Ever since the FIA has tried to reduce cornering speeds by messing around with the technical regulation teams have become more savvy with how they use the various aerodynamic appendages hanging off the car.

The picture to the right show a series of fins, chimneys and winglets designed to smooth the flow over the back of the car and, specifically, the rear wing. If you look closely you can see that the chimney is closed.

It is a sad indictment on the sport when a device that was originally designed to cool the engine is now an aerodynamic enhancement. It is these appendages that create so many problems when overtaking.

By actively managing the airflow, vortex creation increases exponentially. This actually helps the car improve downforce (vortices have higher energy so can help direct and condition the flow over the car).

The problem is that once the air has passed over the rear wing the myriad vortices will start to break up creating turbulence. When this turbulent air makes contact with a following car its aerodynamics won't work properly and, especially in corners, the car will have severe understeer.

This is down to the desire to generate as much downforce as possible on the car, especially as the FIA tries to take it away by raising the front wing and what not. The two critical parts to get right are the front and the back — otherwise the balance of the car will be out and driveability will be poor.

One would think that modulating aero performance at the front of the car would be (relatively) easy — unlike the back of the car there is little to get in the way of airflow (except a car in front, if there is one).

However, teams still do all they can to extract the last ounce of performance. Witness the latest Ferrari wheeze that puts a hole through the nose to try to bleed through high pressure air. By working the pressure gradient this enhancement makes the front wing more efficient.

The rear wing is altogether more complex. For a start the front wing spews a number of vortices, which, if they aren't conditioned, can cause havoc with aero performance at the back. As a result teams spend a lot of time and money trying to maximise the efficiency of the rear.

And this may sometimes create the need to generate positive lift (as seen on an aircraft) as the air flows over the car! Why?

For the rear wing to generate a lot of downforce air has to be travelling over it in the correct manner. What you want to avoid is turbulent air shooting over the top element as this negates downforce.

The front wing produces an upwash. Some of the fins on the side of the chassis, particularly around the nose region are designed to condition the flow and point it toward the rear wing. Because of the direction of airflow these actually generate local lift! On occasion these wings are actually shaped like lift generating aerofoils — particularly on the 2006 Ferrari.

Sometimes engineers need to generate lift to generate downforce — the world of aerodynamics is a very complex beast and is certainly not for morons.