How wind tunnel testing works in Formula 1 and why it’s so important

• Wind tunnel testing is crucial for Formula 1 teams to study and optimize a car’s aerodynamics.
• Aerodynamics became vital as regulations emphasized downforce and airflow.
• This article is part of “At the Wheel”, a series about the highly competitive and high-tech world of Formula 1.

Formula 1 is a fast sport with cars reaching speeds in excess of 200 mph. But off the track, things are a little slower and more methodical. Months of testing go into the development of each race car – and wind tunnel testing is central to the process.

“Wind tunnel testing is simply the most important development tool you have,” said Guenther Steiner, former Haas F1 team principal who is now an ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix. “You come up with ideas and test them through computer simulations, but then you have to verify that they actually work. That’s where the wind tunnel comes in.”

Essentially, the wind tunnel is a large tube-shaped room with a massive fan at one end and a 60% scale model of a Formula 1 car suspended from the ceiling. A raceway beneath the scale model simulates the road of a Formula 1 circuit, allowing engineers to study the car’s aerodynamics without having to go on a real track.

“It’s really just a big – well, really big – metal tube with a fan in it,” said Dan Fallows, technical director of the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team, which this month is opening a technology center with a new tunnel wind.

“Instead of the car moving around the circuit, the car stays in one place, but the road moves and the air flows around it,” Fallows continued. “We simulate all the conditions the car would see as it goes around the circuit, and more importantly, we can directly measure the loads that would be on the car when it goes around the circuit in those conditions.”

Throughout the year, teams develop new parts that affect the car’s aerodynamics, such as variations on the front and rear wings, side bridges and car floor. The teams run these parts through a simulated computer model known as CFD, or computational fluid dynamics, then place scale models on the car in the wind tunnel.

“It gives us a very precise understanding of the forces around the car and, if we do an upgrade, what it would do to us,” Fallows said. “It shows us what lap time or performance gain we could get.”

Engineers also communicate with the drivers and team principal to develop the car to their liking and identify issues on a track-by-track basis.

“Some of the research is just stabilizing the car to make it easier to drive,” Fallows said. “We split it between testing absolute performance and also track issues.”

It was the era of aerodynamics

In recent years, the wind tunnel has become more essential to the development of a Formula 1 car. From 2022, the automotive regulations have placed an emphasis on downforce and airflow, making aerodynamics vital.

“Our racing cars are currently in an aerodynamic era,” said Zak Brown, McLaren CEO. “Sometimes in the past we’ve been in an era of power units, for example – but the focus on aerodynamics now makes the wind tunnel extremely important.”

The wind tunnel is so important that Formula 1 has limited the time teams can spend using their tunnels in a week. The time allocation works on a sliding scale: the builder in last place gets the most time, while the team in first place gets the least.

“It’s kind of like in the NFL, the worst team gets the best draft pick,” Brown said. “The windlass is used as a bit of a balance for the team’s performance because it’s so essential.”

The present and the future

Each team walks a fine line between using the wind tunnel to further develop their current car and using it to develop next season’s car. Fallows said this will be particularly important for the 2026 season, when new rules and regulations will require substantial changes to the car’s design.

“It’s very difficult to allocate time because we have a finite amount of resources,” Fallows said. “But undoubtedly for 2026, people will start their development much earlier. In fact, we’re not allowed to start researching this until January 1, 2025 – but I guarantee every team will be doing this on the first day of the new year.”

Although wind tunnel testing is largely a long-term development tool, Fallows said it could have short-term effects. He and his engineers at the technology center in England talk to the track team every Grand Prix weekend and often make adjustments in real time.

“When it gets really interesting is when you have something that happens on a race weekend, maybe during Friday practice, and you get feedback from the drivers or engineers,” he said. “You go into the wind tunnel, you identify the problem, you solve it and you get the solution on the car before you even go into qualifying. That happens more often than you think.”

As with most things in Formula 1, teams are secretive about the specifics of their wind tunnels. For example, Fallows confidently says the wind tunnel at Aston Martin’s new tech center will be the most advanced in Formula 1 – but can he divulge why?

“Um, not really!” he said laughing. “Unfortunately, it’s a little bit of a guarded secret, but we’ve improved some of the things that other teams have. By the time it comes online, it will be the best wind tunnel in many areas – and that should give us an edge.”