Mercedes
Mercedes blew us all away with a big update package on the car, which saw them implement a new front and rear wing. Starting with the front wing, they have added even more cascading main planes for increased vortex expansion. Everything in black is what Mercedes has changes on the W06 front wing. Mercedes are improving the flow efficiency of the front wing, which sets up the flow for the rest of the car. They will feature a maximum up wash of the flow around the tyre, which is what Mercedes has already been doing well. The flow to the rear diffuser and rear wing will benefit from a cleaner flow.
On the rear wing, Mercedes showed more changes to remain at the front of the field. The top main plane has a blended edge from the end of the main plane to the rear wing endplate. The vortex which comes off here is down scaled as a result of the curve. And working with the endplate louvers the vortex is pushed away from the car’s rear wing. The flow efficiency is a lot cleaner than a level main plane, but downforce is lost in this area. So Mercedes are going for straight line speed over downforce, in hope to be on the top step of the podium.
Also at the back of the car, Mercedes have taken away the monkey seat. The reason being is that China doesn’t have long, fast corners, so it is not needed here.
Ferrari
After winning the last race, Ferrari had upgraded its brake duct cooling inlet. The reason is that China looks set to be a hot weekend, and to reduce the issues of ‘cooked’ brakes, they have enlarged the duct for cooling and its requirements.
Williams
Williams has a very aerodynamic car with the FW37. The way the air flow travels around and over is very clean, and sets the rear wing and diffuser perfectly, and so work to very good effect. At the back of the car is much more blended rear which is covered in black, which is just naked Carbon Fiber. This will help the aero, as the flow will travel over with less turbulence as it comes to the rear wing upper main plane. The addition to the cover will feed the main plane and monkey seat a great deal.
Sauber
Sauber brought a long a very neat front wing for China. The changes consisted off new cascading elements that not join a three element front wing to the endplate. Likewise to Mercedes, Sauber are going for flow management. Sauber lost their head of aerodyamics, Willem Toet, however their front wing is aero efficent. The new main plane will give extra flow management to the rest of the car, as well as aid in front-end downforce. The trailing edge now is more sharper, so that the air flow is directed around the front tyre. Sauber don’t have the blown hubs, and so rely on the out wash of the front wing.
Picture courtesy of Mercedes F1 Team
