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What's behind Alpine's wavy front wing upgrade for F1's Hungarian GP

Alpine's upgrade push has raised some eyebrows at Formula 1's Hungarian Grand Prix with the reveal of a bold wavy front wing design.

It follows the more substantial changes that the team made to its front wing's architecture at the British Grand Prix, signifying the position that this new upper flap design fills in the downforce hierarchy.

What has appeared at the Hungaroring is clearly an option that should fall on the higher end of its downforce selection chart.

The update introduced at Silverstone incorporated a wider moveable flap section for the two uppermost flaps, and it's this that's allowing this wave-shaped trailing edge to be employed.

The peaks of the wing element appear to point out across the tyre, and this should help to generate the desired load but also assist with the team's general outwash goals.

Comparing the old (top) and new (bottom) front wings, there's now more of a focus on generating outwash, with the entire makeup of the wing altered to achieve this.

The chord length of the mainplane has been increased at the endplate end, whilst the chord length of the three flaps thereafter has been reduced.

This tightens the gapping between each flap at the endplate juncture and results in each of the elements becoming more tightly wound.

Modifications have also been made to the diveplane, which is still an S-shaped variant but has been lifted into a higher position and reprofiled to suit the new locale.

Source: Autosport

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