Red Bull RB11 Renault

[raymondu999]

They are moving from an upwash design to an outwash design. I wouldn't be surprised if the cascades change to a Merc style soon. To me the change makes a lot of sense. An upwash design is fine back then when the front wings were the full width of the tyres, but since reduction in width last year, the flow off the end of the wing should see much higher blockage from the front tyres, which makes an outwash design a more logical design choice for me.

If you watched Scarbs latest video where he talks about Merc's newest front wing, he mentions the long lead times to design and make one, making me think this change wasn't a recent decision. It might be they revaluated their front wing philosophy after PP left and realised maybe Vettel's struggles with the car is partially contributed by the rear end ingesting dirty air off the front wheel wake which is insufficiently controlled by an upwash design. Else, I don't see a reason why they would totally switch philosophies if the upwash design is sufficient.

If it was indeed a PP thing - surely the McL design would reflect as much?

[Matt Somers]

https://twitter.com/SomersF1/status/588980229068214273

[Advino116]

They are moving from an upwash design to an outwash design. I wouldn't be surprised if the cascades change to a Merc style soon. To me the change makes a lot of sense. An upwash design is fine back then when the front wings were the full width of the tyres, but since reduction in width last year, the flow off the end of the wing should see much higher blockage from the front tyres, which makes an outwash design a more logical design choice for me.

If you watched Scarbs latest video where he talks about Merc's newest front wing, he mentions the long lead times to design and make one, making me think this change wasn't a recent decision. It might be they revaluated their front wing philosophy after PP left and realised maybe Vettel's struggles with the car is partially contributed by the rear end ingesting dirty air off the front wheel wake which is insufficiently controlled by an upwash design. Else, I don't see a reason why they would totally switch philosophies if the upwash design is sufficient.

If it was indeed a PP thing - surely the McL design would reflect as much?

It does.If you look back last year. McLaren trailed a new front wing in Abu Dhabi (I think) that is almost an exact copy of the Red Bull front wing in terms of end plate philosophy shortly after PP officially joined them. They are using that same philosophy this year, whereas Red Bull has moved away from it.

I am not an aerodynamicist though, so this is just my theory on how the front wing philosophies work and why Red Bull changed it. Take it with a inch of salt.

[turbof1]

Back in Abu Dhabi it was nearly an exact copy. Nowadays it has been developed somewhat further. However, it's clear that Mclaren continued with the PP philosophy, while Red Bull moved away from it.

It doesn't mean one is better then the other though.

[Morteza]

https://twitter.com/SomersF1/status/589085693747535872

[turbof1]

It took me 2 hours to adapt existing sketches to have illustration of the new wing, but here goes:

Old wing:


Full wing:

[PlatinumZealot]

Is this healthy?

I noticed that too, made me cringe. No wonder they're having Brake Problems.

Saw it too.. Fortunately the brakes are very light and the hoses are equally as strong.

[Godius]

https://twitter.com/F1/status/590113755092090880

[dren]

It's evolving closer to what Mercedes used to have.

[turbof1]

https://twitter.com/F1/status/590113755092090880

The right inset is actually the 2014 pre-Sepang wing (yes, the actual wing used during the 2014 Sepang weekend was another different one)

http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 94#p499294

[GoranF1]

the rear wing endplate,the front wing endplate,and the shape of nose(not tip) have something in common. Any guess?

[Moose]

the rear wing endplate,the front wing endplate,and the shape of nose(not tip) have something in common. Any guess?

If this involves elipses....

[aral]

the rear wing endplate,the front wing endplate,and the shape of nose(not tip) have something in common. Any guess?

yes. they are all made of carbon fibre! what is my prize?

[GoranF1]

the rear wing endplate,the front wing endplate,and the shape of nose(not tip) have something in common. Any guess?

yes. they are all made of carbon fibre! what is my prize?

wrong

[GoranF1]

2014 Mercedes RW endplate

2014 Mercedes front wing endplate

2014 Ferrari downwash nose cone design


it makes me wonder did Adrian Newey took too much credit for Peter Prodrumou's aero work over the past years when "originality" was te name of the game at Redbull!?