Formula One car development blog

Even though most teams still use the S-ducts, even when featuring narrow nose likes like on the Renault RS20 or Mercedes W11, it seems like McLaren will once again opt against an S-duct. Last year, with the introduction of the MCL33 car, the team switched to a narrow nose, and at the same time ditched the S-duct. It might be less advantageous to have an S-duct with a narrow nose, but the most likely reason why McLaren opted against is to be able to package things closer, while still... Read more

Alfa Romeo have maintained a similar front-end philosophy compared to what featured on its 2019 contender. While many other teams went for narrow noses, Alfa stuck with the regular, flat-top nose cone with apertures at the tip of the nose to feed the S-duct.

The picture shows how the new Alfa continues to feature a very wide S-duct outlet, almost the entire width of the nose cone and just a few centimeters in height.

Left and right of it are new winglets since the second test at Bar... Read more

Onboard images from the first day of testing at Barcelona have revealed that Mercedes' new W11 features a steering wheel assembly that moves forward and backward - apart from the obvious rotational movement to steer into corners.

The recording, coming from an onboard shot of F1TV, shows how Lewis Hamilton's steering wheel moves towards him when coming on a straight, and forward again when nearing a corner.

As Mercedes have meanwhile confirmed this is an additional way for the driver... Read more

It was just 2 years ago when Pirelli attracted some negative publicity with tyre cuts at the same Spa-Francorchamps when on Friday and Saturday, images revealed considerable standing waves in the rear tyres of some cars. It's a known phenomenon, but the intensity of it at Spa even left some top engineers without explanations.

Perhaps the most obvious occurrence was the one on Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes F1 W08. As he exited the chicane and powered up onto the start finish straight, th... Read more

Thanks to the bankrupty and public sale of some assets of the former Marussia F1 Team, we now get to take a very up-close look at some of the car's parts from 2014. Peter Bjorck for instance has bought a number of Ferrari engine parts, including the water-to-air intercooler and the unique butterfly wastegate from the Ferrari 059/3 engine as it ran during the 2014 season, the first year of the new hybrid turbo engines in F1.

In the below clip, Peter walks us through the intercooler, ... Read more

Following up on their videos on regulation changes, Mercedes have now highlighted the impact of these changes on the power unit.

In essence, it comes down to coping with the difficulty of having more full throttle each and every lap, while having to work against the increased drag that comes with the additional downforce. The increased stresses that will be put on the engine have resulted in a slightly heaver power unit for Mercedes, whereas the cooling requirement have also gone up... Read more

In a strange twist of events, fans have actually managed to create a little extra area for freedom of design in Formula One cars. The repeated calls for increased engine noise have made the FIA to request an investigation into what could be done to enhance the noise output of the new V6 Hybrid engines. The result of Magnetti Marelli's investigation, during which the company's engineers repeatedly visited F1's engine supplier dynos was that an additional exhaust pipe could resolve a ... Read more

Honda have spent 3 of its 7 development tokens to resolve some of the most important issues of the carmakers' current F1 power plant, and subsequently made the upgraded engine specification available to McLaren for initial running on Friday at Spa-Francorchamps.

Part of the engine's upgrade include modifications on the combustion chamber, the intake and the exhaust system layout in an attempt to increase efficiency. The team have also reduced mechanical friction by changing the gear... Read more

Following a year of running with a very compact log style exhaust (as pictured) in 2014, Mercedes have now chosen to ditch the concept and go for a more conventional equal lenght exhaust manifold as seen on the 2014 Renault engine.

An obviously different noise coming from the Mercedes powered cars yesterday was followed by a further confirmation from Mercedes' Head of Engines at Brixworth, Andy Cowell that the new Mercedes 2015 power unit, named PU106B, features an 'entirely new exh... Read more

Since the introduction of Formula One's new thermal camera images, there has been talk about the relevancy of the images, leaving apart the obvious coolness that is associated with it. It is for sure that such imaging will help people understand the complex nature of Formula One, and increase the technical interest in the sport.

Before going into what we've been seeing, one needs to take into account that the images are not meant to give away technical details that other teams could... Read more