Nice shot. And in that direction, i may say Alpine’s radical approach to the rear wing’s active aero movement has been raising eyebrows up and down the F1 paddock - here we compare it to Audi, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes
Interestingly, Alpine also seems to be getting the very same effect that Audi is. I.e. the second wing element is opened so far that jt almost gets flipped upside down. It should come with a drag penalty, so it must be doing something else that is beneficial for the car.SilviuAgo wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 12:58Nice shot. And in that direction, i may say Alpine’s radical approach to the rear wing’s active aero movement has been raising eyebrows up and down the F1 paddock - here we compare it to Audi, Red Bull, McLaren and MercedesInstead of the flap rotating up like most teams, Alpine’s rotates down
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA3VOF5bwAA ... name=large
Someone did some CFD on a mock wing to understand the effect. The drag difference was minimal. The benefit of Alpine design is the downforce recovery is faster when the wing closes. So they can close the wing a bit later than others if they want to.bananapeel23 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:27Interestingly, Alpine also seems to be getting the very same effect that Audi is. I.e. the second wing element is opened so far that jt almost gets flipped upside down. It should come with a drag penalty, so it must be doing something else that is beneficial for the car.SilviuAgo wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 12:58Nice shot. And in that direction, i may say Alpine’s radical approach to the rear wing’s active aero movement has been raising eyebrows up and down the F1 paddock - here we compare it to Audi, Red Bull, McLaren and MercedesInstead of the flap rotating up like most teams, Alpine’s rotates down
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA3VOF5bwAA ... name=large
Are ypu talking about the wing folding back rather than up, or about the wing opening so much that it almost ends up upside down when open?AR3-GP wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:29Someone did some CFD on a mock wing to understand the effect. The drag difference was minimal. The benefit of Alpine design is the downforce recovery is faster when the wing closes. So they can close the wing a bit later than others if they want to.bananapeel23 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:27Interestingly, Alpine also seems to be getting the very same effect that Audi is. I.e. the second wing element is opened so far that jt almost gets flipped upside down. It should come with a drag penalty, so it must be doing something else that is beneficial for the car.SilviuAgo wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 12:58
Nice shot. And in that direction, i may say Alpine’s radical approach to the rear wing’s active aero movement has been raising eyebrows up and down the F1 paddock - here we compare it to Audi, Red Bull, McLaren and MercedesInstead of the flap rotating up like most teams, Alpine’s rotates down
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA3VOF5bwAA ... name=large
I misread your post. Carry onbananapeel23 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:34Are ypu talking about the wing folding back rather than up, or about the wing opening so much that it almost ends up upside down when open?AR3-GP wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:29Someone did some CFD on a mock wing to understand the effect. The drag difference was minimal. The benefit of Alpine design is the downforce recovery is faster when the wing closes. So they can close the wing a bit later than others if they want to.bananapeel23 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:27
Interestingly, Alpine also seems to be getting the very same effect that Audi is. I.e. the second wing element is opened so far that jt almost gets flipped upside down. It should come with a drag penalty, so it must be doing something else that is beneficial for the car.
If this was indeed widely discussed, hard to see how Marshall and team would have missed itMcLarenMor wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 14:36One can hope this mouse hole diffuser is not a game changer that was missed, as it seems all the 'top' teams have it, and the discussion about it is that it is something that was suggested quite heavily when the regulations came out to be a point of emphasis to exploit in the regulations.
The difference in airbox sizesSilviuAgo wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 15:32https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA4EkLgXMAA ... name=large
Source: Motor Sport magazine
It also maintained a greater amount of low pressure under the rear wing, this will have some effect on maintaining floor performance as well.AR3-GP wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:29Someone did some CFD on a mock wing to understand the effect. The drag difference was minimal. The benefit of Alpine design is the downforce recovery is faster when the wing closes. So they can close the wing a bit later than others if they want to.bananapeel23 wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 13:27Interestingly, Alpine also seems to be getting the very same effect that Audi is. I.e. the second wing element is opened so far that jt almost gets flipped upside down. It should come with a drag penalty, so it must be doing something else that is beneficial for the car.SilviuAgo wrote: ↑11 Feb 2026, 12:58
Nice shot. And in that direction, i may say Alpine’s radical approach to the rear wing’s active aero movement has been raising eyebrows up and down the F1 paddock - here we compare it to Audi, Red Bull, McLaren and MercedesInstead of the flap rotating up like most teams, Alpine’s rotates down
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HA3VOF5bwAA ... name=large