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 automotive, however for McLaren, it was floor it had trodden earlier than: 15 years earlier McLaren achieved one thing comparable, turning into the primary group to win a System 1 grand prix with a hybrid automotive.
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 collection’ 2.4-liter V8 engine system. In contrast to in IndyCar, nevertheless, it wasn’t necessary, with solely McLaren and Ferrari opting to run it for the total season. The extra 82 horsepower it delivered got here with the caveat of including round 30 kilograms of weight to the automotive, which was nonetheless certain to the minimal weight rule of 605kg whether or not you ran it or not.
McLaren headed into the 2009 season recent from its first championship triumph in nearly 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 quite completely 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 accountable these early struggles on the brand new hybrid tech.
“The choice was made to include the hybrid know-how 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) among 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 might deploy that additional energy and maintain probably quicker automobiles behind us, so I believe it actually helped us out in that early section of the season.”
Improvement of the KERS-laden 2009 automotive, the MP4-24, started in 2008, with the group operating 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 have been operating components of hybridization and so forth on that automotive — it was successfully a mule automotive,” Grain explains. “We ran that in aero exams, so straight-line work to show lots of the {hardware} on the automotive, but in addition the procedures of how a group works.
An “MP4-23K” take a look at mule received the hybrid ball rolling for McLaren behind the scenes in 2008. Edd Hartley/Motorsport Photos
“We have been doing that throughout the second half of that season, which after all was the championship-winning season with Lewis. So we had lots of work happening — aero mapping parts and attempting to win a world championship in 2008, however giving ourselves the most effective footing for 2009.”
Having the 2 packages operating concurrently had no impression on the 2008 season: Hamilton famously claimed his first title on the final lap of the season having received 5 occasions that 12 months. And Grain says that championship push didn’t stifle the 2009 preliminary work both, due to the way in which McLaren was arrange on the time.
“It was fascinating occasions with that mule automotive and going via these processes in 2008,” Grain remembers. “It positively didn’t detract — we mixed the 2 efforts effectively. We have been doing the groundwork for utilizing KERS in 2009 whereas we have been nonetheless aero mapping to assist us push for the championship in 2008. That each 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 automotive 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 automotive and one championship push. You have been all the time balancing the 2.”
After all, 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 characteristic through the low season, solely to be rebuffed.
“What Paddy (Lowe, then McLaren’s engineering director) instructed 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 recollects. “What (he) mentioned to me in winter testing after we have 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 permitted whereas the Toyota and the Brawn model had.”
Whereas the KERS and its additional dollop of horsepower had been anticipated to ship noticeable efficiency good points for McLaren, it was the trick aero idea that finally proved to be the game-changer.
“By the point we received a double diffuser on on the Nürburgring, abruptly we have 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 might be seen as a backwards step as a result of the championship-winning automotive didn’t have it, truly it was the best 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 have been beginning so late, or the funds to pursue that, so they simply 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 turned 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 turned the norm all through the sphere.
The KERS and ancillary parts of the MP-24 created a studying course of for the McLaren mechanics in addition to the drivers. Rainer Schlegelmilch/Motorsport Photos
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 have 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 although the last word end result on the Nürburgring was disappointing, I bear 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 turned a race to try 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 automotive via that season, which I believe is an unimaginable achievement by everyone concerned. Even to the purpose the place we stripped down the automotive and weighed each tie-wrap on the automotive, collected them, didn’t lose one, after which weighed them, then actually went to city on that stage of element.
“All throughout the automotive, we have been taking a look at paint software — the place we might lose paint, every part — and it was all led by Pat Fry in a extremely laborious push to get the burden down on that automotive.”
In Hungary, all of the laborious work paid off. Hamilton received from fourth on the grid after making a lightning begin and getting the most effective of Purple Bull’s Mark Webber in an early race struggle. With a giant hole cast, Hamilton went into tire preservation mode for the latter levels of the race, finally coming residence 11.5s away from the second positioned driver, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari. Kovalainen additionally had a spell main the sphere through the race within the different McLaren.
“Budapest has received its personal very particular working setup,” Grain says. “It’s a really particular monitor when you concentrate on it. You’ve received that lengthy straight, however you try to wind on some downforce there, so that every one helped us and assume the KERS system and having 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 realized the best way to get essentially the most out of that. So all of it got here along with a very good aero package deal, a few of that weight reduction that was nonetheless ongoing, and a group that had actually realized the best way to get essentially the most out of that additional power deployment.
“That additional energy deployment round a lap that may be notoriously troublesome for overtaking, so I believe all of it performed into our palms on the proper time — and naturally an excellent efficiency from Lewis as effectively.”
Hamilton overhauled Purple Bull’s Webber in Hungary to say what would show a historic triumph for the McLaren MP4-24. Rainer Schlegelmilch/Motorsport Photos
The season was again on monitor, and one other victory would observe on the Singapore Grand Prix later within the 12 months — a spot the place McLaren would additionally study an essential lesson in regards to the new-fangled hybrid tech.
“We did our normal post-race checks of all of the excessive voltage components and there was this a part of the automotive 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 exhibiting a low insulation resistance,” Grain explains. “The take a look at 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 be aware of it and despatched every part on its strategy to Suzuka.
“We’d regrouped in Suzuka and despatched out a specialist electrician from the UK to carry out this process once more together with all of the common mechanics on the automotive, 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 after they didn’t must, and as a precaution we swapped out the cable anyway however after all it was tremendous. 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 may need hoped for, the group’s robust finish to a season proved to be the genesis of what System 1 is at this time.
“It was a really rewarding season based mostly on that huge weight reduction program,” Grain says. “Studying and getting essentially the most out of the KERS system, how the group in a short time adopted and tailored to the protocols of working with a automotive that had excessive voltage components as a race group, and even our pit cease procedures barely adjusted, however shortly taken on by everyone.”
