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27 Feb 2014
Technical Image Gallery - 3rd Pre-Season Test from Bahrain - Day 1

A selection of the best technical images from day 1 of the last pre-season test in Bahrain courtesy of Sutton Images with some additional notes from me

Lotus E22 - Gurney Trim attached to the trailing edge of the Rear Wing (Previous spec shown in the inset)



Mercedes WO5: New Splitter including very thin stay which will prevent it deflecting into the ground under braking

Mercedes WO5 - Continuing with the larger cannon style cooling outlet for the increased temperatures in Bahrain

Ferrari F14-T - New Rear Wing endplates, deleting the previous trailing edge slats used by the team.  This signals the inefficiencies seen on the car's predecessors have been ironed out. 

Ferrari F14-T - New Front Wing, very similar to the ethos employed on the F138 with 7 Tiers and 4 flaps (mainplane and upper flap split into 2)










 Mercedes WO5 - New triangulated section in the Y100 region below the crash structure will both fence off the region from errant outbound airflow by creating vortices but also increase the low pressure/upwash

Mercedes WO5 - Sidepod Airflow Conditioners, now twin element with the rear elemement curving over to meet with the Sidepod's shoulder / Vortex Generator


 Williams FW36 - New fins added around the mirror stalks to aid in vorticising the flow over the Sidepods whilst the front edge of the Sidepod is now slotted / detached in order to inject flow into the boundary layer




Mercedes WO5 - Engineers carrying in a new floor which you'll note features twin vertical floor strakes ahead of the wheel rather than the singular one used in the past



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Bite Size Tech: Marussia MR03 Twin element sidepod airflow conditioners

Marussia ran with a very basic configuration in Jerez with not only the car arriving late but initially looking to shakedown the car rather than set competitive times. Not only was the car devoid of DRS in Jerez but an obvious ommision was the Airflow Conditioners that usually adorn the side of the Sidepod. 
 

For Bahrain the team arrived with a set of freshly designed conditioners that are split into two sections, the more forward section remains vertical whilst the secondary section arcs over toward the Sidepod's shoulder. The Airflow Conditioners were also joined by the implementation of a Vortex Generator located a few inches from the Sidepods outer edge (see the inset in the top right), to be used in combination with the horizontal vane inboard of it and the Airflow Conditioner.

The front of the Sidepod features multiple surfaces in order to enhance the way the airflow moves both into the inlet and around the undercut (see the inset in the top right)
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26 Feb 2014
Bite Size Tech: Ferrari's F14T driver cooling

Ferrari took a different approach to many of the teams with their nose design in 2014, having opted for a low slung snout as opposed to the high sharply falling noses of others it makes placing a cooling slot at the tip more difficult. Furthermore drag is a component that the teams have to face but will do their upmost to reduce as much as possible, this means reducing the amount and size of apertures as much as possible. This is even more important in 2014 because of the management of inlet/oulet sizes used to cool the powerunits. With this in mind Ferrari have designed the F14-T with a removal panel on top of the chassis, this can be changed according to the circuit temperatures and individual driver preferences meaning they won't be affected by the induced drag at every circuit.


During day 4 of the pre-season test in Bahrain we see that the team replaced the panel on top of the chassis with one that features two NACA ducts to help cool the cockpit.
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Bite Size Tech: Ferrari F14-T Monkey Seat

The use of a Monkey Seat has been prevalent in Formula One for many years, it's normally associated with a high downforce configuration and popular belief is that it generates downforce. Although this is true to a small extent it's actual purpose is to assist the Rear Wing in creating downforce and aid in stability. In previous seasons an area 75mm either side of the car's centreline allowed for the use of these Winglets, this has been increased to 100mm in 2014 due to the exhaust now exiting into that region. 

 
The Winglet helps to create upwash creating an aerodynamic link between the Diffuser and Rear Wing planes, with the Beam Wing outlawed in 2014 (previously the best method to create this aerodynamic link) teams have looked to the Monkey Seat to establish a similar effect to the one seen with the Beam Wing.

This effect is magnified by the placement of the exhaust as the energy dispatched by it can further enhance the Monkey Seats properties, helping to generate downforce and smooth the aerodynamic transitions that take place when the driver is off throttle or cornering. The addition of the Monkey Seat will usually be allied to a steeper angle of attack on the Rear Wing planes allowing them to generate more downforce without the angle becoming too severe for separation to occur. The downside is a proportionate amount of drag which will of course curtail top speed, this makes for careful planning by the team when choosing which setup to take. It will be interesting to see how this area evolves throughout the season as the placement/orientation/sizing of the Rear Wings support pylons ahead of the Winglet will also effect it's performance, in the case of Ferrari the team have mounted their Winglet on top of the crash structure and we find it bends outwards to meet with the full 200mm width.  The Winglet / Monkey Seat was not used through the whole of the test but did find it's way onto the car whilst the team tested several configurations.
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Bite Size Tech: Sauber C33 rear end upgrades (Bahrain, 2nd pre-season test)

Sauber spent their time at Jerez utilising a very basic aero configuration, mostly doing shakedown work that checked systems and most importantly allowed the team and drivers to understand the new powerunit.


A bare bones configuration for Jerez was replaced by a plethora of new parts up and down the C33 taking into account the centre of pressure, balancing the downforce generated on the entirety of the car. At the rear of the car we find several key changes in order to give the driver far more downforce to work with. Starting with the Diffuser we see in the inset that the team affixed a simple/blunt Gurney Trim to the periphery of the device (Inset). Whilst in Bahrain we find the team have not only detached the trim from the Diffusers body but also added a blunt section under the crash structure. This section of bodywork creates an area of lower pressure behind it, helping the central section of the Diffuser to work more effectively aiding in the upwash.

