McLaren-Mercedes technical director Adrian Newey has revealed that he drew inspiration for the new MP4-18 from a Formula One car that was designed in the early ‘90s.
McLaren-Mercedes technical director Adrian Newey has revealed that he drew inspiration for the new MP4-18 from a Formula One car that was designed in the early ‘90s.
According to Newey, the MP4-18’s dramatic nose design was “borrowed” from the Leyton House he designed for the 1990 season.
“The nose cone is from the Leyton House car I designed. Also, the sidepod shaping is from that car. I’m just reusing some old tricks,” Newey said.
“There have been some small problems with the car, but we’ve just been getting on with the test programme and getting miles on the car. We had a hydraulic problem, but we’re on top of that. Now we’re just going to slowly build up the speed,” he added.
The MP4-18 was tested at Paul Ricard with an interim gearbox. Newey refused to confirm that the team is developing a double clutch gearbox for the car, but did say that the team hopes to test a new specification ‘box before the F1 testing ban in August.
Newey said that the car had been over a year in development: “It was first conceived about a year ago, but this shape was frozen in February of this year,” he said.
“We have taken a long time to develop this car, probably the longest time I’ve ever spent on the development of a car.”
“This car requires a whole new set of parameters. Not only for the mechanics, but for the driver and engineers. So we’ve had to start with a blank sheet of paper,” he added.
