“The starts are not going well enough, we have a small problem with the car, we know what it is, which limits us”. This is how Carlos Sainz expressed himself in July regarding one of the key issues seen several times during the 2022 Formula One season so far, complaining about some imperfections in the race start procedure of the Maranello cars.
Some statements made by Valtteri Bottas also revealed the introduction of a new clutch just before the summer break to tackle the problem, indirectly underlining that all Ferrari-powered single-seaters and not just the F1-75 cars were suffering from this issue. Carlos Sainz’s subsequent comments, however, highlighted how this problem cannot be solved only during the current season, but it is necessary to make changes to the car under construction for the next championship: “We have problems that cannot be solved with this year’s car and I don’t want to go into details, but for 2022 race starts will always remain a question mark. Sometimes we manage to perfectly center the procedure, other times we don’t.” – the Spanish driver admitted.
Carlos Sainz’s statements refer to the starting procedure through which the optimal point of maximum torque transfer to the clutch from the engine to the gearbox is sought, also known as the bite point. In fact, as explained for FormulaPassion.it by Jon Grant, Chief Engineer for AP Racing, a reference company in the supply of Formula 1 clutches, the clutch control is the work of a software that manages its implementation to satisfy the torque demand of the driver through the paddles on the steering wheel:
“The clutch is now still manually controlled by the drivers, but is supported by a negative feedback control. The driver therefore, rather than asking for a position of the clutch bearing, requests a certain torque directly through the paddle on the steering wheel. In any car with manual transmission, the pedal is used to reach a precise bearing release position, generating a certain transfer of torque. In which case one relies on one’s sensitivity to reach a certain torque level. What the driver does instead is move the lever on the steering wheel to request a certain torque and then the hydraulic control system quickly moves the bearing into the corresponding position, modulating it to satisfy the request”. Although this procedure is not always handled optimally on Ferrari-powered single-seaters, as noted by Carlos Sainz, the inability to solve the problem during the current season suggests that it may not be directly dependent on the software, but on some design aspects of the hardware.
Jon Grant illustrates in particular how the clutch differs between the different cars according to the internal dimensions of the engine cover and the design objectives, so much so that AP Racing itself customizes its components to meet the requests of its customers: “We focus mainly on team demands, to meet their mass and inertia requirements. Teams have different ideas about how the clutch should behave. So yes, there are differences between the teams, not only in terms of mass and inertia, but also in terms of packaging issues and the volume available where the clutch should interface with the engine and transmission, an area that once again has unique characteristics for each team.” – he explained.
The regulation does not in any way preclude the possibility of evolving the clutch project during the current season, so much so that updates are not lacking during the championship: “Often the project evolves during the year, as for any other part of the car, but it would be unusual to have different clutches depending on the circuits.” – Jon Grant points out. To further confirm this, at the Paul Ricard circuit, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas spoke of a new clutch developed by Maranello: “Here we will finally have a new clutch. We will use it for the first time in free practice. Ferrari has been working on it for some time and now we have the new parts that should help us. “
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Puma 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!
However, the starting limits of Ferrari engines do not seem to be resolvable even with the changes that can be made during the current season, nor by updating the control software or the clutch design itself. It will be necessary to wait until 2023, when the new arrangement of the internal components will allow for the optimization of volumes for greater freedom of intervention on the clutch itself, without excluding that the origin may actually depend on other related components. A small problem that the Maranello team will be able to try to fix in view of next Formula 1 season.
Leave a Reply