For the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, we absolutely cannot underestimate McLaren. The reason is simple: a precise design choice on the MCL40 could make a massive difference. We are talking about the car’s wheelbase, which is significantly shorter compared to the competition.
MCL40: The technical detail not to be underestimated
As we anticipated in March, the papaya machinery boasts a reduced wheelbase, a full 15 centimeters shorter than the Ferrari SF-26. This is a substantial discrepancy, and around the narrow streets of the Principality, it is by no means a marginal detail.
A single-seater with a shorter wheelbase guarantees greater agility and rotates much faster in slow, tight-radius corners. This allows the driver to hit the apex earlier and get back on the throttle that crucial split-second sooner.
On a layout like Monaco, which is a continuous sequence of low-speed corners, this dynamic micro-advantage compounds corner after corner, translating into a net and tangible lap time gain on the stopwatch.
In this regard, it is essential to recall the 2017 season, when the short wheelbase of the Ferrari SF70H (at the time nearly ten centimeters shorter than its rival, the Mercedes W08) allowed the Scuderia to literally fly between the barriers of the Principality.
However, running a short wheelbase doesn’t work miracles if the baseline car concept is flawed. The perfect historical example of this is the troublesome 1980 Ferrari 312 T5. In a desperate bid to find more competitiveness for the Monegasque round, Maranello deliberately shortened the car’s wheelbase, a geometric tweak permitted mid-season back then, and completely overhauled its aerodynamics.
The interventions were drastic: the triangular nose structure was shortened, and the dimensions of the front wing were reduced, while the front suspension wishbones were swept back and repositioned. At the rear end, meanwhile, the wing was moved forward, mirroring a solution already adopted the previous year on the T4. A desperate technical effort that, unfortunately, proved ineffective: on race Sunday, Gilles Villeneuve could manage no better than a fifth-place finish.
