The return of the Silver Arrows to victory has turned the spotlight on the Brackley team, capable of a technical recovery during the current season as rarely seen in the history of Formula 1, able to go back from the second half of the grid to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari. Progress resulting from multiple factors, above all the team’s ability to thoroughly analyze the intrinsic problems of the project, in particular those related to mechanics, and react by deliberating increasingly effective arrangements. Not even the possible help given by can be neglected technical directive on the wear of the plank, strongly pushed by Toto Wolff’s team, e aerodynamic development throughout the season.
Mattia Binotto commented on the updates brought to the track by rivals, questioned about possible concerns on the budget cap front: “The hope is that there isn’t a team that has somehow exceeded the spending ceiling, it would be a shame for this sport. Seeing teams developing so much though, some doubts may come“. However, quantifying the costs incurred for development from the outside is a difficult task, not knowing the exact costs or the quantity of spare parts produced following accidents. It was therefore decided to take as simple references the main components with the most complex construction, such as bottoms, Venturi duct grilles, bodywork including bonnet and sides, beam-wing, diffuser, nose and front and rear wings, considering only the structural makeover without count the alternation of the different upper flaps. For the sake of simplicity, however, secondary components such as the aerodynamic appendages of the wheel groups, the deflectors, the supports for the rear-view mirrors and the modifications carried out on the pre-existing funds have been excluded, although all these together contribute to the costs incurred.
In direct comparison with the other top teams, it is noted how Mercedes has invested large resources in the Venturi channel fund and grid. Also noteworthy is the production of ailerons, with three different rear wings introduced during the season and four front wings, the latter progressively refined especially in the area of the vertical drifts of the endplates. The count also takes into account the evolutionary package that debuted in the second pre-season test session, in which the entire car was tapered, suggesting a work to relocate the internal components. Red Bull, on the other hand, stands out for the different versions of the bodywork with bellies and power units, with three specifications that followed the initial one. Great resources were also absorbed by the front brake cooling ductsfor reliability problems mixed with the thermal management of the front tires. Ferrarfinally, it has mainly focused its development on the fund, but it is impossible to ignore how the production of five different rear wings while the championship is in progress, has limited the resources that can be invested in other areas.
NEW COMPONENTS | MERCEDES | RED BULL | FERRARI |
Fund | 5 | 3 | 4 |
Venturi channel grid | 3 | 4 | 1 |
Side panels-hood | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Front nose | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Rear wing (mainplane-endplate) | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Beam wing | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Front wing | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Diffuser | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Brake cooling ducts | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Mercedes development
-Bahrain: sides and radiators; nose with a greater excavation in the lower part; car bottom (rejected the second version tested in the FP1 Grand Prix); new end profiles of the front wing; refinement of the vertical deflectors of the rear brake baskets.
-Saudi Arabia: double rear wing flap with low load;
-Imola: downwash appendages in the center of the car to increase the air supply to the radiators; re-profiling of mirrors and fairing of the side impact structure to reduce the detachment of the flow; bottom lightening; bottom rise in front of the rear and new wheels external diffuser flaps to increase load generation at the rear.
-You love me: low load straight profile rear wing; low load beam wing; new front wing.
-Barcelona: endplate anterior wing; vortex generator on the keel at the entrance to the flat bottom; bottom; vertical deflectors outside the rear brake air intakes.
–Monaco: anterior wing endplate
-Baku: rear-view mirror appendix.
-Canada: fund (rejected); rear suspension outer fairing.
-Silverstone: Venturi channel bottom and grille; front suspension fairing; downwash appendages in front of the side air intakes; external band of the bottom.
-France: back edge of the bottom; front wheel unit cooling.
-Spa: bottom; front wing endplate fitting; top flap tweaks ed rear wing endplate
-Monza: low load rear wing flap
-Austin: front wing; Venturi channel grille; rear wing endplate
Red Bull development
-Bahrain: slight tapering of the sides; refinement front wing; vertical strips of the rear diffuser.
-Saudi Arabia: enlargement front brake cooling vents; debut rear wing and low load beam wing.
– Australia: new endplate anterior wing
-Imola: generator of vortices at the mouth of the flat bottom; lightening of mechanical components.
-Barcelona: high-load flap for the front wing; bottom.
-Baku: updates front brake cooling; bottom; external rear diffuser flaps.
-Silverstone: engine hood; bottom; Venturi channel grille; cooling of the front brake system.
-Austria: Venturi channel grid; cooling vent in the upper part of the hood; cooling of the front brake system.
-France: Venturi channel grille; cascade of upper aerodynamic appendages external to the rear wheel groups; beam wing.
-Hungary: cascading beam wing.
-Spa: re-profiling of sides; new fairing of the rear arm of the lower triangle of the rear suspension.
-Monza: low load rear wing upper flap
-Singapore: fining of flakes of the venturi duct grille;
Ferrari development
-Bahrain: progressive evolution of bottom through successive modifications during testing.
-Saudi Arabia: rear wing from medium-low load.
-Australia: different design of the central ramp of the diffuser (tested on Friday).
-Miami: new rear wing from low load.
-Barcelona: bottom; aerodynamic appendages external to the air intakes of the rear brakes; new high load rear wing.
-Baku: rearview mirror support.
-Canada: rear wing from medium load to higher efficiency; beam-wing from low load.
-Silverstone: bodywork (sides and hood); rear-view mirror supports.
-France: Venturi bottom and grill.
-Spa: new rear wing flaps
-Monza: rear wing
-Japan: changes to the bottom with front flow diverter and centralization of the rear tie rod.
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