Ferrari lost and Red Bull dominated the 2023 Formula 1 racing season. They did so with a fantastic car that demonstrated very few limits throughout the season. The new regulatory framework was a great opportunity for all teams, a monumental shift allowing designers to unleash their fantastic technical expertise. As always, Adrian Newey succeeded, and his engineering acumen once again made the difference. Rewinding to February 2022, during the pre-season tests at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a clear characteristic of the Austrian car caught our attention.
The genius from Stratford-Upon-Avon decided to make a significant modification to the chassis, implementing a further re-shaping in the front section. Even the RB18, the predecessor of the Austrian cars in this new generation, adopted a chassis with a narrowed lower section, distinguishing it from other competitors with a decidedly more squared-off section. Let’s delve into it again because recent statements from Adrian Newey have revealed that this solution was crucial for the performance development between 2022 and 2023.
This “V” section solution is not entirely new as a concept. Adrian Newey himself had implemented it in the past on the McLaren MP4-13 (1998) and the Red Bull RB5 (2009). Although the distinctive feature is the same, this time the purpose is different. According to the words of the sixty-five-year-old Briton, a more pronounced “V” section helps free up part of the useful volume to increase the efficiency of the channels in the floor by allowing a greater amount of airflow.
It’s essential to remember that only a portion of the fluid flowing within the area between the two front tires feeds the floor. Therefore, optimizing the volume attracted to the floor is crucial: the more air mass you work with, the higher the return in terms of downforce. The fluid in contact with the lower section of the chassis enters the channels a few centimeters in the direction of the Y-axis.
Gaining volume in this area means increasing the virtual entity of the fluid that feeds the floor. Moreover, this solution partly limits aerodynamic losses, as it reduces the risk of encountering a separation of flows in the lower part of the chassis. While this is a problem of lesser magnitude with the new generation of cars, it is still present, even though the Y-250 vortex no longer exists in modern vehicles.
Ferrari Analyzes Red Bull to Grow Without Copying
The slimmed-down lower part of the chassis brings additional advantages. When the chassis meets the keel, the restriction offers a meeting point closer to the car’s mid-area while leaving the configuration of the channel inlets unchanged. This characteristic, in turn, produces a growth in the volume dedicated to the undercut by a few cubic millimeters. This results in an increase in static pressure that automatically adds power to the vortex that detaches in that area and forms the outwash.
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Because, in the end, as stated by Adrian Newey, a fundamental factor concerns managing the wake produced by the front tires. We are talking about the turbulent fluid that envelops the tires and must be moved away as much as possible once it has passed the tire itself. Adrian also emphasized the importance of a “larger” front wing that can enhance the resulting outwash and, consequently, make the most of it to control the external squish of the front tires.
A redesign of the front wing could be very useful for the historic Scuderia Ferrari. According to information gathered by the editorial team of FUnoanalisitecnica, the Italian team has worked quite a bit on the front end of the car, a weak point of the SF-23 that greatly narrowed the car’s operating window. A lack of “ride” that the Prancing Horse has corrected, attempting to increase the technical flexibility of Project 676.
In the case of Ferrari, and also other teams, the chassis section was quite traditional and squared. It remains challenging to understand if the Maranello team will make some variations in this part of the car, although it cannot be entirely ruled out. However, we must consider that 2024 will be the first year with a real undercut of volumetric dimensions comparable to those of Red Bull, so daring excessively by exaggerating the concepts would still be risky.
Returning to Red Bull, a recent development suggests that the Milton Keynes team has worked hard to refine the car in this area. We believe this because the reigning world champions did not pass the tests conducted by the International Federation concerning the stiffness imposed for the chassis. Although we remain in the realm of hypotheses, we undoubtedly expect something innovative from the brightest mind in the paddock, with the hope that Ferrari has learned a lot during this long and challenging study phase.
Source: Alessandro Arcari for FUnoanalisitecnica
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