Formula One car development blog

Red Bull Racing have once again come up with an exhaust and sidepod update after its drastically changed layout only debuted on the penultimate day of winter testing. This time around, the change is far less radical and a clear evolution of what was seen in the final two days at Barcelona.

As Red Bull primarily changed the exhausts to get the exhaust flow down to the car's floor and immediately on top of the diffuser, it is vital for the team that they can do this as smoothly as pos... Read more

At the final day of testing, with cars now approaching they race specifications for Australia, it was time to have a look against what are likely to be two of the strong teams at the beginning of the season.

Hence, we compared them with images from f1zoom, aligning the cars on lines A, B and C. Although we should be careful from drawing too many conclusions from image comparisons due to their slightly different perspectives, there are a few interesting bits we can notice.

First of a... Read more

Sauber have added small wings above the sidepod's leading edge, connecting the sidepod panels to the sides of the cockpit. Essentially these are flow straighteners that help to condition the somewhat turbulent airflow from behind the front wheels.

The aim is likely to get a cleaner flow over the sidepods, an area that has now become crucial with the introduction of the downwash exhaust.

Note however that the wings are made extremely thin, requiring the team to retain the - aerodynam... Read more

Apart from the changed exhaust position, the Red Bull RB8 now features something that no other team has thought of yet. Not only did the team create a nice slope on the upper side of the sidepods to get the exhaust down onto the top of the diffuser, it also has a duct underneath.

The duct simple pulls air towards the inside of the car, just like is usually the case with a narrowing sidepod. The airflow in the central part of the diffuser is particularly interesting, as teams are all... Read more

Red Bull Racing are today fielding an entirely new chassis after getting it flown over this morning from the team's headquarters. While the car also features new wings, which will be covered later today, the most interesting change is an entirely different exhaust position.

While the old exhausts were located very much inboard, blowing right under the upper suspension arms and into the centre of the beam wing, the new exhausts are nearly as far outboard as they can be, and are quite... Read more

Williams was the first team at the Abu Dhabi young driver test to come out of the garage with a considerably different car compared to its current FW33. With regulations for 2012 mandating periscope exhausts to stop off-throttle blowing, the team is already trying a configuration to at least get some track data on the new layout.

As commonly seen during these tests, the Williams team has also added some sensors to verify its simulations. Just like at several Friday practices, torsio... Read more

Williams F1 have introduced another new front wing update at Korea. The British team have certainly taken up an aggresive front wing development programme this year, somewhat similar to what Renault did in 2010. Contrary to the Renault R30 though, Williams' car updates don't seem to move them upward the pecking order.

The new update is a slight modification of the Japanese GP front wing design. It shows a modified leading edge of the main profile, as well as the removal of a horizon... Read more

With the focus now completely on 2012, Ferrari were earlier this week reported of working against the clock to get a new front wing ready for the Korean GP. And somewhat unsurprisingly, they got it done in time.

Ferrari's new front wing is a completely different beast to the previous versions fitted on the F150° Italia. The main plane of the wing is now entirely flat until very close to the endplate. The main plane is now also slotted, and together with a single flap on top of it re... Read more

Sauber introduced a major upgrade on its car, consisting entirely of aerodynamic parts. The team was struggling in the last few races to keep up with its pace earlier on in the season and with it at least a point scoring finish was made possible again. The team though mentions that the update package was planned for a long time and is not a reaction to disappointing performances.

Included in the update is a new rear wing, now with a curved up leading edge in the middle part of the w... Read more

Despite their recent 'fighting form', McLaren knows full well that Red Bull is still the team that is aerodynamically ahead of everyone, especially when it matters blown diffuser performance. It is therefore no surprise to see the British team to simply copy some changes on the diffuser of the Red Bull RB7.

RBR recently replaced the common gurney flaps along the upper edge of the diffuser by small wings, proving a more effective method to help create downforce at the rear end of the... Read more