New dominant area of aero development for 2012?

[godlameroso]

Given the restrictions for next year does anyone have any ideas as to what will be next years hot aero topic? I feel that we will be hearing a lot about through chassis aero. Meaning the way air flows through the chassis, and whoever comes up with the best solution will have a leg up.

[jekenev]

I think we'll be seeing more aero stalling devices i.e. mercedes front wing

[Shrek]

I would think exhaust be one, also i wonder if anyone will try out/improve McLaren's 2011 radiator inlets.

[WhiteBlue]

Packaging for aero efficiency and maximum downforce. This means we are not going to see big differences and great gains over the season unless something like the double diffusor happens again. I also put some money on Adrian Newey to get it right again.

[shelly]

I agree with godlameroso; since this summer I think sidepod aero will be tha main topic

[Javert]

Flexing of front wing will be an area to develop: not for getting front downforce, but for the interactions flows are getting with the floor to improve rear efficiency

DRS will be an area to develop: you have to find a compromise with a high downforce, long chord wing and a lower downforce, shorter chord wing. As you have less downforce from the diffuser than last year, I think wings will look similar to the McLaren's first-part-of-the-season one

In general, it will be interesting how teams will react to the loss of the blown diffuser as "negative" vortex will appear again The way you can manage the flow near the tyre and how much rake you can mantain without the EBD will be the key for performance next year.

Also, the quality of the materials used in the construction of the floor will be important: lighter materials than this year when there was so much heat

[scuderiafan]

I don't think we'll see an F-Duct, double diffuser, EBD, etc. but more efficient packaging of the aero like WhiteBlue said. I'm hoping to see teams play around with the DRS. Supposedly, HRT had a wing that was cut out to meet the minimum chord length, like Renault's 2010 Monza wing.

[MIKEY_!]

Flexing of front wing will be an area to develop: not for getting front downforce, but for the interactions flows are getting with the floor to improve rear efficiency

I'd be using it to gain downforce, but then run less AoA or cut away the inner sections of the flaps. Same DF, much less drag, better rearward flow.

[Just_a_fan]

The front wing is effectively drag free anyway compared to the rest of the car. It will be heavily developed this year as it is so powerful in conditioning flow that is used by the rest of the car. I expect to see some interesting little devices / tweaks on the front wing as teams try to get the flow to places further back on the car that benefit downforce production. How much scope there is to do this on the cars these days is an interesting question however - they are already highly developed.

Remember the outflow wing on the Brawn when everyone was messing around with the DDD? Brawn stated then that the diffuser wasn't the big issue and it took the other teams a while to latch on to the endplate design but when they did they caught up very quickly. I think if a team can come up with an idea like that, that isn't obvious but is powerful, then they'll steal the early part of the season.

I'd be looking at Newey and his team to come up with something interesting this year again.

I do think that sidepod design will be interesting. What would be good would be a combination of the McLaren and RedBull sidepods. Cut out at the front and very tight at the rear. I wonder if that's possible though - lots of stuff to package.

[Ferraripilot]

Radiator designs and their effect on sidepod designs. I can see this being a big talking point this coming season. MB and Ferrari both supposedly have something interesting in the works and Mclaren is probably going back to a more traditional arrangement. Mclaren's new implementation certainly interests me as I am sure they learned a ton with their 'u' pods. Getting airflow to the back of the car will of course be the purpose of all this.

[Richied76]

i think we may see more track specific aero setups. maybe 4 or more "optimised" DRS wings that teams can use, rarther than a wing thats developed all year. Same with front wings. And no doubt there will be creative ruling interpretations.

[marcush.]

frankly speaking the question is :did everyone interpret the new front minimum height the same or has someone found a clever route to meet the rules AND improve their package by implementing their idea.
All those great and different ideas are only lots of elbow grease and long design hours when there is no additional performance is coming with it.
Have all teams found ALL answers for not delivering in 2011? I doubt this ...and I could imagine teams are building reverse engineered RB7s at least in part to get an idea of areas where RedBull really scores .
To me it is:very clean unfuzzy surfaces not trying to force air where airmaster wants to have it but attracting the air to flow in certain directions ...
It would be logical to look in areas of inner flow for the last bit of additional flow /shedding drag-more discreeted Radiator design and more elaborate/delicate construction is my bet along with rethink in front suspension design