F1 Season 2010 - Aerodynamic and Mechanical Updates

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THE F1-FORECAST.COM
TECHNICAL FILES
AERODYNAMIC & MECHANICAL
UPDATES 2010
The F1-Forecast Technical Files Volume I & II – Page 2
2.1 GENERALITIES 9
2.2 MCLAREN 11
2.3 RENAULT 22
2.4 FERRARI 31
2.7 SAUBER 68
2.8 MERCEDES 72
2.9 LOTUS 79
3.1 GENERALITIES 82
3.2 SAUBER 83
3.6 RED BULL RACING 92
3.7 RENAULT 93
4.1 GENERALITIES 104 4.2 MCLAREN 105
4.3 MERCEDES 107
5.1 GENERALITIES 122
5.2 F ERRARI
5/25/2018 F1 Season 2010 - Aerodynamic and Mechanical Updates - slidepdf.com
9.6 WILLIAMS 232
9.7 SAUBER 233
9.8 LOTUS 234
10.2 FERRARI 239
10.3 MCLAREN 248
10.7 WILLIAMS 262
11.2 FERRARI 273
12.2 MCLAREN 299
12.3 MERCEDES 311
12.4 FERRARI 313
14. BELGIUM – TECHNICAL REVIEW 360
14.2 MCLAREN 362
14.3 FERRARI 365
15.2 FERRARI 386
15.3 MCLAREN 388
16. SINGAPORE – TECHNICAL REVIEW 403
16.2 MCLAREN 404
16.3 FERRARI 413
19.2 FERRARI 478
19.3 MCLAREN 484
19.4 MERCEDES 485
19.5 WILLIAMS 486
20.1 MCLAREN 488
20.2 FERRARI 489
21.2 2010 RULE CHANGES- ACCOMODATING LARGER FUEL TANKS 494
21.3 F-DUCTS: HOW DO THEY WORK ? 495
21.4 COOLING: OPTIONS FOR OUTLETS 503
21.5 THE END OF POD WING MOUNTED MIRRORS 516
21.6 RIDE HEIGHT: ALTERING BETWEEN QUALIFYING AND RACE 523
21.7 FRONT WING BALLAST 529
21.8 USE OF RAPID PROTOTYPING MATERIALS 530
21.9 BLOWN REAR WINGS: SEPERATING AND STALLING 532
21.10 ALL ABOUT BEAM WINGS 536
21.11 XTRAC GEAR BOX 538
21.12 COSWORTH FORMULA 1 V8 541
21.13 SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY DRIVES SUCCESS AT RED BULL RACING 546
21.14 SPLITTERS EXPLAINED 552
21.16 THE PULLROD PHENOMENOM 564
21.17 A GRIPPING TALE 570
21.18 RED BULL PULL ROD SUSPENSION: WHAT IS LOOKS LIKE – HOW IT BENEFITS AERODYNAMICS 577
21.19 HOW LOW CAN YOU GO ? 586 21.20 MOVING PARTS 593
21.21 KERS ANATOMY 597
21.24 2010 F1 CIRCUITS : SPEED DATA 609
21.25 2010 F1 CIRCUITS : GENERAL DATA 610
21.26 TYRE COMPOUNDS FOR THE 2010 SEASON 611
21.27 SPRING – LESS REAR SUSPENSION – A QUIET REVOLUTION 612
21.28 TYRE TESTING SENSORS – WHAT WAS SEEN IN ABU DHABI 618
22. VIDEOS 632
1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this new report of the series « The Technical Files of F1-Forecast » is to present some
aerodynamic and mechanical updates of the Formula 1 of the 2010 season.
The updates are mainly presented with pictures, drawings and comments coming from:
F1-Formula1.com web site (illustrations by Giorgio Piola)
http://www.formula1.com
http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/
Formula 1 Tech and Art’s Blog by Michalis K [Bar555]
http://formula1techandart.wordpress.com/
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/
Magazine RaceCar Engineering
Keep in mind that this report is just a compilation of articles coming from the references mentioned
above.
Dominique Madier
Webmaster F1-Forecast.com
The F1-Forecast Technical Files Volume I – Page 9
[Source: Craig Scarborough’s blog]
[Source: Michalis K. (Bar555) - Formula 1 tech and art’s blog] [Source: F1-Technical.net ]
[Source: Formula1.com (illustrations by Giorgio Piola)]
[Source: Race Engineering Magazine]
[Source: Autosport Magazine (illustrations by Giorgio Piola)]
As the much anticipated first race of the year, Bahrain did not offer much excitement in the race. Equally
the build up the legality of the McLaren rear wing did not deliver the row many were expecting. However
some technical developments did turn up for the Bahrain race and a smaller legality row did emerge.
Here we look at what was new and what was legal at Sakhir.
2.1 Generalities Diffuser openings
Scrutineering was expected to be the start of a row over rear wings, but instead the FIA technical
delegates only found a one smaller issue the diffuser of two cars. Both McLaren and Mercedes new
diffusers were considered to be pushing the limit of the rules with the opening for the starter motors.
The rules provide for one opening in the diffuser for the starter motor shaft to pass through in order to
start the engine. Normally this opening is a necessary evil, as the teams need to start the engine and it
effectively puts a hole inside the diffuser, allowing pressure to transfer from the high pressure above the
diffuser into the low pressure region below it, costing some downforce. Last years some teams such as
Brawn put a tiny sprung flap over the hole to stop this pressure migration.
Now these teams have sought to actually gain from the presence of this hole. By widening the hole to
form a wider slot, the hole can make the diffuser work like a two element wing. The airflow through the
slot allows the diffuser to be steeper and create more downforce. It was this advantage the scrutineers
sought to stop and have asked the teams redesign the parts before the next race. This is likely to cause a small loss in downforce, but not an appreciable difference in on track performance.
The starter hole (yellow) is wider on the McLaren and Mercedes and allows some aerodynamic benefit
2.2 McLaren
As with most of the teams McLaren arrived with a car very close to the specification run during the last
days of testing. But with Bahrain being the first time the car can be officially scrutineered, this was the chance to see of their clever rear wing would be legal. Although the wing proved to be within the
wording of the rules their diffuser fell foul of a loose interpretation of the diffuser regulations.
