Toro Rosso have changed the way they paint their cars to try and improve their aerodynamic efficiency. One of the key changes is that stickers will now no longer be used on the body of the car – in particular, the large red bull on the front engine cover. Stickers will now be painted on instead, a change which will the team are hoping will have both aerodynamic and weight benefits. If the paintjob does the trick, it won’t be the first time that paint has helped a racing team.
“We have worked hard on the quality of the surface of our aero parts to get more performance out of them,” chief engineer Laurent Mekies explained. “To this end, we have now removed all the stickers from the bodywork and replaced them with paint. This not only make for a smoother, less resistant surface, it also brings with it a weight saving benefit. From an aesthetic point of view, the car also looks much nicer.”
At Barcelona, the car will also feature a new rear wing and sidepod wings. “As everyone know, we really had to rush simply to get parts ready for the first three races,” Mekies continued. “The price we paid for rushing was that the quality level was not up to the standard we wanted. Now, we have worked on the aero quality of the parts, which involves ensuring that there is a better fit between all the bodywork components.
“There are a large number of bodywork components and the quality of the fit between them can have a significant effect on their aero efficiency. We believe this pursuit of efficiency is just as important as getting something like new barge boards or wing endplates. We are paying attention to detail and going for a quality product, optimising what we have. This is an ongoing task in an area where you are constantly striving to improve. The result of our efforts is that we should be in better shape for Barcelona then we were at the first three races.”
