Quote:
Originally Posted by Tervuren
The rule makers are continually trying to keep an imbalance of rear down force on these cars. Last try was regulating a large frontal square are for the front wings. Team's ended up pushing the noses very high to scoop more air under the car, and spreading the wings out as far as possible to bear nearer the tires. .
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This is the 0.5m wide FIA defined central wing section, teams have always pushed the wing as far outboard as possible as a lot of the front downforce comes from the wing end plate and its interaction with the road. The FIA also lifted the wing legality box to make the front wing end plates less effective in creating downforce .
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tervuren
The purpose of this new nose rule - is reduce rear downforce. By narrowing the side pods, more airflow is needed there for cooling as you have less radiator space, then, by lowering the nose, you create a conflict of trying to get air both under the car for front lift/rear downforce, and through the car for cooling.
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new nose rule is 100% to do with safety and nothing to do with slowing the cars down. New rules for reducing the front wing width by 150mm and removing the lower rear wing are designed to slow the cars down. It works on the front wing by making it harder to control the front wheel wake using the wing end plates. It works on the rear by reducing the low pressure area behind the diffuser that the lower rear wing helped to create. I assume both ends of the car were changed to keep the aero balance similar [/QUOTE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tervuren
Most teams, are simply trying to minimize the aerodynamic impact of the new lower nose regulation by trying to get a cross section that still produces front lift and pushes air under the car. There are also rules on the size of the nose, and each team is pushing those rules to the minimum size they can get.
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The shapes are all about improving the airflow to the rear diffuser, the nose shape doesn't really edect the front wing
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tervuren
Larger wheel diameter allows for bigger brakes, and more space for cooling. The F1 wheel size was limited to try to keep a limit on the speeds of the cars via the brakes - but teams have really done a lot to keep them cool and functional anyway.
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Don't think this is coorect, a larger wheel with the same tyre rolling radius would more than likely increase speeds, as a larger part of the brake cooling system is designed to duct clean air through the wheel to smooth out the front wheel wake as it goes down the car.
The wheel size was kept the same due to cost as all the teams would need to relearn how the suspension effects the handling of the car. Tyre squish is where the majority of the suspenion movement.