Audi R26

[Emag]

Look at that floor inlet

https://img.auto-motor-und-sport.de/_/b ... 271209.jpg

You can clearly see that they also (like RedBull) have an almost entirely missing diffuser sidewall too. It's not just a hole anymore.

[AR3-GP]

Look at that floor inlet

https://img.auto-motor-und-sport.de/_/b ... 271209.jpg

That floor inlet is quite extreme.

[wiktor977]

Look at that floor inlet

https://img.auto-motor-und-sport.de/_/b ... 271209.jpg

That floor inlet is quite extreme.

That will suck some air

[Macklaren]

I feel James Key needs to show results this year if Audi wants to win in three years. If not, replacing him later would likely cost them more time, as a new technical director would need a couple of seasons to settle and build the foundations for a strong car.

So glad Mclaren let him go.

Looks like Mr Key has cooked! We will have to wait to see what it tastes like though

[bananapeel23]

Look at that floor inlet

https://img.auto-motor-und-sport.de/_/b ... 271209.jpg

Outwash this and inwash that. Audi decided that underwash is the way to go and ate all of the air.

Realistically though. Why would you want that much air under the floor? Isn’t the point of the floor to have as little air pressure as possible. Without the large floor strakes of the last regulation set you can’t really push the air out from under the floor in the same way.

[FNTC]

Have they not kind of recreated the venturi underfloor here? Inlet, then flat, then diffuser?

[MV8]

Have they not kind of recreated the venturi underfloor here? Inlet, then flat, then diffuser?

Kinda, isn't like this for sure

[roadie]

Have they not kind of recreated the venturi underfloor here? Inlet, then flat, then diffuser?

My first thought as well from the armchair.

[ME4ME]

It looks interesting but also crude near the end of the sidepod. It has nowhere near the nice shapes and inwash of the Red Bull.

[bananapeel23]

Have they not kind of recreated the venturi underfloor here? Inlet, then flat, then diffuser?

Theoretically, yes. But without the strakes you have no immediately obvious way of getting the really low underfloor pressure of the last regulation set. That is unless they can get the excess air out in some other way. The daggers might help a little, but they are not anywhere near as large as the old strakes.

Feel free to correct me if I’ve completely misunderstood how ground effect works snd a large air volume isn’t necessarily bad, which is a real possibility here.

[SiLo]

We need a better angle really it’s hard to see how the strakes fit along the top of the floor.

Wonder if we will see more teams try this, or if the more traditional route offers better balance.

[NYHC]

Reminds me somehow of the Frontblown diffusor Lotus (Ex-Renault) created years ago.
The approach to get as much energetic air under the car as early as possible when the upper elements lose their power.

[vorticism]

Bold. Audi properly arriving into F1.

There is also something funny going on with the floor leading edge. There's a vertical wall just under the sidepod inlet.

https://i.postimg.cc/Xq26hdRQ/image.png

But is it vertical? Maybe it's angled towards the floor edge, guiding more air into the floor area

There might be inclination but it's very shallow. If you focus on where the strakes under the floor join to the body (far in front), then it appears nearly vertical.

It's purpose could be what you are saying. Vorticism also proposed this concept (similar enough) in a different thread. He proposed that a blunt wall above the floor would drive a vertical air stream down under the floor. Red Bull has something similar.

In Audi's case, it looks like they have scalloped out a good chunk of the upper section, but retained a low wall above the floor leading edge.
https://i.postimg.cc/gcTPpqXr/image.png

I think what we might be seeing is a thick, rounded floor leading edge extension provided by the sidepod, with a steep downward scoop shape pushing air onto the FLEDs. There are some changes to the color of the bodywork in that region obscuring assessment.

There is an interesting trade off here (if I fully understand the coordinates in this region). There is some freedom to locating the forward location of the floor's front edge. A window of placement fore to aft which is also the tallest part of the front floor legality box, which is also in the same region as the FLED legality box. The farther you peel back the floor, the more you expose the FLEDs, as visible here on the R26, but this also limits how tall the ramp can be. Unless! You use the sidepod as the new floor edge, in which case you gain back the ramp, but even taller, while gaining more-exposed FLEDs, as opposed to more triangular FLEDs fully welded to the floor ramp roof.

Creates some lift but you get a powerful downwashing current to, as I said in July, "...power the FLEDs."

Interesting concept. The FLED vortexes are probably much stronger. Let's see if it works for them.

The main advantage I see here would be in powering the FLEDs...
https://i.postimg.cc/Vshxt4m1/FLExs.jpg

[AR3-GP]

[CrazyCarperF1]

It reminds me of an f22 or f35 from the front.