There was a way of deja vu when Pato O’Ward crossed the road at Mid-Ohio final month to win the Honda Indy 200. It made him the primary winner of an IndyCar race with a hybrid automobile, however for McLaren, it was floor it had trodden earlier than: 15 years earlier McLaren achieved one thing related, changing into the primary group to win a Components 1 grand prix with a hybrid automobile.
The 2009 season noticed the adoption of electrification in F1 for the very first time, with the Kinetic Power Restoration System (KERS) being launched alongside the sequence’ 2.4-liter V8 engine components. In contrast to in IndyCar, nevertheless, it wasn’t obligatory, with solely McLaren and Ferrari opting to run it for the complete season. The extra 82 horsepower it delivered got here with the caveat of including round 30 kilograms of weight to the automobile, which was nonetheless sure to the minimal weight rule of 605kg whether or not you ran it or not.
McLaren headed into the 2009 season contemporary from its first championship triumph in virtually a decade. Lewis Hamilton’s victory after a titanic duel with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa the season earlier than meant that it went into the 12 months as a favourite. Actuality was a slightly totally different story, with Hamilton and teammate Heikki Kovalainen combining for simply 4 factors finishes, totalling 14 factors, within the first eight races of the 12 months. And with Ferrari equally struggling, it will be straightforward guilty these early struggles on the brand new hybrid tech.
“The choice was made to include the hybrid expertise as a result of we completely thought it was going to be a efficiency differentiator,” former McLaren chief mechanic Mark Grain tells RACER. “There was the elevated weight that got here together with it, however there was a mix of much less to do with the hybrid and extra to do with the burden (and) a number of the aero compromises that received us extra behind the cue ball on tempo than it was the hybrid itself.
“I believe the hybrid itself truly helped us in these early days as a result of we may deploy that additional energy and preserve probably sooner automobiles behind us, so I believe it actually helped us out in that early part of the season.”
Growth of the KERS-laden 2009 automobile, the MP4-24, started in 2008, with the group working a modified model of its predecessor to put the groundwork, all whereas maintaining improvement within the tense ’08 title race.
“What we had performed at McLaren was modify an MP4-23A to what was recognized internally as MP4-23K, so we had been working components of hybridization and so forth on that automobile — it was successfully a mule automobile,” Grain explains. “We ran that in aero checks, so straight-line work to show numerous the {hardware} on the automobile, but additionally the procedures of how a group works.
An “MP4-23K” check mule received the hybrid ball rolling for McLaren behind the scenes in 2008. Edd Hartley/Motorsport Pictures
“We had been doing that during the second half of that season, which after all was the championship-winning season with Lewis. So we had numerous work happening — aero mapping elements and attempting to win a world championship in 2008, however giving ourselves the very best footing for 2009.”
Having the 2 applications working concurrently had no impression on the 2008 season: Hamilton famously claimed his first title on the final lap of the season having received 5 instances that 12 months. And Grain says that championship push didn’t stifle the 2009 preliminary work both, because of the best way McLaren was arrange on the time.
“It was fascinating instances with that mule automobile and going via these processes in 2008,” Grain remembers. “It positively didn’t detract — we mixed the 2 efforts effectively. We had been doing the groundwork for utilizing KERS in 2009 whereas we had been nonetheless aero mapping to assist us push for the championship in 2008. That every one dovetailed fairly properly,
“On the time, McLaren had a system the place there have been two technical leads in Tim (Goss) and Pat (Fry) — one would take care of one automobile and one would take care of the opposite, in order that was all a part of the construction that meant you weren’t taking away from one automobile and one championship push. You had been at all times balancing the 2.”
In fact, 15 years on, the introduction of KERS is little greater than a footnote within the story of 2009. The massive technical headline was the double diffuser, utilized by eventual champions Brawn GP, in addition to Toyota and Williams, early on to nice impact. The unconventional improvement proved controversial, with the opposite seven groups protesting their legality. Grain says that McLaren had approached the FIA with its personal interpretation of the function through the low season, solely to be rebuffed.
“What Paddy (Lowe, then McLaren’s engineering director) informed me was that we’d utilized however our interpretation hadn’t handed muster with the FIA, however clearly for Brawn, Toyota, and Williams, their interpretations had,” Grain remembers. “What (he) stated to me in winter testing once we had been testing with the MP4-24 in 2009, when Toyota rolled out with their model of theirs, was, ‘Yeah, we requested to do this.’ However the precise truth is McLaren’s interpretation of that aero idea hadn’t been authorised whereas the Toyota and the Brawn model had.”
Whereas the KERS and its additional dollop of horsepower had been anticipated to ship noticeable efficiency positive factors for McLaren, it was the trick aero idea that ultimately proved to be the game-changer.
