Coughlan expects Coanda exhaust gains on FW35

2013 F1 season

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Williams technical director Mike Coughlan says the addition of a Coanda exhaust to Williams’ new car should make them more competitive.

“One thing we didn’t do last year was Coanda,” said Coughlan after the launch of the new car today.

“We spent a lot of time doing Coanda studies and ensuring we understood the compromise between power and dowmforce.

“I think we’ve done a good job there, that’s obviously helped an awful lot by Renault and Renault’s understanding of engine mapping and engines so we’re very pleased. And that does give us a significant step forwards.”

Coanda exhausts were used by several teams last year to recreate some of the downforce gains that exhaust-blown diffusers made possible until they were restricted at the end of 2011.

Coughlan said the team were hesitant to introduce their version of the exhaust last year: “All we were cautious of – maybe too cautious – was the loss of power.

“You have to remember that last year a lot of people spent a lot of time doing that work, we perhaps didn’t, and maybe should have done.

“I think we could have had Conada, we tested Coanda at Brazil. Maybe we should or could have brought that a little earlier. It was just the loss of power. Lotus were the same: very wary of the loss of power.”

Coughlan added the team have more than halved the loss of power through the exhaust compared to the version they developed last year.

He said the departure of chief operations officer Mark Gillan at the end of last season had not affected the development of the new car as his role was in operations.

“Mark struggled with the work toll that is very difficult,” said Coughlan “So many back-to-back away [races].”

“But Mark had not influence on development. That’s done by Jason [Somerville, head of aerodynamics] and his team.”

Coughlan also said the team must not miss out on chances to score big points as they did at times last year: “Last year we had several opportunities we didn’t close out.”

“I think ultimately, as a team, including the drivers, what we need to do is focus on maximising our performance and delivering on it when we can.”

2013 F1 season


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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Coughlan expects Coanda exhaust gains on FW35”

  1. I heard that their exhausts could be illegal. It means that they really pushed the rules to their boundaries. I hope they can compete with big teams this year and come back to their glory days.

      1. That is a horrendous angle for that car. Ewwwww

      2. Wow, looks amazing!

      3. Its also photoshopped to take out the shark fin

      4. @surya what is your goal by showing a false williams FW35 picture?

        1. dude that was the image clicked by sutton images…

    1. the piece that is not allowed on the car is just the icing on the cake of using the semi-coanda tunnels though @osvaldas31, they will still get a big effect from them compared to last years car

  2. That car looks good and I think there’s some performance under that skin. We should keep an eye on those guys they can put themselves on the mix, at least early in the first races.

    Plus, I’m eager to see Bottas vs. Maldonado.

    1. Me too, I am anxious to see the difference and to see if Maldonado has matured in regards to his aggressive driving manner,

  3. For anyone interested, the Coanda effect takes its name after Romanian aerodynamics and aviation pioneer Henri Coanda. The effect describes a jet of fluid’s tendency to “stick” to a nearby solid surface. Coanda was the first to discover a practical use for this effect in aerodynamics after his experiments with the Coanda-1910, an early attempt at building a reaction engine (jet) powered aircraft.

    1. Thank’s man ;)

      1. You’re welcome. Coanda is one of those early aviation and aerodynamics pioneers that doesn’t get as much attention as he should, partly because he’s not American, British, German etc., partly because there is some controversy around his achievements.

  4. I am surprised anyone gave Mike Coughlan a job after what he did. Am I right in thinking he is the guy that gave all the McLaren data to Ferrari. Wasn’t prosecuted / convincted ?

    1. Coughlan worked for Mclaren and received Ferrari data. Coughlan didn’t share Mclarens data with Ferrari

    2. @nickfrog he’s a great engineer anyway, with plenty of experience. I doubt any team (other than McLaren or Ferrari maybe) would say no to him that easily. It’s the same with Pat Symonds.

  5. Williams & Caterham exhaust have been deemed illegal: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21508634

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