With the name of the game this season being upwash as the teams try to recreate the aero structures previously afforded to them by the Beam Wing, Sauber introduced their Y100 Winglet / Monkey Seat in Bahrain. The device sits above the exhaust in the design free Y100 region either side of the cars centreline and helps to create an aerodynamic link between the Diffuser and Rear Wing (Upwash).

The aerodynamic connection I'm talking about allows for a more aggressive angle of attack for the Rear Wing with airflow remaining attached. With this in mind the team also made a change to the Rear Wing's Mainplane.

Another key area of development since the rule change (2009) has been the use of rear brake duct fins and although they have little to do with the actual cooling of the rear brakes they lie in a zone intended for bodywork to facilitate that purpose. The use of the fins is to not only generate some downforce directly at the wheel but also to align the aerodynamic structures that impinge on diffuser performance. This will continue to be an area of development for the teams this season.

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Bite Size Tech: Sauber C33 - Front Wing

Sauber spent their time at Jerez utilising a very basic aero configuration, mostly doing shakedown work that checked systems and most importantly allowed the team and drivers to understand the new powerunit.


The Front Wing has been an area that the Sauber team have followed their own development path with over the last few seasons, often sporting winglets, cascades and endplates with a different ethos to their opposition. The team arrived in Jerez with a Front Wing that seemingly converged on their own design mated to a fairly conventional Endplate design (See top right inset). In Bahrain the team arrived with a whole new Front Wing that not only saw a change in Endplate ethos (Endplate extended to cover the inboard flap section, see smaller inset on the left) but also a change to the Mainplane. In order to make the Mainplane more efficient over a wide speed range Sauber have added an additional slot running from the most outboard section of the wing to where it meets with the Y250. This lower slot also means that the Wing either side of the Y250 sits ever so slightly lower engaging the airflow as it passes over and under the Wing.
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Bite Size Tech: Lotus E22 Asymmetric Rear End (Support Pylon & Exhaust)

Lotus had already let the rest of the world in on their asymmetric secret when they showed off the render (pre-launch) of the E22's asymmetric nose but none of us realised just how far it went...


The rear of the E22 is just as interesting as the front of the car, with the team utilising a Rear Wing support pylon that joins under the central section of the Mainplane but has a kink midway down and terminates on the left hand side of the Crash Structure. This is a 75mm offset and seems strange on it's own, but to marry this, the exhaust pipe also bends around 45 degrees as it exits the engine cover with it's outer edge residing roughly 75mm from the centreline too.

It's been argued for some time by myself and other tech analysts, that due to the fact that the Turbo has the MGU-H attached to it, the amount of exhaust energy available for 'exhaust blowing' will be minimised in 2014 onwards. Could Lotus therefore be the first team visibly trying to invoke a performance advantage by skewing the exhaust?

Lotus clearly have a specific intention in bending the exhaust where they have and most likely wish to make gains aerodynamically that others will struggle to replicate. Lotus must have completed their CFD runs modelling the whole car, to take in account the inconsistencies that asymmetry can produce and is further echoed by the teams use of other asymmetric parts. The regulations going forward put a much heavier restriction on the use of both CFD and Wind Tunnel testing to offset the return of in-season testing. This will undoubtedly hinder any teams wanting to assess the kinked exhaust concept as the computing power to process the whole car vs half of it is more than double whilst as we know replicating ballistic energy like the exhaust is altogether another black art.

If I were a gambling man I'd propose that the bend in the exhaust is placed in order to increase the boundary layer (against the bend), invoking more turbulence within the airflow it will likely increase the upwash created by the exhaust and therefore increase the aerodynamic link between the Diffuser and Rear Wing. It may also aid in smoothing the transition when the driver is off throttle.  It certainly is an interesting design and won't have been done to simply be different, there is something larger at play....
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Bite Size Tech: Lotus E22 Turbo cooling

Lotus made what seemed initially like a mistake in not attending the 1st pre-season test in Jerez, with the other Renault powered teams completing very little running due to both installation and direct powerunit issues though it seems now to have been wise. Arriving and unveiling the E22 in Jerez it appears that Lotus may have been the most cautious of the Renault powered teams in terms of handling the thermal issues associated with the turbo.

Placed on the spine of the Engine Cover we find two inlets [1] divided by the centralised fin, whilst downstream we find a singular outlet that takes the place of the fin [2]. The idea here is to lower the temperatures induced by the placement of the turbo aft of the engine block, other teams have similar solutions but obviously these differ based on their given powerunit supplier. The placement of the outlet isn't necessarily desirable but given the asymmetric support pylon and exhaust aft of it, the losses have clearly been calculated and work as part of the larger system. It will be interesting to see if any of the other Renault powered teams adopt a similar configuration going forward.
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Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 - Cockpit Fin


Having used vertical vortex generators on top of the Sidepod throughout 2012/13 with their 'Coanda' exhaust, the team's change in Sidepod shaping has obviously prompted a change in ethos.

In Bahrain the team have tested a horizontal vane which protrudes from the side of the cockpit (very much like the one used by Red Bull on the RB9/10). It's purpose like the Vortex Generators used before it, is to smooth the transition of airflow travelling across the Sidepods upper surface. The large aerodynamic surface area, like a wing, suffers from separation (causing lift and drag) at certain speeds. Generating a vortex at the leading edge of the Sidepod generates the desired effect over a wider operating window making it a more efficient surface.
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22 Feb 2014

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