Formula One car development blog

Despite Kubica's recent concern of the car's development, the pace of the BMW Sauber was relatively good. As what is probably one of the final improvements to the F1.08, the team added a little extra flipup behind the chimney. Each little bit of extra downforce is a help at the twisty corners of the Singapore street circuit.
The rear wing on the other hand did not undergo development. It is the exact same wing as the one raced at the Hungaroring, a similar high downforce circuit.

Aside from the shark fins that are being copied quickly by all the teams, there are other elements of interest that teams are eager to test themselves and eventually race them. One such example is the addition of a small wing on both sides of the cockpit, just ahead of the wing mirrors. Renault initially started off in 2006, and meanwhile McLaren and Ferrari have introduced their own version. Now, it's BMW's turn.
Mark the downward direction of the wing. As a result, the wing by its... Read more

For a low downforce circuit like at Montreal, BMW have reverted their nose cone to the design that was visible at the car's launch. On the right is the spec of Barcelona, which clearly shows the wings on top of the nose cone. While it helps to create downforce, such winged nose cone does create an amount of drag that is unwanted at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The left part of the image is the Canadian specification.

BMW Sauber have finally run a front wheel fairing after having displayed them during their car's launch back in Januari. There was no sign of any fairing thereafter, but Honda tried BMW's design and decided to replace it with the more conventional system of Ferrari. Now, both BMW cars ran a new design fairing system during qualifying. The new cover highly resembles McLaren's design, marking a flat panel that does not extend wider than the wheel's rim. The air exit is however vertica... Read more

As part of its ongoing aerodynamic development, BMW Sauber have designed a new component that sits between the sidepod panel and the barge board. While it's initial sidepod panel was rather simple and small, the new unit adds yet another aerofoil to the already overloaded BMW Sauber. As the image points out, the lower attachment to the bargeboard incorporates a winglet at the tail of the board. At the upper end, it assists to smoothen turbulent air from behind the front wheel. An in... Read more

The front area is something that was studied very carefully, and apparently the aerodynamicsts must have learnt quite a bit from the recent McLarens. The nose cone in particular is very much alike the MP4-21 of 2005. It has a similar height, thickness and width. The front wing is a little more in line with BMW's last designs but still is a three element wing hung up on the second one, typical designs of a McLaren. Even more, since the MP4-18 every McLaren has its front wing extend a... Read more

Although it might take a second look to see it, the new BMW Sauber has been developed intensively over the winter. Most of the work has gone into the sidepods which now appear to be a step ahead to Ferrari and McLaren. The rear end is so small and low that there was no choice but to lengthen the root of the flipups to be able to attach them to the chassis. The void that was created beneath the flipups is also handily used to add a couple of small winglets. It is however surprising t... Read more

BMW Sauber's new F1.08 does not sport anything revolutionary, but the development has taken a huge leap over the winter. The sidepods have been the main focus of attention. The image clarifies the aerodynamics around and inside the sidepod by yellow flowlines. First of all, the undercut has been deepened to allow more air to flow smoothly around the pod and onto the diffuser and rear wing (1). The same goes for the airflow over the sidepod (3). Intelligent placing of the cooler in t... Read more