“By the point we received a double diffuser on on the Nürburgring, unexpectedly we had been quick once more,” Grain factors out. “So I believe the message in that is that though it might appear that adopting a hybrid system first and being one of many champions of it could possibly be seen as a backwards step as a result of the championship-winning automobile didn’t have it, truly it was the suitable choice and it was pioneering.
“Brawn didn’t have the funds and all the remainder of it to pursue that — they didn’t have the time within the 12 months as a result of they had been beginning so late, or the funds to pursue that, so they only had the combustion engine. They made good use of that within the first half of the season and within the second half of that season everyone actually caught up.”
McLaren first introduced its personal double diffuser to the German Grand Prix, the ninth race of the 12 months, the place Hamilton certified on the entrance row of the grid. A race later, he and the group grew to become winners as soon as once more. The KERS-less Brawn group, which had received six of the primary seven races, would solely win twice extra as soon as double diffusers grew to become the norm all through the sector.
The KERS and ancillary elements of the MP-24 created a studying course of for the McLaren mechanics in addition to the drivers. Rainer Schlegelmilch/Motorsport Pictures
On the identical time the double diffuser arrived, McLaren was reaping the advantages of a mammoth weight-saving challenge which negated the losses introduced on by the introduction of the KERS. All of it mixed on the proper time to create a deadly mixture.
“We adopted the double diffuser on the Nürburgring and we had been correctly quick and on the tempo there,” Grain relates. “Lewis was on the entrance row and led into the primary nook and sadly received punted off. So regardless that the final word end result on the Nürburgring was disappointing, I keep in mind coming residence from that race pondering, ‘Now we will problem once more for the remainder of the season.’ And naturally we did.
“Then it grew to become a race to attempt to steadiness out that additional weight we’d determined to tackle with the hybrid system. We shook off over 10 kilos of weight on that automobile via that season, which I believe is an unbelievable achievement by everyone concerned. Even to the purpose the place we stripped down the automobile and weighed each tie-wrap on the automobile, collected them, didn’t lose one, after which weighed them, then actually went to city on that degree of element.
“All throughout the automobile, we had been taking a look at paint utility — the place we may lose paint, every part — and it was all led by Pat Fry in a very onerous push to get the burden down on that automobile.”
In Hungary, all of the onerous work paid off. Hamilton received from fourth on the grid after making a lightning begin and getting the very best of Pink Bull’s Mark Webber in an early race combat. With a giant hole solid, Hamilton went into tire preservation mode for the latter levels of the race, ultimately coming residence 11.5s away from the second positioned driver, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari. Kovalainen additionally had a spell main the sector through the race within the different McLaren.
“Budapest has received its personal very particular working setup,” Grain says. “It’s a really particular observe when you concentrate on it. You’ve received that lengthy straight, however you attempt to wind on some downforce there, so that every one helped us and assume the KERS system and with the ability to deploy that across the lap in key locations — and by this time Lewis was ready to make use of that and the engineering group had actually discovered get probably the most out of that. So all of it got here along with a superb aero bundle, a few of that weight reduction that was nonetheless ongoing, and a group that had actually discovered get probably the most out of that additional power deployment.
“That additional energy deployment round a lap that may be notoriously tough for overtaking, so I believe all of it performed into our fingers on the proper time — and naturally an important efficiency from Lewis as effectively.”
Hamilton overhauled Pink Bull’s Webber in Hungary to say what would show a historic triumph for the McLaren MP4-24. Rainer Schlegelmilch/Motorsport Pictures
The season was again on observe, and one other victory would observe on the Singapore Grand Prix later within the 12 months — a spot the place McLaren would additionally be taught an essential lesson concerning the new-fangled hybrid tech.
“We did our commonplace post-race checks of all of the excessive voltage components and there was this a part of the automobile known as a Cross Automobile Cable which was a excessive voltage cable that linked the 2 halves of the facility storage, the battery. And that was displaying a low insulation resistance,” Grain explains. “The check indicated that there was an issue with the Cross Automobile Cable and it was fairly an concerned job to swap it out. So we made notice of it and despatched every part on its approach to Suzuka.
“We’d regrouped in Suzuka and despatched out a specialist electrician from the UK to carry out this activity once more together with all of the common mechanics on the automobile, and it was OK. After some evaluation, it was deemed that the excessive humidity ranges in Singapore had given us a false studying.
“So sadly, someone had made the journey out to Japan once they didn’t have to, and as a precaution we swapped out the cable anyway however after all it was high-quality. However once more, that was simply a part of that studying course of.”
All in all although, it ended up being a constructive 12 months for McLaren. Whereas not the championship protection it might need hoped for, the group’s sturdy finish to a season proved to be the genesis of what Components 1 is right this moment.
“It was a really rewarding season primarily based on that huge weight reduction program,” Grain says. “Studying and getting probably the most out of the KERS system, how the group in a short time adopted and tailored to the protocols of working with a automobile that had excessive voltage components as a race group, and even our pit cease procedures barely adjusted, however shortly taken on by everyone.”
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