Formula One car development blog

As of the Hungarian Grand Prix, both Toro Rosso cars are now equipped with the latest updates from Red Bull technology that have put the Red Bull Racing cars at the front since Silverstone. With a new double deck diffuser, new nose, changed floor, new rear wing with slot opening in the middle part, the STR was clearly more efficient than before - note 11th position of Buemi during qualifying.

However, the update also shows the car's differences, and most importantly the cooling requ... Read more

Renault have had a great deal of work with their sidepods since the beginning of the season, but for the first time this year they have modified the air inlets to provide cooling to the engine and the car's internal parts. The larger inlet was debuted at Silverstone but was used again at the Nürburgring, surprisingly two of the more chilly events of the year.

The team has optimised internal airflow by merging the 2 cooling inlets together and separating the flow later on in the side... Read more

It's not all politics and money in Formula One. Ferrari have slightly changes their car livery by adding a support message for Abruzzo, Italy. This Italian province has been badly struck by repeated earthquakes in recent weeks, making several hundreds of victims. Toyota's Jarno Trulli has earlier declared that he will be looking to raise some money among the drivers for the unfortunate Italians.

One of the positives of the new regulations will no doubt be the return of ungrooved, dry weather tyres. While the FIA has moved to drastically reduce the aerodynamic grip of the car and hence lower the apex speed in fast corners, the increase of mechanical grip will allow the cars to go faster in the slowest corners.
The change isn't however as simple as one may expect, as the tyre compounds and structure will be different. It has also emerged that because of this change, teams wil... Read more

The 2006 season has been above all a year to remember doubtful interference by the FIA, the governing body of the sport. After a pretty peaceful start of the year, the race directors woke up at Monaco after Schumi deliberately parked his car on the circuit during qualifying. The German was, surprisingly, punished for his actions. Later on, it looked like payback time after the mass dampers were disallowed at Renault after a possible Ferrari complaint. All the way through the season,... Read more