Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr
Just going off the above description my guess is ...
They used a strip of helicopter tape (super strong tape for leading edges of rotor blades) to seal a joint line between the front lower splitter and front bumper where the it meets the front edge of the wheel opening
The gap was probably identified during full scale wind tunnel testing or high resolution on track photos and caused by the aero loads opening up a panel joint due to not enough/incorrectly positioned fixings or stiff enough bodywork
The surface/sealing integrity of this area of the car is 'super' critical/sensitive to how the the front wheel/tyre wake flows down/under the rest of the car and/or the front aero loading on the car
'Change to the build process' is just a convenient excuse for a well thought out illegal performance advantage
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The gap theory is good, except the illegal tape wasn't noticed until they removed the wrap (something that is apparently common during post-race inspection). Wouldn't the wrap seal that gap? I wonder if instead of a gap maybe a hinge was discovered and the tape was being used to eliminate the movement of the air dam?
Either way, it speaks to the art of the aerodynamicist that seemingly tiny anomalies are identified and addressed and a good result is the outcome.
Next cheat - wraps that are manufactured with thinner and thicker areas to either hinge or stiffen the bodywork.