Formula 1 reaches the British Grand Prix this weekend, which always sees record crowds out in force. As Silverstone is situated in ‘Motorsport valley’ teams have been able to update their cars significantly, even Manor brought big updates. Silverstone is more dependent on chassis’ than engines, which means we will see many updates on this side.
Ferrari
The boys in red showed up in FP1 with a new front wing in use. The new design consisted on improving air quality around the frontal section of the car. This meant that Ferrari brought a small turning vane to the top of the cascade unit, as well as shaving off several MM’s of the top main plane.
In an attempt to improve flow around the outer front tyre’s Ferrari will now use the cascade to full effect, which will blast the air wake around the front wheels and away from the rear wing, which is where the blow wheel nut will come into play.
The slimmed main plane will help control the air flow under the bulkhead, by guiding the flow more successfully to the bardge boards. By doing this Ferrari can get more performance out of the diffuser as well as the rear wing. Ferrari have also taken away its outboard canard on the end plate, which is strange as it helps with wing pressure and turbulence.
Ferrari have also introduced a small rear tyre floor wing, on the inner section. This looks to be a way the team will flick up air the lower elements of the Y100 winglet as well as the diffuser.
Lastly Ferrari updated it camera mounts. They turned the inner section into a mini aerofoil flow structure.
An Aerofoil is a structure with curved surfaces designed to give the most favorable ratio of lift to drag in flight, mainly seen as aeroplane wing’s. But if you invert an aerofoil you can direct flow pressure, therefore can gain downforce. Nevertheless this is a tiny structure which should add downforce, as well as guide air into the side pod radiators, for extra cooling.
Force India
Force India were able to bring lots more updates to their new racer. In the Austria test we saw the B spec car role out with new rear and front end, as well as much sleeker side pods. Come Silverstone Force India have a new front wing and engine cover.
The front wing is very similar to the Red Bull RB11 one, consisting of four elements with a neat endplate, which is the same on both cars. You can also note the new slimmed top-tier mainplane for a better quality of air to the lower section of the chassis, so more downforce can be gained.
Looking at the back of the car, mainly at the engine cover, which we can see has gained a dorsal fin on the trailing edge. Likewise to Ferrari, Force India will use this for better control of air to the rear wing and Y100 winglet. It also stops flow separation, so won’t see large vortices being produced. By this Force India can run less louvres on the rear wing endplate, which stops a vortex from generating, so more speed can be gained in a straight lines, which reducing drag, and not losing any downforce.
On the engine side of things, Force India have a newly designed air box on top of the Mercedes power unit. As you can see above, the air box stretches across the full length of the engine, and shrouds the turbocharger. This looks to be a way the team will cool the turbo as well as feed the variable inlet trumpets inside the engine block plenum for the combustion side of the engine.
To conclude Force India’s big update package, they have introduced a new rear tyre squirt. Tyre squirts are a common thing, and is a brilliant way to reduce high pressure drag under the chassis. Force India Is the common ‘L’ shaped design, going with the shape of the floor.
Red Bull
Red Bull showed with a new inner brake duct design, which is consisted of two curved Carbon Fibre parts which form a tunnel effect. This will be used for flow acceleration under the control arms coming from the chassis bulkhead the inner surface of the brake duct. By this Red Bull will improve the stability of the flow as it can’t trail away from the lower section of the chassis.
McLaren
McLaren showed up in FP1 and FP2 with a very small update. They added a tiny gurney flap to the Y110 winglet, which is just to help the flow accelerate to the rear wing lower main plane. By this McLaren could gain some extra downforce.
They also added a gurney flap to the trailing edge of the diffuser. By doing this, the team can increase the expansion rate of which the air flow under the car exits, so produces more downforce.
The final change to the MP4-30 is the leading section of the bardge boards, which sees a tiny flap, this is just here to help the air flow around the undercut of the side pod’s.
Manor
Manor surprised us all, with not only a new sponsor, in the from of ‘Flexi-Box’, but also a huge update package for their home race.
Firstly the car will run a new front wing design, which see’s three element main planes with foot plate, all with a nicely designed end plate and cascade. It’s clear to see Manor don’t have much money, and so blown wheel nuts is just not on the cards. Nevertheless the new front wing will help move the turbulent tyre wake away from the rear bodywork, even more so then before.
A very interesting design to come to the car is the front wing mounts. This cleaver design sees cut-out sections for air to then pass through. By this, Manor can pass a better quality of air under the chassis, so the diffuser can provide more performance. This design is not too far away far the nostrils on the new Force India nose cone we saw.
When looking at the central section of the car, you can see the new engine cover, of which has been shrinking wrapped around the cars engine and turbocharger internals. By this Manor can get a better quality of air to the rear wing, which is a good start on generating more downforce.
Finally Manor have a new rear wing in place for the weekend. The new design is much more modern, and can really help the cars overall downforce. The design sees more louvres on the end plate for less drag as well as lower swirls for increased flow of the wing.
These changes will reduce the drag the car produces with the lower swirls imprinted in the endplate produce downforce by accelerating flow upwards, while also pushing down on the swirls. These are some big changes for the small Banbury outfit, which has seen them close by 1.5% on the Mercedes W06 Hybrid around Silverstone.
Pictures courtesy of McLaren Honda, Scuderia Ferrari, Mario Puca and Lawrence Butcher.
