The new era of Formula 1 is still surrounded by a lot of mystery: what will the ground-effect single-seaters be like? They will be very different from the model that the FIA and the FOM showed us in July before the British Grand Prix, a model that each team then revisited with its own colors (except for Scuderia Ferrari!).
The objective that the legislators have set themselves (in the drafting of the regulation the International Federation has entrusted to a Liberty Media working group directed by Pat Symonds and supervised the Ross Brawn the aerodynamic definition of the single-seaters) is to favor a Formula One which follows for cars to follow a competitor much easier by not losing too much front aerodynamic load, thus allowing more attempts to overtake and increase the show on-track.
After the extraordinary world championship that ended in December in Abu Dhabi with the battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton which was decided on the very last lap, fans hope that this result will actually be achieved.
Nikolas Tombazis, technical manager of the FIA single-seater area, is sure of it: “Looking ahead, we aim to have close performances, with close track fights, thanks to the new aerodynamic shape of the cars. The new solutions should allow for closer battles on the track without the tires being subject to high overheating and degradation, due to the loss of grip induced by the turbulent tow of the car in front “.
The reasoning is flawless: after the reintroduction of the ground effect with two Venturi channels on the sides of the body, the intention is to make the F1 cars less sensitive to the aerodynamic influence of the upper part of the car. The efficiency of the wings (front and rear) has been reduced and the abolition of turning vanes under the nose, of the barge boards and of the flow deviators on the sides of the bellies, forces the aerodynamic engineers to look for different solutions to exploit both the side elements and the huge rear diffuser.
In order o make this revolution more understandable, let’s try to schematize in a very succinct way where the change dictated by Nikolas Tombazis and Pat Symonds starts.
The single-seaters up to 2021 were characterized by an ability to generate downforce that was equally distributed along the car: one third of the vertical thrust was generated from the front, a third from the floor and the last third from the rear.
The front wing, therefore, had a great influence in conditioning the performance, because together with turning vanes and barge boards it had the ability to generate a lot of load: 50% was lost in the tow due to the harmful turbulence created by the previous Formula 1 cars capable of generating vortices that greatly condition the flow of those behind.
The effect was that the drivers had to deal with increasing understeer caused in part by the loss of downforce and in part by the inevitable overheating of the tires which resulted in more rapid wear.
The idea was to limit the range of the wings (front and rear) by reducing their efficiency: at a completely theoretical level, therefore, a regulation was devised so that the F1 generates the downforce in a different way: 25% at the front, 50% with the floor of the car and the remaining 25% in the rear.
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By increasing the influence of the floor, thanks to the ground effect, there is the well-founded hope that the cars can run closer to create a more lively and prolonged show. It is no coincidence that Pirelli has had the task to develop 18-inch tires that allow the drivers to push throughout the entire stints of the race, without having to “save” tires as has happened in recent years.
The expectation of the F1 bosses was to limit the front load loss to only 10% when a car was in the tow: in reality the target sought was too ambitious and, probably, a half-way solution will be found.
It is no coincidence that Nikolas Tombazis is starting to look into this possibility: “Surely during the season the FIA will have to evaluate the solutions with which the teams intend to develop the cars, but our evaluation criteria on whether they are acceptable or not will be if the concepts produce an increase of the turbulence in the tow as an effect.”
In short, the new Formula 1 cars will not have to generate vortices as the 2021 single-seaters did in an exasperated way, but given the constraints (already very prescriptive of the regulation), the aerodynamic engineers will look for ways to create elements that can seal the Venturi channels to the asphalt and increase downforce. For this, they will use all the knowledge they have accumulated over the years.
“It is unthinkable that the FIA could reject ideas on the principle of the regulation – said a designer who wished to remain anonymous – if they comply to the letter with the rules as they were written, they will have to be accepted. I expect a lot of disputes and we will ed up seeing more lawyers from the teams in the paddock than we might expect. Until we understand which will be the best way of developing F1, we will see many turbulent”.
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