The STR12 has performed fairly well on high downforce tracks but it is no secret that the car is inherently quite 'draggy'. Combined with the slightly underpowered Renault power unit, Toro Rosso have had to get creative in the design department to consistently challenge for points at all types of circuits.
In Canada we saw a spoon-shaped rear-wing installed on the car (above), a common solution for a low-drag circuit that provides a slight compromise between rear grip and top speed.
For Azerbaijan the wing’s main plane has been made even shallower, prompting a taller centre mounting pylon and reorientation of the DRS actuator. The endplates however are the same, featuring two open-ended louvres to further reduce the size of the wing tip vortex.
The downforce that the front-wing produces is easily capable of balancing the grip level at the rear, so teams pursue rear downforce and subsequently modify the front aerodynamics to suit.
Toro Rosso have arrived in Azerbaijan with an extremely trimmed front-wing, lopping off the uppermost inboard flap (below) and reducing the lower flaps’ angle of attack.
Assessing the trim levels of the front and rear-wings relative to each other is a good indicator of the car’s aerodynamic grip and how it is balanced, revealing the extent to which STR are willing to go in search for higher top speed.
