Why stepped nose

Join In Want to add something? Comments 14 Popular Latest. Dustin Carey. Frank Claydon. Craig Scarborough. Andrew Hake. Vesa Valonen. Craig Turner. The second illustration shows the latest high-nose and front-wing on the MP It is worth noting a few things. The front wing pillars are noticeably wider and higher thus allowing a much larger volume of air to flow under the car. The wider pillars also allow the cameras to be positioned in-board directly under the centre of the car?

This will increase aero efficiency and create a little downforce. Although McLaren turfed out the snow plough right in February testing it is unclear whether there was ever an intention to run it on the car it is incredible how much additional space it frees up. This new set-up allows front-wing vanes to be positioned underneath the chassis to scavenge air under the nose and to stop dirty air from the tyres impeding this flow.

The final point to note on the new McLaren front wing assembly the added aerodynamic detail on the front edge and underside of the wing. The green circle shows an example of this detail.

Teams are becoming ever more sophisticated in producing and targeting vortices for aerodynamic benefit. This detail circled above is likely designed to create a series of vortices directed to the lower-inside part of the tyre. Again this will help prevent turbulent air from the rubber interfering with the airflow downstream. McLaren will likely retain the? They have committed to it now for two races and the team clearly believe the new design has more development potential.

An interesting question is whether come the MP will feature a stepped nose. This is likely to depend on whether the FIA change the regulations. The technical rules are set to lower noses a further mm in The compromise rules for this year were chosen to allow teams to continue to run their chassis if they chose.

The FIA therefore has some room to manoeuvre and may tweak the rules next year to remove the unsightly stepped noses from the sport. TommyB tommyb89 30th May , JCost jcost 30th May , Overwatch overwatch 30th May , Scary Terry hatebreeder 30th May , Paulocreed paulocreed 30th May , MemorableC memorablec 30th May , Austin hypertek 31st May , Lewis was very quick in Spain, particularly on Saturday.

Montreal certainly will give us a clear picture of their progress because I find it hard to make a proper assessment from their showing in Monaco. Lemon lemon 30th May , I think the Mclaren tends to favour the circuits with high speed corners, but not so much the low speed corner and traction zone circuits.

But the events which played out beforehand are equally significant when considering the all-important driver ratings. Until rain turned the Russian Grand Prix on its head in the closing stages, Lando Norris was set to convert his first Formula 1 pole position into a maiden win.

But having recovered well from being shuffled back at the start, Hamilton and his Mercedes team called the changing conditions spot-on for a landmark th F1 victory.

At the Italian Grand Prix Daniel Ricciardo turned around a troubled F1 season and, in F2, Oscar Piastri demonstrated once again that he is a potential star of the future. Tickets Subscribe.

Sign in. Registration Sign in Facebook connect. All me. Download your apps. All rights reserved. By: Jonathan Noble. Home Racing Article Print. F1: Technical analysis of the stepped nose of the Formula 1 cars.

Lotus' technical director James Allison explained that driver safety was the main reason behind the stepped nose. Photo: Ferrari "The reason for that is that there is more downforce if you raise the bodywork at the front of the car.

But in case of a T-bone crash, the tip of the nose could be so high that it exceeds the height of the cockpit of the other car. So for this year we agreed that the tips of the noses all had to be lowered by a considerable amount. Therefore the engineers designed the stepped nose. In his latest blog posted on Scarbsf1, Craig Scarborough explains how the McLaren team managed to design a car without a stepped nose, writing that the MP chassis in side profile shows that the family history of low noses has greatly helped the designers.

By the point of the front A-A bulkhead the top is lower than 55cm, may be as low as 5cm below the maximum height. McLaren also find the lower nose provides the classic vehicle dynamics benefits of a low CofG centre of gravity and a less extreme front suspension geometry. This trade off works for McLaren and goes to prove not everything in F1 has to be a compromise in search of aero advantage. The lower nose of the McLaren. Photo: McLaren The higher nose of the Ferrari.