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28 Jun 2014
Bite Size Tech: Red Bull RB10 rear end changes - Austria


Red Bull can surely stake a claim for the best chassis on the 2014 grid with Mercedes coming in a close second but with a powerunit deficit they're still pushing for more efficiency/downforce.

Red Bull's greatest asset over the last few seasons has been controlling the way in which the diffuser is sealed, clearly making huge strides with exhaust blowing to magnify this. With the exhaust placed along the cars centreline this season, sealing the diffuser by this method is all but impossible, but the teams still want to do their best to seal the diffusers edges to maximise downforce. 


One of the largest factors in their quest to 'seal' the diffuser is the way in which the tyres squirt airflow laterally into the diffusers path under deformation, leading to inconsistent levels of downforce. The teams have been managing this for several seasons now with cuts, slots and strakes ahead of the rear wheels, designed to roll up and vorticise the airflow in that region, reducing the effects of 'tyre squirt'. Several races ago Red Bull redesigned their tyre squirt slots ahead of the rear wheels with a dog legged section cut out, for Austria the team arrived with a new vertical strake design. Split into two sections, the rearward strake also has a scroll on its top edge, these strakes will work together to roll up the airflow into a vortex and reduce the impact the tyres deformation has during cornering on the diffuser.

At their home circuit the team decided to once again utilise the upper Y100 Winglet/Monkey Seat that they employed in Monaco.

They also re-introduced the small vortex generators at the leading edge of the diffuser. These small devices help to overcome the diffusers angle by disturbing the airflow, leading to a more stable delivery of downforce over a wider speed range.

Both of these additions are primarily used to give the driver more stability but will come at the expense of a small drag penalty. Meanwhile the rear wing upper flap's V groove was also reduced for Austria which will not only take advantage of the team using the upper Y100 winglet to garner more downforce but will lead to a slight increase in drag too.

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Bite Size Tech: Ferrari F14T Sidepod and Rear Wing amendements - Austria


Ferrari's 2014 challenger has once again failed to live upto the expectations of both the team and their fans. Not only is it a handful to drive but making aerodynamic changes has proven to be a difficult task. The team have faltered in their adoption of the new rear wing package first introduced in Barcelona, with the team switching back and forth between the two packages and begs the question, have they solved their Wind Tunnel issues? There appears to be a negligible performance difference between the two packages and so one can only assume the newer option still has potential that as yet remains untapped OR the large scale difference that was present in CFD and the Wind Tunnel just doesn't appear when at track. Austria proved no different than the last few races with the team back-to-backing for correlation purposes during Free Practice sessions.


The team chose to run the newer configuration albeit with a few minor tweaks, the Y-Lon receiving a small lip at its trailing edge designed to influence the exhaust plume, rather than the team using the full Y100 winglet (Monkey Seat) as they have before. Whilst the cooling outlets were once again slightly revised with the outlets running along the spine of the engine cover blanked off.


Having made a small change to their airflow conditioners shoulder for Montreal the team arrived in Austria with another configuration (lower image). This time focused on the width of the conditioners with the new ones sporting a wider base than its predecessor. The idea is to stop the airflow that makes its way around the sidepods undercut spilling over the floors edge, whilst minimizing the impact the tyres wake has on this flow structure.
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Bite Size Tech: McLaren MP4-29 Rear end changes - Austria


McLarens bad start to the season has been clear to see, I've discussed before how several key design decisions made when designing the car have been pivotal in this years car performance, meaning bouncing back this season will be difficult at best. However for Austria and Great Britain the team have a raft of parts to try and rectify some of their deficiencies.

McLaren's MP4-29 has several large concepts built into its design with their 'Wishbone Wings' (covers that shroud the suspension elements) being one of them. Over the last few races the team have trialled the car without both the upper and lower covers and/or just the bottom ones during Free Practice sessions but reverted to their use for the race. 


For Austria the team revised some other areas in order to run without the upper shrouds for the race. That's the problem with a design that's inexplicably linked to the aero structures at the rear of the car, when you remove or redesign it, it has a compound effect on other components.

