Aerodynamic balance or
Centre of Pressure (CofP)
A state of equilibrium between the downforce on the front wheels and the downforce on the rear wheels. Too much pressure at the front causes oversteer, too much at the back understeer.
But to win the races, it is not just wings. You can't just add the wings to get win. The most important thing apart from the wing level which always helps you go around corners is to have the overall balance. In this case you can feel very comfortable in the car.
An f1 cars downforce is produced largely by the front wing, rear wing and the floor. With the front and rear wings being the main tuning elements. By tuning the front and rear downforce you alter the cars Centre of Pressure.
Centre of Pressure (CofP) is the balance of downforce at the front and rear axles. As such it’s analogous to being the aerodynamic equivalent of Longitudinal Centre of Gravity. CofP is also known as aero balance.
Typically the CofP position closely matches that the CofG.
An F1 car is largely limited on corner entry by the rear grip available. In low to mid speed turns the car needs a slight rear bias to the CofP, this prevents the car suffering corner entry oversteer. Where the car wants to spin as it approaches the apex. Too much front wing in these corners will make the car too pointy and hinder laptimes.
In faster turns the front wing can lead the car. The drivers turn in gentler in to fast turns, which creates less lateral acceleration at the rear axle. So it’s rare for the rear to step out on turn-in in to fast corners. Thus, at higher speeds you can have a CofP biased towards neutral or the front.
