Formula One car development blog

In sharp contrast to the visible upturn of sister team Super Aguri, Honda Racing itself was able to find back performance without making big changes to visible aerodynamic parts. Honda was doing pretty well at the beginning of the season with Button being on pole position at Australia. However, due to tyre and internal team problems, performance fell down while other teams kept improving. As Barrichello got the grips to the Honda, Button and the team on itself lost it completely. It... Read more

At the time the F1 circus arrived at Hockenheim, Renault and Alonso were building up a comfortable lead in the championship. However, the FIA decided to interfere and decided to ban the innovative mass damper solution that was used and approved by the FIA since the Brazilian GP of 2005. Although Renault managed to win the title, Pat Symonds recently said that the fuss seriously hampered Renault's progress towards the end of the season.
The mass damper itself was in fact a movable ma... Read more

One of the success stories of 2006 is without a doubt Super Aguri. The team had been set up in a few months time and refurbished an old Arrows A23 chassis to compete the season with the SA05. At Hockenheim, things improved considerably with the SA06 as the team reduced the weight of the monocoque and had many aerodynamic developments fitted in the following races. The narrower sidepods, new wings, smaller air inlets and differently fitted exhausts totalled for around 2 seconds a lap... Read more

Similar to the adoption of the twin keel front suspension the sidepod vanes are not new but have only been used by few teams in 2005. At the beginning of 2006, Honda, Toyota and Midland each had a version of the elements. The sidepod vane is in all its version located just ahead of the sidepod and above the air inlet. At the end of the season the vanes were for all teams attached at the sidepods. The aim of the carbon element is to improve airflow from behind the front wheels over a... Read more

Yet again it was Ferrari that unsurprisingly had also developed a flexing rear wing that would bend backwards slightly to reduce drag at higher speeds. Few races later the upper element moved downward under the air pressure and created a rear wing that was actually stalling since the slot gap closed. Although several other teams tried to copy the system in order to gain top speeds they never really match the stunning Ferrari. Among the copycats were BMW Sauber, Renault and Midland. ... Read more

The first real discussion subject of 2006 was without a doubt the flexing front wing of Ferrari. Although most wings bend down a little bit at higher speeds because of the air pressure, Ferrari found a very distinct solution to optimise their performance. As the 2006 cars were really underpowered in relation to the grip levels, aerodynamic drag was a vital part for topspeeds, more than has ever been. As the upper element of the wing would prevent flexing, Ferrari allowed movement so... Read more

In the first part of our technical review of 2006 we mark up that most teams have searched for success with different keel designs compared to 2005. Honda, BMW, Toyota and Midland have all chosen for the zero keel, thinking that the aerodynamic benefits would outweigh the disadvantages in front suspension geometry. Looking backward, it were still single (or V) keeled designs that ruled. None of the teams have performed very well in twisty circuits, apart for Button's Honda that prof... Read more

For the first time this season, Ferrari were using different ring types in their rear wheels during one single race weekend. As Carlos pointed out on the forum, both cars were fitted with the big rings as displayed in the image, while after the first race stint they were both fitted with smaller rings, in fact the specification of before the Turkish GP. Contrary to what Ferrari and the FIA state though, the device is certainly an aerodynamic help. While it is considered an allowed b... Read more

At the beginning of the season, Ferrari came up with a double plane front wing. The upper planes were however attached to the nosecone by flexible joints, causing much controversy and the demand to chance the design. As the wing was found legal in after the changes, other teams started investigating the idea and Renault came up with a similar design at Hockenheim. This time around it's Williams who have seemingly copied the Renault design in terms of the upper planes and their curvy... Read more

Unsurprisingly but a bit later than expected, Ferrari introduced a sidepod flipup at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Scuderia follows suit of BMW Sauber and Renault also developed a similar component. Almost every team now has its sidepods fitted with a similar flip or vane to channel air towards the back of the car. While BMW and Toyota seem to opt for a downforce generating element, Ferrari has the same basic idea as Renault in a way that the element straightens up air coming from beh... Read more