Comments on: Photo exclusive: Red Bull “flexi” front wing, judge for yourself

By: Nur Kurniawan

Nur Kurniawan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:32:19 +0000

It’s not just a flexi front wing, It’s all bodywork design can make lower position in the front, such as two step suspention or whole nose design, because redbull front wing steady straight but totaly car lower in front.

By: daniel

daniel — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:56:20 +0000

what! the f-duct is totally legal, and after spa so will the flexible wings so come on mclaren make your own ones now please and show the grid who are the men from the boys

By: Roy Daroyni

Roy Daroyni — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:31:43 +0000

This flexi front-wing has nothing to do with balancing downforce from the blown-diffuser because diffuser does not directly generate downforce. What diffuser does is to smooth the underflow which, in turn, increase downforce underneath the car (not downforce at the rear-end only).

The most advantage of flexing front wing is that the end-plate is getting lower to the ground, thus providing better “sealing” between low pressure area underneath the wing with that higher pressure above the wing. This better sealing result in better pressure different between upper surface and lower surface of the wing thus result a better aerodinamic efficiency greater downforce.

By: Robin Miller

Robin Miller — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:02:42 +0000

There are many ways that a static load test could be fully valid, but the loads applied from aero (or suspension) could make the deflection different. Especially if the loads are higher. Take a look at nickel titanium, (shape memory alloy)transitioning between martensitic and austenitic phases, it could be fully stiff under load, then “snap” to a drooping wing, then “snap” back to a stiff wing when the loading is decreased. This material could be layered with the Carbon Fiber. I suspected this was used in the past for rear wings that could “relieve” their downforce at high speeds.

With rules as particular as F1, finding loopholes is part of the game. You just have to be willing to throw away $10M of development if the F1 rules disallow what you have done! Remember the “Fan car” from years ago on Lotus, won its first outing and was outlawed by the F1!

By: Mike W

Mike W — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:34:21 +0000

Regarding testing the wing, is it possible that the location of where the load test is applied has a bearing? i.e.the material used on the wing, outboard of the load test area may be of different construction (weaker), therfore allowing (more) flex in that area. This way even higher load tests may not show illegal deflection as the test area is already stronger (resisting more deflection)??? thoughts people?

By: Zeki

Zeki — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:46:33 +0000

This is smart, I think the rules state that you cant have an adjustable front wing? Its not adjustable, they have probably just changed the material density / composition so that under certain conditions the g’s make the wing flex. With the wing thicker in some places than others,with a wind tunnel, you could trial and error your way to a wing that flexes in the right direction coming towards turns etc.
If I were an F1 designer I would be doing the same, like the diffusers, get the written rule article to hand and find the grey area !

By: UnKool

UnKool — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:58:18 +0000

OK, so it seems clear that flexi-bodywork of any type is illegal, and that a few teams have found a way of achieving flex and still passing the current tests. It’s either that or believe Horners explanation that the phenominon we see is due to a combination of camera angle, tyre pressure, fuel load and special paint! Yeah right.

When (or if) flexi-wings are deemed in violation and banned, could Red Bull and Ferrari be stripped of points or disqualified? Would another team with no skeletons in the closet, but a firm backbone nonetheless, have to protest for anything like this to happen?

I’m a bit intrigued by Hartley’s sudden demise from the Red Bull squad and by Ferrari’s equally sudden performance gain. Does he speak Italian?

I’ve got a funny feeling that Red Bull will front up at Spa with legal wings, pass the test and blame the loss on a horsepower disadvantage

By: James Allen

James Allen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:38:05 +0000

Please show us how that looks

By: shane

shane — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:45:23 +0000

this is wrong
take the redbull picture
load it it to a paint program
past the McLaren wing for comparison the one under the redbull over the top make it transparent so you can see the red bull underneath now rotate the McLaren and resize to size of redbull car image to match red bull and have a look

By: shane

shane — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:32:02 +0000

get your self some video software and watch in frame by frame you will find this is all wrong

the Ferrari front wing move a lot lot lot more then the redbull front wing