New front wing for Brawn BGP001

The Brawn GP design team have been looking carefully at Ferrari's front wing compared to their own. Previously that resembled a lot to BMW Sauber's design as it features two upper flaps with the actuator mechanism in the middle of these flaps. The new wing however is completely different and sports only one flap. The most important advantage of this will be the adjustability for the drivers. Previously they only has control of a small panel of which they could change the angle of attack, but adjusting the new single flap by 6° will greatly change downforce at the front end.

BMW introduce their own Double Diffuser

BMW Sauber have taken a long time to design and manufacture a double decker diffuser to replace the more conventional one that followed 'the spirit of the rules'. The new version immediately proved effective as Robert Kubica was there within the points, while in Bahrain they were no where near the midfield.
The new diffuser resembles much that of Brawn with an empty keel structure in the middle and an early exit above it for additional downforce. It also pick up an idea of Toyota by creating a small extension to the diffuser under the rear crash structure - with the safety light, the only area where the diffuser is allowed to extend further behind the rear wheels.

F1 2009: Turkish Grand Prix circuit guide

The lowdown:
The track was only built in 2005 but already Bernie Ecclestone has called this Hermann Tilke creation “the best racetrack in the world”. Fans and drivers rave about it too. The reason? It’s undulating, tough to drive, visually appealing and its wide track offers the chance to see wheel-to-wheel racing.

Most of all, though, it’s because of the hair-raising T8 with its triple apex, which has already invited comparisons with other legendary corners such as Eau Rouge and 130R. Interesting fact: Istanbul Park is one of four circuits on this season’s calendar to run in an anti-clockwise direction, the others being Brazil, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

Overtaking opportunities?
Plenty. T12, at the end of the back straight, is where most of the overtaking happens, but there are also chances on T1, a blind left-hander, and of course T8 if the driver in front of you gets his line fractionally wrong through the triple apex.

What they say about it:
"The Istanbul Park track is fairly challenging from a driver's point of view as it runs anti-clockwise which is unusual and the undulations are quite extreme which can make for an exciting lap. The highlight for most drivers is the high-speed turn eight where the triple apex is really quick, blind and tough on your neck." Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP)

Istanbul Park - a Formula One set-up guide

The purpose-built anti-clockwise circuit on the outskirts of Istanbul offers a mix of challenging low and high-speed corners and has already established its position as a firm favourite with the drivers. Overtaking is difficult, especially in the first half of the lap, but the long back straight leading into the tight hairpin of Turn 12 offers the ideal opportunity for a lunge under braking. Combine this with the challenge of Turn Eight, which is one of the most demanding of the year, and you have all the ingredients for an exciting Grand Prix. Renault explain how they plan to ready the R29 for racing…
Suspension
As a relatively new facility the track surface at Istanbul is in good condition and the kerbs are not especially aggressive, which makes it quite straightforward to find a stable car balance. Renault will seek a compromise between stiffer settings for the high-speed part of the lap to give a good change of direction, and softer settings for the low-speed section, particularly the final few corners to ensure good mechanical grip.
Driver Nelson Piquet explains: "It's quite difficult to find the right compromise with car set-up at Istanbul because the lap is so varied in terms of corner speeds and grip. The last three corners of the lap are the slowest on the circuit, taken in second gear at around 80 km/h. Turn 12 after the long back straight is the biggest braking zone of the circuit and offers the best overtaking opportunity of the lap. It's easy to make a mistake here and go in too deep, which puts you out of position for the final couple of corners and can cost you a lot of time."
Aerodynamics
There are few critical high-speed corners at Istanbul Park, but the team will still run with medium downforce settings in order to carry good speed through the long left-hander of Turn Eight, which puts high g-forces through the drivers' necks.
Fernando Alonso explains: "Turn Eight is one of the quickest and longest left hand corners of the year. It's really a series of corners with four apexes, although we treat it as one apex and try to be as smooth as possible with the steering inputs. We don't touch the brake at any stage through the corner, and simply lift the throttle slightly to keep the car online. In the middle of the corner we're doing about 260km/h and you can really feel the g-forces on your body. It's easy to understeer wide in this corner, which will cost you a lot of time, but there's plenty of run-off to save you."
While the aero grip keeps the cars glued to the track through Turn Eight, it is mechanical grip that predominates between Turns Three to Five and Turns 12 to 14.
Brakes
The braking zone into Turn 12 after the long back straight is the most significant on the circuit. It also represents the best overtaking opportunity and will normally see plenty of action during the Grand Prix. Overall the circuit is not particularly demanding on the brakes, which have enough time to cool on the long straights before the main braking zones, although with medium downforce settings the drivers may struggle with locking of the rear brakes.
Tyres
The Turkish Grand Prix is quite a demanding track on the tyres, largely due to Turn Eight which puts high loadings through the tyres, particularly the front right. To avoid any potential problems, we can adjust suspension settings and front wing angle; however, we must always be mindful of finding the correct balance between protecting the tyres and maintaining mechanical grip, to ensure the car is quick in the more technical parts of the circuit. Bridgestone will supply the hard and soft compounds from their 2009 range, as was the case for the Spanish Grand Prix earlier in the year.
Engine
Istanbul presents a varied workout for the engine, requiring both good top speed and low end performance. Turn Eight remains a constant concern where the engine is concerned as it is important to ensure effective power delivery at high revs for good performance in this high-speed corner. Overall around 65 percent of the lap is spent on full throttle, which is about average for the circuits on the calendar.

