2008 Hungarian GP Technical Review

Hungary has become a standout race each season for many years now. The circuit is the complete antithesis of any track, new or old - it's more akin to Monaco than anything else. Thus, the tight confines of the Hungaroring force teams to run their Monaco high-downforce packages, and the heat forces the largest sidepod openings since the season-opening flyaway races.

Although the straight has been lengthened, the Hungaroring remains the tightest track on the calendar, overtaking is extremely difficult and its surface starts off dusty and unrubbered. Such is the progression of the track surface that the teams are having to pre-guess its state throughout the weekend. Friday practice sessions are largely spent cleaning off the sand and rubbering in the track.

Even through Saturday's free-practice session and qualifying, the track remains an enigma. This year the super-soft tyre option was not lasting a full lap, so many drivers opted for the durability and balance they found in the prime tyres, themselves the soft option from Bridgestone's four-tyre selection. Through the race the track continues to mature, and is at its grippiest late in the race, when most teams decided to run their super softs.

It's not that the track has any superfast turns to load the tyres, but merely the relentless sequence of medium and slow corners never lets the tyres rest and the lack of a long straight never allows the tyres to cool. The combination of layout and heat also test the engines and brakes - neither gets to cool adequately - and this forces drivers to duck out of the slipstream to allow more air to enter the sidepods. The brakes need nursing to prevent overheating, leading to oxidisation of the disc, which in turn leads to rapid wear of the disc.

As with most of the recent races, the race was preceded by a major test, which saw the reappearance of slicks in preparation for 2009 as well as BMW Sauber giving its electrical KERS solution a problematic first public test. Many teams tested new mechanical and aerodynamic parts, many of which made their race debut in Hungary, making this a particularly interesting weekend for technical developments.

Shark Fins

Throughout this year the teams have reached a remarkable level of convergence in design. Many areas on the bargeboards and front-wheel fairings have been replicated across the field. Now the shark-fin engine cover debuted by Red Bull in pre-season testing has become a standard feature across nearly the entire grid.

Although taller engine covers have been seen before, normally in the form of humped or slightly taller spines, the Red Bull "big fin" solution is stepped beyond these designs. They aim to improve the flow to the rear wing and reduce the rear end sliding in turns. However, these are often contradictory requirements - adding a long vane behind the centre of gravity will aid stability in a straight line and on turn-in.

But any bodywork in front of the rear wing can actually starve it of airflow, robbing it of downforce. Red Bull's solution was to raise the longitudinal vane up to the maximum permitted height and length, leaving a cut-out beneath it to feed the rear wing. Teams have also found that the fin actually straightens the flow to the rear wing, and this allows the wing to be more efficient at all yaw angles. The car is in yaw both in cornering and when the tail is sliding, so the fin has benefits in longer turns as well as into slower unsettling turns. Thus it has become a relatively easy aerodynamic gain to find.

In yaw the shark fin both directs flow to the rear wing (yellow) and provides a surface to resist further sliding © Scarborough (Click to enlarge)

Since Red Bull's adoption of the fin, Renault followed as soon as Barcelona, while Williams tried a version at Monaco. Then Force India ran theirs at Silverstone and, for this race, Ferrari, Toyota and Honda introduced theirs. McLaren tested theirs but have yet to race it.

One other sidenote on this feature is its benefit to next year's low-downforce cars. The fin will still be within the bodywork regulations, and its benefit for stability and rear-wing performance will be even more important. So this design is likely to be seen for many more years.

Team by Team

Ferrari

Although Hungary's race marked an upturn in Ferrari performance, Massa's race retirement also brought a return to reliability problems. Their poorer pace over the opening days of the weekend were probably attributable to getting the front tyres to work.

The drivers suffered low-speed understeer, a result of a lack of front-end mechanical grip. This appears to be the Ferrari's Achilles' heel. As at many circuits with low-speed corners and a low-grip surface, the Ferraris struggle. As the track gained more rubber over the weekend the cars also regained their pace.

