Formula One car development blog

Ferrari have released a complete new aero package for the rear of their car during the Barcelona testing. While the team is said to have a brand new cooling system in the car, apparent aerodynamic changes were added to further support the increase in efficiency. The engine cover is now more curved in the upper part. Since FIA regulations state that the airbox must have a specified minimum surface and because Ferrari engineers cut out some carbon in between the rear wheels some surfa... Read more

After McLaren showed up at the Spanish test with an upper element on their front wing, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Honda were the only teams that didn't have any form of upper element on their front wings. Spyker and Super Aguri are both running somewhat old fashioned items as the others have elements running from the endplates to the nosecone (or over it in McLaren's case). This new Red Bull wing changes this with a design that appears to be a mixture of the Renault and Williams versi... Read more

As all teams have brought updates to Barcelona, Ferrari and especially McLaren are catching most sights. The Woking based team have developed a front wing with a "bridged" upper element over the nose cone. While most other teams attach their upper flaps onto the nose cone McLaren may have developed an improvement to that. The new layout obviously has increased potential if air above the nose needs to be conditioned. It also allows changing the angle of attack of it, contrary to the ... Read more

Toyota appeared at yesterday's Barcelona test with an updated chimney. While previously (upper part of the image) it was quite bulky and possibly hindering efficiency of the winglet just behind it, the new one is more curved. Just like about every bodywork element the curves are designed to follow the airflow in order to decrease drag. At Toyota the chimney is still connected to the winglet. The new solution appears to be quite more elegant than the outdated design that was present ... Read more

As of the beginning of tyre testing with Bridgestone, Renault realised the weight bias had to move forward compared to what the team used with Michelin. However, as testing went on, it appeared more was needed, and so the team decided on a redesign of the highly efficient nose to a cone with more internal volume. The nose of the R27 (above part of image) resembles more to the nose of the R25, which afterall was the predecessor of the R26 (lower part of image). The solution that Rena... Read more

Spyker was expecting quite a bit of their new aero package this weekend, but due to Sutil not completing a single lap and Albers suffering an engine failure early in the race that potential did not show. Part of the new package is the new sidepod shield as displayed down in the picture. The above part shows the previous item that was used at Australia and resembled very much that fitted on the M16. The new panel is different in a way that it's not anymore meant to create downforce ... Read more

Ferrari have chosen to add a few shark gills to their sidepods in order to better cool the car down. Although Renault stepped away from the gills last year with the introduction of the V8 engines they still appear to be needed at hot tracks. It is mainly Ferrari now who implement this solution more extensively than Renault or any other team. Since the Ferrari engine isn't particularly known to keep its head cool, we may conclude that the Ferrari chassis does rely less on rear hot ai... Read more

Having in mind that Malaysia is one of the hottest venues of the year and therefore requiring lots of cooling, one may ask himself why Williams is not opening up their chimney more instead of having the exhaust area decreased. The basic reasoning behind this is the aerodynamic effect of the chimney itself, which by its shape forms a Bernouilli wing. It creates downforce as the air underneath moves faster than above. It is however a questionable approach which Williams is using for s... Read more

Red Bull have used the Malaysian test last week to improve their aerodynamic package, resulting in a new rear wing. The lower image shows the wing that was used by both Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing in Australia. The new wing is not curved up anymore in the middle but instead has a dropping leading edge all over the span of the wing, except for both ends where they are a bit cut off. As seen with other teams too, the trailing edge of the upper element has been cut off towards the e... Read more

Bridgestone have been thinking of ways to mark the option tyres so that they are visibly while the cars are driving. The Australian race showed that the big white circle painted on the sidewalls of the tyres was not a very good solution. Two alternatives were tested in Sepang. One consisted of a bigger red dot on the sidewalls, while the other was to paint one of the tyre grooves white. As the image shows this is by far the better solution. Bridgestone has therefore decided to use t... Read more