A race car's wings work like an aeroplane wing upside down. Instead of lifting the car, the air pushes it down onto the track. That squashes the tyres into the road so they grip harder in corners.
Wings turn the air, and by Newton's 3rd law the air pushes back. Air speeds up under the wing, so its pressure drops (Bernoulli). Higher pressure on top and lower pressure underneath give a net force downwards:F = ½ ρ v² C_L ADouble the speed and you get four times the downforce.
Downforce is the integral of surface pressure, −∮p·n dA, resolved vertically. This lab reports CL·A (lift coefficient × reference area) so cars of different size compare fairly. The live map shows Cp = (p − p∞)/(½ρv²): blue is suction (Cp < 0), red is stagnation (Cp → 1).
Pushing the car down also slows it down. Air resistance is called drag. Big wings give more grip in corners but a lower top speed on the straights.
Drag follows the same rule as downforce:D = ½ ρ v² C_D AEngineers want lots of downforce for little drag. The ratio is the efficiency, L/D. Fast tracks with long straights use small wings; twisty tracks use big ones.
Wings pay for lift with induced drag, which grows with CL²/(π·AR·e), so short-span, heavily loaded wings are inefficient. Floors make downforce with little induced drag, which is why ground-effect cars reach higher L/D. Power to overcome drag is P = D·v, which rises with v³.
If the front of the car has more grip than the back, the back slides out (oversteer). If the front has too little, the car won't turn (understeer). The balance bar shows how the downforce is split.
Aero balance is the percentage of downforce on the front axle. Teams aim for slightly forward of the weight distribution, often around 40–45% front. More front wing moves it forward; more rear wing moves it back.
Balance is set by the centre of pressure relative to the axles. It also shifts with ride height and rake: as the car pitches under braking, the front runs lower, gains floor downforce and moves the balance forward. A good platform keeps balance stable through the speed range.
The underneath of the car acts like a giant wing. Air rushing through the gap under the car sucks it down to the track. Lower the car and the suction gets stronger, until it gets too low and stalls.
The floor and road form a narrowing channel (a venturi). Air speeds up in the narrow part and its pressure drops, pulling the car down. Try lowering the ride height on the 2024 car and watch the floor's share of downforce grow.
Underfloor downforce rises steeply as the gap shrinks, then collapses when the boundary layer separates. Run too low and the cycle of stall and recovery causes porpoising. Rake (rear higher than front) enlarges the diffuser's effective expansion ratio on high-rake cars.
Following another car on a straight is helpful: it punches a hole in the air, so you have less drag (the tow). In corners it hurts: the messy air behind it steals your downforce.
Turn on Car following behind. The wake is slower air, and since forces depend on v², the follower feels less drag and less downforce. The front wing suffers most, so the follower understeers.
The wake has a velocity deficit and high turbulence; wings in it see a lower dynamic pressure and a disturbed inflow angle. Ground-effect cars throw their wake upward and rely more on the floor, which keeps more downforce when following.