For Hungary Ferrari introduced a new rear suspension. This is probably just the geometry being altered, as the rear end already has an inerter fitted. Several aero developments were noted on the Ferrari this weekend, although their presence is probably not related to their change in pace. Firstly the shark-fin top body made its race debut after a late appearance in Jerez testing preceding the race.

Two slots aid expansion within the tall central tunnel for more downforce © Scarborough (Click to enlarge)

Also new on the Ferrari were two vertical slots in the diffuser - these are not an intricate moulded-in detail as on the McLaren, but a simpler slot machined out of the vertical sides of the centre diffuser's walls. They may help the flow out of the diffuser expand a little more, which aids downforce.

Toyota

Another team with the shark-fin engine cover, this made up a package along with the Monaco rear wing, with its central "third" slot and a small two-element winglet over the rear crash structure. Toyota's pace this weekend followed on from Germany - it appears the car is working well as a mechanical package as both races do not require peak aerodynamic efficiency, but reward a driveable engine and a grippy chassis easy on its tyres.

Red Bull - Toro Rosso

Termed a K-damper by Red Bull Technologies, the first view of a front-inerter installation was spied in testing recently. It is believed Red Bull Racing were the first of the sister teams to race the devices, back in Turkey. Inerters, also known as J-Dampers in McLaren terminology, are devices aimed to offset the bounce inherent in rubber pneumatic tyres.

For many teams these are replacements for the banned "mass-damper" technology, although McLaren's adoption of the device predates Renault's introduction of the mass damper. The Red Bull device, which runs through the front bulkhead, is seen as a first. The fact that it was seen on the Toro Rosso shows that the teams have some parity in technology, despite the STR03 not being up to the same aerodynamic spec as the RB3.

The K-damper is operated by the front suspension rockers, being mounted below them is extended as the suspension goes up, this then spins a mass mounted inside the device which is tuned to absorb the energy put into the suspension by the tyres. This equalises the load the car places on the tyres contact patch for the most consistent grip.

The first evidence of a Toro Rosso front inerter, shows the Red bull teams have parity in this area © Scarborough (Click to enlarge)

Honda

Honda introduced the last step in the RA108's development, with a shark fin and the new rear suspension. After appearing at several recent tests, the new suspension has been well received by the team, even if its lap times at Hungary did not show a marked improvement.

Honda have not explained if the change is a geometry one or introduction of another technology. Externally, small geometry changes are hard to spot, but the set-up has not significantly moved the wishbones and their fairings. This suggests the change was not for aerodynamic reasons. However, a change to the cover over the gearbox, where the rockers and dampers are mounted, suggest the change may have been to introduce a rear inerter. (Having run a third damper all season on the rear suspension, the larger bulge is not necessary to clear the existing third damper, leading to the theory that it in fact houses Hondas version of an inerter.)

Force India

Despite the plan to race the team's new seamless gearbox at Hungary, the unit was only run in free practice on Friday and the decision was taken not to risk any unreliability in the race itself. Force India is the sole team to continue to run a conventional gearchange. It is now planned to race the gearbox at the next race in Valencia.

McLaren's take on the nose fin solution actually aids rear downforce at the cost of some from the front © XPB (Click to enlarge)

McLaren

Yet more significant aero development is ongoing at McLaren. In testing the team ran new nose fins and a shark fin. Only the nose fins made their race debut in Hungary. These fins are McLaren's take on the BMW Sauber lead trend for high-mounted flow conditioners on the nose, subsequently adopted by Honda.

McLaren's solution sits in between BMW's and Honda's; the part doing the work is the wider horizontal surface. This acts in two ways: firstly to flatten the upwash from the front wing - this sends the flow around the flanks of the car to drive the diffuser and provide cleaner flow to the rear wing; secondly, its tip trails a vortex, adding energy to the flow around the car, although McLaren have stopped short of needing endplates to drive this vortex, as Honda do.

Their shape actually induces lift on the front of the car, robbing some downforce from the front end, but McLaren's immense front-wing set-up can afford to shed some load in exchange for more rear downforce and better overall efficiency. Aside from Monza, we can expect this solution to be retained for the upcoming races.