Formula One car development blog

Mercedes reposition airbox behind driver's helmet

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Mercedes' W01 features considerable updates at Spain, including an all new airbox. The team is taking a completely different route in this area compared to its rivals by lowering the height of the air inlet to just behind the driver's helmet. The vertical crash structure is now completely decoupled from that aerodynamic function. In the first 4 races of the season, the W01 already featured this vertical crash protection running through the airbox.

The new design attempt to improve t... Read more

Mercedes experiment with blown rear wing

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Mercedes have also brought a new rear wing to try out the advantages of McLaren's blown rear wing. Both drivers initially tested the new design, but only Nico Rosberg chose to use it during the race, a move which Schumacher dubbed as 'probably a better choice than my opinion' after he found his teammate 0.6 tenths quicker during qualifying.

The new design is still experimental and features a small channel in the middle of the wing. Two small openings in the low deck of the rear wing... Read more

Ferrari try their own blown rear wing

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Although not exactly an F-duct, Ferrari are testing their version of a blown rear wing at Chinese free practices. The F10 sees the addition of a channel up in the shark fin that runs through into the rear wing, with the known rearward slots in the upper deck.

While the shark fin element is now considerably thicker than it previously was, there is at this time no evidence that the driver has any input in this, contrary to McLaren's F-duct design. Air is fetched just behind the airbox... Read more

Ride height control systems are the new must-have

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Two weeks ago, in the parc fermé at Bahrain, the Red Bull RB6 was seen to have an extremely high ride height. In fact the car's suspension was holding the car up so high that the rear tyres were in contact with the car's floor, a position that obviously never be useful when running.

After many speculations, it has now been confirmed that Red Bull, and notably also some of the smaller teams' cars have a special ride height control system that allows them to run the cars lower to the ... Read more

McLaren continue with snowplough design

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McLaren Mercedes have copied the snowplough that featured on the 2009 Williams contender. As McLaren introduced it as of its first test with the MP4/25, Williams dumped it in favour of cleaner frontal aerodynamic.

The system itself is fairly simple in its operation and effectively acts like a diffuser mounted higher above the ground. Part of the airflow under the nose is split left and right of the plough, while everything that flows underneath is slightly expanded, reducing its pre... Read more

Another new front wing from Renault

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After having displayed their 2009 front wing on the presented R30, the team ran a curvy front wing during all winter testing, before introducing this new spec at free practice in Bahrain. While the base profile retains largely the same shape, the cascade element now features a much deeper spoon to catch more air and push it upwards. The item also has extends above the front wing endplate and in fact has its own small endplate attached on the outer edge of the panel.

Also interesting... Read more

Performing tyre changes in 3 seconds

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As the cars completed all the testing that is allowed, the crew on track and at the factory have been practicing pitstops without refuelling the car. While previously the tyre changers were not the critical path of a pitstop procedure due to the longer refuelling time, they certainly will be now.

Williams have stated a 3.5s stop will be "decent", but rumours from Red Bull claims pitstops of under 3 seconds. To optimise this process, most of the experienced teams have designed specia... Read more

Force India introduce outboard mirrors

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Outboard mirrors are more and more becoming the standard, and Force India is now jumping on the bandwagon by replacing its inboard mirrors - connected to the cockpit sides - with mirrors fixed on top of the sidepod panels.

BMW Sauber is one of the teams to have made the same design change during this season. Renault on the other hand are using conventional inboard mirrors after having introduced this type of mirror positioning on their Renault R27.

Renault's last minute front wing adjustment

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Renault have introduced another new front wing. Fernando Alonso tested it on and off during Friday and Saturday free practices before deciding to use it in qualifying and the race. This time it consisted only of a minor adjustment, but considering its position it may well have an interesting influence on the airflow further downstream.

The team added a vertical split panel on top of the wing, approximately where Brawn and BMW have similar items. Renault's version is however only for... Read more

McLaren use new front wing endplates

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In a vigorous attempt to get the team back to the front of the field, McLaren is again introducing some updates on its car. First of all there is a shorter wheelbase version of the chassis - only at the disposal of Lewis Hamilton - which should help handling in the corners and enable a better weight distribution.

Additionally, the front wing endplates were again revised. The previous version, used since the German GP already looks too simple again, with the new item featuring a comp... Read more