Scuderia Ferrari SF71H

[PlatinumZealot]

Vanja great analysis!

My two cents now. The mirrors remind of of the audi R18 philosophy : reducing drag and vorticitity by flowing air through the car not around it. So i agree with that part of your analysis and not convinced by Scarb's theory that the mirrors direct air downward.

If the mirrors aren't being used to direct airflow into the top sidepod intake than can someone explain why they would have a downward swooping trailing edge to them?
http://i.imgur.com/O2atIaZ.jpg

That is a simplistic way to see things my friend. You don't need a hole in the mirrors to deflect air into the sidepod holes. And at 180 miles an hour do you really believe air will turn down int the side pod in the space of 10 inches?

The down curve is just there to clean up the wake from the mirrors themselves.

[Vanja #66]

Thank you for kind words and up votes everyone!

The slot is there for one reason - to keep the flow attached on the underside. That's also why there is a slot in the lower flap element here too. This suggests that they are working the Y250 area harder and this is confirmed by the larger area of flap in this area too.

The slot is there to energize the flow that will go to Y250. Agree with the rest of your post.

If the mirrors aren't being used to direct airflow into the top sidepod intake than can someone explain why they would have a downward swooping trailing edge to them?
http://i.imgur.com/O2atIaZ.jpg

It's too close to the top inlet and too small to make the air curve on itself. I'm not saying it's not helping with this, but I don't think this is the primary function of flow-trough mirrors. And to be honest, that small curve (without knowing about top inlet) would look like an extension used to further reduce negative impact of flow separation on mirrors themselves.

Just noticed something interesting. Lower lip on SF70-H radiator inlet was a part of monocoque, along with side impact structure. This isn't the case with SF71-H, so theoretically - the team can make some big changes to this area if they choose to. However, I was hoping to see some changes on top inlet winglets and side deflectors (these parts were screw-on, not joint with chassis) last year, but there weren't any in the end. So this change could probably be for ease of manufacture (mostly the tub) and not for possibility of part swap, but who knows.

[Just_a_fan]

Thank you for kind words and up votes everyone!

The slot is there for one reason - to keep the flow attached on the underside. That's also why there is a slot in the lower flap element here too. This suggests that they are working the Y250 area harder and this is confirmed by the larger area of flap in this area too.

The slot is there to energize the flow that will go to Y250. Agree with the rest of your post.

The slot prevents separation of the flow from the underside of the wing main element. That's it. Without it, that section of wing will stall.

[Vanja #66]

Seriously? How come they haven't used it for better part of last season? Their FW had separation issues?

[Just_a_fan]

The front wing in this area has a larger camber than last year. Without the slot, the flow would separate and stall the wing. The slot has been introduced in order to make the redesigned wing work.

[Vanja #66]

The underside of the wing is pretty flat (due to regulation box size, as you know). Therefore, no matter the camber (which is marginally bigger, as you say) the flow can't get separated on the underside. We might speculate the slot near the trailing edge of regulated central section is there for separation prevention, but the slot in the base element is there for energizing the airflow and contributing to stronger Y250.

[Just_a_fan]

The camber of the wing is from the leading edge of the first element to the trailing edge of the last element.

Of course the slot "energizes" the flow, that's what they do - they allow high pressure air to move to the low pressure side and they do so in order to prevent separation on the low pressure side. That's what slots are for. That's why the wings have slot gaps between the elements.This slot is no different to the slots between wing elements - they all reduce separation and thus stalling of the wing by bleeding air through to the low pressure side.

The increased camber helps the Y250 vortex by ensuring a large pressure drop across the transition step between the regulated central section and the unregulated outer sections. The air moving below the regulated section is drawn outwards toward the rising section here. This causes the vortex to form. This area is a vortex tunnel but it can only work if the flow is kept happy. Without the slot, the flow will separate under the main plane, the wing will stall and the vortex won't be formed. The camber drives the Y250, the slot keeps the flow happy below the main plane. The slot isn't there to make the Y250 stronger, it's there to facilitate it by making the increased camber work. There's a difference.

[PlatinumZealot]

Just noticed something interesting. Lower lip on SF70-H radiator inlet was a part of monocoque, along with side impact structure. This isn't the case with SF71-H, so theoretically - the team can make some big changes to this area if they choose to. However, I was hoping to see some changes on top inlet winglets and side deflectors (these parts were screw-on, not joint with chassis) last year, but there weren't any in the end. So this change could probably be for ease of manufacture (mostly the tub) and not for possibility of part swap, but who knows.

https://ibb.co/hoT7vx

What do you say to this: The actual radiator inlet is not the visible part that we see. Those are merely guides in front of it. The lower main guide hole goes straight rearward and down, and the top hole goes down inside and splays outboard (or vice-versa). Dare I say the actual real radiator inlet is the same size as any other F1 cars - it's just hidden like last year's SF-70H.

[wuzak]

eresting. Lower lip on SF70-H radiator inlet was a part of monocoque, along with side impact structure. This isn't the case with SF71-H, so theoretically - the team can make some big changes to this area if they choose to.

If the side impact structure isn't in the lower lip of the radiator inlet, where is it?

[wuzak]

What do you say to this: The actual radiator inlet is not the visible part that we see. Those are merely guides in front of it. The lower main guide hole goes straight rearward and down, and the top hole goes down inside and splays outboard (or vice-versa). Dare I say the actual real radiator inlet is the same size as any other F1 cars - it's just hidden like last year's SF-70H.

Wherever the air goes afterwards doesn't change the size of the inlets. They are small.

As the the SF-70H, the actual radiator inlets were smaller than they appeared last year, IMO, because all the guides in front made them appear bigger.

[JasonF1]

Just noticed something interesting. Lower lip on SF70-H radiator inlet was a part of monocoque, along with side impact structure. This isn't the case with SF71-H, so theoretically - the team can make some big changes to this area if they choose to. However, I was hoping to see some changes on top inlet winglets and side deflectors (these parts were screw-on, not joint with chassis) last year, but there weren't any in the end. So this change could probably be for ease of manufacture (mostly the tub) and not for possibility of part swap, but who knows.

https://ibb.co/hoT7vx

You are right, many people are inclined to believe Ferrari did an evolution of their concept last year but they went away from it while everyone copied it. What happens here is that the radiator inlet starts at the same place as Mercedes' one. However, Ferrari's one is much narrower and it was made possible by the top inlet.

What Just_a_fan said regarding the slot is correct, the slots themselves doesn't make the vortex stronger, they actually weaken it. A Mclaren engineer was talking about it last season and that's what he implied.

[f300v10]

The undercut at the floor of the 71H is more extreme when compared to the 70H. The curve has a tighter radius as can be seen below:

Top: SF-71H

[JasonF1]

Here is how it may look like inside the mirror:

[zokipirlo]

Is it possible that this mirrors works like drs, with moving inner black part of mirror?

[JPBD1990]

Is it possible that this mirrors works like drs, with moving inner black part of mirror?

That would be illegal