In Austria the team made a revision to the perforated gurney trim, cutting it much shorter. Taking a leaf from the Red Bull book (although Red Bull themselves haven't fully committed to their use all the time) the team also added some small Vortex Generators at the diffusers leading edge, designed to make the transition between the planks flat bottom and diffusers incline less overwhelming. This will ideally make the diffuser work over a wider operating window and therefore give the driver a little more balance.


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Bite Size Tech: McLaren MP4-29 New Front Wing - Austria


McLarens bad start to the season has been clear to see, I've discussed before how several key design decisions made when designing the car have been pivotal in this years car performance, meaning bouncing back this season will be difficult at best. However for Austria and Great Britain the team have a raft of parts to try and rectify some of their deficiencies.

An area that was criticized by many last season was the MP4-28's front wing. Pivotal as we know because it shapes the air as it flows over the rest of the car. The team made some changes that bought them relatively inline with the rest of the field toward the end of last season. They were also the first to utilise the outer Endplate gradient winglets this season (Mercedes & Lotus have also followed suit since) but their wing in general still feels a little basic when compared with the front runners.


The changes made this weekend were to the cascade winglet, making it much narrower again (the team ran a narrow element early in the season) and adding an 'r' cascade inbound of this. Both are changes designed to intensify the way in which the wing pushes airflow up and around the front tyre.

Changes were also made to the upper flaps, rolling the inner tips which will have an effect on how the Y250 vortex is generated.

It's far from me to say their front wing doesn't work or is worse than others, however it's development speaks volumes of the theirs and others predicament this season. Development this season has been deliberately curtailed by the FIA in order to help cut costs, with reductions to CFD and wind tunnel work. The teams have of course been given the opportunity to test after some of the races this season but without the time available to evaluate parts before generating full scale parts this seems a little contrived. Making up ground, has therefore become more difficult and as such the ebb and flow that follows the sport begins again with the top teams re-investing in areas that will bring them gains.
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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 - Sidepod and cooling changes - Austria


The last few seasons have seen teams designing their Sidepods not only around the requirement of cooling but to be used as an aerodynamic surface with which to create more downforce. It's a large surface area of the car and so it's an obvious area with which to shape and condition flow, of course 2012/13 was more aggressive on this front due to Coanda exhausts but the guiding principles and lessons learnt remain. If we look at an F1 car from the side we can see that the shaping of the sidepod tends to represent that of wing which of course is no mistake. The problem with any wing shaped component is that it has to be designed with care not to upset the aerodynamic balance of the car and furthermore work over a wide speed threshold. That's why we have seen teams proliferate the leading edge of their sidepods with devices that can alter the sidepods characteristics over the last few years. Force India have run with a horizontal vane protruding from the side of the cockpit next to the wing mirror this season for just this purpose, vorticising the airflow and therefore reducing the boundary layer that builds with speed.


In Austria however the team have introduced a new airflow conditioner, which looks to do both its own job and that of a leading edge device/slat. Split into two the forward most section retains it's usually purpose but the section beyond this arc's over the corner of the sidepod and reaches across the top of it to meet with the cockpit. This alters the characteristic of the sidepod making it more efficient over a wider speed range whilst taking into account the full width of the sidepod rather than the smaller section taken care of by the outgoing vane.


At the rear of the sidepod (taking into account the engine cover outlet) the team have revised their cooling options too. This means the engine cover outlet has been reduced in size and is much more shrink wrapped around the exhaust whilst the lower cooling outlets have been expanded. This additional width at the rear of the sidepods of course lends itself to implementation of the two part airflow conditioners/leading edge slats introduced in Austria too.
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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 - Turning Vanes


Changes made to the nose and front wing mountings clearly have an impact further downstream and so the team also revised their Turning Vanes in Austria. Much like Red Bull the team have opted to flatten out the bottom section of the twin vanes which will collate the airflow passing down the outside of the chassis and re-direct it more efficiently around the sidepods, whilst protecting the airflow traveling under the nose/chassis from the wake of the front tyres.


