Why don't teams copy designs from other teams? *split from Spanish GP thread*

[bashir26]

Several cars had upgrades for the spain race. What can you upgrade towards your car and how many times in a single season?

[buh_buh]

as much as you want as many times as you want within the regulations.

[bashir26]

Originally posted by buh_buh
as much as you want as many times as you want within the regulations.

In that case why aren't more teams going with similar setups as Brawn/Toyota/Red Bull

[buh_buh]

There's copying. There's a lot of copying. That's basically the premise of F1 haha. But its its hard to copy a design. Its not just one component that makes a car quick. Teams have been working on designs of this car since 2008, and some of the designs just can't be changed and copied because of fundamental designs of the suspension, sidepods, or wing designs, whatever. All these cars have different designs, and some parts just can't be copied. Teams are also likely working 24/7 throughout the season at developing their cars back at the factory, but the lack of on track testing and full sized scale wind tunnel models makes it more difficult for teams to just copy designs since nobody knows how a certain part will react to all their other parts on their car. Everything has to work together, its not that easy to just copy a part. And its not just aero that makes these cars quick, its also mechanical grip, which is must harder to copy since a lot of it is in suspension and ballast. So in short: its difficult.

[bashir26]

Thanks for clarifying buh buh!