Brahmal wrote: ↑17 Jun 2026, 03:33
venkyhere wrote: ↑16 Jun 2026, 18:27
Something that has piqued my curiosity, about how the water coolers are located in the 'waterslide sidepod' and how the airflow through them is conducted. I have collected some pics from the internet and tried to make sense of how the airflow passes. I am able to visualize how the air 'enters' but not how the air 'leaves', especially with a barrier/wall placed right behind (inorder to make space for the waterslide).
That "barrier/wall" is a baffle that seals against the outer bodywork to provide a ducting path for the radiator exhaust. As long as it's sealed properly the hot air would be pulled through narrow spaces and
make sharp turns efficiently as it
flows underneath the bodywork of the waterslides into the engine cavity and out from there.
The radiator is lying at (say)30 degree angle to horizontal. The exit air has to be from the face that's opposite to the face through which the cooling air enters, doesn't it ? So IMHO the air has to enter from below (that's how it lines up with the sidepod air inlet, when I look) and leave at the top. Are you saying the baffles are going to make the air turn 180 degrees and then a further 90 degrees to make it's way 'under' the waterslide, and then bend further to enter the main engine room, to finally exit at the rear ? Seems very 'lossy' to me.
a) What if the baffle is just bending the air 90 degrees laterally, 'into' the main engine room, to further be piped another 90 degrees (or close to 90) within the engine cover so as to line up with the main rear exit ?
b) what if the baffle is there to force the air 'up' and get 90 degree bent by a pipe* to then come out of the side cannon exits near the Redbull sign on the side ? (as suggested by @Just_a_fan).
All conjectures involve back to back direction changes, and can seriously cripple the suction effect from wherever the air finally goes out. The fact that they have placed the wall/barrier/baffle right at the rear of the radiator suggests that the benefit to the car from the waterslide is far more than the 'loss' from a compromised cooling flow. But its a compromised cooling flow nevertheless. It's nowhere as 'neat' (from a cooling perspective) as the slat exits slashed on top of the sidepod, like so many teams on the grid have done.
*corollary question - I've been asking this in this thread for I don't know how long - what are the two side cannon exits for ? they have been present on all versions of the sidepod we have seen until now and seem to suggest some kind of heat exchanger placed just beneath the 'window sill' of the drivers cabin. Perhaps that heat exhanger has been removed in this new layout, and the cannon pipe is being to used extract the main water radiators exit air ?