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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 New Nose - Austria


Force India have utilised a 'finger' extension nose since the start of the season and as part of their extensive upgrade package for Austria they've made some alterations to it (upper nose). The most widesweeping change comes with the movement of the mounting pylons into a more forward position where it mounts to the front wing increasing their involvement in the conditioning of airflow and marginally increasing the front wings rigidity under load. 


This inevitably leads to an overall lengthening of the nosecone section, giving more surface area with which to condition the airflow underneath the nose, which should not only benefit components downstream but give an upshot of performance. The upper surfaces inclination from the nose tip to the most rearward section is also reduced, giving a less abrupt curve with which the airflow must face going over the nose.

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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 - Front Brake Duct Fin - Austria


Force India arrived at the Red Bull Ring with a huge quantity of new parts, pushing forward some of the upgrades they initially planned to introduce in Silverstone.
 
Small modifications can often have a large impact, especially when they're based at the front of the car, with this in mind the team added a small winglet on the upper front edge of their front brake duct.


The winglet is curved/scrolled and is reminiscent of one tried by Red Bull several races ago. The winglet is used to manipulate the airflow that is produced by the suspension, which has an effect of the components downstream like the Sidepod. This is of course a critical area, as the Sidepod (especially the shoulder) is used just as much as any other area as a way of creating downforce and moreover a large surface area that conditions flow to create airflow downstream.
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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 - New Front Wing (Endplate) Austria


Force India arrived at the Red Bull Ring with a huge quantity of new parts, pushing forward some of the upgrades they initially planned to introduce in Silverstone.


The team made some small alterations to their Front Wing, especially around the endplates. The team have utilized multi element endplates since the start of the season but they've now revised the base of the trailing Endplate with the lower section cut out. These changes are designed to re-envisage what the team are looking to achieve both locally and further downstream.

The loss of 75mm either side of the front wing for 2014 obviously changed all the teams approaches, however as their packages evolve they also need to make further changes to address any issues. Or in Force India's case alter the relevant airflow structures to take into account changes made downstream, targeting improvements in tandem with other solutions.

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Bite Size Tech: Toro Rosso STR9 Sidepod changes - Austria


Seen as the Red Bull B team and frankly well under budget compared to the A team, Toro Rosso are really starting to punch above their weight. Clearly the FIA's stranglehold on the CFD and Wind Tunnel regulations should suit some of the midfield pack and Toro Rosso are seemingly taking advantage of that fact.




As part of a pretty large upgrade package the Faenza based squad made what outwardly looks like a minor change to their Sidepod cooling outlets. In fact it changes not only the way airflow is dealt with internally but also changes the Sidepods upper surface performance, whilst providing a cleaner airflow path around the coke bottle and another low pressure zone above the diffuser. Austria proved to be a bad race for the team but expect these changes to have a good affect going forward.

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Bite Size Tech: Toro Rosso New Front Wing - Austria


The sister Red Bull team arrived at the companies circuit in Austria looking to improve performance with a new front wing. The original DNA remains but several key changes have been made to affect how the wing performs. Teams are of course still gaining performance based on the reduction of the Front Wings width in 2014 (down to 1650mm from 1800mm, or 75mm either side), which of course affects how the airflow is turned around the front wheels.


The teams latest iteration (bottom) sees the main cascades increased significantly in width, with the inner most section, outwardly angled. This along with the addition of another outwardly angled vertical fin placed in the centre of the cascade, looks to push the airflow, up and around the front tyre. This is not only essential to the performance of the Front Wing but will also have an effect further down the car, as the tyres wake begins to impact the floor. Being able to control the way in which the air flows around the front tyre also leads to more control further downstream.

The team have also changed tact when it comes to the design of their flaps, with the older specification sporting a top flap that was only split a short way along its length. However the new wing features a twin top flap arrangement allowing the wing a wider operating window before flow starts to separate. This splitting of the upper flap allows differing angles of attack to be initially set, giving the team license to change the flaps height, camber, chord and/or orientation.


