Mclaren MCL40

[Brahmal]

I think you're misunderstanding me. I am not saying that Mclaren/RB have a "better concept" than the Ferrari wing. Pressure recovery isn't the primary purpose of these wings. It's drag reduction. For that, it would be impossible to know without a windtunnel.

I didn't mean to imply that you were. Raw drag-reduction is still one factor among many even if it is primary; it may make sense to sacrifice some of it if this decision can bring additional benefits elsewhere to outweigh the loss.

[AR3-GP]

I think you're misunderstanding me. I am not saying that Mclaren/RB have a "better concept" than the Ferrari wing. Pressure recovery isn't the primary purpose of these wings. It's drag reduction. For that, it would be impossible to know without a windtunnel.

I didn't mean to imply that you were. Raw drag-reduction is still one factor among many even if it is primary; it may make sense to sacrifice some of it if this decision can bring additional benefits elsewhere to outweigh the loss.

I would agree, but the rotation direction doesn't affect the drag reduction. A flipped over wing is a flipped over wing no matter if it was back rotated or forward rotated. So none of the teams are compromising the drag reduction through their choice of rotation direction.

The drag reduction effect would simply be related to the position/shape of the wing, the load it sheds when it's upside down, and how it may trigger additional drag reduction in the mainplane and the floor if it interacts with them. I cannot confidently say anything about who has done the best job there. That requires a wind tunnel.

[Brahmal]

I would agree, but the rotation direction doesn't affect the drag reduction. A flipped over wing is a flipped over wing no matter if it was back rotated or forward rotated. So none of the teams are compromising the drag reduction through their choice of rotation direction.

I broadly agree with that but Ferrari probably does gain a small drag benefit simply from not having an actuator pod, so there is a bit of a connection. However if they had known that just stacking a bunch of winglets on their pod would be legal, they might have gone a different direction when formulating their original design.

[AR3-GP]

I would agree, but the rotation direction doesn't affect the drag reduction. A flipped over wing is a flipped over wing no matter if it was back rotated or forward rotated. So none of the teams are compromising the drag reduction through their choice of rotation direction.

I broadly agree with that but Ferrari probably does gain a small drag benefit simply from not having an actuator pod, so there is a bit of a connection. However if they had known that just stacking a bunch of winglets on their pod would be legal, they might have gone a different direction when formulating their original design.

Fair point. I also think that Ferrari got a baseline drag benefit from removing the pod in the middle.

I have a theory that Ferrari loses the most drag, but then I can't really prove it. Just a hunch that they have an interaction going on with the flick tail system that's bigger than any other car and the macarena effect might be more powerful because of that. Mclaren (and RBR) don't have such a developed flick tail, so in my head they are missing something, but again I can't prove any of this without a windtunnel.