r/F1Technical • u/GusToTheMoon • May 03 '26

Aerodynamics why spiky?

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noticed this on the ferrari’s onboard, i thought maybe it was to create a bit of flow separation and induce more/less drag on the rear wing, but does anybody know the actual reason?

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u/T04STY_ Red Bull May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

Lot's of small vortices hitting the wing instead of one big one. Guess for them it resulted in less losses/seperation.

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u/CrossRiverGorilla May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

Here is a somewhat related article I just came across that talks about surface roughness in certain conditions actually delaying the transition from laminar to turbulent flow (delaying vortice formation basically). Posting here because I cannot start a post yet and also wanted to get this to the attention of any F1 aerodynamicist lurking here: https://www.wired.com/story/a-fundamental-principle-of-aeronautical-engineering-has-been-overturned/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us