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27 Jun 2014
Ruminations on the changes ratified by the WMSC for 2015

 

I'll start this article with a word of warning, this will likely turn into a rant. (I have however been told that some of my best work appears when I'm angry and that's likely due to the free flowing nature and speed at what I write).

Yesterday (26.06.14) the WMSC ratified several changes to the 2015 F1 regulations.

Changes to 2015 Sporting Regulations

Powerunits

  • The number of engines permitted by each driver in a season will be four. However, if there are more than 20 races in a season, the number will increase to five.
  • The penalty for a complete change of Power Unit will be starting from the back of the grid, not the pit lane.
This was always on the cards but it could be seen as a step too far too quick.  Reliability has been a little hit and miss so far in 2014 and at this stage Vettel, Raikkonen, Maldonado, Kyvat, Bianchi, Chilton and Kobayashi would already be on the precipice of receiving grid penalties following the 2015 regulations.

Aerodynamic testing
  • The number of wind tunnel runs will be reduced from 80 hours per week to 65 hours per week.
  • Wind-on hours are to be reduced from 30 hours per week to 25 hours.
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) usage is to be reduced from 30 Teraflops to 25 Teraflops.
  • Two periods of tunnel occupancy will be allowed in one day (rather than only one).
  • Teams will only be able to nominate one wind tunnel in one year.
These restrictions are designed to curtail the rate of development available to the teams, making it difficult to get gains in those minuet areas.  This is of course primarily designed to cut costs, however vicariously it'll aid the smaller, lesser funded teams.  Of course the bigger teams and their partners will see this as a challenge, pushing resources into more efficient hardware and software. Meanwhile modeling is not time spent in CFD (solving) and so meshes will be built more and more complex in order to attain better results from this more efficient soft/hardware.

The nomination of one tunnel is another example of curtailing the later teams, with the big teams often using more than one to correlate their results. Ferrari for example used 3, their own once it was rebuilt, the Toyota facility in Cologne which they'd been using whilst their own was offline. On top of this they performed a few days correlation days in Saubers tunnel at Hinwil.

I totally understand what the FIA are trying to do introducing these regulations but they're stifling creativity at the same time. Convergence is becoming a much larger factor, which for me is a massive problem. If I wanted to watch a spec series I'd just watch GP2/3 or IndyCar. This (F1) is the pinnacle of Motorsport, the differential between the teams is bought about through engineering excellence, from those striving to be better than their competition.  Creating equilibrium through forced regulation may well help to cut costs but it inevitably leads to a closing of the performance gap.

Testing

  • There will be three pre-season tests of four days each in Europe in 2015 (currently teams are able to test outside Europe). This will be reduced to two tests of four days in 2016.
  • There will be two in-season tests of two days each in Europe (instead of the current four). Two of these four days must be reserved for young drivers.
Another cost cutting measure that unfortunately leads to pressure on the teams to cram important data mining exercises into a much shorter timescale.  Pre season testing cut backs are fine by me, it does however put more pressure on the teams to get things right out of the box and leaves less time to react to any unforeseen issues.  In season or post race tests provide some of the less funded teams the opportunity to run well funded (read as pay) drivers to both evaluate their credibility, cultivate relationships and essential receive money from for allowing them to drive.


Car specification at an Event

  • The current restrictions to the parc fermé will now apply from the start of P3 instead of the start of qualifying.
Perhaps one of the more interesting changes ushered through, this essentially makes Friday a practice day and for the evaluation of new parts, whilst Saturday will be completely locked down. This of course puts a further onus on the availability of parts with any damage resulting in no changes to specification of parts (just like we find when a driver crashes during qualifying).
This will of course prohibit teams flying in parts last minute (for FP3 evaluation) in the hopes of a small performance gain in qualifying, reducing costs once more but taking away another performance differentiator the larger teams have at their disposal.

