Force India VJM08 - nosecone ‘nostrils’

Force India introduced a major - and very productive - upgrade package to their car for the team’s home race at Silverstone, with the most obvious change being these two distinctive vents in the nose.

Resembling nostrils, the vents feed the lower section of the nose with a channel of air. The starting point for the idea was last year’s finger-shape noses, and to ensure their legality the vents are not completely open - when viewed from above, you cannot see the ground through them. Viewed from an angle of 45 degrees, you can.

To ensure the innovation complies with the rules, technical chief Andrew Green has introduced a kind of spoon-shaped underbody panel (red arrow below), which also improves the channeling of air (blue arrows) under the chassis.

Note that Force India are one of three teams that also use an S-duct concept in the lower section of the chassis. This improves the airflow (blue arrows in top drawing) on the top of the chassis. McLaren and Red Bull have something similar.