Formula One car development blog

Just 15 years ago, a barge board was a vertically mounted plate to guide air more fluently around the air intake area. Several teams did not use such a panel as they found it not beneficial. In sharp contrast are today's F1 cars. The F2007 for instance is equipped with a mixture of panels in the barge board area. While preserving the cut edges at the upper side of the main board, smaller turning vanes have been added to improve airflow. Especially remarkable is a small carbon in bet... Read more

McLaren have impressed in the testing season so far as their cars have often proven to be the fastest among the competitors. While that may not be important, the team is also experiencing very few mechanical problems. In fact only 3 problems arose in the last few weeks of testing, with the last one being yesterday on Alonso's car. The car was fixed surprisingly fast and McLaren have stated the problem was caused by a testing program in that area of the car. Just like with a previous... Read more

In recent years the Toyota cars have become known for their chunky car layout and the use of an incredible amount of fins and flaps all over the body. Although the TF107 looks like an improvement compared to the TF106, the engineers still seem to love to develop fins to fit to the car in every possible area. Looking at the image - a close-up of the outer part of the front wing - shows the regular front wing with above it an extra - red - element, similar most of the other teams by n... Read more

The new Honda has just been launched in its black testing livery but it is already quite obvious the car has gone through serious aerodynamic changes. In fact the team have been following their own filosophy. As a result, their newest creation does not really resemble any other car. The nose cone in particular was made thinner and higher than the Red Bull RB3, the Renault R27 or the McLaren MP4-22. As more air will pass aside of the nose and therefore flow onto the suspension arms, ... Read more

The new Renault R27 mirrors are one of the most eye-catching novelties on the 2007 contenders. After Ferrari came up with the idea to put the mirrors on the outer side or the sidepod, several teams investigated the idea. Together with the sidepod panels that Renault introduced at Canada last year they make for a good combination of minimising drag. The new mirror position is especially beneficial because it is behind the front wheel and not visible on a front view of the car (and th... Read more

The new BMW Sauber has just been released and appears to have undergone a serious diet over the winter. The upper part of the image shows the new F1.07 and compares it to the F1.06 of 2006. The team have visibly put great effort in the front end as the nose has become smaller and thinner than previously. While the tip of the nose isn't much higher, the monocoque is higher to better fit the suspension. Although this might well increase the centre of gravity of the car, Toyota have al... Read more

Contrary to the belief of most people, Ferrari designed a zero keel front suspension layout for their brand new F2007. The upper wishbones are very thick at their base, even more so than last year. Because of the dimensions of the upper wishbone, the lower one has been moved backwards and was made very thin. It attached directly to the monocoque as it fits the description of a zero-keel car. The picture shows that there are actually two thin fins extending to the ground which act so... Read more

The 2006 season has been above all a year to remember doubtful interference by the FIA, the governing body of the sport. After a pretty peaceful start of the year, the race directors woke up at Monaco after Schumi deliberately parked his car on the circuit during qualifying. The German was, surprisingly, punished for his actions. Later on, it looked like payback time after the mass dampers were disallowed at Renault after a possible Ferrari complaint. All the way through the season,... Read more

2006 was the first of a string of F1 years with V8 engines after a rather long period of running with the 3 litre V10 engines. Although engine manufacturers claimed it would not reduce costs (and they were right) the FIA pushed the proposal through since the level of performance was increasing too quickly. The end of the V10 was closed with Honda topping 1000hp before dropping around 250hp when running at Bahrain in 2006. Most manufacturers proved not to be ready but all have gained... Read more

After the fuss with the flexible front wings and while there was still much going on about the mass dampers, Ferrari was in the midst of developing new carbon rings. At first, the rings in the rear wheels were actually ducts, but already at their second appearance the ducts had become simple circular panels that were glued into the rim. At Turkey (see image on the left) the wheels were almost completely covered and in Italy different rings were used during the race. Pat Symonds espe... Read more