Quote:
Originally Posted by F87source
You know the more I think about these cars the more I think Ferrari got it the most right, they really optimized the over side pod air flow to the beam wing, and they got the side pod under cut to optimize air flow to the diffuser. The front wing has the flow conditioner and the vortex generating flap adjusters. The whole package seems to be pushing creativity to the next level.
I feel mclaren dropped the ball the hardest because they went pretty conservative on the side pody design, and are making the side pods massive to try and force some down wash. Whether this pays off I do not know.
Mercedes might have dropped the ball too because their side pod design isn't as adventerous, they do have some small under cuts, but they mostly are using the super tight packaging method of the previous cars in order to coax air flow through the coke bottle region. I am not sure if this is as effective as using body work, we shall see I guess. They did go crazy on the floor pushing the limits more than others imo, even their strakes are wider making it less sensitive to air flow directions and turbulence.
So now we will see if the traditional shrink wrapping of the body is the right way to go, or if the more adventerous side pods are the way to go. IMO if the adventerous side pods fail they might fail harder because they're really pushing air flow to critical areas of the car and if real life doesn't correlate issues might occur. Shrink wrapping is the safe proven method of car design, but if it is the wrong development path then they will be sacrificing alot of performance. I reallly don't know what will be the case but we will see.
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This is why it's hard to critique all these designs outside of aesthetics. The manufacturer that gets it right is the one with the car that performs and competes the best. As of right now, no one knows who nailed what - all we see is what each manufacturers philosophy is.
With the W13, it seems like top speed is priority and adding that floor design is trying to get as much downforce from pulling the car down. Is this the right combination? Not sure until the first couple of races.