Wheels and tyres
  • The ban on tyre blankets will be rescinded for 2015. This will be re-discussed if and when the wheel and tyre diameter increases in the future.
A welcomed climb down by the FIA on something that wasn't really required. It appears the sticking point was exposure for the tyre supplier, which has been resolved with the teams able to sell the space back to Pirelli for £200,000 per season (Williams showing their support for this in Austria).

Personnel Curfew
  • The Friday night curfew will be extended from six to seven hours in 2015 and will increase to eight hours in 2016.
What the FIA taketh with one hand they return with another, giving the teams some additional time with which to work on their cars to ready them for FP3. Clearly as a means of putting them from test spec (Friday) to Qualifying/Race trim as part of the aforementioned extension of Parc Ferme.

Safety Car restarts
  • Safety Car restarts will now be a standing start from the grid. Standing starts will not be carried out if the Safety Car is used within two laps of the start (or restart) of a race or if there are less than five laps of the race remaining.
Another ballsy yet quite frankly uncalled for move by the FIA....
I understand from a safety perspective why they're looking to do this. By calling out the safety car for any incident they are putting the Marshall's out of harms way (That's based on the assumption that the safety car will immediately lead the cars back to the grid).  Now this is only the start of the lunacy of this idea as lapped cars will clearly be out of position and so I ask what procedures have to be put into place to rectify the situation?

Regaining positions on the singular lap back to the grid would be labour intensive for the drivers and go against the idea of running to a delta.  Furthermore it risks more incidents as they try to get back into position (yes I realise they unlap themselves now under the safety car but this isn't done straight away due to the way the grid gets protracted).

The other option is to do it on the grid, with the drivers dash displaying where they need to form up, this of course is also fraught with issues and safety implications.

I have to say that the whole scenario smacks of a smokescreen and is really being used as an opportunity to mix up the racing.  Afterall fans aren't overly pleased when the lead driver controls the pack up to the restart line and then just scampers off into the distance...

There are several more issues to worry about on a standing restart for me though.  Let's say your favourite driver (doesn't affect me as I don't have one, however as I'm neutral it always irks me when someone unfairly gets mistreated) has been leading for X number of laps, when an incident means a safety car and standing restart, any number of issues could result in your favourite driver losing his position.  Of course this affliction could and probably will affect many drivers up and down the grid with loss of places from a standing restart causing issues.  The other issue I have with a standing restart is exactly what happens during normal race starts: Failures.

Changes to 2015 Technical Regulations

A number of changes have been made, including:

  • A number of new regulations for the noses to ensure improved safety and to provide more aesthetically pleasing structures.
Clearly the nose designs for 2014 were somewhat of a problem initially with what we like to call 'finger' extensions clearly have other names alluding to their resemblance to a gentleman's appendage amongst the fans ;) It's therefore of no surprise to see the FIA/WMSC try to rectify this going forward.  However I must say it was a glaring error that plenty of us outside of the teams picked up on ahead of the car launches, signaling just how poor a job the FIA had done in structuring that part of the regulations.  This is another prime example though of the FIA causing financial costs to the teams with the R&D to produce this years noses being throw away now.  The biggest issue for me that requires resolving with these changes is reducing the chance of submarining accidents.  The increased crank height of the new PowerUnits inevitably led to a higher crash structure, combined with a lower nose tip increases the chances of rear shunts forcing the car into the air.

  • A number of new regulations concerning skid blocks to ensure that they are made from a lighter material (titanium) and are better contained.

Edited upon the 2015 regulations release:
An interesting shift is a regulatory use of titanium as a material for the skids. This clearly fits the bill in terms of seeing sparks from the underside of the cars under load, (another false positive the FIA are trying to put back in F1 to 'increase the show').

The FIA are also clearly looking to make life difficult for the teams in terms of scraping the plank along the ground (and by virtue of that create downforce).  Titanium will wear much more quickly than the tungsten skids that the teams have been using, reducing the wear on the plank at the same time.

