2006 Bahrain GP Technical Review

The first Grand Prix for the V8 era kicked off in the heat and dust of Bahrain. This race is followed up by another heat-soaked event in Malaysia, and just seven days later.

With the teams still finding their feet with the different demands and reliability issues of the smaller engines, the approach all round at Sakhir has been cautious. From the lack of new aero parts, to the quiet opening practice, and through the new qualifying format - every team was careful not to risk their reliability.

With winter testing a pointless exercise for comparing teams' pace, the first race provided a better indication of teams' relative positions, but still mitigating circumstances need to be considered.

Equally, early reliability issues are compounded by the track's heat and the far-flung location of the race circuit. What has been clear, though, is that even solid testing of reliability and pace does not secure a team's fortunes in the heat of a race weekend.

Reliability

For the first race weekend with the new engines, their impact has been felt in reliability terms, however it has not been the engines themselves that have failed but rather related systems, such as electronics and gearboxes.

Even on Friday, the issues started for McLaren with Kimi Raikonnen stopping out on the circuit with electrical problems affecting the gearbox, while his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was reporting he is down on engine power. Also, Red Bull were hit by a driveshaft problem for Christian Klien.

In Saturday's qualifying session we saw one of the first major failures of the season, with Raikonnen's rear suspension failing through a fast left-hander. The right-hand lower wishbone - under the heaviest load from the corner - failed, and the wheel immediately pivoted around, hitting the rear wing. The car then spun off while at speed, with no rear wing and rear wheel. Fortunately, the tarmac run-off area allowed the car to slow, although the car tripped over the errant wheel, nearly flipping over.

Through a corner, the outer lower wishbone is put under a huge compressive load; the wheel transfers the grip from the tyre through the upright and into the wishbone.

The wishbone itself is made from a carbon fibre arm with titanium (Ti) ends bonded on. These Ti ends take the bolts that mount the wishbone to upright and gearbox.

From the angle of the errant wheel it appeared the outer end broke, and as it's the upper wishbone that contains the tether to retain the wheel during crashes, the wheel was free to pivot on the upper wishbones, causing the wheel damage. Also, this connection with the upper wishbone kept the wheel attached as Raikkonen brought the car back to the pits.

To prepare the car for the race, the team had to replace the entire rear end in parc ferme. The manufacturing fault that led to the failure was isolated, and Montoya's car and Raikonnen's repaired car were considered to be safe to race. The failure was odd, considering the lack of kerbs around the Sakhir circuit and given McLaren's stringent quality control process. Still, it seems freak failures can and do happen.

In the qualifying session, Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella reported engine problems. The team were sure the issue lay outside the engine and decided to change the engine's ECU, wiring looms, ignition coils and spark plugs, hoping this would resolve the issue.

However, their efforts were not rewarded, as the Italian was unable to get full power in the race, forcing him to be defensive and to lose positions. His race ended prematurely because of an unrelated hydraulic problem, but the retirement will allow him to use a new engine in Malaysia, while the old engine is sent back to France for investigation.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello was also hampered in the race with gearbox problems; unable to select third gear, he had to run much slower laps but managed to get a race finish.

Worst afflicted by reliability were Midland, whose problems started in the pit before the race. Tiago Monteiro's gearbox had an irreparable problem, and he had to step into the T-car, which wasn't set up for him. He did manage to maintain his form for finishing races, even if down in 17th. Drive train problems also halted Christijan Albers's race, when the driveshaft failed at the start and prevented him from completing even a single lap.

Ferrari's rear wing sports new vents on the endplates and a controversial slot gap. Cooling is aided by a duct under the chimney (yellow) © Scarborough (click image to enlarge)

The other big failure of the weekend was brought by BMW with the first major engine blow-up of the season. Jacques Villeneuve's V8 blew up in spectacular fashion, with clouds of smoke and soon after fire erupting from the right hand bank of the engine. BMW will bring the unit back to Munich for investigation into the cause.

For their first race, Super Aguri could be expected to have had problems, but surprisingly it was the fuel rigs that caused them most grief, as it was not delivering fuel the first time each driver came in to pit, forcing them to stop again next lap around. These extra stops were worse for Yuji Ide, whose gearbox would not select neutral and forced him to overshoot his pit and subsequently stopped his engine.

If Aguri could be forgiven, the sight of Ferrari mechanics struggling to get a working wheel gun for Felipe Massa's unplanned stop was embarrassing, and the 46-second stop wrecked the Brazilian's race.

Ferrari: Controversy and wings

Controversy soon broke out in Bahrain. As revealed by autosport.com, comments were made on Friday regarding the legality of Ferrari's rear wing. The issue was again the question of wings flexing to produce an aerodynamic advantage.

Ferrari: a different version of the Renault cascade wings has been adopted by Ferrari © Scarborough (click image to enlarge)

Wing flexing has been monitored by the FIA for almost a decade now, since teams began designing flex into the lower beam, which allowed the whole rear wing assembly to tip back at high speed, reducing drag and increasing top speed. A deflection test was designed to ensure the whole wing assembly would only move a limited amount when subjected to a load pulling on the endplates.

