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

• Wind tunnel testing is crucial for Formula 1 teams as it allows them to study and optimise their car’s aerodynamics.
• Aerodynamics have become crucial as the regulations place emphasis on downforce and airflow.
• This article is part of our “Behind the Wheel” series exploring the highly competitive and technologically advanced world of Formula 1.

Formula 1 is a fast sport, with cars reaching speeds well over 200 miles per hour. But off the track, things are a bit slower and more methodical. The development of any race car requires months of testing—and wind tunnel testing is key to that process.

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

Essentially, a wind tunnel is a large tube-like room with a giant fan at one end and a 60-percent model of a Formula 1 car suspended from the ceiling. The track beneath the model simulates the path of a Formula 1 track, allowing engineers to study the aerodynamics of a car without having to go to the actual track.

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

“Instead of the car going around the track, the car stays in one place, but the road moves and the air flows around it,” Fallows continued. “We simulate all the conditions that the car would encounter if it were going around the track, and more importantly, we can directly measure the loads that the car would experience if it were going around the track under those conditions.”

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

“It gives us a very detailed understanding of the forces around the car and, if we do an update, what it will do for us,” Fallows said. “It shows us what kind of lap time or performance gain we could get.”

Engineers also communicate with the drivers and team principal to fine-tune the car to their expectations and identify issues at each track.

“Some of the testing is just stabilizing the car so it’s easier to drive,” Fallows said. “We split that between testing overall performance and also track-specific stuff.”

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 car regulations place an emphasis on downforce and airflow, making aerodynamics crucial.

“Our race cars are currently in the aerodynamic era,” said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren. “Sometimes in the past we’ve been in the power unit era, for example – but the emphasis on aerodynamics at the moment makes the wind tunnel incredibly important.”

The wind tunnel is so important that Formula 1 has limited the amount of time teams can spend in the wind tunnels each week. The allocation of time works on a sliding scale, with the constructor in last place getting the most time and the team in first place getting the least.

“It’s kind of like the NFL, where the worst team gets the best pick in the draft,” Brown said. “The wind tunnel is used as a kind of balancing act for a team’s performance because it’s just so critical.”

Present and future

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

“It’s very difficult to allocate time because we have a finite amount of resources,” Fallows said. “But there’s no doubt that people will start developing much earlier in 2026. We’re not actually allowed to start researching this until January 1, 2025—but I guarantee every team will do it on the first day of the new year.”

While wind tunnel testing is largely a long-term development tool, Fallows said it can have short-term implications. He and his engineers at the technology centre in England talk to the team at the track every grand prix weekend, often making adjustments in real time.

“What’s really exciting is when something happens on a race weekend, maybe in Friday practice, and you get feedback from the drivers or the engineers,” he said. “You go into the wind tunnel, identify the problem, fix it and implement the solution in the car before it even goes into qualifying. It happens more often than you think.”

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

“Er, not really!” he said with a laugh. “Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a closely guarded secret, but we’ve improved on some things that other teams have. When it’s available, it’ll be the best wind tunnel in a lot of areas – and that should give us an advantage.”