Paddy Lowe: Importance of aero underrated
This is what I've been trying to say all along where BOTH Redbull and Renault dropped the ball last year, as these are typical areas that touch on both chassis and engine, requiring intensive collaboration between engine and chassis designer.
Excellent article, thanks for posting it Tim.
In the engine thread during the course of the 2014 season, there was a lot of talk of the RB10 having the best chassis aerodynamically and that it was simply being hamstrung by its Renault PU. The RB bosses mentioned Barcelona as the circuit that they would display their aero prowess and fight against the might of Mercedes, then it was Monaco, before Hungary and finally Singapore.
The fact is the Mercedes W05 as some have stated since early in the season, had fantastic aero, perhaps the class of the field.
It was interesting to hear Paddy touch on the cooling which is something I attempted to followed closely throughout 2014. I think I mentioned in the W05 thread that the rads were only very slightly larger than those on the 2013 car. With the W04, the gearbox cooling and oil cooling rads were fitted in tandem with the main rads. The W05 situated these ancillaries above the exhaust. I wonder what we'll see with the W06, whether a layout as present on the W04 will be possible while improving aero. I do expect the 'ears' that accompanied the engine airbox inlet to have disappeared.