| By Gary Anderson | |
| Technical Consultant |
Last year was a dismal one for Renault. It dawdled for far too long at the end of 2015 before taking over the Lotus team, and because of this the engineers were put in an impossible position in terms of coming up with a car concept and optimising it. So the team suffered for the whole season. The concern is this suggests the management is naive when it comes to understanding the enormity of a project like this. To be successful in Formula 1 is about snap decisions, commitment, budget stability and ensuring people can get on with their responsibilities. During the car launch, there were many references to what Renault has to achieve in 2017. The big bosses were saying that fifth in the constructors' championship was the minimum. So let's look at that. On recent performance, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari is the big three. Beyond that, anything can happen so, in reality, the big target is really fourth. Talking about fifth is a bit of a let off and for a works team such as Renault, anything less than that should be looked at as a disaster.
But on the positive side, the car looks like it is a major step forward compared to the 2016 package. And it needs to be. There is lots of aerodynamic detailing in evidence - from the front wing mounting to the rear wing endplates, you can see the work that has gone into it. Packaging is everything in F1, and the stability that the team did eventually get appears to have offered the design engineers the chance to get this right. FRONT WING
The main assembly is the now customary multi-element package. The objective of this is to maximise the overall downforce while keeping the downforce consistency. The driver can only drive the lowest point on the downforce curve so peaky downforce is a waste of time and only leads to driver errors. The concept of turning the airflow outside of the front tyres has been around for a long time and most teams will basically have moved the outer part of the wing outboard by 10cm per side to replicate the same airflow around the now wider front track. After getting some initial track data, developments in this area will come regularly. The front wing mounting details are extended turning vanes, which help with direction of the airflow under the chassis and onto the underfloor's leading edge. This area is again vitally important to the consistency of the overall package, and it looks like Renault has put a lot of effort into it. FRONT SUSPENSION
This is a twin wishbone with a pushrod-operated spring and damper unit. I am pleased to see that the suspension geometry is not as radical as we have seen over the last few years. Getting the best from these much wider Pirelli tyres will need a lot of effort in suspension geometry. Gone are the days of compromising suspension design so much just to satisfy aerodynamic requirements. SIDEPODS
The vertical sidepod turning vane is another area where the shape is more three dimensional than we have seen with the Williams and the Sauber images revealed so far. This component is there to help control the turbulent airflow wake coming off the trailing edge of the front tyre. It streamlines the airflow and helps to introduce it to the sidepod undercut without affecting the airflow coming out from underneath the chassis. The sidepods themselves drop off very quickly to allow the airflow that is going into the Coke bottle area to sort itself out as early as possible. This could potentially reduce the lift induced on the upper surface of the sidepods as the airflow accelerates over this area. ROLLHOOP
The airbox intake is a different shape to most. It is more of a horizontal opening and a bit like the 1997 Jordan. That car is 20 years old, but the reasons for doing this don't change. It moves the intake away from the driver's helmet, which being basically spherical is the worst shape you could have to aerodynamically optimise. This shape allows for a more pronounced undercut between the top of the driver's headrest and the intake, again improving the airflow consistency to the rear wing. ENGINE
The engine cover adopts the central fin design in a similar way to Sauber. While complying with the regulations, this allows the engine cover cross-section area to be reduced fairly early, improving the airflow to the rear wing. What is underneath that engine cover will be more important than if the engine cover was just a barn door, though. Over the past couple of years, Renault has made many winter statements on how engine development has gone and 2017 is no exception. The talk is of improvements between 0.3 to 0.5 seconds from the engine between the end 2016 and the start of '17. If Renault has achieved this it is going to be right up there in the engine stakes. And we will be able to judge where Renault the chassis maker is because it has frontrunner Red Bull and now front-of-midfield Toro Rosso using the same power unit package. In other words, there is no hiding place for the works team. REAR END
Most teams are keeping the rear end of the car under wraps. The new regulations permit a much more powerful diffuser, so that's the golden bullet for 2017 if there is one. Keeping this hidden for as long as possible will give others less time to try their own version of a good idea and integrate it for the early races. The rear wing endplates and rear wing follow what we have seen already. As this is basically a bolt on component, initially complying with the new height and width regulations is all everyone will be doing. As teams come to terms with the levels of downforce and drag that will be required development in this area will be fairly regular. The rear suspension is the common pushrod operated system and the exhaust detail has the mandatory twin wastegate tailpipes. This was mandated to help improve the noise level. It has helped but long gone are the 20,000 rpm screamers we came to love.
