Formula One car development blog

There has been a lot going on about the carbon rings that were introduced by Ferrari. While it is allowed by the FIA as an aid to help cool the brakes, the dubious element has now evolved in such a way that hardly anyone could state it is not meant for reducing turbulence. The new ring is now larger than ever and seems to only have opening in the middle for wheel changes. Although Toro Rosso and Toyota adopted a ring too, it is surprising how few teams actually copy the device. Coul... Read more

Although the 3 week resting period is considered a break, most teams have developed new things. The new front wing on the Midland could not be tested before but results in the windtunnel proved it a worthy new element. The new spoon shape in the middle is now similar to that of BMW's front wing. The lower part of this image displays the new wing and shows an extra horizontal fin was removed from the front wing end plates. Still, the wing has three elements contrary to the front wing... Read more

The 'new' SA06 is already here for its third GP, and it is still not very clear whether it is the step in the good direction that the team was hoping for. That it sported lots of changes is clear, and the lower flipup in front of the rear wheel is even more proof thereof. The item is somewhat similar to that of Midland and even Ferrari, albeit located lower to the ground. The element here is meant to provide extra downforce and possibly reduce drag as it has the same shape as the ma... Read more

Although not new, the twin keel setup of the SA06 is worth a look. Even the SA05 had a similar keel layout as it too was an update of the Arrows A23 to comply with current regulations. Previously at Arrows, the keels (the right one is marked in the image by 1. ) stretched out vertically from the monocoque to the height of the reference plane. However, because of changes in the beginning of 2006, the technical regs now say "All bodywork situated forward of a point lying 330mm behind ... Read more

Toyota have introduced a new front wing at Turkey as previously announced by their technical manager. The new wing has a leading edge that is more towards the design of other F1 cars today and looks like a move away from the body design method Toyota seem to have had with their recent cars. The upper part of the image is the front wing at Hungary while the lower part is the new front wing as displayed in Turkey. Aside the new shape of the base element, a new winglet introduced at Hu... Read more

Just like Toyota, Williams seem to need some extra winglets in order to have the required amount of downforce needed on a circuit like the Hungaroring. Instead of one element, three were present in Hungary. An important difference with the Toyota setup however is the fact that all of these small wings are pointing upwards and therefore work opposite to the Japanese items.

The team that gives you wings has now grown some wings and removed a few ears on the car. As of the Canadian GP the team used Renault-like nose ears just above the track rod to allow better airflow above that rod and reduce any effect that would have on the surroundings. These have now become obsolete and are replaced by small wings positions more in front. Just like the ears, they do not create downforce as a single element as they point downwards.

Only as recent as at the GP of Germany, new winglet were noted at Toyota, and this time around they have added one more. A little lower than the ones already there is a new wing that has a similar shape to the other white element. Also visible on the image are the gurney flaps at the bottom of these two trailing winglets, resulting in an upward force of the wings, contrary to what one may expect. The aim there is to get more air onto the rear wing and do so in a clean flow.

Toyota continue their impressive development pace with yet another update. This time the winglet in front of the sidepod inlet has been changed in order to gain downforce in the middle of the car. The size of the vertical plate has been reduced while the wing at the inside of it is now pretty similar to that of the one seen at BMW.

While Renault have been running double flipups since the beginning of the season, Ferrari have now adopted a similar thing too, be it a little smaller of what we see at the French team. The extra element was introduced at Hockenheim and used again at the Hungaroring. It is attached on the upper element at two points and adds to the reduction of air resistance on front of the rear wheel.