Former Formula 1 World Champion and Scuderia Ferrari driver Mario Andretti believes significant improvement will have been made if the 2022 challengers are “30%” better at following the car ahead.
The sport is introducing a completely new set of rules and regulations for the 2022 cars, with a big difference between seasons with cars now returning to a ground-effect aerodynamic philosophy and design.
Mario Andretti, who won the World Championship in 1978, did so driving the Lotus 79, the first F1 car to rely fully on this aero concept, created from Mario Andretti’s experience in the March 701 in 1970 and the side boxes on that car.
Despite the fact that ground-effect cars were no longer used in the sport after 1982 due to safety reasons, they are back this year with the goal of reducing turbulence which affects the car behind, and thus giving drivers the possibility to follow each other more closely and try more passes.
Or at least that is the intention ahead of the 2022 Formula One championship.
The former Ferrari driver is not certain that ground-effect aerodynamics will in fact be able to lead to improved racing in the modern era, but feels that if it becomes 30% easier for a driver to follow the car in front he would consider that to be a big step forward.
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“As far as I understand it, these cars are supposed to radiate less turbulence to the rear so it’s easier to drive behind each other,” he said, as reported by German magazine Auto Motor und Sport. The idea is to generate more downforce under the car to reduce the areas above that produce bad air. That’s why I couldn’t understand why F1 went to wider cars and wings a few years ago. That increased the turbulence and they were even more dependent on DRS. Now they are rightly going the other way. But I don’t dare to predict whether that will be enough for the drivers to stay close to the car in front in the corners again. If it were 30 per cent better, that would already be progress.” – he added.
Several drivers confirmed that they will need to change their driving style as a result of the new rules, but Mario Andretti in convinced little will change beyond that: “We had to adapt, but it was not more difficult,” he said, speaking from his own experience – “As with any car, the balance had to be right. If it’s right, you go as fast as the car can go. I guarantee the new 2022 cars will feel different for the drivers at the beginning. But otherwise, everything will stay the same. They will try to balance the car optimally for themselves.”
The concept behind the ground-effect idea is that the cars are sucked down to the road by the downforce, so when they are disturbed, as the bygone era showed, the driver can become a passenger. At the same time, the former Ferrari driver explained the drivers must keep confidence, given the fact that not fully committing can have the opposite effect and cause the downforce to “collapse”.
“You just have to believe in it. The more downforce a car gives you, the harder it is to correct if the downforce breaks off. It’s not something that is slowly announced. Especially in fast corners, you either drive like on rails or you fly off. If the car is not properly pushed, all the downforce collapses abruptly.” – Mario Andretti concluded.
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