As Brazil is a short lap, teams need to find ways anywhere on the car in order to find a tenth or so. But as we have back-to-back GP’s it’s hard for the teams to add upgrades as there is not much time to do so.
Mercedes
On the W05, what previously was three-element vanes hanging under the front suspension have been split into four separate elements, they were just behind the bat wings on the underside of the tub. The wings prevent separation of airflow from their under-surface area. It’s main reason is to alter the vortices they produce under the lower section of the car. So instead of a single vane producing one large vortex, this is hard to control, teams break up the surface to produce several more controllable vortices instead. This is a more likely a solution to work in conjunction with the T-tray, to keep the car more stable.
McLaren
McLaren ran pretty big pilot tube arrays attached either side of the cockpit, pointing towards the back of the front suspension assemblies. They will have monitored the airflow behaviour along both sides of the car as it travels past, rather than only measuring from one side of the car which we used too in aero tests. They simply gather accurate and consistent data across a range of speeds of the car as the speed varies over the lap. The team will then run the tests in a factory environment after. They are not allowed to drive the cars flat-out due to the fear of them ripping them off the side walls of the car’s tub, which are very expensive.
It’s believed that McLaren were running tests on their slightly modified front wing endplates, which feature an undercut edge and small lip at the trailing edge of the front wing, this encourages airflow to pass around the front tyre by making the most of the low pressure area.
Williams
Williams implemented the smallest upgrade of 2014 on their car. On the rather low drag front wing they inserted one very small vortex generator on the first mainplane on the three element front wing configuration they have on the FW36. The reason behind this small upgrade is that its more than likely to work with the cascade at pushing the airflow around the front tyres or that its would be a flow management for the wheel wake.
Lotus
Lotus also ran pilot tube, although it was sensors likewise to McLaren. Aero has been one of Lotus’ key weaknesses in 2014 and the above section of the E22 could well be a contributing factor to it. The structure of the tyres has changed hugely since 2013 and therefore the way air behaves as the tyre load under pressure has changed also. With all the technical devices of the car beneath the chassis for a better lower centre of gravity the teams produce the Y250 vortex to seal the floor by the front wing, it is very easy for teams to get lost with the tyres interaction with oncoming airflow.
Red Bull
The RB10 is the latest area of development. The Y100 winglet (monkey seat) is a revised version of their high downforce specification which previously held two carbon elements between a set of small endplates, a quite simple set up. Now they have a third element that is neatly tucked behind the trailing second element, creating a two-stage design. The reason behind the y100 winglet is to pull the exhaust plume (gases) and force it upwards towards the rear wing mainplate, allowing a higher angle to produce more downforce without stalling the rear wing. Mercedes have the most advanced y100 winglet on the grid with a four elements for an even greater effect. But after, Red Bull showed its new three element y100 winglet which showing they are catching up in the development race.
