And at the end of the race if the ride height of his car were to be off by even 5 millimeters he'd be disqualified. Air flow and air turbulence are the key factors that distinguish winners from losers in today's fiercely competitive F1 world. Every millisecond counts. Sun supplies the hardware and software used by Henri Durand, West McLaren Mercedes' Chief Engineer of Aerodynamics, and his team of aerodynamicists, physicists, and engineers.
Theory is based on the absolute laws of physics.
Experimentation utilizes tests conducted in wind tunnels however, the results alone provide limited data. CFD, the science of finding a numerical solution to the equations of fluid flow, utilizes simulations conducted in the virtual world. CFD allows the team to calculate the air flow around the car at any point, subject to the laws of physics as they relate to mass and the conservation and distribution of energy and heat. From these calculations Henri's team can generate up to 100 million pieces of data, as compared to 20 yielded from wind tunnel experiments. However, both techniques are complementary and equally necessary.