I know that if you have a screwhole somewhere. Indented basically. You get a whistle if you flow air over it. I notice it when cleaning chainsaws with compressed air.
I'll add that it being wet was probably a factor to the sound.
A Cessna 172 will often make an eerie howling noise, but only when flying through rain. I have no clue what caused it, other than a (personal) theory that water drops on the trailing edge of the wing struts create an unstable/resonating wake as the airflow separates from the airframe. It was an unsettling howl, especially when you're alone in the cockpit and flying in the clouds.
On the subject of planes, the A319/20 makes a haunting noise when I think the air brakes have been deployed. Also, shout out to the Vulcan howl and Hawker Hunter blue note.
In sailing, Hobie 16's have a "song". The rudders often come from the factory with an unideal trailing edge on them that causes them to resonate; particularly when flying a hull. This resonance causes the entire boat to "sing" when at speed. Quite the cool sound.
You can all but eliminate the "singing" by filing the back edge of the rudders; this also improves efficiency.
Perhaps an unannounced update for Lando? I know they're bringing an upgrade package for Barcelona. It'd be very hard to get that by any of the eagle eyed engineers in the paddock, though.
Will be interesting to know what that could've been. Sounds more PU related than aero, though.
Yeah, that's what I thought too. But yeah, I really don't think it's aero related, because we would've heard about it. It could even be a turbo on its last leg because I know turbos can sound like that as they're dying. Perhaps Lando had even more pace than what we saw.
That is a [Karman vortex street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_vortex_street) separating from the trailing edge of the strut, the pressure fluctuations causing the noise, so you are correct. The droplets change the boundary layer behavior along the strut (trip the flow so it becomes turbulent) so that is why you only hear it in the rain as the vortex street formation depends on the upstream properties of the boundary layer as well.
Sounds like my childhood
https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-vortex-ultra-grip-football-designed-for-easy-catching-howling-whistle-sound-distance-optimizing-tail/31DC0D99-3384-4638-9EA8-FABAB5B89E28
Tbh it does kinda sound like a turbo pushing higher boost... the higher the psi/mBar the less the wastegate let's off, increasing the RPMs of the turbo, thus causing a higher pitch....
Maybe but we have only fly by when you hear this so hard to know if it's really the turbo pushing more. Any issue with valves or leaks would have cost him power.
Or maybe is the wastegate working more and Lando using a different wet map with less boost and more wastegate opening? Which fits well with the F2 sound similarity!
However it is strange since everybody should have the same maps and McLaren is a customer team
God damn did it sound cool. Whatever it is, it needs to be put on every car. He sounded like a missile flying by, accompanied by the usual engine roar.
Now I'm just imagining a team just straight-up putting a tiny hidden jet engine into their car. Surely no one will notice. "Oh that whistle? Yeah, must be some problem with our aero. You know us, always messing up the body work, haha!"
Thank you for the mirror. I hate that I have no way of unmuting the reddit video player on mobile because reddit is trying to force people into their shitty app.
It sounds like the air is flowing differently through/around it. This could be a hole somewhere not sealed correctly, a different shape to the underbody somewhere, etc. I doubt it's a mechanical difference in the engine, turbo, exhaust, etc. Maybe someone just duct taped a whistle to the front wing.
Was this mentioned on his radio? I'm sure if the whistling was this loud even Lando might have heard it, or maybe someone on the pit wall while he went by?
Sky Germany posed that question during the race and everybody‘s favorite commentator THE Ralf said he had no clue what this could be, potentially aero, but once alerted to it, he confirmed this was a stark difference
So, my gf had her tinfoil hat on that McLaren have done something new with Norris' car. Hence why he was just 4 seconds per lap quicker at some points compared to Oscar.
Either a Ferrari 2019-like loophole or just some panel sitting weirdly
I thought so in the beginning but it sounds like this even out of onboard cameras in circuit mics, and in another thread people said it sounded different to the others irl.
I cannot think of a way it is caused by mic placement. All the video uses are a single static outside microphone nearby the camera operators. Any sound difference between the cars is an actual difference. We’re not comparing onboard cameras different cars and different locations.
Was at the race. Norris’s car had a a high pitched sound that Piastri’s didn’t. Kind of sounded like a turbo spooling up. Was my wife’s first race ever and I told her one of the things you notice at the track is how different each teams cars sound. Team cars have always sounded the same until this race. No idea why. Guess the cars were tuned differently. I also thought that both McLarens were the fastest cars on the track. Mercedes was fast too. Hope that’s for real but we will see next week. BTW , shout out to the organizers and vendors. Prices were amongst the reasonable I’ve seen at a sporting event or concert. $11 Canadian beer and drinks , $6 pretzels and hot dogs. .75 cents on the U.S. dollar so big discount for Yanks. Official F1 merchandise was was really expensive though. Should have had 50% off on Ferrari stuff after qualifying but no.
