2009 Testing - March (Jerez & Barcelona)

[axle]

New diffuser?

Certainly is! New central section! Finally they've changed it!

[myurr]

New diffuser?

Yes. Although that one shows an open exhaust hole... having just commented on the previous photo of it being closed!

[axle]

I'll put a fiver on the section above the diffuser changing in the next 8 days. I predict a Williams esq finale.

[myurr]

What's interesting about the diffuser is that it's still following the spirit of the rules, rather than exploiting loopholes like the Brawn, Toyota and Williams. I wonder if that's because they're expecting the other cars diffusers to be protested and subsequently banned?

[axle]

What's interesting about the diffuser is that it's still following the spirit of the rules, rather than exploiting loopholes like the Brawn, Toyota and Williams. I wonder if that's because they're expecting the other cars diffusers to be protested and subsequently banned?

It's indeed a risk at the moment - though to wait until the day before to ban it would be incredibly bad form on the part of the FIA...after all Williams asked them in MARCH 2008 if it was legal! I could understand McLaren hedging their bets, working with a restricted version as a worst case...

[myurr]

I'll put a fiver on the section above the diffuser changing in the next 8 days. I predict a Williams esq finale.

If anything it looks more like a blocked off version of the Brawn solution. But yeah I reckon they're testing it blocked off to make sure it works in that state with a view to opening it up if the Brawn, Toyota and Williams diffusers get a green light in Melbourne.

[myurr]

It's indeed a risk at the moment - though to wait until the day before to ban it would be incredibly bad form on the part of the FIA...after all Williams asked them in MARCH 2008 if it was legal! I could understand McLaren hedging their bets, working with a restricted version as a worst case...

The FIA do have form on that though, initially approving designs only to subsequently ban them at very short notice.

[Clubber]

I suspect that the FIA's view (unofficially of course!) will be that because the three teams who have the 'better' diffusers weren't top of the grid last year, that it's a good thing to allow them a bit of a head start - Ferrari, Renault, McLaren will all catch up soon enough.

[ben_watkins]

Yep.. new difuser. The middle section is totally new new.

[jwielage]

I'm not so sure that their current diffuser design is a result of them hedging their bets.

While I am no expert, it appears to me that given their rear-end the williams/toyota sollution could result in a sub-optimal design. From that picture it appears that the upper edge of their diffuser also serves as the bottom of the rear end of the car. Making way for a williams/toyota solution would appear to foul up their current rear end design. Installing, what is effectively, a higher diffuser would appear to interupt the air comming over the side-pod and exiting below the rear wing, thus inducing additional drag.

So maybe this diffuser design just doesn't work with the rest of the car. I am assuming this is the case with Renault and Ferrari as well. Otherwise I think we would have already seen them impliment these designs as clearly they have some advantage. The fact that they are protesting these designs suggests that they simply cannot make them work on their cars, as they had rulled out these designs very early in the car's development.

[chasefreak]

1. K. Nakajima Williams FW31 1:17.494 69
2. H. Kovalainen McLaren MP4-24 1:17.946 +0.452 55

times have improved quite a lot....
now even mclaren have dipped into the 1.17's

[Keir]

McLaren have been running two diffuser designs today then by the look of it.

[jddh1]

does someone have all current diffuser photos of all cars and if yes, can you post them one after the other? that would be interesting to see instead of going back page after page

[axle]

does someone have all current diffuser photos of all cars and if yes, can you post them one after the other? that would be interesting to see instead of going back page after page

There is an entire thread in aero with them all.

[alelanza]

EDIT: nvm, as pointed out by Axle this is Rosberg from 2 days ago


Nakajima flies off the track:

http://www.mundomotorizado.com/foros/do ... p?id=22021