Ferrari - Oil tank changes please log in to view this image The F150th Italia has almost the same wheelbase as 2010's F10, even though the team's KERS system has been positioned inside the car's fuel tank area. In addition, the oil tank has more capacity (see photograph), and is much taller than the one used in the 2009 F60 (see drawing, red arrow). Mclaren - L shaped sidepods please log in to view this image There is no doubting the new MP4-26 is very different from all the other 2011 cars. Technical director Paddy Lowe has exploited to the extreme the idea of higher outer sidepods, last seen on the likes of Benetton's B195 from 1995 and Ferrari's F310 from 1996. The aim is to clean up and better direct the airflow to the beam wing at the rear of the car, an area now even more important thanks to the ban on double diffusers. This solution also gives McLaren the possibility of running Renault-style forward exhaust exits. Renault - Forward exhausts please log in to view this image Renault are no strangers to radical exhaust solutions, having launched a design that blew on to the diffuser with the RE30 at Monaco in 1983, and side-exit exhausts on the RE50 in 1985. This season the exits are low down, just in front of the sidepods, in order to accelerate the airflow to the rear diffuser. They are angled backwards slightly, with a very long pipe length designed to minimise the torque and power handicap that comes with the unusual positioning. Red Bull - Revised exhausts please log in to view this image Red Bull rolled out the RB7 at Valencia and by the end of the test had already added a new solution to the new car. Longer exhaust pipes (inset), blowing on to the external section of the diffuser's side channel, replaced the standard design seen on the first day. The test in Barcelona should tell us a lot whether Mclaren are competitive as we have seen Ferrari and I know that Red Bull will be up there with Adrian Newey at the helm , but if Mclaren hold back too much the drivers will not know the limits of the car. Barcelona is a downforce track so if your fast there then you will be fast in May when the grand prix takes place there.
Still not sold on McLaren's side pod solution. It looks like it raises to CG height significantly, and probably carries a large drag penalty as well. I agree that they're perhaps in danger if playing their cards too close to their chests. They missed the first test, and the second went far from smoothly. They're playing catch up already and still have a load of parts to throw on (or so Whitmarsh said when the car was unveiled).
I'm not fully convinced on the McLaren systems or the Renault in some respects. McLaren sidepods, although looking massively impressive, are unique, but is there a reason for that? I'm sure if there was any benefit to have from it, another team would have also spotted this in the regulations and run with it? Unless it has benefits, but is being used to cover up something else, ala the initial runnings of shark fins in the recent era. Get people talking about something that they can see, while something that they cant is doing the work. Renaults exhausts I cant fathom how they work, as a few F1 folk have been saying that as the exhaust pipe has to be longer with the system, that the engine efficiency can be reduced significantly. When I first read Wirth saying this, I did become a bit sceptical as its the same man who doesnt believe in using a windtunnel. However, its a valid point, so the fact its working as efficiently I find surprising. Red Bulls system seems to be the most unradical design. However, the car was best last year, and in all fairness the end of 2009, so I think its fairly safe to assume that it'll be the one to beat again come Bahrain, as they seem to have a single diffuser set up that is so more effective than any other team last time around, that its going to be hard to say they wont have the greatest downforce levels again.
LewisWDC, Thanks for the information. No offence, but as a 12 year old I didn't expect you to provide your own technical analysis - then I found your source --- http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/2011/. Thanks for posting though, as I probably wouldn't have seen the info otherwise. I find it very interesting that Red Bull are using this exhaust - I thought that at Jerez they were experimenting with Renault's front exhaust, but from the information you have provided, it appears that I am mistaken. What is interesting is that Ferrari have adopted the Red Bull revised exhausts for Jerez - with many people noticing the F150 making a deeper sound: please log in to view this image