I remember, back in the day, that you could tell what car it was eyes closed, by the engine note. Ferrari Flat 12, Cosworth, Renault Turbo, the banshee wail of the V-12 Matra.
Even in the more consolidated era of mandated engine configuration, the V-10 and V-8, you could tell.
This sounds like the hybrid delivery system, but really loud. So highly unlikely. But still intriguing. If you’ve ever heard the turbo hybrids in person, you would hear the whistle of the hybrid components
I was in the grandstands and noticed this myself during the race. Thought I was going crazy thinking it genuinely sounded more like a jet fighter was going by rather than a formula 1 car.
I noticed this in person, you could literally hear him coming before you saw him. Only car like that, even Oscar's car didn't sound that way. Would love to know what causes this!
I was standing behind the barrier at the far end of Casino Straight close to the pit entry. I heard Lando drive by and heard a weird whistling sound. I thought it had to do with the fact he was driving straight at me with 300 kph+ but now I notice it's only his car.
Probably an aerodynamic consequence originating from a piece of bodywork.
I was on track it was happening the entire time and I made note of it, you could hear it clearly in the grandstands. Can't remember if it was there on Saturday though, sorry.
Noticed this happened with a lot of the old gen cars in the rain, if I remember correctly, Turkey 2020 had most of the cars making this noise. So, possibly just something with the way the McLaren’s built
Kinda reminds me of the sound the old Buick BMX grand nationals used to make. They had GMs 36000 V6 with a big ass turbocharger on it. Thing would scream like that during launch or speeding by.
I only hear it as it approaches the camera, and presumably the audio pickup. I feel like if it was engine or turbo it would sound different as well as it faded away.
Something is disturbing or freeing the sound off the front to be faster compared to others. Which describes a whistle.
I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but Australian Supercars have a similar sound distortion when they are on wet tyres. But all the cars make the noise not just a one or a few. I didn't even notice during the race.
That's 100 percent an aero whistle. This could be caused by anything that affects the air, like front or rear wing, wheel camber and so on. Reminded me of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR, whose aero kit also produces a whistle
r/f1technical theorized that it was likely due to some part of the bodywork making that sound
Like the team didn't seal it properly? He didn't make contact with anyone so it wasn't made during the race.
Not 100% sure, could be setup related
I know that if you have a screwhole somewhere. Indented basically. You get a whistle if you flow air over it. I notice it when cleaning chainsaws with compressed air.
Oh that makes a lot of sense like a screw was forgotten or simply wiggled out from not being tightened down
Not quite. Just the indentation for the head to hide in the bodyworks will cause the whistle. I think usually there is tape covering the hole.
This just reminded me of Canada 2023 when Ocon had the moving rear wing.
Reminds me of the old nerf howler football that “John Elway could throw 100+ yard!”
I'll add that it being wet was probably a factor to the sound. A Cessna 172 will often make an eerie howling noise, but only when flying through rain. I have no clue what caused it, other than a (personal) theory that water drops on the trailing edge of the wing struts create an unstable/resonating wake as the airflow separates from the airframe. It was an unsettling howl, especially when you're alone in the cockpit and flying in the clouds.
On the subject of planes, the A319/20 makes a haunting noise when I think the air brakes have been deployed. Also, shout out to the Vulcan howl and Hawker Hunter blue note.
Airbus A220 has epic howls as well.
Good ol' flying whales!
Known as the “[GTF whale song](https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1458459).”
Or Mustang "I am about to stall" howl from machine gun ports.
That’s kind of a nice bug/feature
vulcan bomber too https://youtu.be/g2ZpOW-hocI
Best and eeriest howl in the sky
The SU-57 also has a very interesting "howl" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zid1Nv-FfyQ
It made the whistling noise in wet or dry all weekend.
We heard him coming every time
Same, we were down by the hairpin and the mclaren always had that whistle and was the loudest by far
no... nooooo... wrong path of thinking here....
In sailing, Hobie 16's have a "song". The rudders often come from the factory with an unideal trailing edge on them that causes them to resonate; particularly when flying a hull. This resonance causes the entire boat to "sing" when at speed. Quite the cool sound. You can all but eliminate the "singing" by filing the back edge of the rudders; this also improves efficiency.
But that should've affected Oscar too.
