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Some would think, after reading the topic, that I am out of my mind. But no, there is a device on a Formula 1 car, which is called a Monkey Seat or technically the Y75 wing. It is a small wing, which is situated above the rear beam wing and directly behind the coke bottle region. The following image will explain more clearly where exactly it is situated.
This device is not used by each and every team on the grid, which proves that either there is not much benefit to be had from it or even if it is possible to gain some advantage, extracting the gain is a herculean task. We shall now understand what kind of benefit (even though it might be very small) the teams derive from it.
The common view is that it helps in increasing the rear downforce but it also indicates that a team might not be having a very good L/D (lift-to-drag) ratio and hence it is resorting to using the monkey seat. As it is situated at the rear and not in contact with the air directly (unlike the front wing or the roll-hoop structure), we can say that it doesn’t produce much drag. So whatever extra downforce can be gained from it is an advantage because generally downforce is always associated with drag.
How the device helps in creating downforce is a bit more complicated and teams have been very secretive about it as they don’t want their opponents to get any clue and in turn getting out-developed after letting the basics out. The Y75 wing might be creating an up-wash, which will help in extracting the air from beneath the car more efficiently. More importantly a connection with the diffuser will enhance the effect. Till now it is not clear whether it has any connection to the diffuser and so going into more detail is difficult.
The monkey seat has been mainly used in connection with the passive Drag Reduction Device developed by Lotus and Mercedes last year. The Lotus exits one of the ducts beneath the Y75 wing and the other one close to the main rear wing. We don’t know yet which of the ducts has a more important role in stalling the rear wing. So when Lotus talk about their complicated device a bit more, we shall take up this topic again.