|
|
| By Gary Anderson | |
| Technical Consultant |
Last year was a dismal one for Renault. It dawdled for far too long at the end of 2015 before taking over the Lotus team, and because of this the engineers were put in an impossible position in terms of coming up with a car concept and optimising it. So the team suffered for the whole season. The concern is this suggests the management is naive when it comes to understanding the enormity of a project like this. To be successful in Formula 1 is about snap decisions, commitment, budget stability and ensuring people can get on with their responsibilities. During the car launch, there were many references to what Renault has to achieve in 2017. The big bosses were saying that fifth in the constructors' championship was the minimum. So let's look at that. On recent performance, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari is the big three. Beyond that, anything can happen so, in reality, the big target is really fourth. Talking about fifth is a bit of a let off and for a works team such as Renault, anything less than that should be looked at as a disaster.
But on the positive side, the car looks like it is a major step forward compared to the 2016 package. And it needs to be. There is lots of aerodynamic detailing in evidence - from the front wing mounting to the rear wing endplates, you can see the work that has gone into it. Packaging is everything in F1, and the stability that the team did eventually get appears to have offered the design engineers the chance to get this right. FRONT WING
The main assembly is the now customary multi-element package. The objective of this is to maximise the overall downforce while keeping the downforce consistency. The driver can only drive the lowest point on the downforce curve so peaky downforce is a waste of time and only leads to driver errors. The concept of turning the airflow outside of the front tyres has been around for a long time and most teams will basically have moved the outer part of the wing outboard by 10cm per side to replicate the same airflow around the now wider front track. After getting some initial track data, developments in this area will come regularly. The front wing mounting details are extended turning vanes, which help with direction of the airflow under the chassis and onto the underfloor's leading edge. This area is again vitally important to the consistency of the overall package, and it looks like Renault has put a lot of effort into it. FRONT SUSPENSION
This is a twin wishbone with a pushrod-operated spring and damper unit. I am pleased to see that the suspension geometry is not as radical as we have seen over the last few years. Getting the best from these much wider Pirelli tyres will need a lot of effort in suspension geometry. Gone are the days of compromising suspension design so much just to satisfy aerodynamic requirements. SIDEPODS
The vertical sidepod turning vane is another area where the shape is more three dimensional than we have seen with the Williams and the Sauber images revealed so far. This component is there to help control the turbulent airflow wake coming off the trailing edge of the front tyre. It streamlines the airflow and helps to introduce it to the sidepod undercut without affecting the airflow coming out from underneath the chassis. The sidepods themselves drop off very quickly to allow the airflow that is going into the Coke bottle area to sort itself out as early as possible. This could potentially reduce the lift induced on the upper surface of the sidepods as the airflow accelerates over this area. ROLLHOOP
The airbox intake is a different shape to most. It is more of a horizontal opening and a bit like the 1997 Jordan. That car is 20 years old, but the reasons for doing this don't change. It moves the intake away from the driver's helmet, which being basically spherical is the worst shape you could have to aerodynamically optimise. This shape allows for a more pronounced undercut between the top of the driver's headrest and the intake, again improving the airflow consistency to the rear wing. ENGINE
The engine cover adopts the central fin design in a similar way to Sauber. While complying with the regulations, this allows the engine cover cross-section area to be reduced fairly early, improving the airflow to the rear wing. What is underneath that engine cover will be more important than if the engine cover was just a barn door, though. Over the past couple of years, Renault has made many winter statements on how engine development has gone and 2017 is no exception. The talk is of improvements between 0.3 to 0.5 seconds from the engine between the end 2016 and the start of '17. If Renault has achieved this it is going to be right up there in the engine stakes. And we will be able to judge where Renault the chassis maker is because it has frontrunner Red Bull and now front-of-midfield Toro Rosso using the same power unit package. In other words, there is no hiding place for the works team. REAR END
Most teams are keeping the rear end of the car under wraps. The new regulations permit a much more powerful diffuser, so that's the golden bullet for 2017 if there is one. Keeping this hidden for as long as possible will give others less time to try their own version of a good idea and integrate it for the early races. The rear wing endplates and rear wing follow what we have seen already. As this is basically a bolt on component, initially complying with the new height and width regulations is all everyone will be doing. As teams come to terms with the levels of downforce and drag that will be required development in this area will be fairly regular. The rear suspension is the common pushrod operated system and the exhaust detail has the mandatory twin wastegate tailpipes. This was mandated to help improve the noise level. It has helped but long gone are the 20,000 rpm screamers we came to love.
|
|