McLaren snorkel and rear wing
The duct runs from the snorkel to the rear wing flap
Throughout testing rumours circulated that McLaren were running a clever rear wing, that allowed the
driver to affect its aerodynamics to increase top speed. This was admitted over the course of the
weekend by Team principal Martin Whitmarsh, but only once the design had passed scrutineering.
What McLaren have done is to create a rear wing with a vent in the back of the flap, when air is blown
through this vent the rear wings aerodynamics ‘stall’ which reduce both the downforce and drag the
wing creates. This effect can be used on the straights to increase top speed with is largely governed by the amount of
drag the rear wing creates. In the past teams have done this with flexible bodywork which has been
outlawed by rules on flexible bodywork and load tests applied to all rear wings.
Air passes from the shark fin through the flap to the vent
McLarens design is ingenious as it used no moving mechanical parts, instead its left to the driver to
influence the aerodynamics by pressing his leg against an opening in a duct inside the cockpit. This duct
is fed by the snorkel on the top of the McLaren chassis and passes through the cockpit and out through
the shark fin to the rear wing flap. In normal running (i.e. around corners) the drivers’ leg is clear of the duct and air passes inside the cockpit to ‘cool’ the driver.
In the corners the duct blows air into the cockpit
On the straight the driver presses his leg against the duct and flow passes to the rear wing
As no flow passes to the rear wing vent the rear wing produces its normal amount of downforce to aid
cornering. However on long straights the driver can move his leg from the brake pedal and press it
against the opening in the duct, this sends the airflow from the snorkel through the duct to the rear wing
vent. This airflow disrupts and stalls the wing adding some 3-4mph (6kmh) to the cars top speed. As he moves his leg from the duct to the brake pedal the airflow returns to the previous condition and the rear
wing gains downforce once more.
As the cars aerodynamic surfaces do not move to create the effect it is legal, as the rules only prohibits
‘moveable aerodynamic devices’. Unless the other teams protest this design will remain legal and
therefore McLaren’s rivals will need to copy it in order to regain the advantage.
Finding space for the snorkel on the top of the chassis won’t be a problem as all teams have access
panels in this area, but finding a route for the duct to exit the cockpit will be a greater issue as the
monocoques are homologated and changes cannot be made except for safety and reliability reasons.
Floor Detail
McLaren added these floor details (yellow) as part of the Barcelona update
McLaren ran a variety of new details on the MP4-25, which included this new duct in the floor. Sitting
just ahead of the tyre, this lets air pass from above to below the floor, which then passes the coved
section of florr beside the diffuser. The coved (ridged) section was first used on the RB5 and has been
copied by several teams. However so far no one has gone as far as McLaren in makign the top deck of
the diffuser reach up as far the full width of the beam wing. McLaren have even added a slot to this
section to keep the flow attached.
McLaren ran this vent with both a rear facing outlet and louvers
Additionally the team ran with different cooling outlets by the cockpit, some of these featured both an
rear facing outlet and louvers along its top and side surfaces.
1 - The horizontal section does not feature a tab anymore
2 - The side section upper wall has now an extended tab (fence)
3 - Larger hole to access the motor starter
4 - The central section upper part has a parallel to the ground line shape instead of catenary.
5 - Additional slit
6 - The rectangular slot is now closed 7 - Double connection elements of the wing’s endplates to the diffuser upper wall instead of single
Launch
Rear aero solutions
The rear of the new MP4-25 features various aerodynamic solutions that have been devised through
wind-tunnel testing and on-track work. At first glance it's the car's long wheelbase, with its long and
narrow gearbox, that catches the eye, but it's actually the airflow management at the back which is more
unusual. Like the Red Bull, the exhaust exits have been moved towards the rear of the car (large red
arrow), whilst air from the gearbox radiator, which has been cooled with the help of air carefully
channelled through the airbox (blue arrow), is also utilised for aerodynamic benefit. Directed towards
the top of the rear wing's lower section and the diffuser (small red arrows), it intentionally interferes
with airflow over these parts at certain speeds, causing them to stall. Another change to the design of the MP4-25 is the unique central pillar (yellow area) on which the rear wing is mounted.
McLaren continue with snowplough design McLaren Mercedes have copied the snowplough
that featured on the 2009 Williams contender.
As McLaren introduced it as of its first test with
the MP4/25, Williams dumped it in favour of
cleaner frontal aerodynamic.
and effectively acts like a diffuser mounted
higher above the ground. Part of the airflow
under the nose is split left and right of the
plough, while everything that flows underneath
is slightly expanded, reducing its pressure and
therefore creating a suction effect of the car
towards the ground. The aerodynamics of it are
also similar to the nosecone of the Renault R29, but possibly a bit more efficient.
McLaren's new MP4-25 features a totally new front wing, although the endplates are derived from ones
that the team often tested but never raced with during the 2009 season.
1.Modified movable second flap mechanism
2.New simpler bargeboards, having two holes
3.The additional winglets span is now reduced as they do no longer extend over and out of the endplates 4.The air fin stabilizer is now rejected
The two holes and the outward slopping endplate bottom increase the air quantity passing under the
wing.
Melbourne
Mc Laren was forced by FIA to revise the front wing endplates at Australia for safety reasons as their
edges (in yellow color) were found to be too sharp.
New sidepod panels for Bahrain
The new elongated and wider panels, introduced at Sakhir, connect directly to the floor’s turning vanes
and offer a better airflow around the sidepod bottoms.
2.3 Renault
Although announced, Renaults' new diffuser was quote a different design to that seen in testing. Since
its launch the R30 had a diffuser that also incorporated the exit from the sidepods, creating one very large opening at the back of the car. What the team have now done is to split the two functions into
their own tunnels.
Thus the diffuser has a conventional lower deck, while the upper deck is now set back from the rear face
of the diffuser and the top of its tunnels are clearly visible. Then between this and beam wing the
sidepods are able to vent the heat from the engine and radiators. With this new shape, the size of the
diffuser is apparent probable the second largest to McLarens super diffuser.
Along with the new diffuser the opening for the starter motor shaft has been enlarged, not to the same
degree as McLaren or Mercedes, but the FI add look carefully at the design and decided no changes were
necessary.
