Ferrari F14T

[WillerZ]

Surely corrosion is a low priority because they have such a short life? I'd expect the priority would be the smallest sized radiator for least impact on aero, hence heat transfer would be top of the list, followed by weight?

I think you are right, and that makes Titanium the best option: because it is so strong (per weight and per volume) you can make a titanium radiator with precise shape and thermal transfer characteristics which will stay within that spec as you go through a 5G corner 45 times an hour for two hours.

If you used a weaker material, even if it were theoretically better at thermal transfer, it would need to be larger to have sufficient structural integrity to survive to the end of the race while still meeting the cooling demands of the engine. It's not what's the smallest/lightest thing that works on lap 1 that wins, it's the smallest/lightest thing that's still working at the chequered flag.

[fasterthanyou]

It will be interesting to see if that cooling system will survive the Bahrein test session. It was cold in Spain and the engine wasn't running at full speed...

Bahrain is not hot though at this time of the year with maximum temp around 20 C. Malaysia, on the other hand...

[stefan_]

Nice view of the flow going on the rear part of the floor.


photo via @VictorM_F1

[el-Magico]

I thought F14T's drive shaft was covered?

[Alonso Fan]

Suppose not

[mkable1370]

I thought F14T's drive shaft was covered?

First good pic of the exposed Ferrari drive shaft I've seen this year. Williams also ran with the drive shaft exposed at Jerez. I wonder what the benefit is.

[wesley123]

The rotation of the drive shaft creates a bit of downforce. However, the amount of downforce changes with the speed the drive shaft is spinning at, thus making the downforce created inconsistent.

[Alonso Fan]

Wouldn't that be illegal? As a moving part is being used for aerodynamic effect. (and to add to that, would the mclaren butterfly suspension also be illegal because of the same reason?)

just trying to understand

[timbo]

Many teams dropped covered drive shafts this year.
I think this allows to have a part of A-arm, drive shaft and toe link working together to be effectively longer than if that was under a single cover, thus it acts as flow conditioner for the diffuser.

[Chuckjr]

Nice view of the flow going on the rear part of the floor.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bgdi_7bCYAAmS07.jpg:large
photo via @VictorM_F1

For those that can read flo vis...

Does the air flow shown in the flow viz pattern on this shot above look good? It looks consistent and attached to my novice eye.

[eslam1986]

Wouldn't that be illegal? As a moving part is being used for aerodynamic effect. (and to add to that, would the mclaren butterfly suspension also be illegal because of the same reason?)

just trying to understand

no it is legal as it was used without cover till newey cover it in rb8 as i remember tnen other team follow him as ferrari last year .

[eslam1986]

Lorenzo De Luca : Ferrari in Barhain will use the same chassis used at Jerez, in Maranello after more than 1000km of testing, found no weaknesses in it.

[Alonso Fan]

Wouldn't that be illegal? As a moving part is being used for aerodynamic effect. (and to add to that, would the mclaren butterfly suspension also be illegal because of the same reason?)

just trying to understand

no it is legal as it was used without cover till newey cover it in rb8 as i remember tnen other team follow him as ferrari last year .

ok, thanks, that's cool, but what about red bull using something a couple of years ago, something to do with the wheel hubs? The FIA declared it as a moving part used for aerodynamic effect, and redbull had to take it off, so why is mclaren butterfly suspension legal?

i don't understand

[Matt Somers]

Enclosing the halfshafts in the lower wishbone was a trick that most the field used last season having seen RBR doing it for some seasons. It had/s a two fold purpose, as already mentioned by virtue of the magnus effect when uncovered the halfshafts create a nominal amount of their own downforce but obviously this is linear to the speed of the shaft. With teams looking to gain from EBD's the shafts rotation affected the trajectory and consistency of the EBD's and so shrouding them eliminated this problem. (The most critical point in terms of downforce generation is of course low to medium speed, at which point the shaft is at it's lower inertia and therefore creating less direct downforce. Disturbing the flow and direction of EBD's (2010-2013) and thus the teams chose to shroud them)
Furthermore when Andrew Green (SFI) was questioned about the enclosing of shafts at the VJM06 launch (2013) he commented that it was moreover that the combination of the shafts/wishbone allowed the teams to make more room above the floor, therefore allowing a cleaner flow into the coke bottle, gap between the floor and tyres and over the diffuser.

[muelte]

Drive shaft has been uncovered since day 1. This is Raikkonen on Jerez first day of testing:



Don't know exactly why some journos kept saying since car's launch that Ferrari kept it covered. Even on launch pictures it could be seen: