Aero history lesson

[peterjford]

I remember long ago ('80s) when everyone had the low front wings that extended from the sides of the nose. Was Beneton the first to use the straighter nose with the front wing suspended below? I think it was the first that I saw using that. Was there a rule change that prompted this, or is it a better design? How long was it before everyone was using this design?

 

[Blake]

The Tyrrell 019 was the first car to use a raised nose. The car finished 2nd twice in 1990, and was quite competitive considering the under-powered engine it had. The next logical step was to bridge that gap with more front wing, but I couldn’t tell you who did this first. I think the Beneton assumption is probably correct.

In 1995 most teams had the raised nose, and I think by 1996 everyone had it.

Notably, when this started happening is about when overtaking started to become less and less common. More surface area on the front wing means more downforce is lost when the front wing is in dirty air.

 

[mipuumal]

If I remember correctly from my F1GP (greatest F1 game ever, except for F1GP2) days, Benetton and Ferrari had the raised nose in 1994.

 

[Metar]

If I recall correctly, Williams was the last team to win a race with a low nosecone car.

In '96 everyone had raised nosecones, but in '95, some still had those: Ferrari (412T2), the Pacific, Jordan and Simtek. Though I'm not sure if those were 100% regular low-cones, or just relatively-low. At least they weren't those shipmast thingies Benetton used.

'95 Ferrari 412T2 (Jean Alesi):

 

[Scaff]

The Tyrrell 019 was the first car to use a raised nose. The car finished 2nd twice in 1990, and was quite competitive considering the under-powered engine it had. The next logical step was to bridge that gap with more front wing, but I couldn’t tell you who did this first. I think the Beneton assumption is probably correct.

Spot on with the Tyrrell and the Benenton was the first with the full width front wing, on the B191, in '91

For info on F1 development history I would recommend the following book...



...which covers a lot of this kind of thing, and is also a great book to read in its own right.


Regards

Scaff

 

[Small_Fryz]

When did F1 loose its overtaking? I cant remember them ever overtaking much. Has it gotten worse and worse? or has their been some improvement recently.

 

[Metar]

As Blake mentioned - when cars began using raised nosecones, overtaking started becoming far, far rarer.

I haven't watched previous seasons, but I noticed some nice manouvres this season, even between nigh-equal parts. Or completely unequal (Sato @ Canada)