Formula One car development blog

In between the front wheels is where the real improvements have been made to the F2008. First of all, aerodynamic gains have been made to the nose cone which has its shape defined by the upward airflow from the front wing (1). Similar to the F2007, the zero keel was retained (3) while a central hung mass still helps for a low and forward centre of gravity. In fact Ferrari have discovered it should be even more forward. The team therefore added guiding vanes (4) and (5). The plates a... Read more

Ferrari have shown with their F2008 that copying isn't something to be ashamed of. The new Ferrari front wing is very similar to the one that Toyota introduced mid-season in 2007. At that time is was a competely new concept to extend the nose cone to the upper front wing elements. Apparently they have made quite some impression at Maranello. Aerodynamically the implementation is similar to the thickening of the suspension arms at the chassis connection points. Having a smooth transi... Read more

Spyker F1 was again running their Turkey spec rear wing at Fuji this weekend, the first with a curved mainplane for the team this year. In fact it appears as if Spyker have hardly done any development on their rear wing until getting Mike Gascoyne aboard and developing the B-spec car. Back in Turkey however the wing was fitted on the F8-VII and it debuts here on the F8-VII B. While most other teams are already heavily focused on next year, Spyker is continuing to get comfortable wit... Read more

It finally didn't take too long for a team to copy the front wheel fairing from Ferrari. The Scuderia introduced it at Silverstone in its initial form. Toyota now have a similar system with a carbon plate that does not rotate with the wheel itself. As a result, the brake exhaust is always sent downwards to the rear of the car. The location is very similar but Ferrari have a more advanced system in that it has guiding vanes inside the plate opening to further improve airflow. Sooner ... Read more

As part of their latest B-spec car, Spyker is pushing development by introducing several new bits. One of them is this new front wing endplate. It comes together with a new front wing but especially features a winglet that is curved down (as marked by the arrow). All other teams also have a similar element on their end plates but their implementation is a simple plain element without curvature. Basically such items to the endplate help reduce induced drag from the front wing tips ah... Read more

McLaren have updated the cockpit ears by repositioning them to the height of the sidepods. It remains to be seen if this is a measure taken for Monza only or if this will be a permanent development. The winglet itself has largely retained the same shape with a rounded outer edge to decrease induced drag. To further improve on that side effect, the trailing edge of the stabiliser tips are neutral towards the airflow. In effect this winglet will do the same as in its previous location... Read more

After introducing a new nose cone and front wing at Turkey, the Toyota team have already a new wing ready for the very low downforce requirements at Monza. In fact the race version (lower image) follows a front wing with the older nose cone (upper image). Toyota have been planning a new nose to improve the car's general spec while also developing a low downforce front wing for Monza. As the low downforce wing was just ready for testing, it was not adopted to the new nosecone until 7... Read more

In a last effort to further improve their 2007 challenger, Williams have now also adopted the bridged front wing idea. After introducing their fully stacked wing (with upper elements connecting to the nose) and updating it (apart from track modifications) twice in the season, the engineers at Grove developed this new front wing. You can notice that in the middle section the wing will in fact produce lift which could, combined with the downforce generated at the outer edges decrease ... Read more

Toyota is working hard on a comeback and the cars continuously to show improved pace since the European Grand Prix. This time, the team introduced a serious update by redesigning the nose cone and front wing. Such a major update is rather rare these days, even Spyker did not touch the nose cone when creating their B-spec car. The upper part of the image shows the new shape where it is obvious the new cone is much lower and slightly narrower than previously. The underside of the nose... Read more

Once upon a time, Red Bull racing hired Adrian Newey as their technical director. The Briton was immediately assigned on the to-be-developed RB3 which would solve all cooling issues that were experienced with the 2006 contender. Initially the car sported chimneys to provide enough air exit for the radiators, but only a couple of races into the season those were replaced by winglets and a small cooling exit at the base of the winglet strut. The system as used and displayed exits air ... Read more