  • New regulations to ensure that the brake discs rotate at the same speed as the wheels.
I'm intrigued by this one, either a team has been very smart this season or enquired about doing something that the FIA have reacted to.  The only plausible solution that comes to mind presently is that due to the increased work rate of the MGU-K most teams have opted to reduce their rear brake disc a caliper capacity.  Thinking outside the box perhaps using the brake disc as a flywheel/freewheel (ie in motion whilst the driveshaft isn't)(Think about the rear gear cluster/cassette on a bicycle) would be advantageous in both terms of consistent aerodynamics and perhaps in the delivery of the Brake-By-Wire system.

  • A two-stage wheel fastener retaining system is now compulsory.
All teams have adopted this for 2014 but this becomes compulsory in 2015
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26 Jun 2014
25 Jun 2014
Bite Size Tech: McLaren MP4-29 trial new Turning Vanes - Austria


McLaren had plenty of new parts to try out at the Red Bull Ring but one that didn't cut the mustard and the team didn't race are the Turning Vanes, the brilliant Giorgio Piola caught a picture of them above (Source: omnicorse.it)

The under chassis vanes help to condition the airflow that moves under the nose and chassis, whilst protecting it from the wake created by the front tyres (especially in yaw).  The new vanes have a similar rearward section to those that have already been in use, whilst the most forward element (which is attached to the underside of the nosecone rather than the chassis) was elongated.  This section you'll note also has an elongated slot in it but doesn't go as far as making it a full blown additional section.

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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 Single rear wing support pylon - Austria


For a brief period during Friday's free practice sessions Nico Hulkenberg ran his VJM07 with a new rear wing support, instead of employing two pylons as the team usually do (below) they trialled the car with just one.  It's unclear if the pylon was mounted through the engine cover like Red Bull does or whether they employed a Y-Lon but I'm sure we'll see this used again in Silverstone.  The pylons of course increase rigidity to the wing but will have an effect on the aero too, with this in mind teams have been making alterations to their setup since the start of the season to make gains.


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20 Jun 2014
Austrian GP - Technical Image Gallery


A selection of the best technical images from the Red Bull Ring in Austria courtesy of Sutton Images

 Force India VJM07 - New Nose (upper) - note the mounting pylon shape...
 Ferrari F14T Front Brake Duct detail
Ferrari F14T front wing detail from behind
Ferrari F14T front brake detail
Red Bull RB10 front brake duct detail
Force India VJM07 new under chassis turning vanes (Flattened out at their base like Red Bull)
Force India VJM07 - New airflow conditioners, now split into two with the rear element acting as a leading edge slat over the top of the sidepod inlet
Sauber C33 - lower downforce rear wing as used by Esteban in Canada
Force India VJM07 rear wing assembly

Marussia MR03 front wing detail from behind
Lotus E22 front brake duct detail
Mercedes WO5 under chassis turning vane detail
Mercedes WO5 serrated and twin element bargeboard detail (note all sections have their own chord)
Mercedes WO5 rear end detail (note the tiny gurney applied to the Y100 extensions either side of the crash structure)
Mercedes WO5 rear floor detail
Ferrari F14T front wing detail from behind
Mercedes WO5 Front wing detail, note the thermal imaging camera just peeping into view over the endplate
Williams FW36 front wing, the hooked endplate variant that was tested in FP sessions in Canada but not raced
Williams FW36 front wing detail
 Red Bull RB10 front brake 'caketin'
 Mercedes WO5 Front wing detail (note the inner endplate canard)
Mercedes WO5 'Bat Wing' placed astride the under chassis sensor
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16 Jun 2014
Canadian GP race edit


Some footage I've found of the Canadian GP including onboard footage and (frankly rubbish ;)) commentary (go easy on the comments ;))



Commentary is not an easy gig and really needs two people, one who can describe the race and another to add the useful commentary.

