COOLING OFF
THE NEW FLOORS have prompted a massive rethink of the cars’ cooling architecture, since a proportion of the space formerly occupied by radiators and such is now taken up by a portion of the underbody venturi. While cooling is a basic functional requirement, it’s always involved a trade-off with aerodynamics: the size and shape of the radiators, and the intakes which feed them, need to be minimised to reduce drag.
When F1 adopted the ‘wide body’ formula in 2017, teams continued to minimise bodywork in the sidepod area, using the crash structures and floor edges to comply