Allied to the diffuser was the return of the complex wing seen briefly in testing. The full width cascade
elements appear to be floating above the lower wing and its endplates, however the illusion is created
by the endplate providing support from the back cascade.
New front wing
the presented R30, the team ran a curvy front
wing during all winter testing, before
introducing this new spec at free practice in
Bahrain. While the base profile retains largely the same shape, the cascade element now
features a much deeper spoon to catch more air
and push it upwards. The item also has extends
above the front wing endplate and in fact has
its own small endplate attached on the outer
edge of the panel.
wing endplate which sort of forms an extension
to the wing's elements. Renault is obviously aware of where they lost last year's development race, and
are now pushing heavily on front wing development.
R30 front suspension revisions at Bahrain
Renault R30 adopts a zero keel front suspension design. At the very first Winter test at Valencia the R30
front suspension featured wider wishbones and modified joints to the car body. Renault updated its
wishbones to a wider profile probably to gain a small amount of extra downforce.
R30 – Bahraini engine cover details
Renault’s engine cover may look monolithic but is mainly consisted of 3 parts (the 2 side parts and the
upper with the shark fin one). On the contrary McLaren’s much more complicated cover is consisted of
multiple parts due to the F-Duct system which is housed inside and the multiple cooling choices.
R30 – Bahraini rear wing spec
The R30 run at Bahrain (and late winter test at Barcelona) a W-shaped waved rear wing, with a singlepillar *1+ to increase wing’s stiffness and a black colored Gurney tab *2+ to help increase the level of
downforce. The endplates though remained similar to the launch spec, with three horizontal slits [3] and
a cut at their up rear part [4] to reduce drag.
During winter testing at Valencia and Jerez the R30 run at least two different spec of wings. At Valencia
the wing had a highly waved-shape and a “gigantic” tab to produce a big amount of downforce. At Jerez
the R30 was equipped with a new diffuser that made the car produce more downforce and that allowed
the team to dramatically reduce the size of this tab in favor of top speed.
R30 - front wing – major differences between Bahraini and early winter
testing spec
1.The main plane’s connection to the endplates has been changed, having now a curvy shape to raise the
quantity of air passing under the wing
2.The cascades have now a wavy shape and their’s span has been increased to add more downforce 3.The endplates have a more complex design, consisted of two elements now. There is a also an outer fin
to guide the airflow away from the front wheels
4. The endplate slopping outwards rear part also helps direct airflow away from the front tyres
5. The vertical adjuster is responsible to operate the flap angle by max 6°
R30 – nose vanes addition at Bahrain
A small set of vanes was added behind the under nose skirts to improve further the quality of air passing
under the car.
2.4 Ferrari
Ferrari arrived in Bahrain with a car very similar to the one seen in testing, also their pace and
consistency seen in testing was matched in Sakhir. The only alteration to note on the car for the grand prix was a revised cooling cover near the back of the sidepods. This had three slots moulded into the
cover near the exhaust pipe. While not a significant development, No other team have an interpretation
of the bodywork rules to create opening in this area. As the rules brought in for 2009 enforced a
simplified shape for the sidepods and with limited openings. However Ferrari were allowed to run in this
configuration so we can expect other team to be able to place these sorts of vents into the sidepods.
Even with these openings Ferrari suffered with the heat in Bahrain and elected to change their engines
before qualifying to ensure they had reliability.
At Sakhir the rear wing was sustained practically unchanged since launch time. Nevertheless the new shark finned engine cover was connected directly on the wing’s second plane. Lastly the wing features a
small slit in the middle zone of the main plane to let air bleed through it preventing wing’s stalling in high
speed and high attack angle.
The nose winglets were relocated higher on the nose at Sakhir compared to Launch. Their role apart
from housing FOM cameras is to act also as air stabilizers.
Ferrari from the very first winter test at Valencia run a new revised front wing with new cascade winglets
and modified wing planes. The new cascade winglets [1] of reduced span, are more boxy and have also a
small inner endplate and the second plane features now a new inner wavy profile [2]. Finally the inner fin
attached on the inner rear endplates surface was also removed [3].
Launch
The endplates were revised also, having now the outer fin between the winglet and the endplate
rejected [4], a new rear end [5], a slightly revised winglet [6], an additional horizontal triangular fin to the
floor’s rear outer surface *7+ and finally small revisions to the flap angle activator mechanism *8+.
Bahrain
The changes aim to increase front downforce and frond end grip to counter face the mechanical grip loss
by the reduction of the front wheels size.
Launch
The side winglets (in orange color) were abolished for Bahrain proving that a less complicated
configuration is sometimes more efficient. Why that ? CFD and aero tunnel data may differ from track
data meaning that the team have to revise the optimum in theory configuration to a more suitable one
for track. The reasons may be a problematic tunnel calibration or because various minor track data
factors not possible to be examined in detail (some factors are tyre pressure, g-forces, mass transfer,
suspension behavior, pitch sensitivity, air density and temperature etc) are able in total to shift by a little
the car behavior on track. Another possible reason that could explain the loss of those winglets may well
be the revisions to the floor side fences and sidepod panels that took place at last winter test at Barcelona.
Bahrain
Launch
During February test at Barcelona the team introduced new front floor’s side fences. The vertical fence
blocks the upper air flow coming from the inner bargeboard-body zone from exiting out of the floor
surface and mixing up with the “bleeding” portions of air coming under the chassis. Any contact between
the two flow layers would create unwanted turbulence. To reduce drag the old fence featured a small
slit. The new fence shape is generally much simpler and it becomes higher towards the rear. Moreover
the floor section under the new fence is rising slightly up to ease the air coming out from this point
instead of coming later from the back and mixing up with the upper airflow layer. Of course the ideal
would be to seal air from exiting under the chassis with curtains but this is forbidden by the rules
(ground effect). Apart form the new fence another evolution took place to the sidepod panel where an additional triangular fin was added to the lower panel surface. This extra fin helps reducing drag by
creating creates vortexes towards the rear of the car.
