Formula One car development blog

The troubled HRT have finally managed to get some new parts through customs, now including a completely new nose and front wing assembly. Because the new nose didn't pass the crash test in time, HRT had to run the old version, including a 2010 front wing which was a bad match with the rest of the car.

At Malaysia, things appear to be on the upper hand, as both cars were running well within the 107% on Friday. Part of this is surely because of the updated front wing which lacks the e... Read more

Once again Red Bull have devised another blown diffuser system, even after rules were made more strict. The team's car now makes use of the energized exhaust flow to separate the laminar flow of the rear wheels from the diffuser's airflow, hence creating a much more efficient diffuser and beam wing combination.

To make this work efficiently though, it is important that flow from the exhausts is more or less constant, or otherwise put, the car's behaviour will be more predictable whe... Read more

After running regular brake ducts at all of the winter tests, McLaren showed up in Melbourne with a gauze fitted onto the brake duct. Knowing that Albert Park is a street circuit in the middle of a park where leafs are all over the track, such a gauze makes sense to prevent any object getting stuck into the duct and preventing decent brake cooling.

Although this certainly is helpful, there is an efficiency penalty as air is slowed down, and as such less molecules will flow into the ... Read more

Apart from McLaren's surprising pace, the current hot topic is again Red Bull's flexing front wing. Last year there were similar worries after which the FIA introduced a beefed up front wing flexing test at the Belgian GP. However, even with the changed test, Red Bull still appear to have a major advantage at high speeds, hence allowing Vettel and Webber to gain a massive amount of time through quick turns.

It is evident that Red Bull passes each and every test, but the team appear ... Read more

Ferrari have appeared at Brazil with a new diffuser modification, introducing its own version of an open fronted diffuser. As marked, the diffuser is now open where it meets the floor, allowing exhaust gases to flow through this opening into the lower deck. Red Bull debuted this type of diffuser, and many teams followed quickly. It is thus surprising that Ferrari comes up with development with just 2 more races to go, especially as this design feature will be outlawed on 2011.

Techn... Read more

As a final update on their FW32, Williams have introduced new brake ducts for both the front and rear brakes. The new ducts feature a shield to prevent airflow into the duct to be disturbed by the rotating front wheel. This design feature is far from new and teams like Renault or McLaren have been running it since the beginning of the season.

It is however likely that Williams have now changed the front brake ducts to better work with the new front wing they introduced in Singapore.... Read more

As part of a big update to its car, McLaren introduced a new front wing at Singapore. The new wing has a totally revised stacked element, in fact the one element featured at Spa and Monza is now replaced by two seperate elements. The outer one is a simple, small two-element wing attached to the main front wing endplate. The wing itself has its own endplate as well, as indicated by an arrow.

The more inward part of the stacked element looks rather more sophisticated and connects to t... Read more

Apart from its new front wing, Renault also brought a new rear wing to Monza. While at basically remained the same, the upper panel was cut out at its trailing edge, apart from the attachment points to the endplates as well as the midpoint of the wing.

Also marked with arrows is the F-duct exit which blows air when the stalling device is not operating. Interestingly, this is the only air exhaust one can see on the Renault from behind, in sharp contrast with Red Bull. Renault have de... Read more

Renault introduced yet another front wing, this time a much simpler one as less downforce is required at Monza. The complicated end plates have become a bit more simple as the stacked front wing element and the winglet outward of the panel were ditched to reduce drag.

Renault did retain the basic structure of the wing, but a V-cut was made into the upper panel, ahead of the inside of the front wheel. While it could help brake cooling, the team's wind tunnel tests had certainly shown... Read more

Virgin Racing have still not given up on development of their 2010 car, and as a result they brought a new rear and front wing to the high speed circuit. While the rear wing is still simple and has less drag through its reduced panel surface, the front wing is a major change.

At least it is for Virgin, one of the new teams. It is well known that Wirth Research and Virgin aim to do cost effective development and only change what gives the most benefit. The front wing endplates are th... Read more