It seems after the F-Ducts of 2010 were banned a loop hole has quickly been opened and USED at the japanese GP this year!! Mercedes were testing a front F-duct system during practise in the Japanese GP it has been revealed which cleverly takes on from what the banned Rear sytem did. What makes it legal is that it is not controlled by the driver. please log in to view this image The air goes in through the ovel vent at the front of the nose and channels the air on to the front wing and also possibly through the underfloor of the car. Could this be the next trend for 2012. And thinking about this now, Is this what red bull is already doing?
It really wouldn't surprise me, I'm sure more than one car has a hole in the front of the nose section, so I'm assuming it's for this purpose or similar. I'd love to see how far that design could get pushed, surely the larger the hole the better, until it starts impacting on airflow over the rest of the car.
We will see if it makes a difference, or 6th-7th-8th will be a common place until the end of the season
It's not really anything like the F-Duct, apparently it's just there to tidy up air flow rather than stall the wing. I can't see it having any significant performance advantage.
Ferrari use this sort of thing already don't they? please log in to view this image Unless it's used for something else.
the vents at the front have always been there for years I think but not used in this way. Probably just to cool the driver with a bit of air please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Fascinating insight into this from Scarbs: http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/mercedes-f-duct-front-wing/ Seems crazy to me that they're stalling the front wing, it must be incredibly dangerous into heavy braking zones.
Also, the wing is almost certainly illegal since the nose holes are only allowed for driver cooling. I imagine Mercedes didn't get clearance to race this and that's why we haven't seen it since Friday practice in Suzuka.