Bahrain
Under nose vanes update for Bahrain
The car was equipped with a new set of vanes placed under the front suspension’s lower wishbone at
Sakhir. The new set is directly attached onto the chassis while the older version featured two inclined
pillars to hold the vanes. The pillar-less version offers a better airflow under the car as the air blocking
pillars are now removed. Lastly the new set does not feature anymore the saw-tooth upper profile
towards the rear like the older version which helped to reduce turbulence, probably because the new
shape offers a cleaner airflow.
Launch
Bahrain
A very nice look on the diffuser of the Ferrari F10 :
Front suspension installation
Ferrari inerter visible through the hatch in the top of the chassis
Unusually for a teams media image, this shot shows the front inerter installation on the F10. What we
can see here is the car without its access panels, revealing how the team mount the inerter between the
front suspension rockers. An inerter is a simple device akin the Renault Mass Damper, pioneered initially
by McLaren. It consists of a weight that spins on a threaded rod as the suspension moves, in order to
balance out the ‘bounce’ of the tyres. This creates a more consistent load at the contact patch and
resultingly better grip from the tyres. We can also the linkage in the steering column in the larger access
panel. While on the edge of the monocoque is a round adjuster for the torsion springs. This has been
reported as a ‘ride height adjuster’, but a similar pair of adjusters has been on the top of the Ferrari
moncooque for years. I suspect these are simply the same preload adjusters, re-sited to suit the ”V”
nose.
New faired wheel
Ferrari kicked off the test with the new faired wheel seen on the last day of Jerez testing. This included a
new rear wheel shape with a distinctive stepped shape. While the front wheel retained the two
concentric ‘fairings’. These have been developed to stop overtly aerodynamically shaped wheels or
fitting the static wheel fairings used last year. This has effectively banned any form of ‘bodywork’ from
sitting outside of the wheel. Ferrari have taken the stepped shape for the BBS rear wheel in order to
meet the minimum shape allowed for the wheel in the new rules. Thus creating the smallest opening for
aerodynamic benefit. While the new front wheel add-ons appear to be part of the wheel and not carbon
fibre add ons. This is to circumvent the rules banning bodywork from being outboard of the wheel (-no
part of the car, other than those specifically defined in Articles 12.8.1 and 12.8.2, may obscure any part
of the wheel when viewed from the outside of the car towards the car centre line along the axis of the
wheel) and still meet the wording of homogenous material demanded for the wheel itself. So these must
be made of the same material as the wheel.
For the 2010 season the FIA have outlawed the carbon fibre wheel fairings that became so popular in
2009. In a move that may be seen as going against the spirit of the regulations (but which has been
approved by the FIA), Ferrari have instead incorporated an integral aero device (inset - yellow rings) into
the design of their wheel rim. The device is detachable (main drawing), but to be legal it is made from
the same material as the rim itself. As wheel rims have to be homologated and can't be changed during
the season, Ferrari's rivals will be unable to copy this.
Secured wheel nuts The sight of an errant wheel from Fernando Alonso's
Renault bouncing across the track at the 2009
Hungarian Grand Prix, prompted the FIA to impose
new rules this season to ensure wheel nuts remain
fastened. Ferrari's solution has been to create an
entirely new wheel hub, which features a catch
either side of the nut that locks into position (see
inset) when the mechanic removes his tyre gun
following the wheel change.
Ferrari introduced a new version of the F10's front
wing. When compared to the older version (inset),
we can see it features a tiny addition to the rear of the endplate (1) and a new main profile with a
different flap which has a small endplate (2) on its
inner edge.
Exhaust comparison
To ensure the exhaust pipe vents as far away from the rear wing as possible, Ferrari have reverted to a
solution they used five seasons ago on the F2005. In contrast to the design of last year's car (see main
picture, black arrow), the pipes have been mounted so they'll vent nearer the front of the car, rather
than the back (see inset, black arrow).
2.5 Red Bull
Closely following their testing form, Red Bull were fast but lacked reliability. With problems both in
practice and then in the race costing Vettel the lead. This problem was initially thought to be a problem with the new low line exhaust system. Red Bull have innovated by placing their exhaust exits low down
on the sidepods and blowing them over the floor and into the upper diffuser deck. This fast flowing
exhaust gas add some downforce to the diffuser, but cracks in the more vulnerable low placed pipework
was thought to be the cause for Vettel loss of power. It transpires that the problem was a faulty spark
plug, costing him a chance of a podium finish.
Higher gearbox positioning
Like Ferrari, Red Bull wanted more space for their double diffuser. Chief technical officer Adrian Newey's
simple solution was to elevate the position of the gearbox (see yellow highlighted area). The RB6's rear
suspension is now slightly higher off the ground than before. An additional benefit of this solution is that
the team have been able to keep the suspension's pull-rod configuration, since with its lower pick-up
points now higher, they don't interfere with the new central diffuser section.
New exhaust positioning The exhausts on the RB6 have been
repositioned in Bahrain. Before the exits
were above the rear suspension's lower
wishbones (as on last year's car). Now they
are much lower, just inside the rear tyres.
This is designed to increase the efficiency of
the rear diffuser's side channels. However, it
could prove a cooling risk at the start or if
running at low speed (such as behind the
safety car), when the slower airflow over the
car will have less power to redirect the hot
air from the exhaust.
Optimum brake caliper position While Red Bull have chosen a development
approach rather than a complete redesign, the
list of optimisations on the car is nearly endless.
One of the more interesting items is the location
of the brake calipers, constructed by Brembo in
Red Bull's case.
discs, creating the lowest possible centre of
gravity for the wheels. While Honda have come
close to this in 2006, most teams have
compromised their approach by positioning the
pads more to the rear. This position was often necessary to provide enough cooling to the brakes, and it is a particular achievement that Red Bull managed to design its brake system like this, at a time when the
brake system will be pushed harder than ever.
Where has the simplicity of the front wing gone? One of the aims of last year's aerodynamic
regulation changes was to reduce the interest
in aerodynamic developing by limiting the
possible development areas, including the front
wing. The problem with F1 designers and their
teams is that they live for every single tenth, and hence rather then stepping back, a
regulation change empowers them to look for
other solutions.
development of the RB5 front wing. While
Newey traditionally designed cars with simple
front wing endplates, they team have taken it
so far that the endplates now feature curves and double venting holes.