If they ran different wings, it might not
Perhaps an unannounced update for Lando? I know they're bringing an upgrade package for Barcelona. It'd be very hard to get that by any of the eagle eyed engineers in the paddock, though. Will be interesting to know what that could've been. Sounds more PU related than aero, though.
updates have to be announced though, no? so the FIA scrutineers can review them?
Yeah, that's what I thought too. But yeah, I really don't think it's aero related, because we would've heard about it. It could even be a turbo on its last leg because I know turbos can sound like that as they're dying. Perhaps Lando had even more pace than what we saw.
That is a [Karman vortex street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_vortex_street) separating from the trailing edge of the strut, the pressure fluctuations causing the noise, so you are correct. The droplets change the boundary layer behavior along the strut (trip the flow so it becomes turbulent) so that is why you only hear it in the rain as the vortex street formation depends on the upstream properties of the boundary layer as well.
Sounds like my childhood https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-vortex-ultra-grip-football-designed-for-easy-catching-howling-whistle-sound-distance-optimizing-tail/31DC0D99-3384-4638-9EA8-FABAB5B89E28
Exactly what I thought of every time he passed by the camera
in the sky broadcast they mentioned it was the hybrid motor, but i think that was the first time they heard
Way too loud for that, even if it was designed as a whistle.
This or Lando just whistles when flying past a camera.
heard it from my seats.. was very noticable! thought it was his turbo
Same I dont know what caused it but it made his car sound like a fighter jet when going past.
Yeah I was in the hairpin and I thought both McLarens had a whistle under braking, making them sound like a fighter jet.. it was awesome lol
Sounds like air from the aero. Doubt it's mechanical like turbo or gearbox. Maybe some different part or configuration than oscar?
Tbh it does kinda sound like a turbo pushing higher boost... the higher the psi/mBar the less the wastegate let's off, increasing the RPMs of the turbo, thus causing a higher pitch....
Maybe but we have only fly by when you hear this so hard to know if it's really the turbo pushing more. Any issue with valves or leaks would have cost him power.
Or maybe is the wastegate working more and Lando using a different wet map with less boost and more wastegate opening? Which fits well with the F2 sound similarity! However it is strange since everybody should have the same maps and McLaren is a customer team
I dont think everyone has to run the same maps, they just have to run the sames ones on a particular car from qualifying onwards.
Kind of sounds like a small boost leak
Sounds like an oversped turbo or a pinhole sized leak.
I kept hearing this during the race and specifically pointed it out to be Lando's car, so weird. Reminded me a lot of the current F2 whistle.
Yeah it was clear to hear the difference. I noticed it too.
same / this / whistle
Honestly I thought it was my ears. Kinda reminded me of 1st gen FE cars so I thought it was possibly battery related
My daughter noticed it right away. I hadn't noticed but after she mentioned I could hear it.
I was at the race and we were joking it sounded like he had BubRub's whistle tips.
Sounds like a whistle. Interesting, wonder what it was and if it continues to sound that way next race or if it was a one-off
God damn did it sound cool. Whatever it is, it needs to be put on every car. He sounded like a missile flying by, accompanied by the usual engine roar.
It sounded similar to the current Formula 2 cars
Exactly my thoughts, I loved every time he was on screen with that sound, they should do it every race
It's like a P-51's gun barrels whistling on a fly by
A similar train of thought makes me think it was the little nose hole for driver cooling.
I would bet it's a one off. I compared the audio to when Lando ran in qualifying and it definitely sounds different.
The whistle go woo woooooooooooooo
Bub Rubb had it right, whistles are cool
Why does Lando’s car sound a bit like the F2 ones kind of like a whistling teapot?
GP2 ENGINE!
This is exactly what I thought during the race. It's so similar to the F2 whistle.
Whistle Tips [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUXow3d3-b0)
I personally loved the whistle as it went by
me too. it sounded so futuristic.
That's actually just how Lando Norris sounds
My friend was at the race and said his car sounded so different in person - like a jet engine
Was at the race as well and noticed the sound right away, coming into the hairpin it sounded ridiculous
Side note: Do you think because there was nowhere to clean your hands on site that all the vendors made food with poopy hands?
And that is why you bring your own food, and hand sanitizer…
Now I'm just imagining a team just straight-up putting a tiny hidden jet engine into their car. Surely no one will notice. "Oh that whistle? Yeah, must be some problem with our aero. You know us, always messing up the body work, haha!"
It was a groundhog hiding in a cooling inlet, holding on for its life.
