Sochi challenges lead to aero tweaks

Even with the short turnaround between Suzuka and Sochi and the customs restrictions preventing teams from flying in new parts, there were still new components and car tweaks on display during the Russian Grand Prix weekend.

MERCEDES

With uncertainty about the exact nature of the Sochi circuit and how strong a challenge it would face, Mercedes took a number of rear wing options to Russia.

A larger rear wing and monkey seat winglet was used for most of free practice, but given the challenge posed by Williams, Mercedes re-thought its set-up before qualifying.

It switched to a slightly less powerful rear wing, with less drag, that was used at Spa.

The wing sported the arched rear profile and the smaller monkey seat.

This allowed greater top speed, for defending or taking positions in the race, which will have helped Nico Rosberg as he made his way through the field.

The reduced downforce did risk accelerated rear tyre degradation from sliding, but given the performance of the Pirelli tyres at Sochi this was not a problem, as Rosberg's 52-lap stint on mediums demonstrated.

FERRARI

Ferrari ran some new strakes on the floor around the rear tyres that were unseen among the larger updates on other cars at Suzuka.

Without exhausts blowing in the gap between the wheels and diffuser, the next-best way to seal the gap is to divert a jet of air into that space.

These new fences along the floor collect up air passing over the floor and direct them into the gap, sealing the diffuser from the turbulence around the rear tyre.

RED BULL

Another small update that first appeared in Japan was a detail change to the vane on the RB10's front wing.

This is the latest of several tiny changes Red Bull has made to the front throughout the year.

At the last race, the small vane on the cascade winglet was replaced by two smaller vanes, slightly offset from each other.

Although the cascade and its vanes outwardly appear to be a downforce-producing wing, they are designed to generate a series of vortices around the top of the front tyre.

This is to offset the turbulent wake it produces as it spins the airflow. These new vanes will simply be a refinement of that airflow.

McLAREN

A lot of front-wing experimentation has gone on at McLaren in recent races. For Sochi, the team ran its revised front wing more frequently than in previous races.

At first glance indistinguishable from the current spec of front wing, the tell-tale signs of bare carbonfibre and metal fixings on the new wing highlighted the changes.

McLaren has been running its front wing at near-maximum settings for most of the season. Often the drivers' requests for more front-wing angle of attack have been declined by engineers as the wing is already at the top of its adjustment.

Rather than being an all-new front wing, the Sochi version is derived from the current wing, but it appears to be mounted lower relative to the fixed central section.

Two, stepped metal joints between the wing and centre section drop the outer wing sections down a few millimetres.

Being lower, the wing is slightly more efficient at creating downforce. There must be corresponding changes at the endplate to ensure it isn't now too low.

The winglet also came in for a subtle geometry change.

At the other end of the car, McLaren has brought another iteration of its mushroom rear suspension fairings.

At some tracks the team has removed the upper fairing, trading the downforce it helps produce for less drag.

In Russia, the team ran narrower top fairings, with the large mushroom cross-section profile only spanning half the length.

This appears to be a half-way-house solution in downforce/drag for the rear-end set-up.

TORO ROSSO

Following successful updates in Japan, Toro Rosso introduced several more refinements to the aero package, with new turning vanes and bargeboards.

As there is greater flow under the nose from the new Red Bull-inspired Suzuka nose, the turning vanes mounted under the front of the chassis were updated.

Previously, three heavily twisted elements were at their base with a large flat footplate, which collected up the air and controlled its path along the car. Now they are less aggressive and without the footplate.

Now, the larger bargeboards have had two vertical slots put in the top edge.

A trick used by many other teams, these slots shed vortices to help turn the airflow around the front of the sidepods