Turning vanes extract extra speed of RB6
The constant quest for cleaner airflow around and below the car made Red Bull to adopt a small set of turning vanes under the nose at China to optimize the airflow towards the lower part of the car. The vanes are positioned in between the front wheels, ahead of the wheel axle.
The new turning vanes are similar to Ferrari's items and of course triggered a series of other changes to the car.
The front wing was modified with a new inner flap profile, simplifying its shape. The area where the principle flap meets the endplate has been revised having now less volume and a new shape in an attempt to separate better the flow of air entering the two venturi channels (pointed by a and b notes) under the wing.
Meeting the air first, the simpler front wing inner flap shape may still offer a similar amount of downforce but now causes significantly less vortices behind it. The less disrupted flow of air from the plane is then guided outwards by the outer surface of the turning vanes. At the same time a clean and undisturbed airflow enters under the wide and thin nose cone the channel created by the mentioned before set, is sped up and finally split by the car’s floor extension. One part of air goes under the car’s floor and another one over the sidepod bottom sides. To decrease drag , because of the sped up airflow, the team reduced the sidepod panels width to let more air “bleed” freely through the inner panel-sidepod zone.
