The aero department at Force India is littered with ex-Red Bull staff and their influence on the car has been plain to see for several years now, especially in the VJM10 as it has adopted the high rake philosophy that Adrian Newey has deployed in recent years.
Rake refers to the front-down, rear-up attitude of the car, which has many advantages when exploited properly. It isn’t an easy path to follow as it requires consistent sealing of the floor to prevent low pressure air flowing beneath the car from leaking and causing a drop in downforce levels.
The rear diffuser is a critical region when exploiting a high rake angle and Force India unveiled revisions to theirs in Russia. The upper Gurney tabs that help extract the air from beneath the car have been pinched at the centre and outer parts (see image below), creating more volume for the air to fill as it escapes.
Tucked behind the nose box below the chassis front bulkhead, teams exploit a series of turning vanes ahead of the bargeboards to manipulate and condition the air passing around the centre of the car aft of the front-wing. Some teams arrange as many as three pairs of large baffles to steer the air, while others present a series of much smaller vanes to micro-manage the flow by generating vortices.
Force India have one pair of sizeable vanes that are divided into two – the first duo mounted to the front-wing and the other hanging from the underside of the car immediately behind.
The leading pair previously featured a large slot but this was removed in Bahrain in favour of a plain surface, although both sets of vanes feature a footplate which are divided into numerous mini aerofoils to generate vortices and support the flow passing above.