The wing itself now features 2 slot gaps, the lower one certainly inspired by McLaren's front wing of
2008. The stacked element still consist of 2 combined small wings, providing a better solution for this car
than the curvaceous designs that Renault or McLaren have come up with.
One wonders how a front wing can become even more exotic...
RB6, front wing – Bahrain and early winter spec comparison
The team used a revised wing at the second winter test at Jerez with smaller additional winglets [1].
Those winglets, which were actually separated into three sections, are now separated into two. The first section, the closest to the endplate [2], which remains unchanged, has a double profile and aims mainly
to add down force. The middle one [3] has a much smaller double profile and that was the one which
was revised. having now endplates also. The third inner one [4], mainly acted as an air stabilizer is now
rejected. The rejection of the third section also made the mechanics to relocate the vertical supporting
element [5].
RB6 – nose cone details
A deep air channel is created over the nose via two high vertical nose side fences. The former RB5 chassis
had also a similar U raised front chassis section.
There is also a splitter in front of the cockpit to split the air around the driver’s helmet offering a
smoother airflow and thus less drag.
RB6 Steering wheel details
The RB6 steering wheel has a “butterfly” shape, following the Mc Laren old trend with the dashboard
placed in front of the steering wheel on the cockpit wall. The main functions of the RB6 steering wheel are the following.
1. put the gearbox in neutral (green button with N indication)
2.The red button “PIT” is to apply the speed limiter in the pit lane
3.onboard radio (red button with radio indication)
4.The black rotating button is to adjust the fuel-air mix in the engine
5.Drink button to activate isotonic liquid flow to driver’s mouth
6.REV button to engage reverse gear. There are several checks to prevent an accidental press off this
button on track
7.The knob with rain indication controls the differential at intermediate and wet conditions
8.This button also modifies the clutch bite point
9. Clutch paddles
10. “OK” white button, this is to let the engineers know that the driver has heard a request
11.Gear upshift paddle
12.Gear downshift paddle
2.6 Williams
Aside from Mercedes, Williams was probably the most changed car in Bahrain. Changes to the diffuser
and pod wings were seen in testing, as was their blown rear wing. This is a very different design to the McLaren snorkel fed wing. Where as McLaren ‘stall; the wing to gain downforce, the Williams wing
constantly blows air through a slot made in the back of the wing to increase downforce. Wing of this
design has been raced by McLaren and BMW Sauber in 2009. Which gets around the two element rear
wing rule, by using the 15cm wide free zone in the middle of the wing to create an openThis nArrow
opening diverges to create an exit the full width of the wing. Having the additional airflow underneath
the wing allow it run at a steeper angle without stalling to create more downforce. Also new at the rear
of the car was a cooling duct set into the back of the engine cover, the tall rectangular duct vents hot air
from the engine bay and sidepods. As well as a neat row of five small vanes spanning between the rear
wing endplate and the diffuser. These both stiffen the two items and allow the airflow to curve outwards
behind the rear wheels.
FW32 – Bahraini front wing spec
The FW32 is equipped with a triple profiled front wing. This wing is not totally new but rather a heavily
modified FW31‘s late 2009 season wing with revised endplates and twin upper cascade winglets (1) and
additional high vertical inner endplates (2).
FW32 – rear axle winglets
The FW32 features multiple sets of winglets placed at the rear wheels internal zone. From their attack
angle i assume that their role is to add down force directly to the rear axle. Those winglets could be
regarded as movable aero parts but are considered by rules to be part of the rear braking system !
FW32 – undernose splitter update at Bahrain
Williams abandoned the front snow plough project under the nose, which was introduced last year and it
is now used by Mc Laren MP4/25, due to the adaptation of the 2009’s Brawn BGP001 splitter design. This
splitter, which creates a kind of venturi effect under the car, is inclined downwards to the rear to
accelerate the airflow under the car in an attempt to decrease further the under chassis pressure. An
evolutionary step of the splitter design was introduced at Bahrain and specially the new design features
a large middle slot (1) to allow part of the air to flow over the floor and towards the inner bargeboard-
car body zone.
It is worthy of mentioning that this part of the floor is an ideal place for mechanics to house blocks of heavy metal as ballast (2).
FW32 nose cone details
The Williams FW32 nose camera winglets position, possibly inspired by the last year Red Bull RB5, is
exactly at the nose tip in such a way that a plane is formed. The nose cone, which resembles now to the
hammerhead shark’s head, is really thin and its under side is also very flat, like the hammerhead shark ‘s
under front body. The hammerhead shark’s strange plane head shape is to increase its capability forpicking up electrical signals but the FW32 one is to increase airflow under the nose and to decrease front
end pitch sensitivity.
The oval hole at the nose cone tip helps to cool the nose housed electronics. A honecomb style
protective frame covers the inlet to prevent small hazardous fragments (like little rocks) from entering in.
At the top of the nose a U shaped structure is formed to channel air more efficiently over the nose (1)
resembling to Red Bull’s design but in Williams case this channel is less deep. Finally there is a pitot tube
(2) for measuring the car’s speed.
1.Central lower section
2.Upper double deck, which helps to extract more air from car underbody increasing significantly
downforce production
3.Mini channels in the central to smoothen the extracted from under car airflow
4.Horizontal outer section5.Vertical fence to ensure that airflow is not going to separate from diffuser inner wall surfaces and
follow the structure shape.
6.Smaller inner vertical fence
7.The tab prevents cold air coming from under the car mixing with hotter air (exhaust emissions, hot air
from car body outlets) coming above the diffuser shape, boosting further downforce production.
C29 – Bahraini rear wing details
Sauber raced at Sakhir a usual for F1 standards rear wing with two horizontal slits (1) at the top of the
endplates, double flap connectors (2) and double pillars to secure wing stiffness (3). The central wing
section was flat while its outer extremities close to the endplates were bending upwards in a curvy way
(4) to reduce drag as this concept reduces vortices behind the endplates profile.
This wing design was also extensively tested during winter testing at Catalunya – Spain.
C29 – Bahraini front wing details
The C29 at Sakhir featured an interesting triple profiled front wing ( practically unchanged since launch
time ) with additional double profiled cascade winglets (1). Those winglets are mounted on the main plane and provide a significant increase in front downforce. The flap moving mechanism is housed inside
the black colored vertical elements (2) while exactly under them there are vertical fences to guide better
the under wing airflow reducing turbulence.
