After a decision to heavily invest in its Formula 1 project from 2017 onwards, Renault are increasingly looking like a top team with each passing race. Developments are frequent and tend to work with the car straight away, allowing its drivers (namely Nico Hulkenburg) to frequently challenge for good points at all circuits. The staff and facilities within Enstone are more than capable of producing the goods to win again and for Azerbaijan, the team produced a bespoke low-drag aero package plus a number of new items that will be carried into the next few races.
Experimentation around the front of R.S.17 continues, with two versions of its latest front-wing trialled in free practice – one with a conventional upper flap design and another which has stubbed flaps inboard (see right). A number of teams have been treating this area in a similar fashion recently and it’s because the geometry of the flaps have a key influence on the shape and strength of the Y250 vortex, a powerful vortex that manages surrounding freestream flow around the nose, front-tyres and bargeboards.
Renault have also been working on a new solution for the turning vanes on the underside of the front bulkhead. The vanes are another influencer of the vortex described above, while also feeding clean airflow towards the bargeboards. Teams often stagger three or four vanes to turn the air from the centreline of the car outwards, however Renault have approached things differently with its latest update.
The twin element vanes that have been used for all of the season so far remain, but a third vane, mounted inboard and adjacently with the leading element, has now been installed. The two leading vanes share a footplate and thus a tunnel is formed for air to pass through. This setup should capture flow better during a yaw scenario, controlling the air downstream in a more desirable fashion during a corner.
The bargeboards that the turning vanes feed have received another subtle tweak too. The curved slots made into the footplate have been slowly upped from zero at the start of the season to two, four and now six in Azerbaijan (featured photo, top). Although the slots venture forward towards the front end, the air is actually passing through them at an angle (this is easy to visualise by noting the lipped edges). The slots allow air to filter underneath the bodywork and accelerate along the sides of the car. Adding more slots allows more air to be channeled in the same direction, aiding the sealing of the floor to improve aerodynamic stability when using a high rake angle (like Renault have opted for this year).
The final component of the update is the low-drag rear-wing, featuring a popular spoon profile to reduce drag at the wing tips while retaining good downforce produced by the middle portion. What's interesting about the new wing is the return of Renault's supposedly illegal central support which forms with the DRS actuator pod. This was originally on the car over testing but other teams were unhappy with the idea as the actuator, by regulation, must be a separate entity from other bodywork. The revised design was barely any different from the original, so perhaps the team thought that this time it could slip under the radar of their rivals. This, however, is definitely not the case, although this time I don't think anyone could be bothered to protest it! Maybe that's because Renault aren't at the front of the field… yet.
