Lewis Hamilton and McLaren Mercedes worked diligently to get the MP4-24 up to speed for the 2009 Formula 1 series.
The McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 Driven By F1 Phenom Lewis Hamilton (Click to Enlarge)
The McLaren MP4-24 was McLaren-Mercedes’ Formula One car for the 2009 Formula One season. It was revealed at McLaren’s headquarters in Woking, United Kingdom on January 16, 2009
In testing, the MP4-24 was proven slower than its rivals due to aerodynamic problems, with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen repeatedly at the bottom of the timesheets. The car came under much scrutiny from team members and other critics alike. Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal, said the team “had not done a good enough job”. He also went on to say “We have an underdeveloped car, we do not have sufficient aerodynamic downforce and we would like to focus on rectifying that as quickly as we can.”
The car was originally designed with a conventional diffuser. The MP4-24 was fitted with a modified diffuser based on similar principles to the double-decker cars at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix after the FIA confirmed that such components were legal, after several teams had asked the FIA to clarify the matter.
After the British Grand Prix, the mid point of the 2009 season, McLaren had scored just 13 Constructor’s World Championship points with Hamilton scoring 9 and Kovalainen 4. By the same point in 2008 they had scored 72 points and Hamilton was jointly leading the Driver’s World Championship with Felipe Massa on 48 points. Hamilton had made public calls to scrap the car and a former team owner turned commentator Eddie Jordan had proclaimed it as “possibly the worst car McLaren have ever designed”.
A native of Tampa, FL Robert is the presiding editor and co-owner of both Down Shift Magazine and DS Holdings, LLC. A proud alumnus of the University of South Florida’s class of 2005 Robert is active in the Tampa Bay community and when not residing at his home in Tampa, FL enjoys traveling throughout the United States and abroad covering the motorsports and cultural phenomenon that shape our modern automotive enthusiast community.
