Hi to all,
it seems that in the last years front wings are less modified (compared to 90s and early 2000s years) to reduce or increment downforce to match the specific circuit requirements (or at least it appears to be so watching car images and TV).
Someone says it is done so to avoid issues downstream, but if so, how do they aerodynamically balance the car if the front wing is pretty the same from Monaco to Monza?
The front wings are modified based on the circuit. I'd say in the past 3/4 seasons the Monza front wings have really stood out for most teams (excluding the poorest) because they removed the cascades and r-vanes to shed drag, which is a bigger visual difference than in the 90's/2000's.
The aero balance on average will be ~45% on the front axle, but somewhere like Monaco that will be closer to 50% and Monza will be closer to 40%. The changes may be subtle because planform area of modern wings is so big you don't need a big visual change to get big downforce change. In Monza it's common to see the top flaps (smaller incidence, chord and camber) really trimmed out to cut downforce.
The actual profile of the wings is also difficult to judge from photographs, as the shape of the top surfaces may not change significantly while the lower surfaces may be very different.
#aerogandalf "There is one big friend. It is downforce. And once you have this it’s a big mate and it’s helping a lot." Robert Kubica