The endplates have a quite complicated design and can be considered to be consisted of two parts. The
first part of triangular shape has a flopping outwards rear part (3) to divert air away from the front tyres
profile reducing drag. The second part (4) is mounted a bit outer on the horizontal floor and has a
upward-curving fin to add a small amount of downforce.
Finally the main plane forms a square channel (5) close to the endplates to raise the quantity of air
flowing under the wing’s profile to boost downforce production, a trend aided by the W-shaped main profile.
2.8 Mercedes
A new nose leads to two pairs of strakes (yellow) and a cooling outlet near the cockpit
As the most changed car on the grid, Mercedes finally discarded their modified 2009 bodywork for
definitive 2010 designs. This was largely formed of a new diffuser and nose arrangement. The diffuser
was a typical 2010 double design and not the more aggressive one suggested in the press. Using a
narrow 50cm upper deck nearly linked to the beam wing, the lower deck did fall foul of the starter hole
issue that also affected McLaren.
At the front the changes are just as subtle, but still a major step forwards from the Brawn-esque launch
specification. The new nose is still a low swept bulbous affair, but the downforce producing strakes have
gone. While the two front wing mounts have been elongated to create a sort of turning vane.
Aiding the airflow back along the car from the new nose are two sets of strakes. Firstly along the top of
the chassis, where the “V” nose bulges start are a pair of long vertical strips, probably to prevent airflow
spilling off the top of the chassis and down the sides, the two angled strakes are added just in front of
the sidepod inlets.
Also controlling the airflow back along the car are vanes placed on the inside of the pod wings.
Probably purely for the heat in Bahrain were several cooling outlets, firstly to cool the driver a pair of
inlet scoops were fitted tot eh access holes on the sides of the chassis near the front suspension. Due to
the extreme curvature of the top of the Mercedes “V” nose, these access hatches cannot be added to
the top of the chassis, which is the conventional position.
The aid engine cooling there was a small outlet added atop the sidepod alongside the cockpit. These sit
just inside the exclusion area for sidepod openings and are effective as they are so close to the radiators.
Pyramid-shaped roll structure
A new solution on the Mercedes is this pyramid-shaped roll structure, which acts as an aero splitter
within the airbox, separating and accelerating the incoming airflow (double blue arrow). Usually the roll
structure simply follows the shape of the airbox, but Mercedes' design means the shape of the airbox
can be altered independantly, avoiding the need for a new crash test, should changes be deemed
necessary over the course of the season. The single blue arrow indicates a second air duct, while the red
arrow sho ws the mandatory hole that all cars must have in order to be able to crane them off the circuit
in the event of an accident.
Early Winter pre session testing
W01’s initially featured a large and boxy floor splitter with wavy sides to guide airflow more efficiently
under the car. The oversized Mercedes splitter, compared to other teams much smaller design, was the
result of the team’s decision to house a really large amount of ballast inside it. During late winter testing
and at the first 2010 race at Sakhir, the W01 had an updated splitter with additional holed side sections
to improve further the aero efficiency of the car’s underbody.
Bahrain
Launch
The Mercedes W01 car had been launched featuring 2009 BGP001 panels design and it was obvious that
a new panel would show up soon before the first 2010 race and so it did happen.
Bahrain
The new panel which was also tried during late winter tests has a more boxy profile with the intense rear cut to be vanished. Another major difference was the addition of an extra winglet extending towards the
inner zone to smoothen the air circulation between the panel and the sidepod surface. Lastly the lower
panel section is inclined in a more intense way towards the inner to alter airflow around the sidepod
bottoms, a change triggered by the introduction of a new diffuser at Sakhir also.
W01 – Bahraini front wing spec
The W01 at Bahrain featured many revisions at front wing compared to the one used during Winter
testing.The changes that took place are the following :
1.The inner additional winglet’s endplate is now smaller
2.The inner second plane profile has a deep cut. This cut reduces the overall plane surface and the
generated downforce
3.A tab is added at the second plane extremities to add downforce and counter face the downforce loss
by the reduction of the second plane’s surface
4.The central zone is now stepped higher than the main profile level
5. The curvy entry channel under the wing profile, at the endplates bottom edge, is slightly enlarged to
increase further the quantity of air passing under the wing
W01 – Nose cone updates at Bahrain
1-The nose cone winglets were moved lower on the nose tip
2-The side nose spoilers are now absent
3-The nose cone tip hole is now enlarged to improve nose housed electronics
4-Spoilers are added to improve the airflow towards the radiators
5-Nose fins are added
The new winglet (yellow) aids rear end downforce
Of all of the new teams Lotus were the sole new team to arrive with a new development and also proved
to be the only reliable new team in Bahrain. Aiding rear downforce was a mini winglet mounted a top the
rear wing.
This wing sits in a 15cm ‘free’ area in the centre of the rear wing. Sporting a two element winglet itsprobably works in two ways, firstly as a wing in its own right and secondly by creating a high pressure
region just above the inlet for the rear wing slot, making it more effective.
However like the other new teams Lotus were off the pace and need some 2s to match Toro Rosso’s
pace and reach the second qualifying session.
An extra wing to get more downforce Lotus are currently restraining themselves to
develop a traditional aero package without
taking too much risks. Because the team has
quite some catching up to do, copying other
solutions is the easiest and quickest way to
move forward.
wing with an additional central element, copied
from previous Toyota and BMW Sauber cars.
Only in the central 15cm of the rear wing, it is
allowed to have more than 2 elements in the
rear wing, and so an additional element is added
to create drag or generally increase the
efficiency of the rear wing in that area. Additionally, an extra slot gap is added in the lower element of the wing to prevent the lower airflow to
detach from the wing elements at higher speeds - or steeper angles of attack.
Force India had these complicated cooling outlets on the sidepods
Managing the Mercedes engine in the Bahrain heat, Force India introduced several cooling opening on the car. The most unusual being the opening on the sidepods next to the cockpit. This is an area
exploited by many teams, with either louvers or a rear facing vent.
