There has been a lot of talk about the new rules and regulation wanted by the American Formula 1 ownership and about the possibility that it could be partially ineffective. They could, therefore, not achieve the goal for which they were theorized and written. The indication came from those who are actually working on the CFD and were able to find that the data says something other than what was announced with great confidence by Ross Brawn, who has been one the main figures in creating the technical changes.
Let’s make a brief summary: what’s the problem? Formula 1 is about to (re) enter the era of ground effect cars. And so far everything is normal. Although the regulations have essentially been designed to make the values in the field significantly closer, these should produce (?) the positive secondary effect that unfolds in facilitating overtaking. Which derives from the possibility that the drivers can follow their rivals much more closely than before.
An objective that is not easy to achieve, as F1 will necessarily have to abandon the dependence on the aerodynamic load created by the front and rear wings. The stated purpose is to allow the single-seaters to generate more performance by channeling the air through the Venturi tunnels under the car. A car that is less sensitive to contrails generates related benefits such as the reduction of lateral skid and the subsequent reduction of tire overheating.
To achieve this goal, the technical board headed by Pat Symonds imposed a series of very stringent and apparently chaining rules. But teams learn very quickly and progress just as quickly by maximizing individual regulatory details. An evolutionary process that has allowed the engineers to make giant steps up to produce simulations that point to an average gap reduced of about half a second compared to the times shown by Formula 1 in 2021.
If the lap times are similar or almost similar (hypothesis to be verified on the track), the way in which they will be obtained will be different. Ground-effect cars based on eighteen-inch wheels will deliver diametrically opposed driving feelings to those offered by cars with more developed superior aerodynamics which rested on higher shoulder tires that had a higher inherent damping capacity.
Some drivers have made it known, after intense simulator sessions, that the driving sensations are not all that exciting. The single-seater seems to be constantly out of trim and there is a certain difficulty in handling made quite peculiar by the new features and also by the 18-inch wheels. It is probably a matter of habit and adaptation to an unprecedented situation after years in which the cars had made such progress that they seemed to be running on the tracks.
These negative sensations would emerge especially when simulating the dynamic behavior of a car in the wake. And here lie the fears of an ineffective outcome from the rule makers. If the car that follows continues to suffer from aerodynamic differences, how is it possible to remain stuck even in medium-fast corners? Whoever wrote the rules has “sold” an idea: single-seaters glued to each other even in iconic sectors such as the snake at Silverstone rather than at Suzuka. That may not be the case.
The total rewriting of the technical rules could, at least according to the funoanalisitecnica.com sources, reduce the distances between the various teams in a driving context that does anything but facilitate overtaking. In fact, the FIA had to resort to the DRS again. That everything seems to us except an innovative tool.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
Earlier we mentioned drivers who were able to test the cars in the 2022 configuration in the simulator. One of these is Nico Hulkenberg, third Aston Martin driver, who took a seat in the “spider” of the Silverstone headquarters, testing the characteristics of the new generation of Formula 1 cars.
“The cars wanted to be a little slower and more demanding to drive in order to give the drivers the opportunity to make a difference, to be predominant over the car itself and aerodynamics. From my initial experience I realized that the new cars are damn fast and not necessarily slower than the last generation. The driving experience hasn’t changed much either, at least in the simulator “. said the former Renault driver.
But there is an aspect that is more intimidating and that goes towards what we had analyzed in the previous days: the possibility that the single-seaters are still too sensitive to following another competitor: “It will be very interesting to see if these cars will really be able to follow a car better. In the simulator the cornering speeds are extremely high, so the risk of dirty air is still alive. It is difficult for me to imagine that it will be easy to comfortably follow another car”.
“However I hope that we will be positively surprised. Once the pre-season tests have started, drivers and teams will discover how the cars really behave on the track“. This is how Nico Hulkenberg concluded as he admitted that he would be surprised if the new cars were to disprove the impressions arising from the simulators which, it must be specified, cannot yet count on data emerging from the track. Elements that are important in the calibration of these devices.
However, there is still a widespread feeling that Liberty Media’s wishes may not come true. The other related fear, which has also been reported, is that there may be performance differences even bigger than those of 2021 which, all in all, saw a general equality in performance typical of a generation of single-seaters at the top of their development level.
Leave a Reply