Although teams are often reluctant to introduce major development programs for sprint race weekends, due to the limited number of track races, this does not stop them from seeking gains in other ways.
And interestingly, in the team files filed with the FIA for this weekend’s race in Shanghai, three teams have made changes to the area surrounding the driver and cockpit.
Detail of the RB F1 VCARB 01 team halo
Photo by: Jon Noble
At RB, we have redesigned the headrest behind the driver’s helmet to better manage the separation of air flows in this area, which should have benefits further downstream.
At Mercedes and Williams, the changes concerned the halo area, which also aims to clean up the airflow.
Mercedes F1 W15 halo detail
Photo by: Jon Noble
Mercedes added a small film on each side of the cockpit behind the Halo.
The idea is that these adjustments help generate small vortices to help control the flow out of the cockpit, which then helps to better regulate the air as it flows towards the rear wing.
Detail of the Williams FW46 halo
Photo by: Jon Noble
For Williams, the geometry of the front part of the halo was adjusted to increase the angle of attack.
This helps regulate the airflow around the halo and better control the losses observed in the cockpit area.
The benefits of this approach are expected to be improved airflow to the rear wing and beam, which then increases aerodynamic efficiency.
Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, said that while the changes seemed relatively minor overall, the cockpit area was quite critical in terms of better distributing airflow throughout the rest of the car.
That’s why he found it intriguing that other teams also introduced changes here on the same weekend.
“It’s an important area,” he said. “I saw that [FIA submission] list this morning and I was quite surprised by this coincidence.
“But in our case, we did some flow checks on our Halo fairing a few races ago and saw a few aspects of the flow that we didn’t like. That’s what inspired us to improve the flow, to take into account the losses in the cockpit and ensure that they end up in the right part at the rear of the car.
Robson felt there were two critical factors at play in teams making improvements in this area: it showed that the details mattered more, and that they could also be done cheaply and quickly.
“This is just one of the incremental changes you need to make,” he said. “And I hope that it will be more effective than it obviously seems.
“But the other thing is that it’s relatively quick to do. So we are in this kind of phase where we have brought the [updated] the front wing in Japan, which is a lot of work and a big thing to introduce, and we’re kind of working on the next package of aerodynamic improvements.
“So something like this Halo fairing is relatively small and we can install it inexpensively.”
Although teams are often reluctant to introduce major development programs for sprint race weekends, due to the limited number of track races, this does not stop them from seeking gains in other ways.
And interestingly, in the team files filed with the FIA for this weekend’s race in Shanghai, three teams have made changes to the area surrounding the driver and cockpit.
Detail of the RB F1 VCARB 01 team halo
Photo by: Jon Noble
At RB, we have redesigned the headrest behind the driver’s helmet to better manage the separation of air flows in this area, which should have benefits further downstream.
At Mercedes and Williams, the changes concerned the halo area, which also aims to clean up the airflow.
Mercedes F1 W15 halo detail
Photo by: Jon Noble
Mercedes added a small film on each side of the cockpit behind the Halo.
The idea is that these adjustments help generate small vortices to help control the flow out of the cockpit, which then helps to better regulate the air as it flows towards the rear wing.
Detail of the Williams FW46 halo
Photo by: Jon Noble
For Williams, the geometry of the front part of the halo was adjusted to increase the angle of attack.
This helps regulate the airflow around the halo and better control the losses observed in the cockpit area.
The benefits of this approach are expected to be improved airflow to the rear wing and beam, which then increases aerodynamic efficiency.
Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, said that while the changes seemed relatively minor overall, the cockpit area was quite critical in terms of better distributing airflow throughout the rest of the car.
That’s why he found it intriguing that other teams also introduced changes here on the same weekend.
“It’s an important area,” he said. “I saw that [FIA submission] list this morning and I was quite surprised by this coincidence.
“But in our case, we did some flow checks on our Halo fairing a few races ago and saw a few aspects of the flow that we didn’t like. That’s what inspired us to improve the flow, to take into account the losses in the cockpit and ensure that they end up in the right part at the rear of the car.
Robson felt there were two critical factors at play in teams making improvements in this area: it showed that the details mattered more, and that they could also be done cheaply and quickly.
“This is just one of the incremental changes you need to make,” he said. “And I hope that it will be more effective than it obviously seems.
“But the other thing is that it’s relatively quick to do. So we are in this kind of phase where we have brought the [updated] the front wing in Japan, which is a lot of work and a big thing to introduce, and we’re kind of working on the next package of aerodynamic improvements.
“So something like this Halo fairing is relatively small and we can install it inexpensively.”