Force India used two of one and one of the other. By adding a louvered vent and separate louvers into
the same panel. Additionally the car has opening at the very front of the sidepods and additional opening
around the rear suspension.
3.1 Generalities
After the heat and bumps of Bahrain, the teams arrived in Melbourne with its public roads and rain. A
slower higher downforce track than Sakhir, the teams had been able to work on the smaller reliability
issues encountered in Round 1. So we saw a surprising number of new develop parts across the field, as
they turn their focus from reliability to performance.
Just as Bahrain provided technical controversy so too did Australia. Q quiet row is brewing over ride
height. Ride height is the gap between the ground the car, typically the lower it is the better the
aerodynamics work, however this year with no refuelling, teams are forced to qualify on light fuel and
start the race on heavy fuel. The weight difference of 150Kg makes the car want to sink down on its
springs. But the spring rates need to be set to cope with one weight and be compromised for all other
weights.
Parc Fermé prevents the teams changing spring or adjusting its suspension between qualifying and the
race, so the teams either accept the compromise or find a legal workaround. It’s the opinion of many,
but vocally put forward by Martin Whitmarsh that some teams have found a workaround to the ride
height problem.
Most notably Red Bull who have qualified on pole twice and shown good race pace, but never appear to
have a car with excessive ride height. Quite how they do it if in fact they do at all, is not clear. Several
assumptions have been put forward; an automatic mechanical system, re-pressurising the dampers or
even cooling the dampers. Any of these methods could be possible and legal, but more of this story will
unfold over the coming races.
3.3 Mercedes GP
The thin slot joining the two openings makes the double exit legal
After the changes in Bahrain there were few noticeable differences to the car for Australia. One small
detail was the team reacted to Ferraris interpretation of the holes allowed in the sidepods and added an
extra vent near the exhaust port. The rules actually demand a single hole, but as with Ferrari a thin cut
joins the exhaust outlet to the vent, creating a single opening.
Revised front wing
Ferrari have introduced a new aero package for the F10 in Melbourne. The new front
wing has notably different endplates. The
outer small turning vanes are now more
straight (1) and lower, while the endplate
itself is more curved towards the outside (3)
at the rear to better direct airflow away
from the front tyres. With this new shape,
the vertical gurney flap (2) has been
reduced.
This sported a smaller vane on the footplate and some subtle reshaping of the endplate itself. These
parts are critical in setting the airflow up around the front tyre; small changes can end up making a big
difference to the airflow back along the car.
3.5 McLaren
With a revised diffuser at the FIA’s request, McLaren altered their diffuser. By changing the large oval
hole in the middle of the for a smaller letter box shape opening, the team have met the FIA request for
specified size of hole. The resulting shape is still an aerodynamic advantage, acting as a slot to accelerate the airflow out of the diffuser for more downforce.
One feature that appeared in practice were new rearview mirrors. In most other teams McLaren tried
them on the sidepod wings. This takes the turbulence trailing the mirror and moves it away from the rear
wing. With this set up many drivers commented that rear visibility is worse, but the tiny improvement in
laptime is something that the teams designers want to use.
These mirrors were just a test and were removed for qualifying and the race, the teams spokesperson
commenting the mirrors were “just another one of those aero tweaks that was worth investigating!”
adding McLaren were “Not sure yet if they'll be making a comeback”.
Choice of mirror locations for Melbourne
As McLaren set the car up for first practice, they appear to have new pod wings complete with mirrors.
This is an aerodynamically benefical location for the mirror, McLaren have been late to try this set up
out. Drivers do say the rearwards visibility is compromised, although there is a FIA static test for the
quality of the drivers rear view. Both types of mirrors are mounted with infrared tyre temperature
cameras, so we can expect to see the team to alternate between the options in free practice.
Revised front wing endplates The stewards in Bahrain requested McLaren change
the profile of certain parts of their front wing
endplates (in yellow), to give previous sharp edges a
safer, more rounded shape. They have thus
introduced this revised solution in Australia, the
changes coming in an area that is very important in
controlling air vortices in front of the front tyres.
3.6 Red Bull Racing
With no developments evident, Red Bull continues to the set the pace. However their reliability is still
suspect as the problems at Vettel’s pitstop lead to the front wheel coming loose, costing the team a race win. It appears the wheel nut was not tightened correctly and the wheel was able to move out of its
normal alignment, causing vibrations as it rubs on the brakes. Eventually the set up failed as Vettel tried
to brake.
3.7 Renault
Appearing with the second front wing in two races, Renault are pushing hard to catch up to the leaders.
Australia saw the team with a further revised front wing and diffuser. Their new front wing takes the
shaped cascade of the Bahrain wing and reshaped the vanes around it. Firstly the cascades endplate was
switched to an aerofoil profile and the vane beneath is curved with an “S” shape. These changes appear
to be part of the normal iterative process of shaping the front wing. Not just to add downforce but also
to make the front wing less changes to change is ride height and front steering.
At the rear the diffuser was slightly modified to meet the FIA’s requirement son starter hole size. In
Bahrain the hole was relatively small and was a simpler less aerodynamically beneficial shape compared to McLarens. To meet the revised rules, the team bonded a small section of carbon fibre in place of the
previous hole. The new piece filling in the hoe and providing a new regulation sized hole in its place.
The new version (left drawing)
features a different version of the top
flaps small endplate. As well as being
smaller, it has also been reshaped, and
is now wing shaped rather than square
in profile as previously (right drawing).
Robert Kubica tested this solution
during Friday practice and both he and
team mate Vitaly Petrov ran it during
Melbourne's qualifying and race.
Bahrain
The revised front wing’s endplates had a new higher and curvy outer winglet [1] extending up to the
cascade, which have now a smaller triangular endplate [2] instead of the previous rectangular one.
Moreover under the cascade there is an additional small outer vertical fin [3] which increases air
pressure. Finally the under wing vertical fence [4] was repositioned closer to the centre of the wing. All
the changes aim to redirect airflow management around the frond tyres reducing drag.
Australia
A revolutionary double floor Now that the diffusers have become so much
more important, the whole floor of the car has
a much increased importance towards the
efficiency of the whole car. Renault haven't
missed out on that aspect and have added a
double floor to its R30.
