Formula One car development blog

The new wider front wings have caused the endplate to have a significantly different function than was previously the case. Instead of trying to direct air in between the front wheels, this year's endplates aim to direct air around the front wheels. While some teams debuted their cars with solutions to move air both sides of the front wheels, the Brawn way has proven more efficient. Although not the only team with this approach, the front wing endplates of the BGP001 show intelligen... Read more

Formula One teams often open up extra cooling apertures in the bodywork to allow better cooling for the car's internals. The hot temperatures have forced Red Bull to open the tail end of the engine cover, just where the shark fin begins. Additionally, on each side of the cockpit, one small opening was made. Any aperture further away from the cockpit is impossible due to this year's regulations.

Equally interesting is to see how the car is designed to provide as smooth as possible ai... Read more

Because of a considerable simplification of upper bodywork, the aerodynamicists at Williams are spending a lot of time to investigate the efficiency of the car's underbody. It is well known the this part of the car can bring a lot of downforce with a low drag penalty. For the same reason, the team developed their double step diffuser which reportedly is good for 15% more downforce compared to the simple designs that follow 'the spirit of the rules'.

More at the front though, at the ... Read more

Despite various regulation measures to simplify the aerodynamics of current Formula One cars, teams are exploring all possible areas where some gains can be made. In this early stage of the season, the area under the nose and ahead of the sidepods looks to be interesting for car development, mostly because it's not that strictly regulated.

While some teams have designed more complex splitters, Ferrari have chosen to continue using barge boards, albeit smaller ones than before. The u... Read more

As the teams are coming out with their final Melbourne aerodynamic packages, Red Bull once again drew all the spots to itself with a new type of shark fin never seen before. While all previous versions could be considered an extension of the engine cover, the new one actually connects to the rear wing. The element stretches up to the maximum height of the car, connecting the top of the airbox with the midpoint of the upper rear wing element. As such, the rear wing is effectively sp... Read more

Development is still going on at a devastating pace ahead of Melbourne, and Williams have come up with a new solution to optimise the airflow around the driver's helmet. This area is well known for being 'trouble', hence lots of progress can still be made there. The new solution somewhat resembles the famous BMW Sauber 'towers' positioned ahead of the cockpit. On the FW31, the extensions aim to straighten airflow aside of the driver to better guide it towards the rear wing. Such des... Read more

Just two weeks after the initial tests, Renault has already introduced a modified nose cone, building upon the foundations that were laid out at the launch. The tip of the nose is now a little more rounded to reduce drag.
The underside however now sports 'side skirts' all along the sides of the nose, in between the front wheels and extending to the splitter. The new design will help even more to benefit from the low pressure area underneath the nose.

Although interesting, Renault is... Read more

It's been a while, but Red Bull have brought the pull rod back to Formula One, and with reason! The last pull rod dates from 2000 with the low nosed Arrows A21 which featured a pull rod. Because of Red Bull's choice to create very low sidepods at the back end, a push rod did not make much sense as the suspension components would prevent a clean airflow anyway. Hence, the new version has allowed the designed to put more components close to the car's floor, lowering its centre of grav... Read more

Red Bull have always claimed that taking the time to develop the new car would prove right, and thus far it appears to be true. From all launched cars, the RB5 is without doubt the most interesting. Those who expected a dull car from Adrian Newey don't know their history too well, as the designer tends to shine upon radical regulation changes.

This time around, the RB5 has the most advanced front wing out there, featuring a triple element base wing that points sharply upwards ahead ... Read more

Strangely, the more you seem to look at the F1.09, the more louvers, also known as shark gills - you discover. I have already reported about the little outlets close to the car's floor, but there is a series or openings just aside of the head protection bumps on the car's body. Being located so close to the car's centre line, this falls just within the regulations.

Article 3.8.4 states (among other notices) that no openings are allowed in "the volume between the rear face of the coc... Read more