners. We are confident, based upon the simulation and analysis which has been an integral part of the development process, that the MP4-23 represents a step forward. Of course we will continue to develop the car from now until the first race in Australia and see whether we have done enough to be at the level where we want to compete this coming season. From today we have 68 working days until the Australian Grand Prix, and everybody within the team is highly motivated to travel to Melbourne with the most competitive package possible.?

NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT, MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT

?Our Museum is a unique place for this event. More than 160 Mercedes-Benz cars, amongst them 30 historic racing cars representing more than 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motor sport heritage create a most remarkable environment for the presentation of the new Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23. I am really pleased that we are able to present with this car launch many of our colleagues from the nearby Untert?rkheim manufacturing plant a New Years surprise today. The media presence at our compact presentation today was massive, which is an additional motivation for everybody in the team to start the 2008 season with the target to finish one point ahead instead of one point behind the opposition.?

DAVID WHELDON, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMER AND BRAND EXPERIENCE, VODAFONE

"Vodafone is delighted to be entering this second season as Title Sponsor and Official Mobile Partner of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. Formula 1 is all about 'Making the most of Now' and similarly, we want all our customers to get the most out of their time. We look forward to building on our successful partnership and wish the team all the best for the 2008 season.?

Copyright ? 2008, Daimler AG

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Launch 1.

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Launch 2.

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Launch 3.

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Technical analysis of the McLaren MP4-23

By Craig Scarborough Tuesday, January 8th 2008, 10:13 GMT


McLaren had a stronger year in 2007 than their results suggest. Despite losing both championships, one on and one off the track, the 2007 MP4-22 outscored the Ferrari F2007 over the course of the season.

McLaren's MP4/22 was a car a leap ahead of their 2006 machine and their challenge for this year is to make a further step to beat Ferrari outright on pace at any circuit.

As with Ferrari, understanding their deficiencies was the first job along with the work to meet the new rules for 2008.

Speaking to autosport.com, Engineering Director Paddy Lowe explained that the aim, "to build on the areas we are confident will give us a definite performance."

The resulting car is quite a step from the one that preceded it: the changes are mainly in the layout, aero detail and the structural changes to accommodate them.

Lowe explained the changes to lengthen, saying the team "added a trim around the rear axle, its geared around weight distribution."

This move was widely anticipated after the Bridgestone tyre supply in 2007 demanded a forward weight bias.

The more visible changes are around the top surfaces of the bodywork. The engine cover is significantly slimmed - this starts as far back as the roll hoop, which is deeply undercut, requiring supports for the forward half. Then the vertical part of the cover is wafer thin, with the fins to meet the toblerone section rules even more pronounced than in 2007 and even more so in comparison to Ferrari.

The engine cover and gearbox fairing are slimmer to improve flow over the top of the diffuser, while the new cockpit padding is similar to Ferrari's interpretation of the 2008 rules.

If the rear bodywork is innovative, then the front of the car is equally a departure for McLaren, moving away from their distinctive low nose for a more conventional shape, which leads back to new bargeboards. Those no longer form an extension of the keel as has been used since 2002 - the simpler angled vanes hang from struts below the front wishbone mounts.

Meanwhile the rear boards feature more integrated flip-ups at their trailing edge. Also the fronts of the sidepods continue the integrated theme, with the pod wing forming the lower edge of the cooling inlet and the upper portion of the inlet being slightly behind, effectively splitting the pod wings into one upper and one lower device.

Cooling and exhaust outlets are similar to the MP4-22 albeit the exhausts are slightly closer to the centre of the car, due to the slimmer coke bottle shape.

Mechanically the car features an all-new gearbox, but like Caesar's sword, it features new versions of the old concepts. The quick shift gear cluster, raced since 2005, is updated with a lot of detail design work to ensure it lasts four races.

Surrounding the gears is a longer version of their usual carbon fibre cased gearbox. The rear suspension has been slightly revised, however the method of out rigging the wishbones to gain the correct geometry for the upper wishbone is still retained.

As the single ECU (SECU) is being supplied by McLaren electronics (MES), many people assume that McLaren have a head start on the integration of the unit. However, MES are a separate company and although McLaren have used a version of the same ECU hardware, the new solution is more involved than just this.

Lowe was happy to point that they do have some advantage with the unit, as they already have packaged the unusual triangular device into their car, thus the position, cooling and loom are already tailored to a suit the unit.

While this is a job saved for the team, the greater work was learning the new MES software and revising their control code to remove the traction, launch and braking control systems. Thus the lion's share of the job is still required by the electronics department and not a major advantage for the team.