The team introduced a huge aerodynamic step
at Sepang, including new sidepod panels, barge
boards, a modified diffuser and a double
splitter. Apart from its normal function of
splitting air from in between the front wheels to
the left and right sidepod, the new device also
marks the beginning of a double floor. Right above the reference plane is now an open area of about 3cm high. Looking closely at the image you can
also see that this floor space is extending under the side impact crash structures and under the whole
width of the sidepod. While it is not perfectly clear yet how this air channel is used, the diffuser update
that came with it suggests that this is used to feed on of the upper channels of the rear diffuser.
Just as with the underbody airflow, the stream in this channel will be accelerated due to the expansion
that happens in the diffuser. As such, air is sucked from the front of the channel, reducing drag at the
front while increasing downforce at the rear end of the car.
3.8 Force India
Another team pushing hard with chassis development is Force India. With their third generation of nose
cone and diffuser fitted for the Melbourne race weekend. Contrary to previous reports force India’s diffuser was not revised for Australia.
“The FIA did not request any changes to our diffuser before this race.”
Amongst many other smaller changes the main visual differences were in the new nose cone, with
sported a wider spaced front wing mounting pylons, which were also deeper in profile to act as turning
vanes. The rules mandate a specified cross section for these vanes up to a certain height. Above this the
teams are relatively free to shape these pylons but cannot add other sections of bodywork.
At the rear the team’s extreme diffuser had another change with the beam wing set up above it.
Previously two tandem wings were used each with a stepped profile to form the top of the double
diffuser set up. Now there is a beam wing with a tapered profile, and the forward beam wing truncated
to simply form the top of the diffuser and not reach out to the rear wing endplates. While the rest of the
diffuser remained largely the same, the team commented on the influence of the beam wing.
“The beam wing is actually not that significant in the performance of the rear of the car, but just another
component in the development of the double diffuser concept, and something that obviously we are
trying to optimize”.
Adjustable front wing flaps
Together with new wider central pillars, which are similar to those on the Mercedes, the Force India
drivers could use adjustable flaps (red arrow) for the first time in Australia in order to reduce the
understeer problems they endured in Bahrain.
3.9 Sauber
BMW Sauber surprised many people in Australia by unveiling their own version of McLarens F-duct, just
a race after it was confirmed to be legal. McLarens F-Duct is the snorkel\duct\rear wing set up that allows the driver to stall the rear wing on the straight for greater top speed.
As Sauber’s system is a reaction to McLarens idea and developed long after the chassis was
homologated, their system places the duct in the sidepod front. Somehow this finds a route into the
cockpit, allowing the driver to close off the duct with his either knee or hand. Sauber already had a
complex rear wing with an extra slot moulded into the main plane. As with McLaren, their F-duct also
routes the airflow through the shark fin to the rear wing. The set up was tested in practice and was removed for final practice sessions and the race. As McLaren have taken two years to develop their
solution, Sauber less mature design needs more time to develop.
BMW Sauber are the first team to introduce their
own version of McLaren's innovative F-duct system,
the speed of introduction helped by the fact that
they had already tried using a critical part of this
solution - a rear wing with a slot in it - at last years
Singapore race. That slot effectively creates a three-
element rear wing. However, there are notable
differences compared to the McLaren system. The air directs on to the main section of the wing
(longer blue arrow and yellow highlighted area), not
the flap, whilst the 'F-duct' itself (smaller blue
arrow) is positioned on the sidepods, not on top of
the chassis like on the McLaren.
Melbourne, front view
For Melbourne Sauber adopted a totally different and quite sophisticated rear wing concept with slotted
flaps (1) not bending upwards close to the endplates like they did before and endplates featuring four
slits instead of two (2). In details the main flap featured an extra slot at its middle zone and an extra slit,
both to bleed some of the airflow blowing onto the flap profile, a design allowing higher wing attack
angles without causing the wing to stall.
Melbourne, rear view
This wing spec was also tested during winter testing like the one used at Sakhir but it is not a brand new
design as it was already introduced since last year by Sauber team and can be possibly regarded as a
beacon for the 2010 F-duct system
3.10 Toro Rosso
Few developments have been added to the STR5, for Melbourne a pair of small vanes were added to the
front bake duct to control the airflow coming off the front wing. These are less complex than ay other teams’ solutions, but at least a sign the teams limited resources are reaping developments.
3.11 Virgin
In the rush to develop and build a car for the new season, while still trying to be cutting edge in its design
Virgin Racing have found a fault in their calculations. It transpires their fuel tank is too small; some reports place the shortfall at over ten litres.
This remains the car cannot complete some race distances at full power. Technical Director Nick Wirth
cited two main regulation changes as leading to the teams’ problem. Firstly, the FIA revised the
allowable fuel density after the monocoque was signed off. Thus the team needed more volume of fuel
for the same power output; this needed the tank size to be larger. Secondly the FIA also demanded that
crash tests are completed with a full tank of fuel; this further robbed the now already too small tank of
more space as the monocoque was reinforced to accommodate the tests.
Although the rules demand a homologation process for the monocoque, preventing teams making major
revisions for performance gain, the rules do allow for the FIA to agree changes for safety and\or
reliability. It’s under these provisos that the team can make the change. Thus the car will have to go to a
‘B’ specification, with a slightly longer wheelbase to accommodate the longer tank. This requires a
revision of the cars aerodynamics to reflect the new longer car.
3.12 Lotus
Lotus are pressing on with developments to the T127. For this race the team raced a new rear wing set
up, taking the upper rear wing & winglet from Bahrain and adding a new beam wing & winglet below
them. With the car still at an early stage of aero development, the team are seeking more downforce,
these parts should add some extra load to the rear tyres, but at the cost of some drag on the straights.
A part that was only tested in Melbourne were a pair of front turning vanes. Normally the Lotus uses two
small vanes on a “T” shaped central mounting. Their new vanes were larger and mounted individually to
the lower edge of the nose cone, somewhat similar to Ferraris newer vanes. These were tested on Friday
but did not appear for the race.
4.1 Generalities
Following on just one week after the Australian GP, the F1 Circus reconvened for Round 3 at Sepang in
Malaysia. After two very different races we had hoped that the Sepang circuit

F1 Season 2010 - Aerodynamic and Mechanical Updates

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