Alfa Romeo C43

[vorticism]

Looks like the Alfa's diffuser walls get sucked in at speed. Stealth DRS.

[Vanja #66]

Not something you'd want mid-corner...

[scuderiabrandon]

Not something you'd want mid-corner...

Ik this isn't AR related but I feel like it on-topic

RB19 seems to be doin it aswell

[vorticism]

+1 Have I stumbled upon the mythical dOuBLe DRS?

Not something you'd want mid-corner...

You'd think not, although it would depend on the corner and DF requirements, plus it would be linear and predictable like any other bodywork deflection. FWs deflect quite discernably, even through the tippest of toppest high g corners, yet the drivers are unaffected. I might be seeing things, but that wall looks out of square. Physics would demand this regardless. The lower rear corners of the diffuser are unsupported large cantilevers, and the high pressure side pushes inward upon them. The question is, does this occur at the scale of fractions of a millimeter, or at the scale of several millimeters?

[Vanja #66]

Ik this isn't AR related but I feel like it on-topic

RB19 seems to be doin it aswell

https://ibb.co/nPtLv4B

To be honest, those walls look parallel to me. The left rear tyre though, looks like its about to slide off the rim and into the diffuser

You'd think not, although it would depend on the corner and DF requirements, plus it would be linear and predictable like any other bodywork deflection. FWs deflect quite discernably, even through the tippest of toppest high g corners, yet the drivers are unaffected. I might be seeing things, but that wall looks out of square. Physics would demand this regardless. The lower rear corners of the diffuser are unsupported large cantilevers, and the high pressure side pushes inward upon them. The question is, does this occur at the scale of fractions of a millimeter, or at the scale of several millimeters?

Yeah, it's bent inwards no doubt, at least 15mm in my view This would be good on straigths, slight decrease in diffuser expansion means pressure recovery (vs non-decreased diffuser volume) but in the middle of the corner you lose downforce. Mix that with non-linear floor behaviour of going over a kerb, vibration of the whole car... There's a reason RB, Ferrari and other cars have a big structural rib close to the edge of diffuser.

[vorticism]

I think they all do (last year's car below), it corresponds with the diffuser stays (as it relates I think this phenomenon might explain the appearance of the strange and unique to F1 inner corner buttresses). As long as stable downforce is achieved the deformation of parts isn't necessarily a problem from the standpoint of the driver. The deformation of the front wing being a good example. Raises a good point about: how much deformation is acceptable vs. how much deflection is irrelevant vs how much deformation is beneficial or by-design.

Pretty sure they're both reflections. The small one is a reflection cut in half due to the matte finish body wrap (it disappears in the image below). The taller one is where the diffuser wall thickness steps down. From cored to solid CF. This wouldn't befall the minimum radius rules, but could still provide a face for these reflections.

[Vanja #66]

It's always a trade-off and a compromise. Front wing flap deflection is fairly simple to calculate and simulate, as well as all the resulting changes (if any) to flow structures downstream. The biggest diffuser wall deflection is relatively far from diffuser roof so there is little to no direct influence on the pressure on the roof. However, it still does reduce the expansion and that can have adverse effects.

The key word is predictability - can you predict exactly where and how it will affect upstream floor performance. If you can do it with significant certantiy, you're looking at an interesting drag reduction mechanism. That said, in my view this amount of deflection is too much. We've already seen a lot photos of these cars on straights and I'm sure the community here would've noticed other cars doing the same thing, it is quite noticable

[vorticism]

Yup, parts bend. The planar diffuser wall would be even easier to model and simulate compared to a four element front wing with two elements deflecting asymmetrically about two pivots and an anchor--not that it really matters. You might want a diffuser to do this, but it would befall the rules, be easy for the FIA to ultimately test, and the gains would seem trivial (the diffuser's not shrinking THAT much).

[organic]

Rosario Giuliana

Peek at the underfloor. Can see fences and general keel profile

[chrstphrln]

And an air intake on the keel that looks like the front grille of an old 300SLR.

[organic]

New endplate corner for low df wing



From @danielealofan on Twitter

[organic]

Lawrence Barretto

I'm told Alfa Romeo will have a new front suspension for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. The team are trying to cure their problem of only being able to get their tyres up to temperature on the second lap.

[lio007]

Nice photo:

[101FlyingDutchman]

Nice photo:
https://twitter.com/tgruener/status/169 ... lAhBw&s=19

Did they bulk buy Mercedes front suspension assembly?

[organic]

Floor update for Alfa Romeo at Singapore. To me it looks like they've focused on the forward part of the floor edge, a place where small geometry changes can extract a lot of performance (as any improvement here propagates upstream through the floor fence VG system.



Full body comparison to earlier in the season with comparable angle for if anyone else can spot changes / refer back to in future: