Formula One car development blog

Even though it has been a point of interest since the very beginning of the season, the possibility of Red Bull Racing to run such shallow rear wings and still retain great traction is something that draws much attention. The team continues to do this as it is seemingly the most efficient way for them to keep up their top speed nearby to what other cars can achieve.

Of course, at Hungary, maximum downforce is required, and there the team ran a very big rear wing, but so were all oth... Read more

Red Bull Racing have been working on the sidepod area to better control airflow at the rear of the car. Part of its update package included a sidepod panel with modified bridge, making one of the vortex generators obsolete. Inward of the remaining vortex generator is a new flow conditioner, similar but less wide than the version seen on the Lotus E21. It is interesting to note that Red Bull's bridge that connected the sidepod to the vertical fence is very neutral, whereas the versio... Read more

Lotus have brought new mirrors to the Hungarian GP, or rather new aerodynamic shells that house the mirrors. The mirrors themselves are regulated to have a minimum area, and all teams are strictly adhering to this very minimum to create the least possible aerodynamic disadvantage. It is for this disruption in airflow that outboard mirrors were introduced a few years ago, only to be banned later on safety reasons.

But, with their location now more or less fixed ahead and above the si... Read more

The Sauber C32 emerged out on track today at the Silverstone Young Driver Test with new bodywork, featuring a brand new downwash exhaust layout. The new sidepod and exhaust design relies on the same principles as the designs used by Red Bull Racing and Lotus F1. Just like with Sauber now, the sidepods slope down quickly and rely on this downward airflow to help push the exhaust flow down onto the car's floor. Additionally, small tunnels are built in the sidepod, underneath the exhau... Read more

Red Bull Racing have likely kicked off a new trend in Formula One, as the team appeared with obvious coating on the car's floor, downstream of the exhausts. With the RB9 having one of the most effective designs to pull the exhaust gases down to the car's floor to seal the diffuser, its carbon fibre floor is also very much exposed to the heat of the burning hot exhaust gases flowing over the floor. Such single sided heat exposure is a risk for the carbon fibre laminate which may end ... Read more

Mercedes have tested a new evolution of the passive DRS, more commonly known as drag reduction device. The team trialled it on Nico Rosberg's car early in FP1 before removing it to get on with more conventional development work. Last week, Lotus also revived its DRD and even debuted it in the race on Kimi Raikkonen's car.

Mercedes' new version clearly underwent development since the Barcelona winter test where the team last tried it. The car configuration with DRD features an additi... Read more

Lotus are set to give 'the device' its race debut at Silverstone. The ducting system, more commonly known as DRD (Drag reduction device) is fitted on Kimi Raikkonen's car. At a time when other teams have seemingly given up all hope of racing it, despite Mercedes, Red Bull and Sauber testing similar designs during winter testing, Lotus is pushing ahead.

The system contains two separate inlet channels, one from the airbox itself, and one other. In Lotus case, this is indeed the airbox... Read more

Lotus have introduced a new bodywork package on their E21 which appears to be a lot skinnier ahead of the rear wing. While Raikkonen was still running the old package, a few times even with DRD, Grosjean's E21 had this new package which looks unsuited for DRD, even though the inlets are still present.

One of the most interesting bits is the outlet of the sidepod's hot air. Where most teams aim to dump that close to the floor or through a Red Bull style funnel ahead of the monkey sea... Read more

In an interesting turn of events, Red Bull Racing have introduced a different nose cone for its RB9 at Canada, one that drops a bulge underneath the nose that was added on the RB8 back in Singapore 2012. Right now, when Ferrari is testing its own nose bulge for the first time, Red Bull crucially drop it, opting for a very flat nosecone.

At the same time, the cameras have also been moved from the tip of the nose to a more traditional position just ahead of the upper front suspension ... Read more

Ferrari were extremely busy testing several aerodynamic configurations of its F138 during the first practice sessions of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Some of the switched components include a new nose with bulge underneath, a lower downforce front wing and the sidepod panels that curve over the top of the sidepods. All this in combination with the longer vs shorter sidepods, something that the team have trouble with deciding which is in fact the best option to go for. Even both ... Read more