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Longitudinal fins on Ferrari rear wing

By Steven De Groote on 22 Jun 2008, 17:43

Ferrari's latest rear wing iteration again features a couple of interesting features which other teams have either not discovered or didn't find interesting enough. One of which are vertical fins as they are usual on front wings. These carbon fibre elements tend to help airflow to move straight along the wing and is particularly helpful under yaw. Previously, Honda made use of similar, larger items on top of their rear wing but had to call that off due to a request of the FIA.
Also marked is an interesting extension of the spacer that prevents the wing gap to close. At the wing's trailing edge, the 2 fins - only one of them is displayed in the image - extend above the wing. As the wing's maximum height is limited by the regulations, either Ferrari have lowered their wing or the FIA is silently allowing the upper extensions.

Comments

By PNSD on 23-06-2008 at 10:39

I thought every team had theirs extended higher??
I think the best example of another team using them as fences is Spyker last year, but you've already got a development blog on that one :p. Spykers were even more prominant I believe, something I thought the other teams would pick up on.

By Steven on 23-06-2008 at 12:16

Hmm indeed, Toyota also have them for instance: http://www.f1technical.net/development/165

Still interesting to focus on though. It's those tiny details that make it all that much more interesting ;)

By PNSD on 23-06-2008 at 19:29

its details which make F1 the most premier motorsport in the world.
some of the bits around the bargeboards just amazes me! its ever so complicated. Was interesting to hear JB's comments on Sunday that once his bargeboards were gone he said the car was virtually impossible to drive!!

By bhall on 23-06-2008 at 20:45

It's not just Ferrari and Toyota who have them. McLaren, Renault and BMW have them, too.

By sasquatch on 23-06-2008 at 23:06

It is part of regulations. All teams have to have them

By Steven on 24-06-2008 at 10:57

@sasquatch: The regulations stipulate that there must be a spacer to prevent the two panels from closing. As far as I know there is nothing that says the elements should extend above the upper panel.

By JVogt on 25-06-2008 at 19:11

I can't remember by how much, but the regulations do indeed state that the shape of the 'spacer' must extend normally from the wing surface by 'x' amount. Thus, they are all similar to those shown in this image.

By Steven on 26-06-2008 at 12:46

Hmm I'll check that one out, apparently I missed something ;)

Still curious what is the puspose of such regulation though...