FIA bosses are confident that no Formula 1 team has intentionally designed its new challenger for the 2022 season to make it more difficult for an opponent to follow, especially taking into consideration the big changes regarding the aerodynamic regulations for this year.
Formula 1’s biggest rules overhaul for many years will be put to the test in just a few days’ time, with the second pre-season testing session scheduled to take place at the Bahrain International Circuit, followed by the first round of the new championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The new rules have been purposefully designed to help cars be able to follow more easily and, in turn, hopefully lead to more overtaking moves. Formula 1 has confirmed it “speculated” over the possibility a team could have developed a car to try and make it difficult for the rival behind to actyally get as close as planned.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
However, FIA head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis explained: “The aerodynamicists are always going to work for the best performance of their car in relation to their competitors. The way the development is done in the wind tunnel and with CFD, and also the fact you have a lot of free running in open air in qualifying, or other significant positions, means it’s not practical to just design a car to sabotage a following car. You still need to make sure your car is as fast as possible and hopefully doesn’t get approached by other people. So we don’t expect people to work towards these objectives just for benevolent reasons but we do think the way the development happens will keep us within those key objectives.There will be some degeneration but not massive we hope.” – he said.
FIA pleased with ‘positive indications’
FIA head of aerodynamics Jason Somerville has also explained that his department spent the last four years “understanding in depth” the wake of a car and its effect on those behind: “We met one of the top teams recently and we asked them how their wake was looking,” said Somerville. “The teams have clearly got performance priorities. But their work so far, we’re pleased to say, hasn’t deteriorated the wake to anywhere near the level the current generation of cars. We know there is going to be a bit of noise after their development but what it seems like, certainly from the feedback we’re receiving, is that the natural development and performance they’re finding is conducive in terms of the aspirations of the wake quality. What we don’t know yet is how sensitive the cars will be in following but even so, the indications are positive that we are still aligned in terms of our objectives and what the teams have been working on.” – the Head of Aerodynamics at Formula 1 concluded.
Leave a Reply