Tech analysis: How Williams and STR try to reverse downward trend

Williams

Williams' search for performance continues, as it battles over fourth place in the championship with the other Mercedes-powered team - Force India.

Having struggled to get additional performance from updates this season, the team soldiered on in Belgium using all the components we've seen so far.

Williams FW38 airbox winglet

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

However, one thing that was was missing on the FW38 was the winglet usually mounted astride the airbox. It's believed this winglet was used to clear up airflow that would otherwise be destructive to the rear wing.

With the new wing design not operating as expected since its introduction in Baku, it seems the team have highlighted the airbox winglet as a potential problem, especially in transient conditions.

Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso had a huge package of parts that amounted to a B-Spec at the last race in Germany. However, the team wasn't happy with the overall results, expecting a leap in performance in the same realm as Force India made at Barcelona.

Toro Rosso STR11 rear wing, Shanghai

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

At Spa the team wanted to re-balance the car, planning to run its low-downforce rear wing (above), which features shorter chord flaps, set at a much shallower angle, and only two of the displaced endplate louvres STR pioneered this season.

In order to balance things up, the new front wing's upper flap was cut down to take some load off the front end (upper arrow), whilst the tip was also revised in order to change how the Y250 vortex forms below (lower arrow).

Carlos Sainz Jr., Scuderia Toro Rosso STR11 sidepod detail

Photo by: XPB Images

As part of the update in Germany the team reduced the number of vortex generators on the sidepod's leading edge by one, owing to the use of the conjoined vertical airflow conditioner, which arches over to meet with the sidepod's shoulder.

However, for Belgium the team went one step further, removing the other vortex generator in the hopes of changing the sidepod's aerodynamic operating window.