page_title: Formula One car
section_title: Aerodynamics
hierarchical_section_title: Formula One car / Aerodynamics
caption_attribution_description: The Lotus 80 being driven at the 2008 Silverstone Classic race meeting.
context_page_description: A Formula One car is a single-seat, open cockpit, open-wheel racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formula One racing events. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship and specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves, though the design and manufacture can be outsourced.
context_section_description: Aerodynamics has become key to success in the sport and teams spend tens of millions of dollars on research and development in the field each year.
  The aerodynamic designer has two primary concerns: the creation of downforce, to help push the car's tyres onto the track and improve cornering forces; and minimising the drag that gets caused by turbulence and acts to slow the car down.
  Several teams started to experiment with the now familiar wings in the late 1960s. Racecar wings operate on the same principle as aircraft wings but are configured to cause a downward force rather than an upward one. A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 6 G's of lateral cornering force  thanks to aerodynamic downforce. The aerodynamic downforce allowing this is typically greater than the weight of the car.  That means that, theoretically, at high speeds, they could drive on the upside-down the surface of a suitable structure; e.g. on the ceiling.
  The use of aerodynamics to increase the cars' grip was pioneered in Formula One in the 1968 season by Lotus, Ferrari and Brabham. At first, Lotus introduced modest front wings and a spoiler on Graham Hill's Lotus 49B at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, then Brabham and Ferrari went one better at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix with full-width wings mounted on struts high above the driver.
  Early experiments with movable wings and high mountings led to some spectacular accidents, and for the 1970 season, regulations were introduced to limit the size and location of wings. Having evolved over time, similar rules are still used today.
  In the late 1960s, Jim Hall of Chaparral, first introduced "ground effect" downforce to auto racing. In the mid-1970s, Lotus engineers found out that the entire car could be made to act like a giant wing by the creation of an airfoil surface on its underside which would cause air moving relative to the car to push it to the road. Applying another idea of Jim Hall's from his Chaparral 2J sports racer, Gordon Murray designed the Brabham BT46B, which used a separately-powered fan system to extract air from the skirted area under the car, creating enormous downforce. After technical challenges from other teams, it was withdrawn after a single race. Rule changes then followed to limit the benefits of 'ground effects' – firstly a ban on the skirts used to contain the low-pressure area, later a requirement for a 'stepped floor'.
  Despite the full-sized wind tunnels and vast computing power used by the aerodynamic departments of most teams, the fundamental principles of Formula One aerodynamics still apply: to create the maximum amount of downforce for the minimal amount of drag. The primary wings mounted on the front and rear are fitted with different profiles depending on the downforce requirements of a particular track. Tight, slow circuits like Monaco require very aggressive wing profiles – cars run two separate 'blades' of 'elements' on the rear wings (two is the maximum permitted). In contrast, high-speed circuits like Monza see the cars stripped of as much wing as possible, to reduce drag and increase speed on the long straights.
  Every single surface of a modern Formula One car, from the shape of the suspension links to that of the driver's helmet – has its aerodynamic effects considered. Disrupted air, where the flow 'separates' from the body, creates turbulence which creates drag – which slows the car down. Almost as much effort has been spent reducing drag as increasing downforce – from the vertical end-plates fitted to wings to prevent vortices forming to the diffuser plates mounted low at the back, which helps to re-equalise pressure of the faster-flowing air that has passed under the car and would otherwise create a low-pressure 'balloon' dragging at the back. Despite this, designers can't make their cars too 'slippery', as a good supply of airflow has to be ensured to help dissipate the vast amounts of heat produced by the engine and brakes.
  In recent years, most Formula One teams have tried to emulate Ferrari's 'narrow waist' design, where the rear of the car is m
caption: The 1979 Lotus 80 was designed to take ground effect as far as possible
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