Williams FW38 Mercedes

[Martin_F]

[LookBackTime]

Alberto Rodríguez ‏@Albrodpul



From this picture looks like the nose hole really exists...

[LookBackTime]

WILLIAMS FW38 – GRAN PREMIO DE BARÉIN – ANÁLISIS TÉCNICO

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[F1T]

Williams' shorter nose and new front wing not a bolt-on improvement - Development blog

Williams have finally managed to get a shorter version of its car's nose ready for racing, accompanied with a new front wing. Just one item is available at the Bahrain Grand Prix, after the team rushed to manufacture one after finally succeeding the front impact crash test, following numerous failed attempts. With obvious aerodynamic benefit, F1 teams have recently been pursuing this route, with Red Bull also notably having required many crash tests before finally coming up with a specification that met the safety requirements.

In essence, Williams' new nose cone is similar to that of Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, featuring a thumb to meet the regulations while retracting the rest of the bodywork as far as possible. The result are front wing pillars that slope forward towards the front wing attachment point. Such design attempts to improve the quality of airflow that ends up underneath the nose cone, onto the splitter underneath the monocoque. To further enhance this, the underside of the nose is now more rounded as well, enabling a smooth stream of air curving around the edges of the nose.

Along with the new nose came a new front wing, which in itself is also quite an evolution. The team added an extra element shading the main plane while also dramatically modifying the inner extremities of the flaps. These now feature a downward curve, instead of the previous curly twist at the end. Such change will have an important effect on the Y250 vortices that come off of the front wing and can have a big effect on the aerodynamic behaviour of the car's rear end.

While all these changes did bring a performance gain, its late addition, in combination with having it only on Massa's car made for a complicated analysis of how it actually worked on the car. Still, the team decided to use it in qualifying and the race straight away, most likely to gather more data as soon as they can.

"We mounted the new front wing and nose this afternoon and the car was very difficult to drive, it was a different balance", Massa said after qualifying. "We had a long meeting after the session, we used the new one and the old one, and the numbers said it gave what it is supposed to give.

Then we changed completely the balance of the car, the set-up, so many things and it was more or less in the correct way in qualifying. Testing new things like that which are not so similar to the other one, it can cause some issues. We need more time though to understand this front wing to get the most from it."

[Sevach]

http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo27 ... dcykcw.png

To clear up any confusions, when i said i wasn't sure if the hole in the nose existed i was talking about the exit hole.
The frontal inlet is definitely there and it's nothing new the 2015 version also has one.

[roadie]

Well the FW38 looked pretty bad on the brakes today against the Red Bull.

[rich1701]

You would think the numbers for the new front end update from the wind tunnel would have given the team a reliable baseline for a balanced car. I think despite the limited time they had, it is a bit of a concern compromises had to be made in other areas to create a good balance.

[rich1701]

You would think the numbers for the new front end update from the wind tunnel would have given the team a reliable baseline for a balanced car. I think despite the limited time they had, it is a bit of a concern compromises had to be made in other areas to create a good balance.

[Sevach]

Things look bad, the car eats the softest tires and is slow on hard ones.

It will take a lot of time and money to turn this around, unfortunately with the 2017 rules on the horizon that might not be possible.

[Pierce89]

You would think the numbers for the new front end update from the wind tunnel would have given the team a reliable baseline for a balanced car. I think despite the limited time they had, it is a bit of a concern compromises had to be made in other areas to create a good balance.

I'm quite sure the difficulty in balancing the car had more to do with a change in ride height sensitivity rather than an overall change in aero balance. Not quite as easy to work out straight away.

[bill shoe]

Tough situation, but I think just not enough time to calmly test/investigate/develop the new nose and front wing. And for exactly that reason Williams probably wishes they hadn't rushed it into Saturday morning practice. This left them with only a couple hours to make a major setup change before qualy to account for the change in handling balance, and then due to parc ferme conditions they couldn't do any further consideration back at the base that night to improve the setup for the race.

I think a clean sheet of paper approach for next race weekend can work wonders. If they start on Friday then they can review results and simulate various setup options back at Grove on Friday night, and come out with a well thought out plan for Saturday. Not to mention the benefit of having both drivers run and develop the new front wing together.

I think future developments this year will be on the car at the beginning of Friday FP1, or they will wait for the next race weekend.

[continuum16]

I think we can take it as a positive that Massa said the new nose/wing completely changed the balance. If it didn't, that would mean it would be more similar to the old one. China will tell if it was an improvement because they'll be able to do 3 sessions with two cars.

Also with their brakes and the vents it was clear (in some tv shots) that they had considerably less glow from the brakes compared to the others.

[LookBackTime]

Massa:

"We mounted the new front wing and nose this afternoon and the car was very difficult to drive, it was a different balance", Massa said after qualifying. "We had a long meeting after the session, we used the new one and the old one, and the numbers said it gave what it is supposed to give.

Then we changed completely the balance of the car, the set-up, so many things and it was more or less in the correct way in qualifying. Testing new things like that which are not so similar to the other one, it can cause some issues. We need more time though to understand this front wing to get the most from it."

[henra]

"We mounted the new front wing and nose this afternoon and the car was very difficult to drive, it was a different balance", Massa said after qualifying. "We had a long meeting after the session, we used the new one and the old one, and the numbers said it gave what it is supposed to give.

So it gave them what they expected? Since it gave the massive balance trouble you have to wonder why they designed it and put it on the car if they already new they have no means to counter it on the rear axle?
In that case they should have at least reduced angle of the FW and tried to profit from improved l/d ratio. If it doesn't deliver an improved l/d but only an increase in max front DF then WTF was it intended for??! Hoping for a miracle on the rear?

[Carinni]

Really nonsense so. Never heard an upgrade like that in Ferrari or redbull