Crucial_Xtreme wrote:prince wrote:
Uh.... I feel they have gone backwards if anything, from 2013 to 2o14. When the winter tests started back in February, I did raised this point that F14T is lagging behind in terms of the frontal grip as was evident from their BASIC looking FW, whereas Merc and RB came with, essentially a step forward from where they left in 2013 as they had carried forward their previous FWs. Throughout the year, there wasn't much that happened on F14T FW and I feel that is why Kimi kept losing feel for the front and looked so ordinary.
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 84#p479984
I remember how W01 to W03 cars were criticized for having poor front wings and how everyone got excited when they finally saw a 5 element front wing on W04. Generally, front wings have been a mirror to the rear grip that a car has, so that shows F14T's woes.
So you have deduced that the F14T was lacking in front grip because their front wing
looks basic?? Seriously?
Although the wing in your opinion looks basic, I linked to a detailed analysis which clearly details exactly how complex the front wing really is. I'm trying not to be rude here, but looks does not determine the aerodynamic effectiveness of a front wing or any other part for that matter.
(Thanks for linking to my analysis, Crucial!)
The wing looks very deceptive. Just taking a glance at it makes you think it is simple. When I started to work on the drawing, I thought it to be a walk through the park. I was wrong, it is infact quite complex indeed. The mainplane for instance has although being rather contineous a very complex shape, created to utilise ground effect to the fullest.
I also believe Ferrari is actually the only team to use 7 elements in front of the wheel. Red Bull and Mercedes only use 6. Given each element adds a lot of complexity, I don't think the notion of the ferrari wing being simple stands.
It is perhaps true that Ferrari doesn't choose the solutions from mercedes or red bull. Fact is, this probably works very well for them.
I do confess the lack of updates on the wing is worrying; my general impression of the season is that front wings change according to the amount of downforce is clawed back. Just changing the AoA doesn't cut it anymore since this could lead to all sort of stalling issues and changes the airflow structures. Nowadays if a front wing needs to create more downforce beyond a certain treshold, it needs a redesign. Mercedes did it, Red Bull in a lesser manner, mclaren certainly did. Ferrari did only once with an additional element in the main plane, although probably because they did drop development fairly early in favour of next season.