Formula One car development blog

McLaren continue to develop their new mirrors located hidden behind the front wheels. Lewis Hamilton's car was first seen with the two extra mirrors at the latest Bahrain test. While the usual mirrors were still present, the outboard ones were fitted to the sidepod vane. It was a similar solution to what Renault had come up with. The similarities continue however as during the Sepang test, the outboard mirrors had an extra support to prevent the mirrors from shaking under high speed... Read more

Although the newest Super Aguri is definitely a derivative from the Honda RA106, the team have developed the aero package over the winter. One of these new things included a new double front wing. The lower part of the image shows the new wing. It has a surprisingly flat upper panel compared to the Renault or Ferrari versions. The drivers hit the track with it on Friday but later in the weekend switched to another, simpler wing. The upper image is the front wing driven in the race a... Read more

As reported earlier in this blog, Renault have integrated their rear view mirrors onto the sidepod panel. Ferrari gave the example of hiding the mirrors behind the front wheels in 2006 after which several teams adopted the idea in their 2007 competitors. The initial Renault design as it appeared at the launch and winter tests apparently proved a little too weak in order to maintain good driver visibility at high speeds. The team have therefore added a small extra support for the mir... Read more

All aerodynamicists in F1 agree that these days the performance gains come in details, rather than revolutionary designs. Now McLaren have relocated the front nose camera position to gain an extra bit of speed. Ferrari have also adjusted the location of the camera so that it would not prevent the front wing from working efficiently. In fact one might even think that it helps the front wing in some cases. Since engines are now hardly different in terms of power output, every little a... Read more

As Bahrain was the final test before the start of the season, teams had to finalise their setup for the initial GP at Australia. Unsurprisingly that led to aerodynamic changes all over the cars, with Scuderia Toro Rosso adding an extra fin on the front wing endplates. Knowing that simple changes of the FWEP can lead to downforce differences up to 5% of the overall it is obviously an area of focus for the teams. The extra fin and the lower plane of this end plate are bent up slightly... Read more

Finally Toyota have got rid of their front wing that was seemingly composed of an unmatched series of flaps. Instead the team now follows suit with Ferrari, Renault and Williams by introducing an extra wing above the base panel, spanning from the nose to the end plate. The design is similar, although the attachments to the nose cone appear to be well thought out. While Renault have opted for small attachments points on the upper side of the nose, the Toyota design features more stra... Read more

Formula One car design today is basically to optimise the car's bodywork in order to make the wings and the diffuser work as efficient as possible. The slightest change in the rear wing can quickly induce an important downforce or drag change. Spyker tried to do so by bending the end plates towards the outer sides of the car. This will cause air under the wing to flow faster. Since faster air directly means lower pressure, the downforce generated by the rear wing will be increased. ... Read more

BMW Sauber have displayed a highly competitive pace during the winter season. Quickly after the initial shakedown a new front wing was introduced that makes it hard to decide whether it has 2 or 3 horizontal planes. Yet again BMW Sauber have found a simple solution by making a cut into the upper - second - panel. It is really impossible to predict the effect of this change although the extra split in the middle of the wing will increase the downforce and drag generated under the nose.

The test in Barcelona from 12 to 14 February saw McLaren introduce a few new aero bits, including small wings on each side of the monocoque. The idea is copied from Renault who have been running similar devices since the Canadian Grand Prix of 2006. Only available to Alonso during the test, the 'ears' are positioned like an airplane wing and therefore do produce lift instead of downforce. The primary reason for such a compromise is improved airflow towards the rear of the car where ... Read more

The new Spyker car is not only painted in a new colour, it has also been completely redesigned. At this time it even appears to be one of the most aerodynamically changed cars of the field. The nose area has especially required a lot of attention as the team perfected their front suspension to a functional zero keel design. The visual similarities with a twin keel originate from the turning vanes, located at the exact same position as where the keels are usually located. The new lay... Read more