Formula One car development blog

Well it's more like 6.5, as Mclaren have added an extension in the central part of the main front wing panel. It also features a small gap similar to what BMW Sauber's front wing featured on several occasions this year. McLaren ran this wing only in combination with the new dumbo wings. On Friday, the cars were still fitted with the more conventional one.
Compared to the previous wing on top, you can clearly see the added surface on the high downforce version. Because of these chara... Read more

It has taken the team a while, but Ferrari have eventually developed a dorsal fin engine cover, very similar to the likes of Red Bull Racing, Renault, ... . In fact, currently only McLaren do not have a shark fin but they have obviously been too busy developing their highly succesful new front wing and the dumbo wings.
As is known by now, the dorsal fin is designed to improve the efficiency when the car is in yaw. It straightens the airflow to prevent a reduction of downforce when t... Read more

As of Saturday morning, the McLaren team has modified its cars to run with the new dumbo wings that the team designed. This version is a mix of what was seen previously as it copies the longer wing base of BMW while having similar dimensions to Honda's wings. Interestingly, it does not feature end plates which would be good to reduce wing-tip vortices. The team did however found a solution to that as - marked in the image - the tips are rounded for a smooth transition of the air aro... Read more

Similar to what other teams have been doing, Toyota have added a slot gap in the outer extremities of the bridge wing. The gap is however much smaller than at McLaren or Red Bull for example. The new wing will allow for a slightly higher angle of attack, possibly mainly with the Hungarian GP in mind that is due to be held in 2 weeks.

It took them half a season, but finally Ferrari have also copied the extended sidepod panel concept. It is however far simpler than the panels seen at BMW Sauber or Williams, but there are no doubt reasons for that. The moment of introduction already hints that the team's have has less aerodynamic benefit from such a panel compared to what other teams may gain out of it.
Note how the panel is slightly curved, similar to rival cars. Ferrari did however choose not to change anything t... Read more

McLaren have found the best way possible to reduce drag; just cover up the sidepod inlets. Much of the drag is causes by these inlets, which is why teams try to make them as small as possible, just big enough for cooling. McLaren have either found a very efficient way to provide engine cooling or have decreased the engine's need to be cooled down as the lower half of the air inlet of the right sidepod has been covered up. Previously the change was first seen at the most recent Silve... Read more

Force India have come up with a very elegant solution to add a bit of downforce to the central part of the car. Only three weeks after introducing their new sidepods, the sidepod panel is now connected to the rear view mirror. The new aerofoil can be seen as an evolution of a flipup that many teams used during the Grand Prix of monaco. It helps to create downforce while also pulling up air above the sidepod to improve the rear wing's efficiency.

Having already predicted it several days ago, there is another team that has designed its own shark fin engine cover. This time around it's Toyota. They briefly tested the new part yesterday and today ran it again, although not the entire day.
On Tuesday, McLaren was the first with a new engine cover during this test. Both teams are likely to use the new cover as its benefits have been proven by several other team already during this year's championship. The design meanwhile is simi... Read more

Aside from the shark fins that are being copied quickly by all the teams, there are other elements of interest that teams are eager to test themselves and eventually race them. One such example is the addition of a small wing on both sides of the cockpit, just ahead of the wing mirrors. Renault initially started off in 2006, and meanwhile McLaren and Ferrari have introduced their own version. Now, it's BMW's turn.
Mark the downward direction of the wing. As a result, the wing by its... Read more

I have mentioned it before and will say it again; it stuns me that Honda have mentioned in the beginning of the season that 2008 was just preparation and that they would focus on 2009 while at the same time they come up with new updates every single test.
This time around, the team fitted ears to the cockpit sides, similar to McLaren and Renault. The team also introduced a new barge board which is a compromise between the traditional smooth edge versus the jagged edge design. The ne... Read more