Just tried an interesting test to try and quantify the effect the aerodynamics on the OpenRC F1 car and understand just how much it affects the car’s performance. Go out to a parking lot with your F1 car. Drive in circles, well away from yourself, with the steering cranked either right or left. Slowly and gradually speed up, you’ll notice the radius of the turning circle gets bigger and bigger, up to a point around 20kph (estimated, wet pavement) and then going faster decreases the radius as the downforce starts to give more grip. This car feels much more planted and in control at 30-60kph than at 0-30kph, albeit more sensitive to pavement perturbations, but stabilizers/gyros have a huge effect on the ability to handle pavement bumps.
Ah, the memories of having questions like this on my physics exams and having to work out the answers on paper. Traction is a curious thing, and aerodynamics is even more ‘curious-er’.