Formula One car development blog

At the time the F1 circus arrived at Hockenheim, Renault and Alonso were building up a comfortable lead in the championship. However, the FIA decided to interfere and decided to ban the innovative mass damper solution that was used and approved by the FIA since the Brazilian GP of 2005. Although Renault managed to win the title, Pat Symonds recently said that the fuss seriously hampered Renault's progress towards the end of the season.
The mass damper itself was in fact a movable ma... Read more

Just like McLaren and Midland, Renault developed a low drag wing which only consisted of a single horizontal plane. The gap between the two elements of a regular wing became obsolete as that is designed to prevent flow seperation on wings with high angles of attack. Obviously, the Monza spec wings are not of such kind and therefore make such a gap obsolete, hence also decreasing drag. In addition to that, Renault developed their front wing (lower part of the image) for a low downfor... Read more

Renault showed up at Hockenheim with again an updated aerodynamic package. This time around the ears were again replaced by single element wings instead of the double element layout seen at Canada and Indianapolis. These simple items were also present at Magny-Cours. Secondly, a vertical fin was added on the upper front wishbone. It is exactly as far away from the nose as the width of the camera hose positioned just in front of the wishbone. The element is most likely to straighten ... Read more

While Honda have just recently adopted the previous Renault style of front wing upper elements, the Renault R26 will have a new front wing. The new upper element attachment points are based on Ferrari, as the element now spans from the endplate to the nose cone. The nose attachment is very curvy here and could allow the wing to still flew down a bit at both sides, contrary to Ferrari after they changed their wing because the FIA asked to. The new wing is due to debut at the upcoming... Read more

While Renault has been the trend setter for aerodynamics in so far this season, for once the French team has adopted something seen at another team already. As early as last year, Toyota introduced the air guiding panels at the front top of the sidepods. Renault have now developed an element similar to that of Honda. It functions by reducing turbulence from the front wheel and guiding air properly around the sidepod. As for Renault, that means downward, in a bend towards the flip-up... Read more

Renault have brought a new aero package to Canada including several obvious changes to the car. One of these are the "ears" on top of the nose which have now changed from a single element to a double element wing. As the trailing edge is pointing downwards, this element is not meant to produce any downforce but merely guide the air better towards the cockpit area. Practically, the first element of this ear is attached to the replaceable nose cone section, while the trailing element ... Read more

Also at Renault is the new rear wing, that similarly to McLaren's is a fully horizontal element. In contrast, previous rear wings at Renault had its main flap curved upwards in the centre of the car. It appears as if this simpler wing generates less drag, a feature that is highly needed at both American circuits. We may expect the curvatious wings to reappear at Magny-Cours, France.