Formula One car development blog

The team have used the new exhaust design already at the Italian GP at Monza, and thanks to seeing a performance improvement, they run it again at Singapore.

The design change abandons the somewhat unique layout Virgin had by blowing the exhaust over the diffuser quite close to the centre line of the car. Instead, the new layout is nearly identical to what can be seen on the Mercedes GP W02. Exhaust gases are now blown out of the side of the sidepods, close to the car's floor. With ... Read more

Team Lotus ran a new front wing on their T128. For the high speed corners of Spa-Francorchamps, the team found it more efficient to have a two element wing, replacing the three element wing that was on the car since the first race of the season.

It's interesting to see that Lotus rely on generating more downforce close to the nosecone, whereas most teams do the opposite. Also particular about the new wing is the smaller slot gap between the base plane and the flap when compared to t... Read more

Mercedes GP have slightly changed their front wing at the Belgian GP by adding a fence close to the inner edge of the wing's main flap. Until the Hungarian GP, Mercedes had the front wing flap adjuster in that place, a remainder of the automatic front flap adjuster from last year.

So, instead of doing it close to the nose of the car, mechanics now have to add of remove 'clicks' off of the flap at the sidepod panel - as is the case on most other cars.

Williams have been trying out different rear bodywork on their FW33 car. The new layout is quite similar to what can be seen on the Red Bull RB7 as it creates a hole above and ahead of the beam wing to allow hot air get out of the sidepods.

With the new exit, the team was able to close the exit low above the diffuser, aiming to create a cleaner airflow onto the diffuser, instead of using the hot air that went through the radiators upstream in the sidepods.

What makes this so interes... Read more

McLaren have added new vanes at the bottom end of the rear wing endplates in order to better manage airflow around the diffuser. Vanes in this area have been copied by Red bull and Ferrari earlier on as they can greatly help generate downforce due to their proximity to the engine exhausts.

It is for the same reason that some or the components of the diffuser and the lower flipup behind the brake duct are coated with heat resistive material to prevent the underlying carbon fibre from... Read more

Lotus Renault have fitted their R31 with an entirely new exhaust system, similar to what most other teams are using at this stage of the season. As all teams copied Red Bull's solution to blow the diffuser with exhaust gases, even though teams like McLaren and Mercedes GP tried Renault's FEE in the wind tunnel, it certainly looks to be the more efficient solution. Renault have therefore developed a similar exhaust, exiting close the rear wheel's inner tyre wall, trying to energize t... Read more

After having tested the new exhausts at first free practice in Valencia, both MGP cars were fitted with outer blown diffusers on Friday, set to race the new system. Even with the FIA changing the regulations to reduce off-throttle exhaust blowing, exhaust system like Red Bull are still putting the exhaust gases where they are most efficient.

With the new layout, Mercedes hope to make best use of the little exhaust blowing that is left in the system, and at the same time try to resol... Read more

McLaren have introduced an entirely new rear wing at Silverstone, completely departing the philosophy the team has followed since the beginning of the season. As the inset shows, McLaren have run an upper rear wing flap with a long chord and were about the only team left to use this extreme design. It allowed for the DRS actuator to be small with little aerodynamic impact, but McLaren found it was not enough.

Instead, the new rear wing has a much smaller uppermost flap. As the regul... Read more

McLaren introduced at Valencia yet another new iteration of its front wing endplate. The new endplate is targeted at catching more air from around the endplate and feed it under the wing's panels. This will increase downforce creation at the outer extremities of the front wing and will certainly influence airflow around the front wheels.

McLaren had other new bits on their cars as well and are expected to have another host of new components at Silverstone, the first event with the h... Read more

Hispania have chosen to continue running their lower downforce rear wing specification at Valencia after introducing it at Canada. The wing's endplates are identical to the previous specification rear wing, but the main flap has been reduced in size.

Particular about this wing is that it's not fixed at the maximum height of the rear wing, but instead is a bit lower to the ground. In fact it's the lower possible according to the regulations. While Red Bull have gone the other way wit... Read more