F1 Technology articles archive

Red Bull did not have the size of performance advantage the were expected to in Singapore. They still look like the team to beat over the final four races but Ferrari are coming on strong and McLaren can’t be ruled out yet either. Their performance data for the past 15 races is analysed below to … Continue reading Who will have the best car for the final races? Top teams’ performance analysed

Heading into the final five races Fernando Alonso is at a disadvantage with his engines. He has no new engines left to use this season, while all his title rivals have at least one and Mark Webber has two. How will this affect the championship battle? See below for data on the teams’ engine use … Continue reading No new engines left for Alonso while championship leader Webber has two

Looking back on the technical developments from Silverstone, here’s John Beamer. Silverstone was always pegged as a Red Bull track and a 0.7s qualifying gap confirmed it as such. To see the RB6’s superiority one need look no further than Abbey where it had an astonishing 10mph exit speed advantage. That is why the rest … Continue reading Technical review: British Grand Prix

Red Bull clearly have fastest car in F1 at the moment. But McLaren and Ferrari have been relentless in their pursuit of the flying RB6s, bringing significant upgrades to the last two races. Have they been able to cut Red Bull’s lead? And what’s the balance of power among the rest of the teams? This … Continue reading McLaren and Ferrari hunting Red Bull: The F1 development race analysed

A raft of updates appeared on several of the front-running cars in Valencia. As in 2009 when Brawn dominated the first half of the season with its double diffuser, Red Bull has enjoyed a similar performance advantage this year. The key difference is that in the first few races no-one could put a finger on … Continue reading Technical review: European Grand Prix

Tyres, not F-ducts, provided the talking point in the Canadian Grand Prix. Guest writer John Beamer reviews the technical developments in the last round. At Montreal conventional wisdom was proven right. McLaren’s straight-line speed advantage, driven by a fully working F-duct and the Mercedes engine (worth up to 30bhp) allowed it to secure a one-two … Continue reading Technical review: Canadian Grand Prix

When will the new teams catch up with the midfield runners? F1’s three new outfits, led by Lotus, have cut their deficit to the midfield teams by more than a third over the first seven races of 2010.

The next round at Barcelona will be a feast for technology fans as teams bring their biggest updates yet to their 2010 cars. John Beamer looks at the developments so far this year and what to expect in Spain. Despite spending the first four races far from home the rate of development has been impressive … Continue reading Technical review: the fly-away races

The Formula One Teams’ Association is considering further restrictions on how much downforce F1 cars can generate as the 2010 cars are already producing almost as much downforce as they were in 2008. The changes introduced last year at the urging of the Overtaking Working Group have not succeeding in reducing downforce levels. FOTA is … Continue reading FOTA consider new 2011 downforce cuts

F1’s ever-tighter technical regulations haven’t stopped the cars getting even quicker in 2010. This year’s cars are lapping on a par with the 2004 machines which set many of the lap records at the tracks on this year’s calendar. That’s despite the cars of 2004 having much freer aerodynamic regulations, softer rubber because of the … Continue reading F1 track records set to tumble

Sidepod-mounted wing mirrors are to be banned from the Chinese Grand Prix, according to Autosport. The teams will be required on safety grounds to fit the mirrors in a position where drivers can see them more easily following complaints over sidepod-mounted mirrors being too hard to see due to vibrations. Six teams used the mirrors … Continue reading Sidepod mirrors banned from next race

F1 Fanatic guest writer John Beamer casts his eye over the technical changes on the cars at Bahrain. Last year the leading cars were often within a few hundredths of a second of each other. But in the first race of this year Fernando Alonso’s fastest lap was a second quicker than anyone else’s and … Continue reading Bahrain Grand Prix technical review

F1 Fanatic’s technical expert John Beamer continues his look at the 2010 F1 car designs. The 2010 F1 testing schedule seems shorter than ever. With just 15 days of running across four tests it doesn’t take much to upset a team’s tightly packed schedule. Throw in heavy rain and the testing scheme goes out of … Continue reading 2010 F1 cars technical analysis (Part 2)

F1 Fanatic guest writer John Beamer examines the seven 2010 F1 cars revealed so far. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for F1 fans as teams have begun to unveil their 2010 challengers. From a technical point of view, 2010 should be a belter. Teams are still learning what works and what doesn’t after … Continue reading 2010 F1 cars technical analysis (Part 1)