Right from the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, a reversal of power between the Ferrari engine and the Mercedes was clear: the higher pace of the F1-75 car as compared to the W13 is, in fact, also due to a lot more engine power, as is evident from the better acceleration in the first half of the straight compared to the second. But how much is the power difference? And which of the two cars has the least drag?
To do this, F1DataAnalysis took the speed of both cars and used them to calculate the acceleration (doing the time derivative). This value is clearly affected by the track’s slope at that point, so this slope is calculated from the elevation and travelled distance GPS data and used it to correct the previously derived acceleration.
At this point, F1DataAnalysis points out the acceleration for each speed value: each observation is a point on the graph. As expected, the higher the speed, the lower the car’s acceleration: since the engine has approximately constant power, the force with which it pushes the vehicle forward decreases as the speed increases: P=F*v, so F=P/v. Furthermore, as speed increases, the force of aerodynamic resistance increases, with speed squared. The equation linking acceleration and speed is shown above.
Team engineers know the engine power P and the drag coefficient D of the car and can use the formula above to calculate the acceleration a for a given speed v. What F1DataAnalysis did was to reason in the opposite way: they already know acceleration and speed (via telemetry), but don’t know power and drag. So, they can find the curve that best describes the data using regression and derive the power and drag values.
We see that Ferrari’s curve is always above Mercedes’, which means that Ferrari accelerates better at every speed! At medium speeds, it is favoured by its greater power, and at high speeds by its lower drag and its greater power. From the values from regression, F1DataAnalysis explains that the Ferrari engine has about 2% more power than the Mercedes, or about 20hp, which gives an advantage of about 0.4s/rev. The aerodynamic drag of the Ferrari is also 1.6% less than that of the Mercedes. So the W13 has both a power problem and a high drag problem, confirming what we’ve heard discussed! Now we probably have more accurate numbers.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Pume Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
For the regression, F1DataAnalysis took sections with DRS open, 100% throttle, and brake off into account. The circuit is Bahrain, as the straights are numerous and cover an extensive speed range.
This great analysis was made by F1DataAnalysis. You can find them on Twitter here
Leave a Reply