FLAP-LESS FRONT WINGS
While most teams logically fitted Baku-spec front wings on their cars after installing the corresponding setups at the rear, two teams went down through radically different avenues.
On Esteban Ocon’s MRT05, the front wing was entirely devoid of any upper flap, while the second flap was redesigned and increased to partly replace the missing element (compare white arrows). As shown above, team-mate Pascal Wehrlein’s car was fitted with more conventional rear and front wings, which is perhaps why Ocon saw his tyres degrade more quickly in the race.
The F1 minnows also added a fin to complement the car’s sidepod vane, an installation that draws some inspiration from the Mercedes design that has said vane as a two-element setup.
Toro Rosso, for its part, tested two specs of front wing. First, they went for a radical solution (see first TR image) where the upper flap had also been removed (compare blue arrows), but this wing was not raced. Instead the Red Bull junior team ran an updated version of the Baku spec, since Toro Rosso had introduced a new aero package at Hockenheim in the meantime (see middle TR image). Finally, the bottom picture shows the front wing that Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat usually have on their STR11s.