Why tyre size matters - Bridgestone explain

As far as racing tyres are concerned, size does matter, particularly for this Formula One season, which has seen the return of slicks after an 11-seasons’ absence. The removal of the grooves which were previously on the tread area means that the proportional size of the rear tyres’ contact patch has changed relative to the fronts’.
“There are many differences between a slick and a grooved tyre, but the change of the proportional tread area in contact with the road is a very important aspect of the performance potential,” explains Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tyre development. “This year we are hearing a lot of talk about weight distribution and the balance of the cars and this is related to the big changes to the regulations for the cars and the tyres for 2009.
“The latest aerodynamic regulations mean a lower and wider front wing, but a taller and narrower rear wing. This means the proportion of aerodynamic grip - the grip provided by the downforce pushing the car down onto the road - has moved towards the front of the car.
“In addition to this, there is more mechanical grip - grip provided by the tyres interacting with the road surface - than before at the front of the car, due to the proportionally bigger contact patch of the front tyre, so the latest cars have a lot more grip on the front than previously.”
The additional grip at the front means that the latest cars work their rear tyres harder than before.
“We can certainly say that the current generation car has an oversteer tendency, where the rear of the car doesn’t have as much grip as the front, and this tendency is a focus for teams in their car set-ups and designs,” explains Hamashima.
An oversteering car is generally one that is good at turning in to corners, but one where the rear of the car has trouble following the path of the front. In American terminology, the car is ‘loose,’ meaning the rear slides around. This is often fun to watch, and can result in the cars being spun, but it’s not necessarily the fastest way around a race track. So, if there’s more grip at the front than there is at the rear, surely it’s time for more grip at the rear?
“Of course, we could make more grip for the rear tyres through different rubber compounds or construction or wider tyres. However, we can’t make use of different rubber and wider tyres, because of the regulations. When we make use of different construction, however it is the front tyre which has too much grip rather than the rear tyres not having enough,” explains Hamashima.
“When we moved to grooved tyres for the 1998 season, the opposite was the problem, as the front tyres did not have enough grip. To counter this we made a taller and wider front tyre. When the rules were changed to allow slicks back we recommended that the tyre sizes were changed back to the sizes before grooves came in - with smaller front tyres - however the teams’ car designs were already very far advanced for the same size tyres as used with the grooved tyres.”
The size of the front tyre has a particular impact on a Formula One car’s aerodynamics. The front tyres present a large surface cross section to the airflow and cause a lot of drag, so a big factor in the design of the car’s bodywork and wings is trying to compensate for this.
For the future, Bridgestone has already tested a narrower front tyre and is working with the FIA and the teams regarding any potential change for the future.
“For Bridgestone we can make front tyres of the current size, or of a narrower width, so it is not a problem for us once a decision is made about the tyre size,” explains Hamashima. “The size is set in the regulations, so it is not a change we would make in isolation, it is something that if it happens it will be because there have been consultations between us, the FIA and also the teams.”
Bridgestone tested a smaller front tyre in Jerez in Spain back in March.
“The test in March, where eight teams were present, was useful for evaluating a potential new front tyre size by six teams,” explains Hamashima. “We went narrower on width, but based on what we learnt from running that tyre we would probably want to go a bit narrower still. For now, however, we have the excitement of the 2009 season.”

Redesigned mirror support on Brawn BGP001

Since Spain, Brawn is introducing updates all over its car, some smaller than others. At Monaco the BGP 001 featured updated mirror supports. Up to now, the team was running a twin element support while the new version is a much thicker aerofoil. Such in-season change of a previously simple element marks the team's search for performance improvement in areas where aerodynamic development is still allowed.