Some teams work on the principle that if the FIA don't measure it, then it fits within the strict wording of the rules. Soon teams were creating flexing flaps, for which a deflection test was created; this pulls the flap backwards from its trailing edge. Then teams circumvented this test by flexing the main plane until a deflection test was defined by the FIA that pulled the wing downwards.

Flex is the bending of a component purposely engineered into its design to improve aerodynamics. This is different from the wobbly Renault mirrors or parts generally jumping about over kerbs. These movements have no benefit to the car's performance and can be ignored under the deflection rules.

What teams believe Ferrari have done is to have the slot (arrowed) between the flap and main plane on the rear wing close up when at high speed. This stalls the wing and reduces both downforce and drag - the latter aiding the car at high speed. The swept leading edge of Ferrari's flap appears to overlap the main plane, and it does not have the usual support to keep the slot gap consistent under load.

Ferrari may or may not have a rear wing purposely flexing at high speed. Theoretically speaking, though, if they did, they could go about it in one or two ways. Firstly, the rear flap test pulls at the trailing edge of the flap, so if Ferrari's flap flexed at its leading edge to close the slot gap, then under the FIA tests it is legal. Secondly, Ferrari could have engineered the main wing deflect no more than the regulated amount and still have the gap close.

Red Bull: even more cooling outlets have been created to cool the Ferrari engine, and the floor has unique toothed edge ahead of the rear wheels © Scarborough (click image to enlarge)

In reality, the FIA tested Ferrari's wing in scrutineering and no problems were reported, and it's important to note that no team made a formal protest against Ferrari. It has always been the FIA's approach not to take any action until formal protests are lodged, so until someone has some evidence to back up the rumours, flexing wings or not, the Ferrari may continue to race with it. That said, the FIA could still decide to issue a rules clarification and change the deflections tests.

Ferrari have also sported the new front wing seen in testing. The flat outer spans section dip abruptly to create a low centre section. Above the main three-element wing, a new cascade wing has been added. This has a twisted profile that only uses the outer spans to create downforce, and it keeps the inner spans used only to support the wing and not upset flow to the rear wing.

Red Bull changes

After their winter testing overheating problems, and even with the revised cooling and sidepod package, Red Bull were expected to suffer in the heat of Bahrain. They had some revisions prepared for the heat: extra louvers were moulded into the chimney panel (marked in yellow), and a section was cut out of the sidepod behind the chimney (marked in black). This extra venting allowed the team to run without fears of engine damage from overheating, albeit at the cost of some aerodynamic efficiency.

BMW-Sauber: large brake ducts now extend around the brake disc to route air out of the wheel © Scarborough (click image to enlarge)

One novelty on the Red Bull was a new design of floor ahead of the rear wheels. Instead of the usual curled up floor, Red Bull have cut teeth into the lip (yellow). This area of floor was changed under the rules in 2005, making the space between floor and tyre wider.

This change cost downforce, as the floor could no longer seal air above the floor passing under the car and into the diffuser. The use of teeth has been adopted on Gurney flaps attached to wings, the aim being to reduce the turbulence created behind the wing by mixing the flows above and below the wing. These teeth on the floor, to help seal the gap with an aerodynamic effect, may create a similar effect.

Brake ducts

Although raced at the rear by Williams and a few other teams last year, Bahrain has seen a new adoption of the outer brake ducts on the front of the car. These barrel-shaped ducts take the hot air exiting the brake discs and direct it out through the wheel.

The ducts have the benefit of improving the path that the air needs in order to flow through, and they also help keep heat away from the wheel and tyre. Last year and in winter testing, Williams, Honda and Toyota ran them on the rear, while Ferrari and now BMW-Sauber have adapted them for use on the front of car.

Super Aguri: the nose cone and keel fairings are added to the chassis to form the aerodynamic twin keel shape © Scarborough (click image to enlarge)

Super Aguri

Super Aguri's appearance at the first race revealed some of the details on the new SA05 car, and the alterations made by the team to the Arrows chassis. Little is left of the 2002 chassis; the central monocoque and keel arrangement is carried over, but new crash structures at the side and a new nose box has allowed the team to create a new sidepod/engine cover for the benefit of aerodynamics.

The twin keel arrangement is hard to make out with the car's bodywork in place. The side of the car, where the front suspension mounts, is slab-sided, and this is because the side of the monocoque meets with the keel fairings to create a vertical face down to almost floor level. But the keel fairings are only removable bodywork.

As seen in the illustration, the keel is a U-shaped metal insert with a thin strut (marked in yellow) between the mounts to keep it stiff. The extensions to the nose cone and the keel fairings then attach (yellow arrows) to the nose to form the aerodynamic shape.

Super Aguri: the sidepods are up to date with other F1 teams, with an unusual pointed exhaust outlet © Scarborough (click image to enlarge)

The engine cover is new to accommodate the different rules from 2002, the new crash structures, and the Honda engine installation. The sidepods sport current F1 design details - undercut at the front with shoulder wings, removable chimneys and a winglet.

In testing, the endplates weren't attached, and even during some sessions in Bahrain the car ran without all the endplates. At the front, the shoulder endplate is reminiscent of Honda's crescent-shaped plate, but the wing it's attached to is more sizable than Honda's version.

The flip-up along the flank of the sidepod sports a second flick-up mounted to a strut supporting the main flip-up. Finally, the exhaust duct is a very unusual architectural shape, being very tall and pointed.