2008 Japanese & Chinese GP Tech Review

To end the run of Asian races, Formula One went back to conventional circuits and schedules for the Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix.

Both Fuji and Shanghai are typical modern F1 tracks, with long straights, some punishing turns and equally frustrating slow corners. Each track does have its differences, though. Fuji demands a lower drag set-up to cope with the straight, while China's fast turns demand more downforce.

For the championship leaders the Bridgestone tyre choice and ambient temperature provided the main difference. Japan's cooler weather was matched by the choice of Bridgestone's soft and medium compounds. This allowed Ferrari to get the tyres into their operating window and their superior aerodynamics provided the balance of their lap time advantage.

But China had warmer temperatures, some ten degrees warmer than those in Japan, yet the tyre choice was up one grade to the medium and hard tyres. McLaren found these conditions more suited to their car - which is harder on its tyres - without the need to run low drag. McLaren had an advantage.

Curiously, Massa's Ferrari ran the race on two sets of medium tyres and finished with the harder tyre. Yet still he couldn't get the grip to challenge his teammate nor Hamilton's McLaren. Clearly, the window in which the tyres operate best is as much to do with driving style as ambient conditions.

Even with these differences, most of the teams arrived with few new parts on show and those that were seen were subtle revisions of solutions already raced. The notable exception was Renault, with a novel aerodynamic component.

Pitstops

After another race in Singapore where pit stop errors cost teams time in the race, the issue of automated light systems was raised again.

Ferrari have admitted they switched their system to manual in the critical moment of Massa's Singapore pit stop. Thus the interlocks created to prevent the car being released with the fuel nozzle engaged were not effective. Had the switch to detect the fuel nozzle was still in place been active, the error may not have occurred.

But we have seen Raikkonen leave the pit with the light system on red, so there is still scope for human error, even with the interlocks. Many teams feel a mechanic with a lollipop board is a better option, even though this system is even more error prone by an early lifting of the lollipop. Should the mechanic lift the board too early, he can drop it again signalling to the driver to brake.

With the light system, the red light coming back on may be at a time when the driver's attention is elsewhere. Still, with the traffic light system being viewed with suspicion, Honda chose to debut their version in Fuji. Although it was not used during the race.

A revised pod wing fin was a subtle change for Ferrari © Scarborough (Click to enlarge)

Ferrari

Despite the tight battle for the championship, Ferrari had few updates on the car for the Asian races. The small fins that attach to the nose cone around the 'nose hole' were revised. These were angled slightly and pointed inwards and downwards.

A more noticeable change was the revised vane between the pod wing and the bargeboard. This has two creases, making it more aligned with the airflow in a similar manner to most other teams' solutions in this area. The shark fin engine cover returned for Singapore but the drivers are split on whether to use it. Raikkonen chose not to in China.

BMW Sauber

BMW Sauber had been on the verge of a late-season championship challenge, mainly through their consistency and reliability. The team had run a parallel development stream to produce some upgrades for the F1.08. Most of these did not reproduce the result on the track, so the car has been bereft of development for many races.

In Asia, a revised front wing was used. This has a subtly altered dipped section - where the previous shape was effectively flat, the new wing creates a slight V shape to the wing along the centre-line.

A novel and unexplained update was this Renault duct (yellow) that fed air from over the sidepods towards the rear wheels © XPB (Click to enlarge)

Renault

The team's back-to-back victories included an element of fortune, but the fact they are right behind the Ferraris and McLarens, and unchallenged by Toyota and BMW Sauber, proves the team's pace has evolved considerably.

From an unpromising start to the year, the Barcelona upgrade with new aero and the adoption or a rear inerter damper (J-Damper) was the start of the car's transformation. Subsequently, the car also gained a front inerter and detailed aero upgrades. Recent upgrades around the front wing have reaped more downforce and improved the car's weight balance. While fuel and lubricant development is believed to have gained the engine some of the power it has been lacking.

A new front wing was developed for the final races. This follows the main shape of the existing wing and only the outer tips have been subtly altered to take some load off the wing in front of the tyres. This makes the car less sensitive and gives the drivers greater confidence.

For China, Renault debuted a unique aero development. A scoop has been set into the vertical fences between the rear wheels. This picks up airflow from over the sidepods, and possibly the exhaust, then vents it outwards over the rear tyres.

A small fin was added towards the front of the bargeboards of the Toro Rosso and subsequently appeared on the Red Bull cars © LAT (Click to enlarge)

It has been suggested that the vent may be used to heat the rear tyres, but the duct is too high above the tyres to be use for heating. The outlet of the duct is aerofoil shaped and may send its flow towards the rear wing tip to reduce drag in a similar way to the slits in the endplate.

Red Bull Technologies

Small developments were maintained by Red Bull Technologies for both of their teams, Red Bull Racing again ran the U-shaped winglet under the rear wing. This was aided by the antler wings and a small fin on the bargeboards. The latter appeared first on the Toro Rosso in Singapore and, unusually, the Red Bull Racing team got the update after Toro Rosso, who also gained the antler wings from Fuji onwards.

Toyota

Appearing without new parts for their home race, the team's technical director for chassis, Pascal Vasselon said the set-up was developed specifically for Fuji, but the package contained many existing components.

For the lower drag demands of Fuji, Toyota ran a more lightly loaded rear wing. This allowed the struts that usually support the upper rear wing to be removed. The supports returned with the higher downforce rear wing for China. This sported the slot in the middle of the wing and the small winglets mounted above the rear crash structure.