Formula One car development blog

BMW Sauber have finally run a front wheel fairing after having displayed them during their car's launch back in Januari. There was no sign of any fairing thereafter, but Honda tried BMW's design and decided to replace it with the more conventional system of Ferrari. Now, both BMW cars ran a new design fairing system during qualifying. The new cover highly resembles McLaren's design, marking a flat panel that does not extend wider than the wheel's rim. The air exit is however vertica... Read more

Ferrari, widely known for its engine with high cooling requirements, have adapted the engine cover at Monaco to be able to cope with the high temperatures. In the streets of the city, top speeds and the average speed over the GP are lowest over all Grand Prix. As a result, there is a risk of overheating the engine. The image indicates that the Scuderia really have shark gills all over the sidepod's upper sides. The gills aside of the engine and on the sidepod top are usual, although... Read more

Williams development is up to speed as new elements are rolling out of the factory quickly. At the Spanish GP, the team introduced a new front wing profile while at Turkey another step was made on the front wing. As a third car now, following Red Bull and Renault, the FW30 is being equipped with a shark fin engine cover. The solution is however more elegant and resembles more the version of BMW Sauber. While the added surface improves rear stability under yaw, the all new winglet fi... Read more

Williams have copied Renault's new upper deck front wing design, just two weeks after the French team first raced it. For Renault it was part of their Barcelona aerodynamic package that lifted the team's performance considerably. As marked in the image, the new wing sports small endplates where the nose bridge and the downforce generating panels connect. Despite being less aesthetically pleasing, the solution allows to put a more aggressive angle of attack to the upper elements whil... Read more

Since Ferrari introduced their front wheel fairing last year at Silverstone, several other teams have been diligently investigating the system and trying to fit it onto their own cars. At the Turkish GP, 6 teams were running front wheel fairings. From top left to bottom right, Red Bull, Ferrari, Honda, Renault and McLaren. Surprisingly, BMW is not running any covers, not at the front or rear wheels, despite showing them off at the car's launch. While many have tested both BMW's solu... Read more

Honda have raced their new W-shaped rear wing for the first time at Turkey. It had previously been tested at Barcelona before the Spanish GP. Previously, Honda's rear wing was a simple shaped horizontal aerofoil with an equal angle of attack over the entire span. For the new wing, the team appear to have started from scratch with some noticeable influence from Ferrari. The element now has a very curved lower element and, as a result, a variable angle of attack along the width of the... Read more

Williams continue to design their front wing independent of what the other teams are doing. The wing that was used in the first three races, as in the lower image, already was distinct as it featured a very smoothly curved base plane profile. This time around, the engineers left the bridge element unchanged, but changed all the rest. The Barcelona spec front wing sports 3 completely separate panels contrary to the previously half open main plane. Apart from that, the leading edge co... Read more

It is no secret that Renault have put high hopes on their Barcelona update, and the Grand Prix even stunned their own guys. Apart from their new elongated engine cover, the French team also developed a new front wing that features important changes to the bridge element. In order to add downforce and driveability, the upper element is now split up in downforce generating aerofoils on each side and a central bridge section. The latter is now an almost perfectly round bow over the nos... Read more

Just like Renault copied BMW Sauber's idea already at the beginning of the season, Toyota have now also seen the light and produced a similar item for their TF108. In fact it looks very similar to Renault's sidepod panel extension. On top of that, as indicated in the image, the panel's leading edge is curved slightly inwards on its lower half of the newly added panel. This detail helps to direct air around the sidepods and towards the gearbox area.
Also in their new package update, ... Read more

All teams have been very busy testing their new wheel fairings during the Barcelona test, but Honda have added an extra bit of value to the wheel covers. Essentially, the covers are a carbon fibre shield that helps with the cooling of the front brakes. Marked in the image are on the right an air inlet to accellerate cooling while on the left a small outlet - pic taken from the right of the car.
Despite being very useful, they generally don't sell well to the wide public as they cove... Read more