Breaking news

Formula 1

Double shutdown adds to McLaren testing woes

McLaren has hit fresh trouble in the second pre-season Formula 1 test, with a double electrical shutdown leaving Stoffel Vandoorne at the bottom of the timesheets and only seven laps to his name on Tuesday morning.

Jonathan Noble

Edited: Mar 6, 2018, 12:31 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

The Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren MCL33, is pushed back to the pit garage

Following frustrations in the opening test when McLaren’s mileage was dented by a wheel nut failure and a broken exhaust bracket, the Woking-based team had hoped to hit the ground running this week.

But its day got off to a bad start when the MCL33’s Renault engine shut down with an electrical failure as Vandoorne returned to the pits following an installation lap.

Shortly afterwards, Vandoorne stopped out on track with the same electrical issue, bringing out the red flags and prompting a lengthy investigation at the team to work out what the problem was.

Vandoorne was able to get running again shortly before the lunch break so the team could complete a system check, but his seven-lap tally is far short of the mileage the team had hoped for.

It is understood that the electrical issue is related to the battery – but it is unclear whether the problems originates from McLaren or Renault’s side.

Bodywork tweaks

McLaren MCL33 rear bodywork detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

McLaren also appears to have been forced to make compromises to its rear bodywork in a bid to help cooling in the car – having faced overheating headaches in testing last week.

Scorch marks on the engine cover last week prompted the team to add an extra cooling slot in a bid to help running.

As the car emerged on Tuesday, the team had added three more cooling slots in a bid to help hot air escape.

However, as Giorgio Piola’s exclusive photograph (below) shows, this does not appear to have been enough to prevent further burning of the bodywork.

With the slots not ideal for performance, it could be that the team is forced to tweak the design of its engine cover to help increase airflow and cooling prior to the first race of the season.

McLaren MCL33 rear detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Gary Anderson’s view

McLaren is pushing the limits on cooling. From the picture we can see it has added an extra three slots to the one that it was forced to cut into the bodywork last week.

There are two brown-ish marks are on both sides of the bodywork so there is something very close to that part of the engine cover - probably the exhausts or turbo and that is of major concern.

The exhaust temperatures on these cars run at around 400-800 degrees centigrade and are wrapped in heat-proof insulation. If the temperature cannot be controlled, anything near them is vulnerable.

To finish first, first you have to finish - so these random reliability problems that McLaren seems to have carried over from the Honda days are of major concern, and now the team has no-one but itself to point the finger at.

The car of Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren MCL33 is pushed in pit lane

Photo by: Sutton Images

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Vettel quickest, McLaren in trouble as F1 testing resumes

Next article Calderon in line for F1 running in new Sauber role

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Verstappen charges from 24th to ninth as GetSpeed wins Portimao GTWC finale

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 34 min

Verstappen charges from 24th to ninth as GetSpeed wins Portimao GTWC finale

Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss

FIA F2

F2 FIA F2 4 h

Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss

WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota

WEC

WEC WEC

Barcelona

5 h

WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota

Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test

Indy NXT

IndL Indy NXT 6 h

Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test

Feature

Discover prime content

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts