Ferrari leads F1's tech push in Russia

In the week preceding the Russian Grand Prix, the FIA announced the first amendments to the Formula 1 regulations for 2018. Important technical changes are on the horizon, but in the short-term plenty is changing race-to-race.

May's Spanish Grand Prix usually signals the start of major upgrades, but already we have seen the development race beginning to ramp up - and various teams brought brand new parts to Sochi in the pursuit of performance boosts.

Although the changes for next year, detailed further below, offer a momentary distraction, teams are still very-much focused on the present. And Ferrari seems to be leading the way.

FERRARI'S DOUBLE MONKEY SEAT

Ever since F1 adopted the central tailpipe to reduce any exhaust gas wizardry, adding a monkey seat above the rear crash structure has been a popular method of improving rear-end downforce.

It also helps the engineers to manage the exhaust gas flow and reduce the effect on the car's wake, cutting drag generated from turbulence at the rear.

Ferrari has doubled its fun in this area by adding a second monkey seat in front of its existing one, attaching it to the swan-neck rear-wing mounts.

This adds a little extra downforce, and also helps to contain the flow from the exhaust a little as it leaves the pipe.

Since prolonged exposure to heat from the exhaust can potentially cause deformation of components, wrapping the mounting points in gold foil helps to conduct that heat away.

Further developments into cooling on the SF70H are visible at the rear brake ducts, as Ferrari sought to reduce the brake temperatures generated by the stop-start nature of the Sochi circuit.

A cutaway in the rear hub casing exposes a section of the brake disc, allowing it to dissipate heat as the wheel assembly rotates.

Just behind the cutaway, cool air is channelled to the wheel rim by a slot, helping to carry away any heat build-up from the brakes. Not only does this prevent the braking issues described previously, but also minimises the risk of overheating the tyres.

Extra heat bleeding into the tyres from the brakes can cause pressures to rise, compromising the chemical properties of the tyre rubber and increasing degradation.

NEW T-WINGS FOR SAUBER AND WILLIAMS

The new ruling on T-wings has no immediate effect, and teams will continue to develop in this area as they seek to maximise the effectiveness of their rear wing through 2017.

Both Sauber and Williams brought new designs to Russia, the two teams opting for slightly different philosophies.

Williams has replaced its single T-wing with a double-element design. Doing this creates a greater upwash effect, which elevates any unsteady airflow over the rear wing and improves its efficiency.

Another way to do this would be to add more camber to the single-wing design, increasing the curvature of the profile, but this adds a higher drag penalty compared to using multiple shorter-chord elements.

Williams has also done away with the small added wing above the exhaust pipe, considering it surplus to requirements of managing airflow at the rear.

Sauber has experimented with a number of T-wing designs, and raced in Russia with a design similar to that adopted by McLaren in China.

This consists of a cambered wing element that curves around and back underneath to add an extra point of attachment to the shark fin, reducing the wing flex under load.

This also offers greater control over the direction of airflow, helping shape any vortices to be directed away from the rear wing.

The Swiss team also continued with a twin-bargeboard design trialled in Bahrain, which includes a series of tiny strakes along the bottom of the first bargeboard.

This collects any turbulent airflow from the front part of the car, cleans it up and sends it to be directed around the sidepod by the second bargeboard.

HAAS LATE ON THE BRAKES

Following a spate of braking woes that have plagued Haas for the best part of a year, the American team emerged from the garage on Friday sporting new Carbone Industrie brakes, in place of components from supplier Brembo, which it has used since joining the grid for 2016.

Haas tested the Carbone Industrie brakes in the post-Bahrain GP test and, although the drivers seemed happy with the feel of the car under braking then, the team came across a number of issues in Friday practice at Sochi.

The Carbone Industrie discs featured rows of six holes around the disc circumference, but despite its best efforts Haas was still unhappy with the cooling of the new brakes and was worried that in the current configuration they may not last the race distance.

On Saturday morning the decision was made to revert to Brembo for the rest of the Russian GP weekend, prompting Haas to seek further developments for cooling the Carbone Industrie components more effectively for Spain.

