After Renault introduced their version of the sidepod shield at Montreal, BMW now also have one. Instead of a shield though, it is more of a winglet, as at the inside of the vertical place, a small wing is attached to push air upwards and gain some downforce. The plates of Renault and Honda do not have any such wing and function only as guidance for the air passing by.
Well yesterday I was talking to manchild and I was wondering why Renault have not developed a midwing similar to Ferrari. While it is simpler than most, the Ferrari is not such a simple car at all.
Also, the sidepod shield of Renault seems to confirm your idea as they were inconsistent as of the USA GP (although that may also depend on their new rear suspension introduced at hockenheim).
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The current FIA regulations can be found on the FIA website
More about these and previous rules can be found in the f1technical regulations section.
It\'s interesting to note that the more appendages todays F1 racers have, the less performance/consistancy they have (look at Toyota, BMW, Mclaren...basically everyone but Ferrari and Renault!) The Ferrari\'s have always been so simple by design and are always competing for the podium. Why is that? Is it ALL in the tires or are there unseen details that the other cars don\'t have? If i were an F1 designer/engineer I would concentrate on the basic design and not waste time on these tricks. It\'s worked for Ferrari.