French GP tech attack

It wasn't just Mclaren that introduced a heavily revised car at Magny-Cours, the BMW WilliamsF1 team's FW26 was a quite different animal in France.



The revised FW26 has a modified lower deformable structure. This was successfully crash-tested on the Monday after the European Grand Prix; 1) shows the ballast, 2) shows the reshaped radiators with cut-away corners to facilitate tighter-fitting bodywork. The radiators are smaller (3) than before as it was found that the old ones were too conservative aerodynamically.



Fins above the front suspension (1) do not add downforce but rather change the aero balance of the car. It's a principle that has been used in the past by Tyrrell, Minardi and Jordan. The fins have two holes (2) visible within them, showing where they are fixed in a way that allows easy removal - necessary, for example, when access is needed to change the ride height.



Williams had a new rear wing showing various influences from other cars. Its flap was similar in shape to that of the BAR. The side cut-outs to control the vortex to the end plate is like that on the Toyota, while the vertical cut-out is reminiscent of that seen on the Minardi and Renault.



The new MP4/19B differs from the 19 more extensively than that car did from the MP4/18. The two earlier cars shared the same chassis but the 19B's is new, with an extra inch in height. The sidepods are very different aerodynamically and there is a Ferrari-like step in the lower body behind the bargeboards (shown by arrow). There is an extensive hot air extract (also arrowed) and behind that there's a new double-element winglet. The diffuser is all-new, but the radiator layout is as before, with the two rads (oil and water) combined but angled apart.



This shows the MP4/19B's underbody and its ballast, which comes out in one piece. The holes are for fixing.



There was a modified barge board (with the original as introduced at Monaco shown inset) to go with slightly different sidepods