Alfa Romeo C38

[dren]

Correct me if i'm wrong but i' ve never seen those brakelights in the RW

It's new for this year.

[paddyf1]

Correct me if i'm wrong but i' ve never seen those brakelights in the RW

It's new for this year.

Its not a brake light, its a rain light.

[paddyf1]

Ok guys... you know what?

Maybe - i wrote maybe! - that void will be filled with some special shaped flow conditioner from monday on...
something they choosed to not reveal today.

In fact, i am very suspicious about the simplicity of the wings seen up to now.
I expect everyone to reveal something much more advanced in that particular area.

Me too I expect a lot of iteration to get the most out of the new style front wing.

Its goes without saying that these wings on all cars are version 1, by the time they race it could be version 4 or 5.

[Emag]

I don't really understand how that front wing works. Isn't it supposed to produce more drag? The air would just be bashing in the big surface of the tire and it will also act as a "counter-motion" considering the air is hitting the wheel in counter direction of the natural movement of the tire. Also having a gap like that makes the flow in that area almost completely uncontrollable. They can't direct the air flow in either side of the wheel. When the wheel turns in either side, it will sort of act like an in-wash front wing in one side, and out-wash on the other. Obviously Alfa Romeo has studied this concept thoroughly, and has concluded the benefits to be substantial compared to the negatives. Definitely looking forward to testing and Melbourne so we can see how this concept will turn out for them.

[Marc Herden]

Those brake lights are new with this years regulations. But how i understood it, they aren´t brake lights, they are only on when it´s raining as indicators for the following cars behind

[Manoah2u]

whether the front wing is an innovation or not, and is more or less how it's going to be in final,
the entire concept of the car's success hangs in the balance of the front wing, so no, it's impossible
to copy it onto cars with a different fw philosophy.

i expect Ferrari to have something similar if it's indeed an innovation, and not something to fool people.
neither do i believe alfa has any benefit from fooling around during winter testing, so i think it is as it is.

whether it's a good choice or not will see through the season.

[PhillipM]

The FW's are going to be a lot less critical this year for aero philosophy tbh - the bargeboards are probably the more dominant force there now.

[Morteza]

[hollus]

That front wing! Or more precisely, that lack thereof!
I tend to agree with many people here that most likely this is not the finished product and it will look different by next week, but what if this is the general idea? The angle of the main plane almost suggests so!

So here goes a crazy idea: the edge in front of the tire creates a vortex that somehow controls tire wake into something reasonable for down-car effects. At the same time, the "missing" part of the wing is just a flat horizontal section supposed to create downforce not like a wing or like a diffuser, but simply by letting the air from the tire smash into it from above. That air is moving downwards probably faster than the car, as the tire moves downwards right behind it and, the air that the tire tries to push forwards, kind of forces the rest to smash downwards even harder. In aero-jargon this would be high pressure in the upper plane of the surface.

Crazy idea, most likely wrong and produced by CFD coming out of a rather central and posterior body part, but nothing to lose by putting git out there!

[BillS]

Those brake lights are new with this years regulations. But how i understood it, they aren´t brake lights, they are only on when it´s raining as indicators for the following cars behind

Probably resembling the lower middle light, on harvest mode etc.

Is the rake a bit too much or do the photos trick me?

[f1316]

There’s a story that Giovanazzi actually went to the airport to pick up the final piece so Alfa could do the shakedown today. Part of me wonders if, given they’re probably just doing systems and cooling checks - I.e. making sure the car won’t break down - perhaps that front wing isn’t even complete, they’ just not bothered about doing proper aero tests til Monday.

[nokivasara]

I'm actually stunned by that FW, it's like the modern take on the fan car or Brabham 6-wheeler IMHO!

Nowadays with all the computer power available the designs are very similar (even though we know they aren't) but this Alfa FW is so out there that even a person with moderate interest in F1 should notice it! Isn't that great?

I really hope they stick to it, but they'll probably show up with a normal FW come monday.

[senja]

Nose architecture Mcl34 alike !

No. They have similar nose before McLaren. This is just evolution of their own nose.

[cplchanb]

I'm actually stunned by that FW, it's like the modern take on the fan car or Brabham 6-wheeler IMHO!

Nowadays with all the computer power available the designs are very similar (even though we know they aren't) but this Alfa FW is so out there that even a person with moderate interest in F1 should notice it! Isn't that great?

I really hope they stick to it, but they'll probably show up with a normal FW come monday.

Well let's not get too excited too quickly... for all we know it could be like the Williams walrus nose or it could be the brawn DD. Lets wait until after the first gp to seem it a revolutionary breakthrough

[ringo]

Hmm..
I think usually with front wings, that gap between the front wheel and the part of the wing before the wheel is usually a relatively stagnant area.
Removing this front wing section will now introduce high energy air to the front of wheel and this air will be squeezed to the outside of the wheel and around the car. The wing elements tilted towards the wheel suggest Alfa are trying to squeeze air in front of the tyres.