Ferrari still seem
a little at sea with their developments, not sure if they should flip
a coin, throw a six or simply stick with what they've got. Whether
they're still having correlation issues between their wind tunnel,
CFD and actual track components is questionable but key areas of
development seem under both constant change, back to backed for
correlation and then they revert to the older components. The
reduction in width of 75mm either side of the Front Wing in 2014 has
led to them turning their attention to their front brake ducts
At Silverstone the team arrived with an
enlarged section of bodywork that straddles the front of the
brake assembly, taking airflow collated by the scoop and re purposing it to
energise the air flowing around the wheel's face. The idea is to
mitigate the effect of how the airflow spills off the wheels outer
face and inevitably makes controlling the wheels wake more difficult.
Ferrari have tried several solutions to this since the start of the
season, including using a blown (hollow) wheel nut arrangement. The
problem for the team is that not only do you rob Peter to pay Paul by
taking airflow via the scoop and injecting it into the wheels airflow
pattern, creating some drag in the process.
It is difficult to model the region due
to the combination of many flow regimes and tyre deformation having
an impact on the the wake, getting it right however will provide a
welcomed boost further downstream, making the effort worthwhile.
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