Lotus E20 Renault

[godlameroso]

If indeed the wings have torsional deflection like it's believed, then I think I know why they use those little fringes on the inside edges of the front wing. Most birds have similar fringes at the end of their wing spans, they open when they fly slowly, or need to maneuver, in other words they increase lift, but also increase drag. If tuned properly they could give a downforce boost at low speeds, and as car speed increases the front wing rotates and slims the profile of the fringes thus reducing drag. The Red Bull car like usual ahead of everyone else in this regard.

[madly]

[madly]

[RB7ate9]

The strakes on the outside of the rear-wing endplates:

Under what rules are they allowed? (i.e. is there a free 50mm space on the outside?) What do the strakes contribute? It seems like they're too small in terms of aspect ratio for effective downforce generation.

[Forza]

India - FP1

[foxmulder_ms]

Really nice pictures =D>

[AnthonyG]

What do the strakes contribute? It seems like they're too small in terms of aspect ratio for effective downforce generation.

They work together with the tyres (and coanda) perhaps?

[Forza]

Lotus Technical programme notes

-We ran the Coanda exhaust system on both cars for the first time following its successful debut with Kimi in Korea.
-New bodywork around the exhaust area to better harness and utilise the Coanda system was employed on both cars.
-Kimi evaluated the latest evolution front wing.
-Pirelli’s hard compound tyre was used in the morning, the hard and soft used in the afternoon.

What we learned today:

-We’re confident we’ll be able to put in a good showing tomorrow.
-We need to find more pace on the hard tyre, but soft tyre pace is good.
-We are yet to reach a conclusion on whether we will use the updated rear bodywork.
-The front wing will be used by both cars for the rest of the weekend.

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "Both drivers got up to speed pretty quickly on a new track once more. We spent the morning session evaluating the new front wing and some new rear diffuser parts ; we need to investigate further the diffuser parts but the new front wing looks good so we’ll run it with both cars for the remainder of the weekend. We were able to conduct an uninterrupted FP2 programme, running both tyres reasonably early on, followed by a long run on the soft compound. We’re missing a little pace on the hard tyre so we’re investigating our tyre temperatures and pressures, however on the softer tyre our car looks very competitive on both low and high fuel loads. It would be nice to squeeze another two or three tenths out of the car in qualifying, but nevertheless we confident of the potential for a good show tomorrow."

India - Friday free practice

[RB7ate9]

The strakes seem to lead to a panel that is perpendicular to the endplate itself. It seems almost like a gurney flap. Could it be to create a low-pressure area just behind it to pull more air in from the rear wing? Or perhaps to reign in some of the vortices off of the endplates to reduce drag? Hrm.

[godlameroso]

those strakes are there just to clean up some of that airflow rolling off the outside of the endplate, Ferrari has some on the outside of their endplate as well. By removing turbulence in this area it helps all the way to the front of the car.

[wesley123]

are both cars running different rad lay outs or is it a different left compared to right?

[RB7ate9]

those strakes are there just to clean up some of that airflow rolling off the outside of the endplate, Ferrari has some on the outside of their endplate as well. By removing turbulence in this area it helps all the way to the front of the car.

Rad. Does this aid for both drag and downforce?

[Chuckjr]

those strakes are there just to clean up some of that airflow rolling off the outside of the endplate, Ferrari has some on the outside of their endplate as well. By removing turbulence in this area it helps all the way to the front of the car.

Could it be possibly they are to push the outside wing edge air directly upward so as the inner and outer rear wing air meet they are both moving in an upward directio -- reducing friction coming from the inner rear wing area? Maybe this accelerates the outer wing edge speed to help pull air upward just as the inner air us traveling? We all know how high the rooster tails are behind the rear wing...

This may be about improving the rear wings efficiency?

[amouzouris]

Lotus DDRS??

Are there any more photos of the rear wing?

[imightbewrong]

Lotus DDRS??

Are there any more photos of the rear wing?

Access to the hydraulic lines for the DRS, it is not new.