Haas VF-18
Haas has produced a neat design for its third Formula 1 challenger, but will this uncomplicated approach help the team gain more consistent performance levels after its mixed first two seasons?
For Haas, 2018 is going to be about achieving greater consistency after two erratic seasons in Formula 1, with some great results and some very difficult weekends. To do this, you need to understand how to get the car into its working window for a range of circuit conditions, which is Haas’ challenge. The new car looks very neat and tidy. But most impressively, the integration of the halo doesn’t create too much of an eyesore. It has been housed in a carbonfibre faring, minimising the effect it has on the aerodynamics. Also, the undercut airbox/headrest section looks like it has been exaggerated to help manage the halo’s wake.
As these are renderings of the car, it’s important to remember things could look a little different when the new Haas hits the track in testing later this month.
FRONT WING/SUSPENSION
It looks like there are a couple of extra slot gaps on the outboard section of the front-wing flaps. Also, the furthest-forward element of the front-wing main plane is a very short chord. Both of these features will help to manage the pitch sensitivity and produce more-consistent front downforce.
The front suspension is conventional, with a fairly narrow base lower wishbone where it goes into the chassis. The angles of these components, combined with the top wishbone and pushrod-operated inboard suspension, are all optimised to manage the airflow coming off the front wing and help with the performance of the leading edge of the underfloor.
TURNING VANES
The two horizontal turning vanes on the sides of the chassis work in a similar way to the front-suspension elements. They do this by picking up the wake coming off the trailing edge of the front wing and help realign it to improve the performance of the leading edge of the sidepods. They also reduce the lift that is created when the airflow accelerates over the top of the sidepod leading edge.
BARGEBOARDS
The bargeboard area follows the trend of the Ferrari and Haas from last year with the horizontal louvres. These are there to manage the turbulent wake that comes off the trailing edge of the front tyre.
This then allows the inner bargeboard and undercut sidepods to pull more airflow through under the raised section of the chassis. This improves the performance of the front wing and, again, the leading edge of the sidepod.
While Ferrari took that approach with its sidepods in 2017, I don’t think we can draw any conclusions yet about whether Haas keeping the design means that Ferrari will too. I think Haas is sticking more or less with that to allow it to improve, and there will thefore be more to gain than changing the car dramatically.
COKE BOTTLE/COOLING
The Coke-bottle area inside the rear tyres is dramatically undercut on the Haas. This allows the airflow that is being displaced by the rear tyres to flow inside the wheels. This helps the performance of the diffuser and reduces the overall drag by not pushing airflow around the outside of the tyre.
The area above the undercut is the airflow exit for the many radiators that are required to cool the various elements that make up the power unit. By having it as a T-shape, positioned between the top surface of the diffuser and the under-surface of the rear wing, this minimises the effect that the slower-moving hot cooling-exit air would have on these components.
The airflow coming out of the radiator exits has been beaten around so much in going through the radiator core, and is travelling so slowly, that it’s of very little use for creating downforce.
DIFFUSER
I can’t really see much of the diffuser detail, but I’m sure it will have had a fair amount of windtunnel research time. This is also true of the wheelbase, as Haas hasn’t revealed any facts or figures on that. Hopefully, testing at Barcelona will reveal all.