Value cap restrictions have generally led groups to query whether or not the funding of a Monaco-only rear wing is price it, or whether or not they’re higher off simply sticking with a higher-downforce specification that can be utilized at locations like Budapest and Singapore.
However with F1’s battle on the entrance between Ferrari, McLaren and Pink Bull so shut proper now, all three groups knew they might not maintain again and depart any efficiency on the desk by not going all in with a Monaco rear wing.
Right here we check out how the three groups approached the Monte Carlo weekend.
Ferrari SF-24 rear wing Monaco GP comparability
Picture by: Giorgio Piola
Ferrari’s high-downforce variant is in the identical design household because the medium-downforce wing that was up to date in Imola, and encompasses a revised tip part.
The revisions to this portion of the wing revolve round its general form, with a a lot flatter and wider profile most popular. This extends the span of the higher portion of the wing and alters the place of the tip to reposition the vortex that’s shed from the floor.
The flatter profile additionally leads to the flap and bracket connection being altered, with the flap kneeling down over the bracket to create a special shedding floor, while additionally making a distinction in the way it interacts with the rear endplate cutout.
Even with the brand new flap tip part, Ferrari had used the identical mainplane and high flap configuration for the primary seven races of 2024. Nevertheless, it did have the next downforce wing available on the Japanese Grand Prix that was not used in any respect.
That one is known to be a special specification completely to the one launched for Monaco, and extra in step with the outgoing specification of tip part, allied to a higher-downforce mainplane and high flap design utilized in 2023.
This new, high-downforce rear wing encompasses a mainplane and high flap that take up extra of the allowable house inside the field area permitted within the rules, with a flatter central vanguard employed on the mainplane, leading to a tighter radius the place the mainplane meets the endplate.
Equally, the higher flap has a flatter vanguard and curvature throughout its span than the lower-downforce variant.
In the meantime, the small winglets housed on the facet of the rear wing help pylon that Ferrari first launched on the Australian Grand Prix additionally returned to additional enhance downforce (blue arrow).
McLaren MCL38 technical element
Picture by: Giorgio Piola
McLaren had a brand new high-downforce rear and beam wing configuration ready for the Monaco Grand Prix with a purpose to enhance the MCL38’s capabilities across the streets of the Principality.
These things be part of the crew’s suite of elements that every one share related DNA. The endplate nonetheless options the outboard upwashing swage line and the semi-detached tip part, though the latter is enhanced to contribute in direction of the uplift in efficiency that the contemporary mainplane and higher flap would yield.
It’s not truly the primary time we have now seen this wing association although, as McLaren truly had it available final trip at Imola. Nevertheless, it was solely fitted to Oscar Piastri’s MCL38 for a short while throughout FP3 with a purpose to assess it forward of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The higher flap and mainplane take up extra of the allowable house inside the field area permitted by the rules however are additionally each much less curved throughout their span.
This may be seen on the vanguard, with a tighter radius employed the place the mainplane meets with the endplate as a consequence.
The trailing fringe of the higher flap additionally encompasses a small, V-shaped notch on the centreline, while a Gurney flap can also be deployed to help within the crew’s pursuit of offering steadiness and most downforce.
McLaren MCL38 technical element
Picture by: Giorgio Piola
The beam wing is a two-piece structure, with heft to each parts throughout the central portion and inverse tapering employed within the outer parts to assist scale back the drag penalty that may in any other case ensue. Each parts additionally carry a excessive diploma of assault angle and are cambered to assist enhance their yield too.
Pink Bull Racing RB20 technical element
Picture by: Filip Cleeren
Pink Bull had, till Monaco, managed its downforce ranges with simply two rear wing specs, a medium- and a low-downforce providing.
Nevertheless, it introduced a high-downforce association obtainable for the famed road circuit, together with a revised beam wing structure.
The whole wing structure shares an analogous DNA to the designs it has already raced, however the higher flap and mainplane crammed out extra of the obtainable house inside the allowable field area.
The forefront of the mainplane continues to be turned upward. It’s not solely deeper and extra cambered than the opposite specs, it additionally has a wider flat part in the course of the wing, with a tighter radius the place it meets the endplate.
The crew additionally made adjustments to the RB20’s entrance finish to assist overcome among the challenges posed by the Monte Carlo road circuit. Cooling is a kind of, with the crew having to make use of its most extraction choices for the engine cowl, together with the primary rear outlet and the louvred panels atop and alongside its flanks.
Pink Bull RB20 entrance suspension change
Picture by: Uncredited
The bottom-speed nook on the calendar additionally poses some challenges for the groups, with concessions usually made to enhance the automobile’s steering lock. For Pink Bull, this resulted in a brand new higher wishbone association, with a triangular notch taken out of the rear leg’s fairing.
This opens up extra space for the wheel-and-tyre meeting within the most steered place for the hairpin and prevents it from fouling the fairing.