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14 Jun 2014
Bite Size Tech: Sauber C33 new rear wing - Montreal


Sauber's season has thus far been far from what we have come to expect from the Swiss outfit, even a large upgrade package in Spain has failed to turn their fortunes around and they now find themselves within the clutches of the chasing Marussia's. Sometimes upgrade packages don't give instant results with the drivers having to react to a change in downforce levels, so the team continue to persevere knowing that Montreal is more representative to Spain than the preceding round in Monaco. 


The configuration of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve puts an onus on both good straight line speed (low drag) but also good braking stability and mechanical grip, owing to the long straights and low speed turns. The team therefore bought a new rear wing (above) to try and garner some extra straight line speed, the mainplane featuring a raised central profile that arcs outward toward the endplates, whilst the upper flap also has two V's cut along it's top edge to further reduce drag.


Sutil (above) continued to persevere with the draggier specification wing whilst Gutierrez chased the performance from the lower downforce/drag setup although interestingly his FP3 crash came at a point when he had the higher downforce wing on the car.

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Bite Size Tech: Lotus E22 Rear Wing - Montreal


The Enstone based squad still seem unable to fully unlock the potential of the E22, a complex car that clearly isn't being helped by the Renault powerunit struggles.


For Canada the team arrived with a new rear wing, complete with a low downforce configuration mainplane and top flap (shallow AoA), whilst the endplate louvres were reduced to two. The team returned to their pre-monaco monkey seat/Y100 winglet initially trying to run without but finding the car lacked balance in the low speed corners.
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13 Jun 2014
11 Jun 2014
Bite Size Tech: McLaren MP4-29 no upper 'wishbone wings' - Montreal


McLaren's season hasn't got off to the sort of start they would have liked and have once again made several intrinsic design decisions that have perhaps hindered their development curve.  One layout problem invariably leads to several others but one of their decisions which was supposed to boost performance was their 'wishbone wing' rear suspension.  Embodying the wishbones in much larger fairings looked to bridge the performance gap lost by the beam wing this season, however other items had to be designed around it too and so rather than just changing one items invariably you end up with a list of items.

Don't get me wrong it wasn't a bad idea but as other teams have shown there is still the opportunity to create downforce even without the beam wing or structures placed in a similar locale.  In order to place use the wishbone wings and give them as much freestream airflow as possible the team opted to place their cooling ducts higher up, either side of the exhaust outlet.  We have since found out that Mercedes HPP made a late call (just before pre-season testing) on the exhaust manifold to be used by the Mercedes powered teams, whilst both Force India and Williams have re-sculpted and changed rear end cooling options McLaren have not.

McLaren's design was clearly more reliant on the older specification exhaust with far more space now inside the sidepods, which will have a detrimental effect on the thermal/aero dynamics.  Making swift changes of this magnitude are not easy, especially as the layout of radiators etc also determine both airflow characteristics and bodywork shaping.

Moving back to Montreal and both drivers tried their MP4-29 with no upper 'wishbone wings' during Free Practice (See main image above) in order to try and reduce some of the drag induced by the components.  However the team returned to the usual configuration for qualifying and the race most likely owing to a better performing car/strategy for the race.
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Bite Size Tech: Caterham CT05 Louvre-less Rear Wing Endplates - Canada


Caterham arrived in Canada with a new set of rear wing endplates, both drivers tested them during the free practice sessions but only Kamui raced them (Ericsson switching back to louvred endplates due to his crash in qualifying).

Teams use louvres in the endplates for efficiency with pressure moving from one side of the endplate to the other, which in turn reduces the pressure gradient where the flaps meet with the endplates.  This pressure gradient entwines into a vortex (which we often see in the form of vapour trails, in damp conditions).  By allowing the pressure to move from one side to the other side of the endplate this vortex is more controlled reducing the drag induced by the flaps.  You'll often see the shape, orientation and number of louvres adjusted based on the circuit characteristics and corresponding wing angle of attack.

I'd therefore suggest that Caterham were looking to gain more downforce/balance for the low speed corners but sacrifice a percentage of their top speed around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, although it must be said that Caterham do run very long leading edge slots when compared with the other teams and so they may have found this offsets some of the louvre loss.
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