Why is Mclaren quiet while Red Bull and Mercedes protesting each other?

You could not be faulted for finding sweet irony in Red Bull and Mercedes going through a protest dance so early in the season. Both those teams are responsible for many of the cheater parts technical innovations over the past few seasons. From double diffusers to blown exhausts and flexi wings.


Mercedes Showed up with a ned form of F-Duct on the rear wing and was promptly protested by Red Bull (and Lotus). Wing was found legal and now Mercedes is getting some payback by protesting the legality of Renault engines. It is important to note that when teams proves or ask for "clarifications" from the FIA they are also hoping to gather information on rival systems.

Anyway, what is Norbert Haug getting all excited about? Remember during testing when I mentioned Renault engined cars were making an odd sound, reminiscent of the blown diffuser days? Is Renault still dumping fuel into their headers?

No, but the French manufacturer is doing something a different way than other teams within the scope of the regulations. FIA is allowing engine maps that shut off up to four cylinders on partial throttle as a fuel saving measure. Teams have two engineering choices, shutting down one bank of the V8 (leaving 4 inline firing) or in effect creating a V4. Renault uses the V4 setup and this results in the noise you hear. Mercedes is kicking up dust because Lotus and RBR protested their wing.

Meanwhile while these guys are busy having tea with Charlie Whiting, Mclaren is keeping quiet, the latest rumors has them ready with their version of of the Mercedes F-Duct and with a new take on RBR's flex front wing, clever enough to pass the latest FIA tests and still flex at speed.

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.172             28
 2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m38.533s  + 0.361   34
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.535s  + 0.363   29
 4.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m38.696s  + 0.524   34
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m38.853s  + 0.681   33
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m38.891s  + 0.719   27
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m39.133s  + 0.961   29
 8.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m39.297s  + 1.125   33
 9.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m39.311s  + 1.139   22
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m39.402s  + 1.230   25
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m39.444s  + 1.272   35
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m39.464s  + 1.292   26
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m39.625s  + 1.453   20
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.687s  + 1.515   16
15.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m39.696s  + 1.524   29
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m40.271s  + 2.099   27
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m40.678s  + 2.506   34
18.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.947s  + 2.775   33
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m41.464s  + 3.292   25
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m41.681s  + 3.509   20
21.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m42.594s  + 4.422   18
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m42.874s  + 4.702   24
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m43.658s  + 5.486   18
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m43.283s  + 5.561   22

All Timing Unofficial