The completely new Formula One regulation for the 2021 championship has led to a shift to a more ground effect design, with much more of a car’s downforce which will be generated by airflow running under the floor. The new generation of challengers will have large Venturi tunnels on the underside to help direct the air, and the design changes have prompted a rethink about how to identify important advantages in terms of pace.
After studying the new concepts, the teams have quickly understood that there are great benefits to be gained by maximising the under-floor flow. This has led to an acceptance that there will need to be a much stiffer suspension set-up this season. However, at the same time this led to many concerns regarding the possibility of teams could start using tricks to flex the edges of the floor down to help gain even more performance.
Such solutions could help seal the airflow better under the car, which would produce much more of the ground effect phenomenon to boost downforce. The FIA is aware that this is a route some teams may go down in 2022, but it says it will keep a close eye on the work which is being done and will respond immediately if it sees anything untoward.
Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single-seater matters, explained:
“Regarding flexing the diffuser or the floor edges to go downwards, we will be always keeping an eye on any flexibility that takes place and we will be imposing, when necessary, tests to reduce such effects and so on. With the new regulation, it is inevitable that there may be some areas which were not properly predicted in terms of flexibility, and that may have to be enhanced as we go along. We will not hesitate to do that. The rules permit us to intervene if we find that some abuse is taking place in certain areas.” – he said.
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Formula 1 managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn confirmed that it was unlikely teams would get away with such tricks, as rivals would be closely observing any strange bodywork flexing, just like we saw in the second part of the previous championship:
“I think the issue of aero elasticity is something which we can’t avoid in Formula 1. It has been there for a very long time, when engineers started to appreciate the performance gains that could come from building in flexibility to various parts of the car. It goes back donkey’s years. It’s something the FIA always had to stay on top of, but the regulations do allow a quick response from the FIA. And, with all the analysis that is possible, you can pretty quickly pick up on what teams are doing. The level of photography and video analysis and all sorts of things, the teams are really on top of each other with this aspect. We remember all the fuss about the rear wings, during the past season, so they’re all almost self-policing each other. The moment there’s an issue, they start to raise their flags. So the FIA will very quickly know about any areas of concern, and I’m sure can deal with it and have the capacity to deal with it very quickly overnight.” – he added.
One of the other consequences of the set-up direction triggered by the ground effect cars is that teams will be forced to run their cars which much stiffer suspension in a bid to ensure the ride height remains as stable as possible. This has led to some worries that the new challengers may be very difficult for drivers to control out on track, as could be seen in Formula 1’s last ground effect era in the early 1980s.
Yet Nikolas Tombazis is not too worried about this prospect and believes it is a positive that the new cars will represent a difficult challenge for the drivers:
“We are aware that cars, in order to perform need, need to run lower and closer to the ground,” he said. “As a result they need to be kept a bit stiffer than the previous cars. Some of the previous cars were running with enormous rakes and that is probably a thing of the past. We think that the ride quality, and the characteristics of the car that make it more easily driveable, are not necessarily things that need to be maintained in F1. We want drivers to make the difference and we want cars to be also difficult to drive, not easy. It’s never easy but you know what I mean. I think certain aspects to make cars a bit more aggressive to drive are quite important. It’s a situation we’ll be monitoring, but I don’t think it is a cause for significant concern.” – he concluded.
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