Generally, failing to cool the brake components properly results in thermal expansion of the disc and calipers, and this can result in the disc shedding material and creating a lot of dust as the driver brakes.

If this happens too often, the brake assembly can become severely damaged, the result of which is often a driver in the wall, much like Romain Grosjean's brake failure in Malaysia last year.

The road to fixing the brake issues has been long and arduous for Haas, but the team is hoping that it is close to a resolution.

MINOR TOUCHES AT MERCEDES...

Although bodywork is meticulously sculpted by aerodynamicists across the grid, packaging everything as tightly as possible to guide airflow towards the rear, this still creates the problem of managing the air afterwards.

After airflow has passed over the bodywork, it creates large wake structures at the rear and as a result creates a lot of drag.

To combat this, Mercedes has added a small flap around the trailing edge of the rear bodywork, guiding the airflow over the lower suspension wishbones to manage the wake and directing it towards the diffuser to boost performance.

As a result, it also helps prevent the air passing over the bodywork from mixing with the cooling outlets, meaning that hot air expelled from the internal components does not cycle back into the car.

...AND AT RED BULL

Looking to close the gap to leading duo Mercedes and Ferrari, Red Bull has made minimal changes to its RB13 so far this season, instead prudently using practice sessions to thoroughly assess the drawbacks of its current package.

The team investigated the deflection of its front wing at Sochi, developing a greater understanding of how it performs under the various loads experienced on-track.

Red Bull also trialled a new flow conditioner around the sidepod, moving the mounting point further outboard. The team tested this area with flow-viz over the Bahrain weekend, and the new design suggests Red Bull perhaps felt the conditioner spanning the length of the sidepod was not producing the flow structures needed over the rest of the car.

It is expected to bring a hugely upgraded car to Barcelona; Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has promised a "revamped chassis" for the Spanish Grand Prix, where the Milton Keynes-based outfit will be hoping to repeat its surprise victory last year, when Max Verstappen held off Kimi Raikkonen to win in his first race for the team.

RENAULT'S NEW FRONT WING

As Renault seeks to continue its ascent up the order, the engineers at Enstone sent a brand new front wing out to Sochi.

In the picture above, underneath the old front wing, you can see the new design. This features an extra element on the upper flap assembly, also removing the V-shaped cut-out from the top flap in the process.

Although the elements now have shorter chord lengths, the wing ensures that airflow is able to stay attached more easily, providing more-adequate control of flow around the suspension geometry.

The overall surface area also appears to be greater than the previous design, adding an increase in front-end downforce and further management of airflow downstream.

The new wing also features a change in the vortex tunnel, where the opening has been moved closer to the endplate. This works the airflow slightly harder, directing the resulting vortex around the tyre with greater effect and reducing any problems that the rotating wheel creates through generating unpredictable flow structures.

AN EYE ON 2018

As mentioned in the beginning, prior to the Sochi race the FIA revealed its intention to roll out the new 'shield' cockpit protection system next year, discarding the much-maligned halo concept that has not only divided opinions among the F1 fanbase, but also between the drivers.

The shield draws cues from the Red Bull-endorsed aeroscreen, but sits lower down and extends down the nose, aiming to deflect any debris from the driver's head.

Although the aesthetics of the design are a marked improvement over the halo, concerns have been raised over its ability to contend with larger pieces of bodywork.

The other 2018 change affects a controversial loophole in this year's regulations that resulted in various interpretations of shark fins and T-wings.

Due to the reprofiling of the newly swept-back rear wing, this left an open platform for teams to add aerodynamic devices onto the shark-fin.

Amid complaints from miscellaneous quarters in the paddock, the fins and wings have been nipped in the bud for 2018 by the FIA revising the permitted dimensions of the engine-cover bodywork.

The bounding boxes defined in the FIA regulations 3.5.2 and 3.5.7, in which aerodynamic devices are not permitted, will be expanded for 2018 to discourage the further development of shark-fins and T-wings.

This move should placate some of the more extreme critics of the new appendages.