F1 Update from the iSport F1 Pitstop: The Force India F1 team is developing their car as fast as the top teams, writes iSporter and Motorsport Expert Kunal Shah. He also explains what the blown diffuser actually is!
The Force India F1 team is having a good F1 season in 2010. Their consistent pace in qualifying and the race followed by constant upgrades on their race car, the team seems to be in good momentum going into the second half of the 2010 F1 season.
Their pace has been spoken about in various forums and it is also out there for us to see. While they hit a bump in Germany and had a disaster of a weekend, my guess is that they will be back on the pace and in the points in Hungary. While I say this, their Friday practice results are not too great to talk about. But there’s a reason and I here’s my explanation:
The Force India F1 team brought their version of the blown diffuser to Hungary. Due to ban on in-season testing, the F1 teams this year have to use Friday practice sessions to test new components and that’s what Force India did too. They tested their blown diffuser on Adrian Sutil’s car in Friday practice sessions. The tests while proved to be satisfactory, the team of course was unable to match pace with the teams at the top.
In Friday testing, while Adrian was out trying out the new blown diffuser, Paul di Resta and Vitantonio Liuzzi took turns to evaluate their tyres. The team does seem to be struggling with their tyres, but I am sure Saturday’s session will help them sort out these niggles. However, the blown diffuser and its evaluations meant that Adrian tried various combinations of car parts and car setups on Friday. That could explain the team’s lack of pace in Friday practice.
But it is noteworthy to mention that the Force India F1 team seems to be developing their car as fast as the top team this season. The team might be operating on shoe-string budgets, but that hasn’t stopped their pace of development this season.
While subtle aero upgrades have been brought to major races this season, the first big update was the use of the switchable rear wing (or SRW) or the f-duct in Turkey. While it took the team to couple of races to get their f-duct working fine, they’ve mastered its use and that’s one of the reasons the Force India F1 cars are so quick down the straights.
Following the f-duct was the blown diffuser that was brought to the Hungarian GP. While the evaluations will continue till the team decides to use it full time on their race car what is important to note is that all the top teams including Ferrari, Mclaren and Mercedes are out attempting to use blown diffusers too.
My columns usually aim to simplify the technical world of F1 and here’s my explanation of the blown diffuser: the exhaust of an F1 car usually emits gases from the engine and protrudes upwards from the engine cover of the car. In the blown diffuser, this same exhaust pipe now is moulded to emit these gases downwards and towards the rear of the car. The diffuser is placed in the rear is a very important component for aero downforce. In the blown diffuser, the exhaust feeds these hot air gases to the diffuser in an attempt to increase rear-end downforce and stability.
However, its implementation is easier said than done. As a result of transmitting these hot air gases downwards, the team has to ensure that the other heat sensitive components also placed at the rear of the car don’t over-heat.
Let’s hope the Force India F1 team has yet another upgrade in their championship fight this season.
Kunal Shah is a former racer and writes extensively on www.isport.in
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