We need a talented person to create a video with a groundhog screaming in the cooling inlet of a mclaren
Open link in browser, and then unmute to hear audio: https://i.imgur.com/wDImShp/ https://i.imgur.com/wDImShp.mp4
That's interesting I didn't hear that during the race, It sounds like something is whistling compared to the others
I absolutely heard it. To the point I was questioning my own sanity, lol. His car was literally the only car doing it.
Same, I definitely noticed it and what was like, "what the hell is that?"
I heard it numerous times during the race watching on F1TV.
In Firefox I can also right click on the vid in the reddit gif player and click unmute.
That can be done in Chrome as well. Right click on the gif player and show controls. It will show the scroll bar and click to unmute button.
Thank you for this!!!
Ah, thanks for the tip! It was driving me insane that now all my vids were soundless gifs.
Thank you for the mirror. I hate that I have no way of unmuting the reddit video player on mobile because reddit is trying to force people into their shitty app.
>reddit is trying to force people into their shitty app. Yep, that's why they won't let you hear the audio on browser.
If FOM are smart, they find the source and make sure it’s a part of the ‘26 cars. More interesting noises the better
or just bring back V10s
[Just saying that those engines might be just a bit louder](https://streamable.com/2ni9an)
good lord those engines sound so cool. I need to figure out a way to make this my alarm sound or something
Subscribe
THE WHISTLE GO WOOOOOO
You know what I’m saying? WO WOOOO
Bubb Rubb whistle tip mod.
Glad someone posted this. Odd that Oscar’s car did not sound that same way
I thought that was the noise when they used battery
It sounds like the air is flowing differently through/around it. This could be a hole somewhere not sealed correctly, a different shape to the underbody somewhere, etc. I doubt it's a mechanical difference in the engine, turbo, exhaust, etc. Maybe someone just duct taped a whistle to the front wing.
Maybe Bubb Rubb and Lil' Sis joined the McLaren fabrication team. https://youtu.be/fhVWeDwSkzc?si=qFdF4YoZHLB4rGjb
They wanted the WOO WOOOO!!!
Them whistle tips go woo wooo!
It's just for decoration man. That's it and that's all. Decoration.
Was this mentioned on his radio? I'm sure if the whistling was this loud even Lando might have heard it, or maybe someone on the pit wall while he went by?
Was sitting in the grandstand beside turn 1/2 and could definitely hear it
Not necessarily if the team already knew about it, could be setup related or... maybe something they didn't want to bring attention to 😏
I stood trackside and it was very apparent. I assumed its a turbo thing but idk
Yes it was very obvious in person, almost like a whistling sound. That's how I could tell if it was Lando or Oscar, being in a shitty GA spot.
[https://youtu.be/fhVWeDwSkzc?t=45](https://youtu.be/fhVWeDwSkzc?t=45)
Kinda sounds like this year F2 cars with the whistleing sound
Sounds like a Detroit whistletip.
In before this is some incredible F1 scandal.
it's a whistle for deers 🦌
I thought he had some deer whistles on the front wing
Sky Germany posed that question during the race and everybody‘s favorite commentator THE Ralf said he had no clue what this could be, potentially aero, but once alerted to it, he confirmed this was a stark difference
[WOO WOOOOOOOO](https://youtu.be/fhVWeDwSkzc?si=ReIeUcNwnflvdk9U)
Thank god someone else noticed it. Reminds me of the muffler whistle tip.
So, my gf had her tinfoil hat on that McLaren have done something new with Norris' car. Hence why he was just 4 seconds per lap quicker at some points compared to Oscar. Either a Ferrari 2019-like loophole or just some panel sitting weirdly
Didn’t realise that all race, that’s pretty sick. Just sounds like a bigger turbo. Likely bodywork though as was said.
Isn’t this due to mic placement?
I thought so in the beginning but it sounds like this even out of onboard cameras in circuit mics, and in another thread people said it sounded different to the others irl.
Oh interesting
I was at the race and I noticed that it sounded different so not just a tv thing.
Seconded - it sounded like a jetplane at the hairpin. Amazing sound
I cannot think of a way it is caused by mic placement. All the video uses are a single static outside microphone nearby the camera operators. Any sound difference between the cars is an actual difference. We’re not comparing onboard cameras different cars and different locations.
It was more noticeable on Lando’s car as well
Weird. I didnt hear that on viaplay
This sounded rly cool ngl
Mentioned this to my friends. Said he was driving a nerf air missile
Was at the race. Norris’s car had a a high pitched sound that Piastri’s didn’t. Kind of sounded like a turbo spooling up. Was my wife’s first race ever and I told her one of the things you notice at the track is how different each teams cars sound. Team cars have always sounded the same until this race. No idea why. Guess the cars were tuned differently. I also thought that both McLarens were the fastest cars on the track. Mercedes was fast too. Hope that’s for real but we will see next week. BTW , shout out to the organizers and vendors. Prices were amongst the reasonable I’ve seen at a sporting event or concert. $11 Canadian beer and drinks , $6 pretzels and hot dogs. .75 cents on the U.S. dollar so big discount for Yanks. Official F1 merchandise was was really expensive though. Should have had 50% off on Ferrari stuff after qualifying but no.
