How much will the new aerodynamic rules affect the 2023 Formula single-seaters? According to Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater technical director, the changes to the floor introduced to limit the effects of porpoising could cost the about half a second per lap next championship.
The FIA intervened last year with the aim of reducing bouncing: the intention of the FIA is to control and reduce porpoising, as the governing body is aware that it will not be easy to completely eradicate the phenomenon.
Starting with the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the International Federation has introduced the Technical Directive 39 which imposed an aerodynamic oscillation metric (AOM), and limited the flexibility of the floor, forcing the single-seaters to take to the track with increased ground clearance.
Two other measures have been approved for the 2023 Formula 1 season: the edges of the floor will have to be raised by 15 mm compared to last year and the throat diffuser (the area where the section of the diffuser narrows, where the Venturi channels flow) will also be 10 mm higher. The intention is to discourage the teams from running with a low ride height that would lead to the cars hitting the asphalt.
Nikolas Tombazis is sure that the changes to the rules are essential for the control of the bouncing and has pointed to what could be the loss of performance of the cars after the change of the rule.
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“I have no doubts: we did the right thing – the former Ferrari chief aerodynamicist said – we tried to find a pragmatic short-term solution and then a medium-term solution. It won’t necessarily dispel porpoising completely, but it will limit it a lot”.
Have you evaluated what the aerodynamic load loss will be?
“Sure, but it won’t be too much. I would have thought of a drop of 15 – 20 points of downforce, which could correspond to about half a second per lap or something like that. Then, of course, the teams will be able to fill the gap with development in the wind tunnel”.
Many teams have been taken by surprise by the porpoising because the phenomenon is not observed in the wind tunnel, so some teams have been caught off guard..
“It took everyone a bit by surprise – continued Tombazis – In fact, no one had foreseen its actual extent. Once we clearly understood how the phenomenon arises, we took some countermeasures, while the teams, meanwhile, had learned a lot about it. There has been a huge improvement compared to what was seen in Baku.”
Porpoising, however, should not be underestimated because it will not disappear definitively…
“I think that with the 2023 changes, the bouncing will be reduced a lot” – concluded the the FIA’s single-seater technical director – “But we will have to find out if we have managed to limit the phenomenon or if we will have to deal with it occasionally. We will see…”.
Motorsport checked the data expressed by Nikolas Tombazis and similar indications arrived from representatives of three different teams: the aerodynamic loss at the start of tunnel work with the 2023 regulation was actually the one indicated by Nikolas, but as he admitted by the FIA technical manager himself, the engineers tried to recover the lost values.
Everyone believes they have returned to the previous issues, so it will be interesting to find out who will have managed to make a further step forward in this very delicate field of finding performance…
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