wesley123 wrote:The gain achieved by a 'hot floor' will be 0.0 and only overcomplicate things
Not necessarily, though I do agree with you that a heated floor will not be beneficial in any way if it's used as described here thus far. However, it could have value as a heat exchanger to complement, but not entirely replace, the traditional radiator cooling for the engine, which would then allow the sidepods to be shrunk accordingly into a more efficient aerodynamic shape. It would be a sort of hybrid design between tried-and-true conventional cooling and the Brabham BT46, and the F2012's sidepods do seem designed to readily accept such a development.
(Of course, my brain often has a mind of its own, and none of that could make any sense at all. Let that be a grain or two of salt to season your pondering.)