A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
Indeed. I was looking for the 'flap adjust' thingie and couldn't find it on the Redbull/Merc
Btw,
forget the aero bits, huge differences in the front suspension geometries. Didn't expect such a large variance. Waiting to see what 'suspension tricks' RobMarshall has cooked up on the McLaren tomorrow.
I think I found the answer. Mercedes and Red Bull have a hole on top of the nose above active aero mechanism. This would appear to allow them to insert a T-wrench directly into the adjuster mechanism in order to set the static cornering mode angle when setting up the car or during pit stops.
It's quite clever and minimizes the blockage typically associated with having front wing adjuster by integrating it with the active aero mechanism which is already there.
How's your research going for teams sharing knowledge about holes in floors? Does it include holes in nosecones?
Obviously rake is something they can vary but looks like McLaren running more rake today than other top teams from the limited images we have. Vcarb too
Then a comparison with red bull involved
Last edited by organic on 28 Jan 2026, 14:30, edited 1 time in total.
Yes, Red Bull has the lowest mainplane curvature. Mercedes is the only team with the nose not connected to the mainplane.
I just read an article in AMuS in german the Mercedes is the only team who has the front wing connected to the second plane and only moves the third plane with active aero. all other teams have their wings connected to first plane but the regulations dont say clear if you wanna open only the second or the third or both planes. should be possible to open the second plane and keep the third one closed.
I think the sidepods will evolve the most this year, along with the front wing, of course. Teams will soon start exploiting the X and Z modes and will change their solutions such that most of the cooling is done in X mode, when it is actually needed.
That means cooling will move as much as possible to the sidepods, leaving a small air scoop, like Ferrari is doing.
Also, if they can manage tyre wake, they might lower the sidepods, like Audi is doing, such that less air gets into them in Z mode due to the upwash of the front wing, reducing the drag, and full cooling capacity only in X mode when the front wing is dropped.
Indeed. I was looking for the 'flap adjust' thingie and couldn't find it on the Redbull/Merc
I think I found the answer. Mercedes and Red Bull have a hole on top of the nose above active aero mechanism. This would appear to allow them to insert a T-wrench directly into the active aero mechanism in order to set the static angle when setting up the car or during pit stops.
It's quite clever and minimizes the blockage typically associated with having front wing adjuster by integrating it with the active aero mechanism which is already there.
Indeed. I was looking for the 'flap adjust' thingie and couldn't find it on the Redbull/Merc
I think I found the answer. Mercedes and Red Bull have a hole on top of the nose above active aero mechanism. This would appear to allow them to insert a T-wrench directly into the active aero mechanism in order to set the static angle when setting up the car or during pit stops.
It's quite clever and minimizes the blockage typically associated with having front wing adjuster by integrating it with the active aero mechanism which is already there.
Indeed. I was looking for the 'flap adjust' thingie and couldn't find it on the Redbull/Merc
I think I found the answer. Mercedes and Red Bull have a hole on top of the nose above active aero mechanism. This would appear to allow them to insert a T-wrench directly into the active aero mechanism in order to set the static angle when setting up the car or during pit stops.
It's quite clever and minimizes the blockage typically associated with having front wing adjuster by integrating it with the active aero mechanism which is already there.
Same solution on the MCL40 too. Very neat solution, now pitstops will need 1 less mechanic to adjust the flap.
Aside from the obvious alignment between the top 3 teams in a 20 mile radius, which we’re probably going to see in the remaining ones as well like AM and Williams, is this actually better?
On the edge of the wing you had a quick in and out, only issue to solve is that you need to have synced up adjusters, but now you are walking in front of the wheel and need to get through a small hole… feels at best marginal to me, might be slower as the human movement is the slow part.
I think I found the answer. Mercedes and Red Bull have a hole on top of the nose above active aero mechanism. This would appear to allow them to insert a T-wrench directly into the active aero mechanism in order to set the static angle when setting up the car or during pit stops.
It's quite clever and minimizes the blockage typically associated with having front wing adjuster by integrating it with the active aero mechanism which is already there.
Aside from the obvious alignment between the top 3 teams in a 20 mile radius, which we’re probably going to see in the remaining ones as well like AM and Williams, is this actually better?
On the edge of the wing you had a quick in and out, only issue to solve is that you need to have synced up adjusters, but now you are walking in front of the wheel and need to get through a small hole… feels at best marginal to me, might be slower as the human movement is the slow part.
With a magnetic head it can be a bit easier for the mechanic to latch in and adjust I suppose, but I don't know if any solution is better or worse.
Interesting that Red Bull after pioneering the downwash + large undercut sidepods last regulations went away from it but some front running teams have stuck with it.
Last edited by f1isgood on 28 Jan 2026, 23:39, edited 1 time in total.
