Equipment Trends in F1 Racing – 2019

By looking at the latest tech designs for the 2019 F1 racing teams, we can get an idea of who will get a jump on the season. It seems that a shipment of new parts arrived in Canada providing a glimpse of what the teams are up to, and how similar some of these designs are. First up, at the Circus Gilles Villeneuve, Red Bull unveiled nose horns that will be used by the team. These horns sit in the nose transition area and help to control the airflow of the region. Mercedes tested a design pre-season, dog-leg shaped winglets where the chassis and nose meet in an effort to draw air around the chassis more effectively. Alfa Romeo Racing has developed an alteration of the design, using four fins on either side of the chassis for better results.

Since the beginning of the season, Renault F1 Team showed up in Monaco with dog-legged winglets on either side of the chassis. They have also developed the R.S. 19 rear wing, which has a more defined tail, and with deleted bounding lines on the three upwash wings has allowed for another strake in outer bounding lines. The outer surface of the endplate has been modified to for better airflow direction. A DRS Actuator pod has been given a tail which limits the amount flap that occurs when it swings upward. Renault has opted for a singular fin, as opposed to multiple, with a finned floor arrangement, hoping to boost floor performance.

Ferrari has the SF71H Azerbaijan GP is a similar finned solution which is designed to improve performance by relying on fully enclosed holes that lie on the floor slightly ahead of the rear wheels. Racing Point has been feeling the struggles they had last season, both technically and financially. This time they are bringing a series of parts to help them improve performance that has been previously untapped. First, is an add on solution for the nose similar to the cape one used by Mercedes. It is around the side and under the nose to guide the airflow already taken in by the nose downstream. Williams also began using Mercedes cape solution in 2018 and has an improved suspension to combine it with the hopes of performance improvement. Also using a cape solution is McLaren with the Spanish GP. It is a very complex solution in use since 2018, but they have made changes to the complexity of the nose to streamline performance.