The attention of Formula 1 teams is now focused completely on the 2023 Formula 1 season, when it will be important to capitalize on the lessons learned during the first year of the new aerodynamic regulations. For some teams, a real technical revolution is expected, such as Mercedes, while for others it is reasonable to expect an evolution of the current car, above all for Red Bull.
At the basis of such considerations lies the ‘concept’ of the single-seater, incorrectly associated by some external observers solely with the shape of the external bodywork, the differences in which in some cases, however, are more striking than functional. As recently explained by Mike Elliott, Mercedes technical director, the concept of a car lies instead in the way in which the whole package, from aerodynamics to mechanics, extracts performance: “Fans often think that the concept is what the car looks like from outside, what the shape of the sidepods is. From an engineers point of view though, the way we develop the car is to think about what we want to get out of it, so where are you looking for performance, what should the aerodynamic characteristics look like, how can you implement them, how can you get the most out of the tyres and suspensions?” – he explained.
Current single-seaters express a large part of the aerodynamic load from the floor, which is why its management is a key aspect for the concept of a car. Greater ground clearance results in a lower capacity to generate load, but at the same time removes the risk of porpoising and allows lower suspension stiffness to be adopted, as the higher floor is less sensitive to changes in height, thus improving tire management.
A philosophy apparently embraced by Red Bull and opposed to that of Scuderia Ferrari, which, as explained by Mattia Binotto, seeks performance from the greatest aerodynamic load generated at lower heights: “Our car is one which, as it is conceived from an aerodynamic point of view, the lower it is set, the faster it is. This is somewhat true for all cars with this type of regulation based on the ground effect concept, but ours in particular. If one analyzes it, we are among those who run with the car the lowest, because we know that our car is finds performance in this way”.
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Those of Mattia Binotto‘s words that find confirmation in what was already anticipated on the occasion of the F1-75 car presentation by Enrico Cardile, head of the chassis area: “It will be a car that, to be fast, will have to run low and stiff”. The side effect of lower ground clearance is the need for greater mechanical stiffness to stabilize the floor and prevent impact with the ground, thus sacrificing curb aggression and accelerating tire degradation.
A further indication of the different ground clearance between Ferrari, Red Bull and not only comes indirectly from Alan Permane, sporting director of Alpine. In Austin, the Anglo-French team introduced a new floor, characterized by the opening of the foot-plate, the vent towards the rear of the floor also adopted by Ferrari.
During an episode of Formula 1’s Tech Talk, the technical study program produced by F1, Alpine sporting director Alane Permane described the change made as follows: “This is our last update for the season, it is the 4B floor. You can see a small element towards the rear which guarantees us a little more load, especially in high-speed corners, while at low mileage it is almost irrelevant. I would say that it guarantees us one or two load points in the fastest corners, so when the floor is run at a lower level”.
Following these statements from the Alpine boss and taking note of the repeated corrections made by Alpine to the outer edge of the floor, an area that works very close to the ground, we have further confirmation that some basic concepts such as the ones used by Ferrari and Alpine require a lower ride height to perform as an optimal level as compared to Red Bull and Mercedes, which is also why the Maranello team’s F1-75 car was more affected by the Technical Directive 39/22 introduced this season starting with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
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