Blown floors explained…

There is a lot of talk about blown floors but why exactly have they become so important in F1? LRGP’s Technical Director James Allison explains the concept of the blown floor and its advantages:

"In the same way as an aeroplane generates lift as air passes over the curved surfaces of its wings, so does an F1 car create downforce by using similar shapes mounted upside down. The faster the air passes over its downforce generating surfaces, the more downforce it will create.

"One of the most important parts of the car for generating downforce is the floor. Its curved edges and ramped rear surface account for around 40% of the downforce of the whole car. F1 designers spend a lot of time tweaking the detail design of the shape of the floor to extract the last drop of available performance.

"On average, in the corners, the speed of the exhaust gasses is around 6 times the speed of the car. If this high speed gas can be directed at the underside of the floor, then as far as the part of the floor that is in contact with the exhaust is concerned, it will produce downforce just as if it was going 6 times as fast. The extra downforce that is produced is substantial and can improve the laptime of the car by around 1sec/lap."

Source Lotus Renault GP