Three races on three very different tracks in the start of the 2018 Formula One season, and Scuderia Ferrari have been extremely competitive on all of them. The Maranello team’s German driver Sebastian Vettel has spoken of the need for the team to keep developing the SF71H to stay on top, and part of the package of small aerodynamic tweaks made in Bahrain and China was the increased height of the ‘mushroom’ vortex generator at the outer edge of the bargeboard area, as reported earlier today by Formula One’s official website.
Vortices created from here propagate and prevent the airflow which has been disturbed by passing around the front wheels from returning inboard and interfering with the flow into and over the sidepods. This area is crucial for downforce creation.
It just goes to show that not all aerodynamic changes have to be massive. In a lot of cases it’s about refinement of small details.
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