F1 2017 development race kicks off in Bahrain

The 2017 Formula 1 season is in full swing, and engineers across the grid are beginning to truly understand where their cars stack up against the rest of the field.

Identifying a car's strengths and weaknesses quickly is vital for teams to implement upgrade programmes as soon as possible, allowing them to keep developing as the season progresses.

Although the cars' specifications were relatively static from Australia to China, there were a larger number of visible updates in Bahrain, as teams sought to steal a march on their rivals in the early-season flyaway rounds.

There are also a few developments from the opening two races that, with more close-up images now available, can be analysed in more depth.

NEW FERRARI FRONT WING

After an encouraging start to the new term, Ferrari continued to build on its momentum with the addition of a new front wing with some aggressive new features.

Ferrari included a third element into the red mainplane section, helping to improve the airflow attachment over the wing.

Thanks to the extra airflow control that the front wing now has, Ferrari has moved the start of the vortex tunnel underneath the wing further inboard to achieve a more dramatic curvature, pumping the resultant vortex around the front wheel more effectively.

This reduces the amount of wake that the tyre produces, trimming off drag and limiting the effects of the wake's turbulent air downstream.

The vortex tunnel is also shaped differently towards the trailing edge of the wing assembly, and is squarer to ensure that the vortex is carried outboard correctly.

On top of the wing, this is paired with an aerofoil flap mounted to the inside of the endplate that squashes some of the airflow, accelerating it and lifting it out of the way of the tyre.

Compared to the wing used in Australia and China, the shape of the elements painted white were changed for Bahrain to suit the demands of the circuit, also changing the way the airflow passes over the suspension wishbones.

Further down the grid, Haas also brought a slightly amended wing to Bahrain, featuring three cascade elements attached to the upper flap instead of the two used in China.

The cascades prevent flow detachment, offering the wing greater control in directing the airflow in front of the suspension geometry.

FORCE INDIA BARGEBOARDS

As larger bargeboards are now allowed by the regulations compared to last year, designers have a much bigger canvas to work with in implementing developments in this area.

Force India began the year with four vertical slots along the top edge of its bargeboard design, helping to direct airflow more aggressively towards the top face of the floor and around the sidepod.

For Bahrain, the Silverstone-based team brought a new design with nine slots, dousing it in flow-viz paint in Friday practice.

Teams often employ flow-vis to see how their components deal with airflow patterns in the real world, outside the windtunnel, and Force India used this to assess how the bargeboard behaves with airflow coming from the front of the car.

Adding these extra slots provides more control in directing air from the suspension wishbones and flow conditioners, pulling it downwards towards the sidepod undercut, to be channelled to the rear of the car.

The curvature of the bargeboard may offer some degree of air separation without these slots, and including them mitigates that risk.

Pulling the air from the front suspension components down also helps to keep turbulent air from entering the sidepod inlet, improving the cooling performance.

The new bargeboard is also paired with a new extension to the flow conditioner around the sidepod's leading edge, which encourages the development of a vortex around the bottom of the sidepod that can later be directed away from the rear tyre.

RENAULT BRAKE DISCS

Pairing long straights with slow, tight corners, the Sakhir circuit is incredibly hard on brakes, and in the hotter temperatures cooling is frequently an issue.

To combat this problem, teams use small holes on the curved face of the brake disc to increase its surface area, improving heat dissipation.

The number of holes drilled into the disc's circumference will vary between events, and Renault is one team that came to Bahrain prepared for hotter temperatures.

Its brake discs for the Chinese Grand Prix featured rows of four holes across the disc, but an extra hole was included for Bahrain as it tried to limit the effects of heat build-up on the car's braking performance.

FLOOR SLOTS

A number of teams have also started adding slots into the floor, experimenting with a loophole that the new regulations have created.

The maximum permissible width for the floor was extended by 200mm, but a regulation that mandates "continuous bodywork" in this area was not changed to fit this new width and, as a result, teams have a 100mm space either side to experiment with slots.

Ferrari and Mercedes have used this space to add a cut in the floor, creating a section that is detached at the trailing edge.

Adding curvature to this not only adds stability to ensure that it doesn't flex too much, but also helps to roll up a vortex.

This is directed by the trailing edge, creating a barrier to reduce high-pressure air from bleeding under the floor, and as a result boosts diffuser performance.

Haas, Toro Rosso and McLaren have added slots rather than complete cuts into the floor, although the intent is the same as Mercedes and Ferrari's designs.

McLaren also appears to use the trailing edge of the slot to shape the vortex, carrying it away from the rear tyres to minimise tyre squirt.

Tyre squirt has a detrimental effect on diffuser performance, and is caused by the rotation of the wheel creating an unpredictable flow pattern.

Toro Rosso and Haas use slots positioned further forward than McLaren's, seeking to work the air around the sidepod as quickly as possible.

Both teams use their slots in conjunction with a lip on the edge of the floor, although Haas also uses two small raised sections to guide the airflow outboard.

MERCEDES SHARK-FIN OUTLET

In search of extra cooling performance, Mercedes was able to use its shark fin to add an opening to the engine cover.

This isn't an entirely new solution, as the Brackley team trialled the design in pre-season testing when it explored a number of shark-fin options, and used the chimney solution in Melbourne before switching to a more conventional design for Shanghai.

The holes along the top edge offer the engine cover design some adjustability; in Australia, the opening was closed halfway with a small panel as the cooling demands on the car were reduced.

Conversely, the warmer conditions in the Bahrain desert demanded that the team leave the aperture completely open to dispel the hot air from the engine area.

T-WING CONTROVERSY

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner made another call for T-wings to be banned, following Friday's second practice session in which Valtteri Bottas's device detached itself from the Mercedes, damaging the floor of Max Verstappen's car.

Mercedes' T-wing design is the only version in the field that is not mounted to the shark fin, and has suffered some problems with structural integrity.

Mounting the T-wing to the shark fin should offer greater support, although this is not completely guaranteed. Haas sustained a number of issues early in the season with flexure, prompting it to reinforce its design.

Conversely Red Bull is the highest-profile team not to run a T-wing at all.

Horner estimated that the errant T-wing did "about £50,000 of damage" to Verstappen's Red Bull, and this will probably not be the last time that these aerodynamic devices will court controversy.