Formula One car development blog

As Monza is by far the lowest downforce circuit on the racing calendar, teams usually develop new front and rear wings to achieve higher top speeds. As did McLaren, bringing a new front wing with significantly less frontal surface and without an F-duct, a first for McLaren this year.

After both drivers tested a variety of setups, including a change of rear wings, only Lewis Hamilton decided to use it beyond Friday practices. Jenson Button meanwhile opted for the higher downforce set... Read more

Renault has become the most recent team to add an F-duct, and in fact the last of the established teams to do so. The team was working on the device for months inside the factory, and upon introduction at Spa found it working as expected, a feat that Red Bull for instance did not enjoy at their introduction of the F-duct several races back.

Team manager Eric Bouillier was extremely happy after the race, and rightly so. During the race, the Renaults had top speeds matching those of R... Read more

Ferrari have raced a new version of their exhaust blown diffuser at Spa. The team did not change anything on it since the exhaust blowing principle was copied from Red Bull and introduced at Valencia. The team decided to learn it as they ran it, and now is the first update on the concept.

As marked in the image, the profile of the lower and upper deck have been changed to improve downforce generation by means of the complex flow from the floor, the exhaust and around the sidepods.

The Hungaroring is one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar regarding downforce, and hence many teams introduce new components to improve the car's handling around the twisty track.

Renault have one of the most obvious changes as it introduces a new rear wing, adding quite a bit of downforce to the car. The new device builds on the drop in the wing's centre and extends on that idea, now adding a small slot underneath the main wing. The most interesting bit of this configur... Read more

McLaren have been running a new front wing design since Silverstone, in many ways quite different to its opponents. The new wing - in the lower half of the image - has a slightly revised endplate but also includes a more elaborate vertical support ahead of the inner front tyre wall. While it supports the stacked element, it has now become an important element to manage the airflow over the wing and onto the front tyres.

Meanwhile though they have discovered the performance advantage... Read more

Force India have brought a new pit light system to the German GP. After extensive testing in the factory, the new system will replace the lollipop and should improve average pitstop times for the team. The lead technician will now press a button to switch the light to green.

A similar system was introduced by Ferrari in 2008 but abandoned after Felipe Massa's early exit from the box at the 2008 Singapore GP tore up a refuelling hose. The Scuderia is however again using the system th... Read more

After many teams surprised McLaren by coming up with a blown diffuser at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Woking had its blown diffuser ready at Silverstone, only to find though that it didn't work as expected. Diffusers and exhausts around them are an especially difficult area to model, and it is in this area that teams are suffering most of the in-season testing ban.

McLaren added shark gills on both sides in FP2 but finally decided against the system. Another new attempt will... Read more

Williams have introduced yet another major car update at Silverstone after introducing an effective F-duct at the previous Grand Prix, held at Valencia. The car already showed much improved pace in Spain, but at Silverstone both drivers could confirm their performances thanks to a new blown diffuser.

The change will obviously benefit the FW32 a lot as it previously featured high exhausts that appeared to disturb upper sidepod airflow quite a lot. The new sidepod slopes down much ste... Read more

Just as rumours suggested in recent days and weeks, Ferrari's aerodynamic update at Valencia includes a revised exhaust system that mimicks the Red Bull's design. Rather than exiting the exhaust gases through the upper side of the sidepods, the pipes are now relocated to push gases out just above the car's flow, ahead of the rear diffuser.

At the same time, Ferrari also shielded its lower wishbones to protect them from the heat while strips are added to measure the exact temperature... Read more

With Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve being particularly hard on the brakes, all teams have modified their braking systems to cope with the additional demand. On a full lap, the cars are for 16% of the time under braking, more than any other track on the calendar.

Renault for instance clearly increased the brake duct aperture, catching more air to provide more cooling to the brake discs and pads (notice the difference with the Turkish configuration in the inset). Renault also ran a new ... Read more