Looking at the diffuser on the Mercedes AMG F1 W05 it has an odd-looking dip in the middle which has caused a lot of speculation as to its purpose.
I am wondering if it is actually, on its own, making the cars aerodynamic performance worse. It would make sense to do this only if you can gain more as a result in some other way.
For example, could this dip remove an airflow which would otherwise exist in full-car CFD (and reality) and not in half-car CFD?
Given the current CFD limits and the amount to be gained from developing the car this year, you would take a hit in absolute performance in order to make half-car analyses correct: running twice as many correct simulations as you otherwise could should let your team claw back far more than the amount lost.
If this is the case then we should be on the look out for other suspicious symmetry-makers…
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