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9 Jun 2013

Courtesy of Sutton Images here are a selection of the best images from Saturday's damp Free Practice and Qualifying sessions in Montreal


Red Bull RB9 Front Wing - For Montreal the team have added several small vertical guide Strakes on the mainplane and secondary flap of the car in order to assist in directing the airflow over the Front Wing.

Red Bull RB9 - After the controversy the team created in Monaco 2012 (Tyre Squirt Duct) the team decided that for the rest of the season they no longer needed to run such an aggressive design ahead of the rear wheel.  For several races now they have run with a singular slot ahead of the wheels but for Montreal the team have now raised this quota to 3.  (An approach used by Ferrari since 2012)

Red Bull RB9 - The team have made a perforation or slot in the inner Strakes on their Diffuser allowing the airflow to migrate from either side of the Strake.  This will help to create a vortex that should create a flow barrier in the central portion of the Diffuser.  This means that when Tyre Squirt is at it's worst during a cornering moment the central portion of the Diffuser will be less destabilized. 

Ferrari: In this great side by side image captured by Sutton we can see how the two drivers were using different packages.  Alonso (Top) is using the new (tested in Barcelona by Massa) Curved Sidepod Airflow Conditioners and extended section of bodywork around the exhaust whilst Massa runs the old specification.  Both drivers opted to use the new Front Wing and Nosecone

Williams FW35 (During FP3) - In the foreground we see Bottas has adopted the 'Boomerang' Rear Wing we have seen the team use before (Montreal & Monza in 2012) whilst Maldonado in the background tries out a new Rear Wing with a curved Y150 region.  Both are aimed at leveraging less drag vs downforce but in different ways.

Red Bull RB9 - As Webber waits in the queue at the end of the pitlane for a reduced FP3 we see the team have applied Flo-Viz to the Brake Ducts to assess whether their changes work as planned.








































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3 comments:

  1. Hi Matt,

    I have come across your website just a week ago and am amazed by the amount of information you make available. Thank you.

    I have a question. In picture 1, are the strakes guiding vanes or vortex generators to make the flow stick to bottom of upper wing.

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    Replies
    1. I purposely didn't get too complex on the topic as I will write about it in my post race piece for Pitpass.com Essentially though they will do a little of both, it's a very interesting development though and Kudo's to Red Bull for continuing to develop concepts around the deltoid Front Wing design.

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    2. Thank you. Looking forward for the article.

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