Toro Rosso, McLaren, Force India and Williams
Toro Rosso
Pre-season
Toro Rosso usually go under the radar during car launches, but they have included some interesting notions in their STR9. Their version of the ‘finger’ nose is less aggressive than Sauber, for example, but they developed a concave section (before the ‘finger’) throughout the pre-season tests, that helps keep the airflow from diverting to the side, providing a more stable flow above the nose. As a result of this, the curved pylons are therefore taller and extend the air towards the floor more efficiently.
The STR9 features a larger inlet than their competitors, possibly due to cooling issues with the Renault engine – of which the team are using for the first time, after switching from Ferrari power. This means they’re using the same engine as Red Bull for the first time. Highly rated James Key has brought the design impetus to the team, culminating in a very tight coke bottle section at the rear of the car. The Red Bull/Toro Rosso ‘partnership’ means it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Key eventually replace Adrian Newey at their sister team – this could in a way be an ‘audition’ for the current STR Technical Director.
Development
With the removal of the ‘beam wing’ for 2014, Toro Rosso went against the crowd in pre-season testing, strengthening the endplates by connecting them to a lower ‘wing’ rather than having a pylon attached to the mainplane of the rear wing - unlike their rivals.
Their solution was more aerodynamic, but was compromised by structural rigidity of the rear wing. In Australia they tested a rear wing pylon and in Malaysia they put it on the car indefinitely. Although the rear wing support didn’t work as effectively as they’d have liked, the concept was an innovative solution.
From the Chinese GP, Toro Rosso included ‘Vortex Generators’ on the sidepods of their STR09. These disrupt the flow of air going over the sidepod, invoking an increase in performance at different speeds.
From the Chinese GP, Toro Rosso included ‘Vortex Generators’ on the sidepods of their STR09. These disrupt the flow of air going over the sidepod, invoking an increase in performance at different speeds.
In Austria the team brought a big bodywork update, resulting in a very different sidepod outlet (outlined in yellow, in comparison to the ‘launch’ spec outlined in red). This major redesign gives a cleaner route for the incoming air to travel around the ‘coke bottle’ section at the rear of the car. It also produces a zone of low pressure above the diffuser, further increasing the downforce of the car.
McLaren
Pre-season
Last year was a disaster for the Woking-based team, with a highest finish of just 4th, finishing 5th overall in the constructors championship. This was mainly due to a major redesign of the car starting in mid-2012, a consequence of a lack-lustre run of results in the middle of the season. However, in the second half of 2012 McLaren had the fastest car on the grid, but didn’t develop this car into 2013 and instead started from scratch almost – most notably changing from push to pull rod suspension, a major mechanical change.
They have switched back to push rod front suspension for 2014, but unfortunately for McLaren fans this year will once again be a transitional year, as they concentrate on their partnership with Honda again next year.
McLaren went with the standard ‘finger’ nose, with turning vanes bowing below the nose, moving the airflow to the floor earlier than usual – also aiding to manage the wake from the front tyres. They also have changed their sidepod intakes to a triangular shape, also including some ‘tyre squirt’ slots in front of the rear tyres. These slots offset the effect of ‘dirty’ air produced by the airflow around the tyre, improving the diffuser performance and therefore downforce.
Development
Arguably the most interesting concept at the start of the season were their ‘wishbone wings’ (below, circled in red), which creates an area of low pressure behind the suspension, thus increasing downforce – which has been McLaren’s downfall all season in comparison to the teams ahead of them, they can’t rely on having the best power unit if their car doesn’t have as much downforce as, for example, the Mercedes team.
However, while also creating a lot of drag, this concept requires forfeiting other aerodynamic gains at the rear of the car. This may be the reason that this idea hasn’t been copied by any other team on the grid – i.e. the advantages don’t outweigh the disadvantages.
