F1 teams reveal 2016 tricks in Abu Dhabi

From the time the 2015 Formula 1 season finished on Sunday, and teams completed the Pirelli tyre test, the start of '16 pre-season testing was just 11 weeks away. With time now short, some teams brought 2016 developments to Abu Dhabi for track testing in first practice on the Friday of the grand prix weekend. The aim is to gather valuable data to help with their programmes over the winter.

MERCEDES

Two significant developments were clear at Mercedes: a revised suspension system and a new rear wing aero trick.

SUSPENSION

The suspension change affects the front inboard set up. This was apparently first tested on Hamilton's car as part of the S-duct setup in Brazil. It appears the car now has a single hydraulic heave damper supporting the front suspension, rather than the two separate coil sprung and hydraulic elements run previously on the W06.

It's a popular misconception that since front-and-rear interconnected suspension (FRIC) was banned last year, hydraulic suspension elements had no place in F1 either. The reality is that teams retained the hydraulic systems, but merely disconnected the front-to-rear link.

Lessons learned from how a hydraulic element can be of benefit were found to be equally useful even without the link. Therefore teams have continued to evolve ever-more complex hydraulic setups, to control both heave and roll motions. With this the race engineer can have better control of all the suspension modes.

All season Mercedes has had a simple coil-sprung device, known as the 'front coil heave unit', fitted between the pushrod rockers. This unit is visible through the aperture in the top of the chassis. Less well known was a separate hydraulic element, known internally as the 'front gas heave unit', mounted below it.

This second unit is the one that provides the Mercedes with such excellent suspension control, noticeable from the onboard shots when the car barely pitches under braking, but still moves quite freely over kerbs and in roll.

So with a hydraulic system already in place, the Brazil/Abu Dhabi set-up is more a simplification of the system. The hydraulic unit now sits higher in the tub's open hatch, with the coil unit deleted.

The car will still require a sprung mechanism to support its weight, but this can be achieved with torsion bars, or more likely a separate unit in the sidepod.

A benefit of hydraulic units over simple springs is that they can be positioned in such a way as to clear up space inside the footwell, so a remote heave spring in the sidepod is a possibility on the Merc.

With this new suspension layout and the S-duct panel, we can surmise that the 2016 car will have a very different shape at the front of the monocoque, and that the volume freed up by the new inboard suspension will be given over to the S-duct routing.

REAR WING TWEAK

Also on the Mercedes this weekend was a detail on the rear wing, where a serrated strip was attached to the rear face of the flap.

We have already seen serrated details on the Mercedes under the front wing. This design is what's known as a 'trip strip', common in aviation, to keep airflow attached to curved surfaces.

On the rear wing the strip was applied part way up the underside of the flap. This is an area where the airflow is in transition from smooth to turbulent.

The strip would appear to induce more turbulence, but in a controlled manner, as each serration creates tiny vortices. This should help make the airflow more predictable, and aid particularly in reattaching the airflow when DRS closes the wing flap.

In some respects this sort of airflow aid is similar to a 'monkey seat', not adding downforce directly but helping the air to flow as it should.

It has been suggested the strip will create a dirtier wake for following cars. While there will be more turbulence, this is at a low level and is unlikely to be felt by a following car.

McLAREN

Still working hard to understand the direction for its 2016 car, McLaren brought yet more updates to the recalcitrant MP4-30 for Abu Dhabi.

Again the work is centred on getting more rake angle put into the car's set-up. This time the rear suspension has been modified to make it all work. The team also ran a modified steering wheel, seen earlier this year.

Part of the car's early design was to retain the rear suspension fairing from 2014, but this compromised the car's rear wishbone layout since the legs needed to sit over the top of the diffuser - necessitating an unusual position for the lower wishbone, which (uniquely) sits behind the driveshaft.

Wanting a more conventional positioning of the wishbone for aerodynamic benefit is costly. The gearbox has to be redesigned to create a mounting point strong enough to accept the loads.

It appears this is the route McLaren has taken. The lower wishbone mounts at the same place at the back of the rear crash structure, but the forward leg now reaches forwards to the gearbox, creating a very wide "V" shaped arm.

With this experience, no doubt McLaren will have a more conventional rear suspension set-up for 2016.

LOTUS

Still without certainty for its future, which has hindered development work over the second half of the season, Lotus made an unexpected development step by bringing a new nose to Abu Dhabi.

Most similar to Mercedes, Lotus has a streamlined and narrow nose, towards the limit of how short it can be.

The new nose follows a similar path, but the tip is a thumb-like design, rather than rounded. The belly of the nose at first appears to be bulbous, but it is more likely to be the front wing pylons extending rearwards into a pair of vanes, ideas commonly adopted by 'Team Enstone' in 2009, '10 and again with last year's twin-tusk design.

Although the overall dimensions of the nose are similar to the previous E23 set-up, it is in fact a totally new structure, requiring crash tests in order to be used on track.

This is a significant investment and does perhaps suggest the team's future is now a little more certain.

FORCE INDIA

Since the team is operating with a selection of three basic front-wing designs, some observers mistakenly concluded it had brought a new wing to Abu Dhabi.

However, one of the wings was set-up with small pods on the endplate. These were not aerodynamic parts, but covers for laser rideheight sensors.

Several teams have used these sensor pods in recent years. The idea is that the wing's attitude to the track can be mapped, since the gap to the ground is a critical part of making front wings work.