As Formula 1 races at the special Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Racingnews365 technical expert Paolo Filisetti provided some insight into the most important challenges which Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull are facing ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday:
The key characteristic of the Mexico City track is the altitude at which it is situated. Actually, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is located 2250 metres above sea level, and this aspect means leads to a high rarefaction of the air, that is about 30 percent less dense as compared to the air at sea level.
This has a significant importance because it directly impacts the performance of the power units, the cooling of the engines, the cooling of the brakes and how the downforce levels are set for this weekend.
Given the track characteristics, the teams use an aerodynamic configuration that is similar to that for the Monaco Grand Prix on the streets of Monte Carlo. However, these aggressive wing configurations lead to a level of vertical load which is just over half of the downforce levels generated in Charles Leclerc’s home Formula 1 race. As a result, the way in which some options are evaluated at this venue becomes of significant importance.
The Maranello team will be looking forward to gathering feedback regarding its new floor, which was brought two the track a few weeks ago ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, and see the performance in terms of the actual load generated by this new part.
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In the United States Grand Prix, the performance of the F1-75 challenger in practice and in qualifying was rather impressive, yet in terms of race pace, the overall balance shown was not as effective, due to an excessive and rapid wear of the new tyres after just a few laps.
Based on information inside the paddock, however, it seems that their current situation is not entirely linked to a deficit in terms of aerodynamic balance, instead it is rather caused by a more rigid suspension set-up, which has been used since the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Basically, even since Technical Directive 39 has been introduced in Belgium, even though it may not have directly affected the pace of the F1-75 car, it seems it has worsened their tyre management.
If Ferrari is indeed facing a suspension set-up issue, it would be even more important for the Maranello team to thoroughly analyze the level of effectiveness of the latest aerodynamic floor specification, because focusing on the basic aerodynamic design of the floor for the 2023 Formula 1 car should be rightly seen as a key moment in defining the detail of the car for next season, which the Italian side hopes will be able to finally challenge Red Bull.
The specific conditions mentioned above, related to the low air density, allow us to evaluate how significant, at a percentage level, is the load generated by the floor of the cars, mainly in the second sector of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, that is made up of several high-speed corners. It is in that section, in fact, where the precision in entering and exiting corners, the travel speed and, last but not least, the traction induced by the downforce are the key aspects that determine the pace of the single-seater. To sum up, it is a test bench which all the Maranello aerodynamicists know is very important to make sure the issue will be solved on next year’s car.
Regarding rivals For Red Bull specifically, the aerodynamic efficiency features of of its 2022 F1 car are not enhanced by the rarefaction of the air, and neither is the fact that the power unit adopts a turbocharger with a smaller diameter as compared to Ferrari and Mercedes. This causes a lower power output, or rather, less effectively compensates for the reduced efficiency in terms of combustion. Basically, the Milton Keynes’ team could counterbalance these theoretical weaknesses with a specific management of the power delivered by the electrical components of the power unit.
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