Ferrari F14T

[stefan_]

2014 Australian Grand Prix - Thursday, 13.03.2014

[Kiril Varbanov]

Here's how the backside of the front wing looks like:


TurboF1 and I have been discussing the number of vertical strakes that are available, and the shadows on the last picture I've got were heavy, hence I was betting on 3. I can see now they are four, asymmetrically placed - a departure from the previous 3-strakes design on even intervals.
IMO this is done to align with the new 7-tier front wing and the smaller width.

[turbof1]

Very interesting picture Kiril! It also seems ferrari integrated the last 2 elements seamless into the endplate. When I was drawing the several parts I was trying to figure this out, but eventually just thought the elements were just seperately placed to the sidewall of the endplate.

[Snelle Eddy]

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't like it that they also brought the old FW to Melbourne. It reminds me of bad years concerning correlation..

Does anybody know if the strakes at the bottom rear of the nosecone (those packed in blue foam) are new? Haven't seen those before.

EDIT: Concerning the blue foam; I'm referring to the Sutton-images, not the image I've posted.

[timbo]

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 763725.jpg

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't like it that they also brought the old FW to Melbourne. It reminds me of bad years concerning correlation..

Does anybody know if the strakes at the bottom rear of the nosecone (those packed in blue foam) are new? Haven't seen those before.

EDIT: Concerning the blue foam; I'm referring to the Sutton-images, not the image I've posted.

It's an early season and there is a lead time. The last thing you want is to run out of spares in a flyaway race.

[diffuser]

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 763725.jpg

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't like it that they also brought the old FW to Melbourne. It reminds me of bad years concerning correlation..

Does anybody know if the strakes at the bottom rear of the nosecone (those packed in blue foam) are new? Haven't seen those before.

EDIT: Concerning the blue foam; I'm referring to the Sutton-images, not the image I've posted.

It's an early season and there is a lead time. The last thing you want is to run out of spares in a flyaway race.

I'm not sure "old wing" is an accurate term. It might be a lower downforce front wing. Melbourne isn't a highdown force trace (if memory serves me right).

[timbo]

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 763725.jpg

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't like it that they also brought the old FW to Melbourne. It reminds me of bad years concerning correlation..

Does anybody know if the strakes at the bottom rear of the nosecone (those packed in blue foam) are new? Haven't seen those before.

EDIT: Concerning the blue foam; I'm referring to the Sutton-images, not the image I've posted.

It's an early season and there is a lead time. The last thing you want is to run out of spares in a flyaway race.

I'm not sure "old wing" is an accurate term. It might be a lower downforce front wing. Melbourne isn't a highdown force trace (if memory serves me right).

That might also be a factor, of course.

[MadMatt]

That rear view picture of the front wing is just insane. Am I the only one thinking that trying to condition your flow like that is too much? I am under the impression that under cornering all this can be thrown away, and as F1 cars spend most time in corners, well...

[alessio]

[f1316]

That rear view picture of the front wing is just insane. Am I the only one thinking that trying to condition your flow like that is too much? I am under the impression that under cornering all this can be thrown away, and as F1 cars spend most time in corners, well...

Isn't that the whole point of these multi-element wings though - the fact that they allow more consistent downforce rather than peak downforce?

Also, surely you agree that getting the flow to do exactly what you want is the aim of the game here; I don't see how it can ever be 'too much' in that regard.

[Gridlock]

I guess that cooling hose nozzle thing suggests there's 5 distinct cooling channels from that sidepod intake? Plus the main one?

[timbo]

I guess that cooling hose nozzle thing suggests there's 5 distinct cooling channels from that sidepod intake? Plus the main one?

http://imgur.com/PAvtjYE.jpg

Maybe they just get more uniform flow that way?

[aleks_ader]

I guess that cooling hose nozzle thing suggests there's 5 distinct cooling channels from that sidepod intake? Plus the main one?

http://imgur.com/PAvtjYE.jpg

That is the best guess we had. Nowadays complex electronic placed all around the car demands all sort of tight operation parameters witch need to be property design. I would say that is also area where will teams win or lose this year championship.

[Postmoe]

I guess that cooling hose nozzle thing suggests there's 5 distinct cooling channels from that sidepod intake? Plus the main one?

http://imgur.com/PAvtjYE.jpg

Lets be occamian. If I were to think about a cooling solution I would go for something simple and allowing flexibility.

They can have 3 or 25 distinct cooling channels, but designing a complex air cooling system there would be a waste of time. what do you do if things move withing the sidepods? With this one they can feed easily the areas they want in different ways during the season.

As previously said, in can be just an easy way to cool homogeneously. The begining of the sidepod is not important.

[bhall]

That rear view picture of the front wing is just insane. Am I the only one thinking that trying to condition your flow like that is too much? I am under the impression that under cornering all this can be thrown away, and as F1 cars spend most time in corners, well...

Isn't that the whole point of these multi-element wings though - the fact that they allow more consistent downforce rather than peak downforce?

[...]

I think I'd prefer to have peak downforce while cornering. In fact, I think I'd even prefer to have a sizable discrepancy in downforce while cornering compared to downforce along a straight.

To accomplish that, I might use something like this...


(Note: the bottom wing is not the same as the top one. I've included it only for better illustration. I believe it's a 2012-spec design.)

It seems likely, to me anyway, that air flow reoriented around the car while it's in yaw alters the flow pattern around the wing in general (blue arrows), which causes any strakes to become vortex generators that then energize air flow under the top elements of the wing (yellow arrows).

Because such devices require a difference in pressure on either side of the element in order to be effective, vortex generators are typically mounted diagonal to incoming air flow. This makes them somewhat draggy.

On the other hand, strakes positioned directly in line with the same incoming air flow will only be effective as vortex generators when the car is in yaw and needs as much downforce as possible in order to turn as quickly as possible. That means they won't exact a drag penalty the rest of the time. That also means the strakes can be made larger, and that there can be more of them. That certainly looks to be the case here when comparing last year's wing...



...to this year's wing.

The goal is to do roughly this, which isn't an easy task with narrower wings:



An inspired engineer might even design upper wing flaps that, given their close proximity to front wheel wake, can only function efficiently with the assistance of vortex generators. That would provide yet another drag reduction.

Of course, I could just be making all this --- up.