Formula One car development blog

It just appears like every other week a team introduces its own shark fin engine cover, named by McLaren as a "top body dorsal fin". What's in a name. Needless to say, the item works similar as with Red Bull and its copycats, helping to maintain the car's stability while cornering. The rear cut-out around the rear wing's leading edge is at the same time preventing that the rear wing's efficiency would decrease when the car is in considerable yaw.
It's now a waiting game to see when ... Read more

Wheel fairings have become fairly normal by now, and most teams have identical designs. At the rear, every team used a fixed shield with a central opening, both allowing the mechanics to fit the tyres and to provide an exhaust for brake air (and dust).
Toyota have now given a new twist to it as they designed a venting shield. Instead of a closed carbon disc, the element consists of small, identical aerofoils that allow hot air to escape from the wheel. More specifically at the upper... Read more

Just as most other teams, Williams have now also developed a downward extension to the sidepod panel. The approach differs from what is already on competing cars as the lower end does not directly connect to the barge board. Instead, the floor was extended to create a base for a connection point. On the upper side, Williams have also taken the chance to develop their sidepod panel further and enlarged it towards the front wheels.
All in all a very elegant solution to condition the t... Read more

Despite being focused on their 2009 programme, Honda have introduced another aerodynamic evolution to their RA108. This time, they replaced their traditional midwing with a version that connects the engine cover with the T-wings. The midwing itself has thereby moved about 30cm forward and is curved more down than before.
The development is however not new and resembles that of BMW Sauber. That team have had such an item since the beginning of the season, and yet no other team had copied it.

Force India have finally got rid of the huge chimneys that the car is featuring since the inauguration of the team. The team now developed a new sidepod cover that effectively closes the chimneys and adds a considerable amount of shark gills to provide enough cooling for the engine.
The upper image is the new design as seen at the British GP, while below is the version used at the French GP. The image clearly shows how the winglet's outer endplate is now a continuation of the closed... Read more

After half a season with the highest nose tip of all cars, the Honda engineers have found they were pulling the shortest end and have designed a longer nose with a much lower tip. The development is however surprising as the team earlier declared that it would be focusing fully on next year's car.
Last season, Toyota made a similar, though less drastic move to improve the frontal grip upon corner entry, and it appears that Honda have learned from their fellow Japanese team.
Also not... Read more

McLaren have taken front wing development to yet another level again. After having used a triple element front wing for several years, first the team introduced a bridge wing that was recently split up in two elements at the outer sides. At Silverstone however, the MP4-23 featured 4 panels - two grey and two red. The complexity is in stark contrast with the front wing of Force India, having only 2 base panels and simple nose-connected deck wings.

Although Mike Gascoyne already announced a couple of major updates for this week's Silverstone test, we were a bit surprised to see Force India with an extended engine cover. Similar to Red Bull and Renault, the team developed a windscreen that helps stabilise the car while cornering. The uprise of these designs can also be explained by this year's banning of traction control which tends to put the car more regularly under yaw than was previously the case.

Toyota have introduced yet another front wing development at Magny Cours. In fact the team has a modified front wing at almost every circuit. The version for the French Grand Prix was very different to the one run at Canada (upper image) but resembles in some aspects the Monaco version. The main plane for instance retained a similar profile (1) while the spoon shape was also identical (2). There are however also brand new changes to the wing, all mainly aimed at improving stability... Read more

Ferrari's latest rear wing iteration again features a couple of interesting features which other teams have either not discovered or didn't find interesting enough. One of which are vertical fins as they are usual on front wings. These carbon fibre elements tend to help airflow to move straight along the wing and is particularly helpful under yaw. Previously, Honda made use of similar, larger items on top of their rear wing but had to call that off due to a request of the FIA.
Also ... Read more