Another eye-catching tech addition this year was this serrated gap between the mainplane and the flap of the McLaren rear wing (above, circled in yellow). These ‘bumps’ are called Tubercles, and are seen in nature on a humpback whale, which is where the idea has originated from. Scientists were baffled at how a whale that weighed over 30 tonnes could have such incredible agility, this was down to the Tubercles - as a smooth surface was originally taken for granted that it was optimal. However, after researching the concept, airfoils with Tubercles bumps are much more efficient at producing lift and better at resisting stalling. So after developing the concept, this has now found its way onto an F1 car. The sinusoidal pattern creates breaks in the airflow – splitting the wing wake into smaller vortices, giving a lower pressure and crucially less drag. After only being introduced in Germany, it remains to be seen if this development will bring performance gains.
Force India
Pre-season
Most notably, Force India went with arguably the most un-aesthetically pleasing ‘finger’ nose of 2014. This was made up of a very high nose, but then a sudden long ‘finger’ dropping down to meet the new regulations concerning noses. The height of the nose, being very similar to last year’s car, meant that the front suspension of the car is almost identical to their 2013 challenger – an advantage with regards to driver setup and meaning an evolution rather than revolution in that area of the car.
Similar to the concept Red Bull introduced last year, the VJM07 features a slight opening on the sides of the diffuser, to allow further expansion of the incoming airflow and also moving the air outwards toward the wake of the rear tyres.
The car featured relatively large cooling outlets early in pre-season, possibly just as an initial base to work with as they focussed heavily on reliability in the Jerez test, as this was the biggest regulation shake-up of modern F1 times. The sidepods do converge very tightly into the ‘coke bottle’ section at the rear of the car though, a testament to the impressively packaged Mercedes power unit. In Bahrain testing, Force India included a ‘cockpit wing’, just downstream of the mirror, acting as a vortex generator to even out the airflow moving across the Sidepod. The leading edge of the sidepod now has a vortex, generated by the ‘cockpit wing’.
Development
Looking once again at the sidepods, between the Canadian and Hungarian races, the VJM07 featured extensive development in the engine cover department. Over this period of time the Silverstone-based team refined and tightly packaged the exterior even more. In Germany Free Practice, Force India reduced so much bodywork in the ‘fin’ that it’s very clear to see this decrease, circled in orange, but unfortunately this update didn’t have the desired performance increase, so it wasn’t used for the race.
By Hungary they had shrink-wrapped the engine cover even tighter, as you can see by comparing the ‘Claro’ logos curving inwards slightly, circled in red. This development resulted in a significant reduction in the volume of bodywork, obviously giving an increase in aerodynamic performance, but this also led to greater efficiency of the Mercedes power unit and it’ll be interesting to see how the team does after the summer break, on the notoriously power-heavy circuits of Spa and Monza.
Williams
Testing
Williams’ 2014 challenger featured a very similar front wing to the one used in the second half of last season, meaning that the wing had been used ready for this year and that they’d prepared well for this new challenging year of Formula 1. This is testament to the strides the team made in recruiting new personnel, including Rob Smedley and most notably Felipe Massa, which brought new optimism pre-season to the team.
Their nose is slightly different to the common ‘finger’ nose; rather than a long section attached to the main nose, the FW-36 features a reducing-in-width nose, with a ‘stub’ marking the start of the crash structure. This ‘stub’ is gradually shaped outward towards the main nose to maximise the space behind it, improving the oncoming airflow and directing it more efficiently en route to the floor, with the help of the two nose pylons also helping to condition the airflow.
In Formula 1 designers and engineers always look to push the regulations with innovative ideas and concepts, but in recent years the mirrors of the cars have been almost undevelopable, due to the strict guidelines limiting size and positioning. However, Williams introduced an interesting ‘double mounted’ mirror in Jerez which guides the airflow better towards the sidepods, just as a vortex generator would - meaning the absence of these on the car.
Development
The Williams car is very efficient but doesn't have the same amount of downforce as their competitors at the top end of the grid, so they brought in some small upgrades in Hungary that centred on increasing the cars’ aerodynamic grip. They added a winglet to the roll hoop on the top of the car, giving that extra bit of downforce on the slow Hungarian circuit. The downside was the drag the extra wing provided, but around the slow twisty Hungaroring, top speed (proportional to drag) wasn't as key as the extra downforce. This update was Hungary-specific though, as it would provide too much drag to be used in Spa or Monza (speed dependent circuits) and therefore is likely not to be a permanent feature on the FW-36, as they aim for a top 3 finish in the constructors championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment