Formula One car development blog

Since the Spanish Grand Prix, Red Bull have new rear wing endplates that feature an extension behind the diffuser. Pioneered on the Toyota TF109, McLaren have been using a similar design since the beginning of this season, and as of the Spanish GP have gotten company by Ferrari and Red Bull. All designs feature a number of fins, considered in the regulations as part of the rear wing endplate.

Because they are allowed to extend down to the level of the reference plane, they are parti... Read more

The Sauber C30 underwent a face-lift at the Spanish GP as several different updates were added to the car. One of those is the new turning vane combination, attached to the bottom of the nose cone. The new version has one smaller vane outside of the nose cone, with another one behind it, positioned a little more inward.

The newer design provides the car with better front airflow management in combination with its all new front wing. By placing the second vane more inward, more air i... Read more

Mercedes GP have made no secret of their issues of managing the rear tyres, and they have moved to resolve that issue through some aerodynamic tweaks. Since Turkey, the W02 had a small turning vane fitted on top of the car's floor, just ahead of the rear wheel. This element tries to keep exhaust gases away from the tyre's frontal surface and instead guide them onto the diffuser.

Other teams are having much less issues here because most, including Red Bull and its copycats, channel t... Read more

Ferrari have been trying out several versions of its rear wing during the Friday practice sessions at Barcelona. On the top right of the image is the version that was also raced at the Turkish GP. It features a typical Red Bull style dip in the centre of the trailing edge of the wing. The endplate of the wing is designed with 3 slot gaps while the lower panel has a very pronounced upward curve on its leading edge.

The newer version on the top left have a much less upward angle at th... Read more

Among other updates, Sauber have introduced a brand new front wing design at Barcelona, with both drivers testing the wing during Friday practice sessions. The new wing appears to put the emphasis of creating downforce in the area just ahead of the front wheel, whereas the flap part closest to the car's centreline has less surface to allow a more clean airflow towards the sidepod inlets.

As ever, much performance is found in the front wing endplates, and as such the design has evolv... Read more

The Turkish GP saw the first major update on the Ferrari F150 since the team found out a serious problem between the correlation of their windtunnel with track performance. The Italian team is struggling to correctly measure vortices and are therefore now verifying their updates in Toyota's windtunnel which has a PIV system to accurately measure airflow and feed it back into CFD systems.

At Turkey, both cars featured new front wings and different brake ducts. While the stacked eleme... Read more

While most teams are planning major upgrades at the next event at Barcelona, Force India brought a considerable front aero package to Turkey. Paul Di Resta and then Adrian Sutil tested it in the Friday sessions, not to see it return for qualifying or racing. The team mainly ran the device to get a first benchmark of what to expect.

In essence, the package brings a brand new front wing that sees a third panel added. The wing itself looks very simple, even the stacked element lacks an... Read more

Williams F1 started the season with high hopes after it was so proud of developing a new extremely low gearbox. This allowed the designers to clean up airflow at the central rear part of the car. While early performance measures during winter tests were still promising, a real race weekend quickly showed the car's lack of speed.

By that time, Williams were already working hard on a now exhaust solution. When Red Bull showed up at testing with their exhausts blowing around the diffus... Read more

Mercedes GP's W02 has been struggling with overheating issues ever since it hit the track during winter testing, and it seems the team have yet to find a definitive solution. After adding shark gills at various locations on the rear end of the sidepods, at China a new cooling opening suggests that wasn't sufficient.

Replacing the 3 small gills is now a single large opening, exactly above the engine exhaust. The hole exposes the exhaust pipe to the viewer as it helps to evacuate hot ... Read more

Force India F1 have followed Ferrari and McLaren in adding an extension to the wheels to help brake cooling and control the wake behind the front wheel. Since teams started adding static wheel fairings at the fronts and dynamic carbon fibre items glued inside the rim, the FIA put down some regulations that limit freedom, but nonetheless still allow some creative benefits. The additions must now be a rigid part of the rims and be made of AZ70 or AZ80 magnesium alloy, just like the ri... Read more