McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[Owen.C93]

If an f-ducted front wing is configured to stall only above a given speed (say, 300km/h) it might end up getting stalled all the time when it gets clogged. I don't think that was the case with McLaren in Korea though. But in theory yes, a clogged part can cause an f-ducted front wing to stall all the time.

I'm pretty sure it would be the opposite, the clog would stop the duct working so it wont stall at high speed.

[Shrieker]

Well, with the rw f-duct, to stall it the driver simply clogged a hole with his knee, didn't he ? So I think it can work both ways, depends where the air flow is getting blocked.

[Owen.C93]

Well, with the rw f-duct, to stall it the driver simply clogged a hole with his knee, didn't he ? So I think it can work both ways, depends where the air flow is getting blocked.

By blocking the hole in the cockpit it allowed the air to reach the RW since the driver was effectively plugging a leak in the piping. Not the other way round.

[Shrieker]

Well I don't know why this is still going on, but quite simply a blockage or a semi blockage in an aero system can cause a disruption and loss of df in theory.

[ledzep4pm]

On FP1 this morning they ran lewis with with uncleaned Korea wing, including flow vis. From what Ted Kravits said it sounded like he could see rubber clogged in the slot, also he said the down force loss was closer to 10% than 10 points.

[shelly]

10% of the downforce of the whole car = 45 points
or 10% of the downforce of the wing = 15 points?

[raymondu999]

I think we need to take technical stuff that comes from Ted Kravitz with a slight grain of salt. How exactly did he find out that it was 10%, for example?

[astracrazy]

I'm guessing he asked what they were doing when he saw flow vis and they told him? It is prob 10% of the front wing

[raymondu999]

they might have told him they were doing tests, or finding out what went wrong in Korea - but it's not very likely that they tell him "oh we found out we lost 10% downforce in Korea"

[shelly]

Ok now I got it - Whitmarsh said 10 points and kravitz is assuming it likely means 10%, which puts forward the usual thread "how much is a point of downforce?".

IIRC the issue was settled in that thread

[astracrazy]

they might have told him they were doing tests, or finding out what went wrong in Korea - but it's not very likely that they tell him "oh we found out we lost 10% downforce in Korea"

I thought Whitmarsh has already said it was about 10 points...

[Marco Alves]

New front wing:





Difference appears to be only in the main plane.

[Richard]

Not sure there is any difference. We know they ran the same wing in FP1.

[Marco Alves]

From Scarbsf1's blog:

[PlatinumZealot]

Looks like they have reverted to flat main plain. THat is a loss of a vortex channel. I think they have found more downforce around the back then... Need to look into it a bit more.