THE RETURN OF THE ‘S’-DUCT
Last year’s Red Bull did not feature any ‘S’-duct but the system has made a return on its successor, mostly because the new regulations encourage teams to run it.
Red Bull’s installation is similar to Renault’s and McLaren’s with the air inlets placed at the base of the monocoque and not on each side of the nosecone like on the Mercedes, Ferrari, and Toro Rosso.
The bargeboards are surprisingly simple compared to rival cars. Other teams have gone for more complex designs with aero elements aplenty, as noted by Newey himself.
“Obviously there are a few different interpretations of the regulations which is what one might hope for with a new set of regulations,” he said.
“In particular the Mercedes looks like a complicated car, it's got a lot of parts on it which will be about trying to manipulate the vortices to position the flow structures around the car.
“The Ferrari has a complicated looking sidepod which I have not quite managed to work out yet from the pictures I have seen.”
Still, one can notice that a deflector (see yellow arrow) has been added to the turning vane, which is already quite long. The rationale there is to optimise how the all-important Y250 vortex flows along the lower sidepods.
