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Drawing board
Gary Anderson, Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola reveal the technical tweaks made by
Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Williams for last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix
Ferrari: no Monkey business
→ Ferrari ran without the ‘monkey seat’
winglet above the rear light, but introduced
a second slot on the exit of the floor (1) and used
a delta-shaped beam wing (2) on Fernando
Alonso’s car in contrast to the straight
component on Felipe Massa’s car. Alonso ran
with greater main-flap wing angle than Massa.
GAry Anderson: At Spa Ferrari removed the
‘monkey seat’ and didn’t run it at all in Italy. With
Monza-spec low downforce wings, it would be
very difficult for the monkey wing to join together
the flow of the beam wing and the main plane,
which is what it’s really there for. It creates a little
bit of downforce on its own, but not enough to be
worth the drag at Monza. So, knowing that in
advance, Ferrari has created a beam wing with
more of an aero profile and the team even
introduced a small slot gap around the centre line
where you’re allowed it. As for the beam wings, the
delta shape option would be more efficient, but
the straight one would generate more downforce.
34 autosport.com September 13 2012
McLaren wings cLipped
→McLaren’s Monza-spec front wing was
a composite of components used on
previous wings, but unrelated to the similarly
low-downforce option used for the Spa weekend.
GAry Anderson: McLaren introduced a split-flap
front wing earlier in the season – and because the
flap was smaller it needed more angle for the same
effect. But for Monza a greater reduction is needed
so the team removed the forward elements and
re-trimmed the rear flap to give less chord length.
It also reverted to the old one-piece flap. Downforce
is lost in the area in front of the wheels because
it doesn’t affect the sidepods. The trim line was
shortened, with the flap at the same sort of angle
as normal. This means the flow regime behind the
front wheels will be normal – with the sidepods
and the rest of the car working as intended.