Nosejobs, new fins and more - Piola on Canada tech intrigue

There was only really one big talking point that emerged from the Canadian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel's excursion, which led to Vettel's time penalty, and Vettel's post-race clowning around after being chiselled away from the Ferrari hospitality.

But let's take a break from the politicking and tomfoolery, and instead take an insightful look at the new updates the teams brought to Montreal for last weekend. As blend of long-ish straights and hard braking zones, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a bit of a brake-breaker - as Lando Norris found to his detriment early on in the race.

With a mix of Giorgio Piola's photographs and illustrations detailing the new parts, we can look at how each team elected to tackle the unique demands of the Montreal circuit.

Racing Point's botched nose job

Courtesy of Lance Stroll's hard-fought ninth place, Racing Point ended up with two racing points in Canada - a strong result at the team's quasi-home race. Despite an engine blowout in FP3 that prompted a switch to an old-spec internal combustion engine, Stroll drove an incredibly well-managed race to cement his third points-paying finish of the year.

But what makes Stroll's performance even more intriguing is that while Racing Point brought a few new aero parts across the Atlantic, none of them remained on the car from Saturday onwards. These were large-scale changes, too - new front and rear wings were primed and ready for FP1 - but back-to-back running on Friday cemented Racing Point's decision to revert to type.

But it can't hurt to take a look, especially if those new components make their way to the car again in the future. Although Autosport has discussed its rear wing previously, Racing Point presumably decided that the original specification gave the team a little more flexibility with regards to downforce and drag levels.

The team also toyed with a rhinoplasty, raising the nostrils on the nosecone to incorporate a Mercedes-style 'cape'. Usually, those nostrils help to draw airflow underneath the front of the car to minimise the chance of any high pressure zones forming. Lifting them a little higher allowed the team to experiment with creating a little bulge underneath, accelerating some of the airflow passing over the top of the front wing's neutral section and building a stronger low pressure gradient underneath the car.

Evidently, the team wasn't quite able to dial the new design in - opting to go with the previous-spec version on the left in the comparison image above, rather than the newer model on the right. Although the new nose might have to wait to make its racing debut, Racing Point's ability to now make those changes with investment on board is certainly not something to be sniffed at.

(Barge)boards of Canada

The weekend in Montreal was a little difficult for Toro Rosso, but a gutsy drive from Daniil Kvyat rewarded the team's efforts with a championship point after the Russian snatched 10th place from Carlos Sainz Jr in the dying stages of the race.

Only a minor addition made its way to this car between Monaco and Canada - a change to the bargeboard package.

On the previous spec, one vertical fin was visible at the leading edge with another following the initial cutouts, but the Canada reconfiguration produced three collections of fins.

At the green arrow (above) the leading edge fin now has a small slot in it, issuing a bit more control over the airflow being turned away from the car. The two banks of fins marked with the yellow arrows are new, and their aim is to bring a healthier supply of airflow into the turbulent airflow zone shed by the tyres.

The horizontal cuts have also been curved slightly to pick airflow up from the front end more readily, easing it into a more aggressive path around the bargeboard area.

Red Bull gives you fins

As the Red Bull chassis bulkhead ends and the nosecone begins, there's a small triangular zone - when viewed from side on - allowed within the technical regulations for bodywork to sit within. Presumably this is meant as a little bit of extra space for teams to cover their third damper/inerter units, but it's also been used to house tiny fins - as the regulations do not explicitly ban their inclusion.

Mercedes and Alfa Romeo were first to appear with those fins, bringing them to the fore during pre-season testing, and at subsequent rounds Renault has also emerged with its own adaptation. In Canada, it was the turn of Red Bull to chance its arm with some small fins applied to the nose's transition point.

Taking the form of a terrier's ears sweeping backwards in a strong summer's breeze, the fins appear to be a concerted effort to drive airflow around the S-duct. At this point, it's always difficult to manage the airflow transitioning from the top of the nose to the top of the chassis.

While a principle known as the Coanda effect assists the airflow's efforts in manoeuvring around the curved surface, the skin friction will ultimately result in the airflow closest to the bodywork slowing down. As a result, small pockets of separation are liable to appear, even with the S-duct's best efforts to trim those down.

By bleeding the airflow over the nose away, the transition from nose to chassis is aided and the low-pressure zone immediately behind the duct is preserved, developing the suction to draw air through it. Clean airflow is now brought over the chassis, moving the turbulent boundary layer transition point further back.

Renault's ends up with new endplate

It's not been an easy ride for Renault this year, but the team managed its first double-points finish of the season with sixth and seventh places in Canada.

There weren't too much in the way of updates from the team, with most of its focus on bringing new parts for Paul Ricard, but a revised endplate seemed to at least help matters in Montreal.

Rather than follow a similar route to several teams and fill up the second half of the flared section with strakes, Renault has a number of differently shaped teeth to stitch the motion of the airflow together here, while still using that portion of the endplate to eke out a tiny bit of downforce.

But the team has decided to be more aggressive at the rear of the endplate, strengthening the strakes and opening up the space behind the rear wing to offer a bit more room to expand. All of that creates a little bit more of a low-pressure zone at the rear to assist with the wing's function.

The bottom of the endplate has also been given a new, curved profile with a small lip, lifting a bit of airflow upwards and outwards to build on that expansion of air.