It is often the smaller teams that pioneer wacky aero ideas that are soon adopted by the F1 literati. Remember Tyrell's high nose in 1990? It didn't take too long before all teams were running high noses to help underfloor aero performance.

So it was again in 2004 when Jordan introduced the pod wing — the pod wing is the bit of carbon fibre that juts out from the front of the sidepod to condition flow going over the car to the rear wing and prevent the nasty turbulent wake from the front wheel from interfering with this flow.

2008 has seen a couple of more innovations — these being animal-inspired. The shark fin was conceived by Adrian Newey over at Red Bull and is effectively an elongated engine cover.

The elephant ears are a Honda innovation (technically they first appeared in 2007 although the BMW stag nose wings ran in a race first and do a similar job). These sit on top of the nose, again, to condition the flow over the car to the rear wing.

Where the minnows lead, the giants often follow. In the Hockenheim test three weeks ago McLaren and Toyota ran shark fin covers. In Jerez last week Ferrari also tried a shark fin (as did Honda) and the word in the pitlane is that all four of these teams will sport such devices in Hungary this coming weekend.

So, what does a shark fin cover do?

It influences the air in a couple of ways. First, it provides more lateral stability under braking. When slamming on the anchors from 300kph the car's balance shifts rapidly — the nose has a tendency to pitch down and the transitory airflow can upset the car. The fin acts as a flow conditioner and prevents the flow over the top of the car separating. This then feeds the rear wing more efficiently, resulting in more downforce.

There is also another benefit at high speed. The airbox is a source of wind resistance and can cause separation as air flows around it. The fin, again, encourages the flow to stay attached to better feed the rear wing. If you study these covers you'll notice a notch cut out — this allows air over the sidepods to feed the diffuser and flow under the rear wing.

Finally under yaw the fin will deflect the air towards the rear so it is approaching the wing at a more efficient angle — this will create more downforce when turning into corners, which is where you want it.

One might imagine that these engine covers suffer under cross winds. Effectively it is like having a sail attached to the car! Wind can be a severe problem and can create significant difficulties, which is why Toyota and McLaren elected not to use the cover at Hockenheim.

What about the elephant ears?

Sure they are pretty ugly and Honda were rightly maligned when their car featured them a few races ago. In fact, since BMW adopted their version of the elephant ears in Australia, I've hated that car.

Well guess what? In the recent Jerez test McLaren tried a pair of elephant ears! There's no getting away from it, they aren't pretty but the McLaren implementation is slightly easier on the eye than Honda's and BMW's.

How do these monstrosities work?

The devices will produce a little bit of downforce but are more to condition flow over the car to the rear wing and floor. McLaren's device is positioned relatively forward (the ears spout above the nose) so won't pick up much flow flicked from the front wing.

A look at the device on the Honda (see picture top inset) shows the trailing edge of the wings are angled towards the sidepods so the ears may divert a couple of higher speed, lower pressure vortices over the barge boards and control the air around the sidepods and over the top of the car.

There will be an effect on the front wing but it depends on the exact set up. Honda's device is positioned close to the nose and won't catch much upwash from the front wing, though the air flow from the ears interacts with the front wing in a positive manner. BMW's device is positioned a little further back and will catch and condition flow from the front wing.

McLaren's ears are more similar to BMW than Honda. They mostly condition the flow coming over the nose of the car and the front wing to add to the high pressure air on the top of the car. This will have a small downforce benefit for the cost of a little drag — probably ideal for a tight, twisty circuit like Hungary.

Either way they are fairly ugly — personally I can't wait until 2009 when these things are banned. Anyway, in Hungary all the cars will look quite a bit different!