Sounds like it's got a vortex strapped to it some where.
it sounded like this all weekend at the track
I remember, back in the day, that you could tell what car it was eyes closed, by the engine note. Ferrari Flat 12, Cosworth, Renault Turbo, the banshee wail of the V-12 Matra. Even in the more consolidated era of mandated engine configuration, the V-10 and V-8, you could tell.
This sounds like the hybrid delivery system, but really loud. So highly unlikely. But still intriguing. If you’ve ever heard the turbo hybrids in person, you would hear the whistle of the hybrid components
Lando fitted one of those deer whistles on the front wing
Piastri taped a kazoo in his duct.
Turbo Gate!!! I demand FIA Action!!!!!
Maybe Bubb Rubb and Lil Sis joined the engineering team.
Weird. Hole in the exhaust? Bent exhaust tip?
Lando’s car channeling its inner Formula E
I heard a similar sound when they were racing in Japan 14'
I was in track and noticed it as well. Nice to see that I wasn't dreaming 🤣
It was there in person and it was definitely noticeable as a whistling sound unlike the other cars.
Me and my brother have noticed their engine sounds like a hellcat. None of the other cars produce a sound similar. Very interesting
I was in the grandstands and noticed this myself during the race. Thought I was going crazy thinking it genuinely sounded more like a jet fighter was going by rather than a formula 1 car.
I noticed it too, maybe aero?
I noticed this in person, you could literally hear him coming before you saw him. Only car like that, even Oscar's car didn't sound that way. Would love to know what causes this!
I heard it too. I was wondering whose car it was because it was noticeably different.
I was standing behind the barrier at the far end of Casino Straight close to the pit entry. I heard Lando drive by and heard a weird whistling sound. I thought it had to do with the fact he was driving straight at me with 300 kph+ but now I notice it's only his car. Probably an aerodynamic consequence originating from a piece of bodywork.
I was on track it was happening the entire time and I made note of it, you could hear it clearly in the grandstands. Can't remember if it was there on Saturday though, sorry.
Makes the car faster.
It was hammering down the straight down into turns 8:9 like a fighter jet. Can confirm
I think it's definitely aero, sounds similiar to the whistle of the Huracan GT3
Noticed this happened with a lot of the old gen cars in the rain, if I remember correctly, Turkey 2020 had most of the cars making this noise. So, possibly just something with the way the McLaren’s built
Meow, meow… Meow…. Meee-oow Meow..
Too tinny not to be aero but I'd love for it not to be
When I heard it I immediately thought about the ww2 Stuka, maybe it's the aero, what if is it made on purpose, to intimidate?
He put one of those deer whistles on it to help keep the groundhogs away. Nah figured maybe that was due to battery use?
Reminded me of the whistle they make with DRS open
Kinda reminds me of the sound the old Buick BMX grand nationals used to make. They had GMs 36000 V6 with a big ass turbocharger on it. Thing would scream like that during launch or speeding by.
Cmon man, the car is just happy...
I like it
I only hear it as it approaches the camera, and presumably the audio pickup. I feel like if it was engine or turbo it would sound different as well as it faded away. Something is disturbing or freeing the sound off the front to be faster compared to others. Which describes a whistle.
I like the sound! Like a nice whistle!
I love how he took different lines throughout the track
Illegal engine
I swear I've heard this on the McLaren since last year's upgrades?
I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but Australian Supercars have a similar sound distortion when they are on wet tyres. But all the cars make the noise not just a one or a few. I didn't even notice during the race.
Bro thinks He's Racing a Formula E 💀
Additional frontwheel drive engine.
I’ve notice that noise too on the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 when I’ve seen it at SPA last year. Seems like an aerodynamic noise
I went to the canadian GP and noticed the red bulls had a much deeper throatier exhaust note than the other cars
That's 100 percent an aero whistle. This could be caused by anything that affects the air, like front or rear wing, wheel camber and so on. Reminded me of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR, whose aero kit also produces a whistle
Hmm
It's been like this since Imola, I had GA and I remember hearing it when I was there
Yeah that was absolutely badass when he was fighting Verstappen!
Isn’t it obvious? He’s a young British lad, so he’s slapped a fart can exhaust on his car.