Williams FW40 Mercedes

[roadie]

So what's the philosophy behind sidepods that appear large in comparison to other cars?

[Sevach]

So what's the philosophy behind sidepods that appear large in comparison to other cars?

First there's the issue of "need", if allowed aerodynamicists would make a car with no sidepods whatsoever, but that wouldn't work so here they are.

Second sidepods are always a compromise, Mercedes for example has a large frontal area but they can close it down aggressively behind it.

I would say Williams is trying to push the air to the flanks more compared to Ferrari, but that might've been a needed compromise because making the sidepod tighter is impossible without going for a larger frontal area (more drag and maybe less downforce from the undercut area).

I still think a smaller, Ferrari, Red Bull, STR pod would be better, it's better to have no pod "obstacle" and guide the air where you want with vanes/barge boards than doing it with the pod itself, but if all you have is lemons, you make a lemonade

[LookBackTime]

So the cars this year have more drag from the standardised equipment. Does that place a greater emphasis on the efficiency of downforce against drag? Where does the increase in mechanical grip from the tyres come in?

There appear to be fewer lavish aerodynamic pieces on the FW40 compared to other car launches and the sidepod/engine cover packaging appears different to both Mercedes and Force India.

It's all very complex and I guess we shall see how things shake out over the next couple of months.

If you've got a fixed increase in drag you can't do anything about, it's usually better to then go the other way - aim for more downforce rather than efficiency on your aero, because the actual relative drag increase on the whole car isn't as bad.

The article is about Ferrari:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferr ... ea-879930/
but at the end they discuss drag:

"
Fighting drag

While much of the focus this year has been on the aerodynamic changes, the higher drag of the 2017 cars means that engine performance is going to be even more important.

For although the F1 regulations have made available an extra 5kg of fuel for the race, teams managing to have much better fuel consumption than others could have a big advantage.

If we remember that 10kg of weight on a car is worth three tenths of a second per lap, there are good performance gains to be had if you can run lighter.

F1's development race in 2017 looks like it will not just be about aerodynamic updates, because there are big pushes coming on the engine front too.
"

[PhillipM]

That doesn't disagree with anything I said.

[LookBackTime]

That doesn't disagree with anything I said.

Correct! I just offered support to what you said. Plus additional information.

[PhillipM]

That'll teach me to scan read quickly whilst having lunch

[Raleigh]

So what's the philosophy behind sidepods that appear large in comparison to other cars?

Borrowing this picture from Wesley...

As you can see, Williams sidepods don't really have that much overall bulk.


Narrow up front with a big undercut (frontal profile probably as good as any 2017 car), and such bulk as there is positioned in the midsection where it offers minimum drag and minimum interference with the airflow over the floor.

Considering Williams don't quite have the resources of the big 4 teams this is a very good effort, certainly doing a lot better than Force India with their overall very wide and bulky sidepods or Sauber with the awkwardly squared off lower edge of the sidepod that will interfere with airflow over the floor.

[bill shoe]

White color tends to have an enlarging effect, due to brains mentally adding in a black outline around shapes. If you want something to look small, paint it black.

[bill shoe]

I accidentally created a second post to show the effect of empty white space...

[wesley123]

Nobody said it was a chimney.

Actually, the whole thing started about the plate, suggesting it would be for a chimney. Then the shape was pointed out, again suggesting it could be for a chimney. So yes, the whole thing was about it being like that for housing a chimney or not.

As has been said before, the flat top shark fin suggests Williams might be going to run a chimney type air exit the same as Merc.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5wmlYMXMAEVuHf.jpg:large

I`m not so sure either way. Looking at the highlighted section in the pic below the fin looks like it may be slightly fatter up to a certain point and could be for some type of chimney. It could just be the light playing tricks though.
Iv`e being trying to correlate between the position of the Merc chimney and this possible bulged area but haven`t really come to any conclusion as the shark fins are pretty different.
To me it looks like the slightly bulged area on the Williams finishes about 2 foot back from the roll hoop which looks slightly less than the Merc which i`d put at ~2½ feet, also it`s obviously not as wide...We`ll see in a few days hopefully, maybe Williams are waiting for legal clarification from the FIA [ref: Mercedes] before going ahead.

And there's a very big difference between a shadow on one picture, and a claiming it's still a shadow from something else across every single picture of the car from multiple angles and days...

Yes, we get it, you saw something different than I did. Why is it so incredibly difficult to grasp that on a forum where every little shade or reflection is a slot going to Narnia or houses a flux capacitor someone is skeptical about a shadow on something that wasn't there on the first day(s)?

[Sevach]

[LookBackTime]

[PhillipM]

Actually, the whole thing started about the plate, suggesting it would be for a chimney. Then the shape was pointed out, again suggesting it could be for a chimney. So yes, the whole thing was about it being like that for housing a chimney or not.

No, it was suggested that given the similarities, Williams may also run a chimney, as they already have the shape in their engine cover and a similar philosophy with the T-wing as Merc (and notably different from, say Ferrari) - nobody said that was a chimney, just that it suggested they may run one later.

And the difference between this and the others is that it's plainly visible on every single photo that the cover does thicken there, no matter how you deny it and claim it's magically moving shadows generated by nothing - you don't get shadows without something to cast it.

[LookBackTime]

[Sevach]