The insiders guide to F1 car development

Table Of Content

• The 2022 Formula One race car designs, ranked from pretty-in-pink to a bright red speed machine
• The diffuser
• Accelerating change
• Unleashing Innovation: The Technical Challenges Behind F1 Car Design
• The car will feature 18-inch low-profile tyres for the first time
• Planet Sport Group
• How does a Formula 1 car work? Wings, diffusers and more explained

If it weren't for the different shape of the 2022 car, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this car and Max Verstappen's 2021 title-winning steed. In fact, P4 in Germany was the only time Vettel finished off the podium all season when he did end a race. Williams, and Mansell in particular, would regularly hold gaps upwards of a second per lap on the next-fastest car behind in qualifying and race trim, sometimes higher. His finishes of P8 and P9 in Australia and Malaysia had him on the back foot and, despite a stunning second half of the year – including a famous win at Suzuka having started 14th on the grid – Alonso took the title with races to spare.

The 2022 Formula One race car designs, ranked from pretty-in-pink to a bright red speed machine

Alpine reveals 2024 Formula 1 car design, dials back on color - Autoblog

Alpine reveals 2024 Formula 1 car design, dials back on color.

Posted: Wed, 07 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The materials used in F1 car design are carefully selected for their strength, lightness, and durability. Carbon fiber composites are the material of choice for many components, including the monocoque – the structural chassis of the car. This allows for a lighter and stiffer chassis, which in turn improves handling and performance. We’ve been hard at work turning our learnings into development at the start of the season. We’ve seen some encouraging first steps, leading to our first podium of the year in Australia.

The diffuser

Use autosport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee. By the time that the M19C came along in 1972, suspension design had already become more complicated. McLaren's 1969 contender - the M7C - had incredibly basic suspension with just a spring damper connecting the wishbones and little wiggle room to adjust the set-up for different conditions. The lower wishbone is usually very high so that the two wishbones are very close to better direct the airflow to the rest of the car. Tyres also act as part of the car's suspension and have to be considered when designing the car.

Accelerating change

If you neglect the back of the car, then the rear wheels will slide and the driver will soon find himself pointing in the wrong direction. Returning to the rear of the car, it's also worth noting that the rear wing will sit higher, as we edge back towards the height of the wings used between 2009 and 2016 (950mm). “I think the idea of the major upgrade has become a bit of a myth,” says Chester.

This could be because they need to make up the front downforce which their front wing can't create. The key with this, though, is that you want to keep as much energy in the air as possible, so as it travels down the car you can use that energy in the diffuser, at the back of the car. Looking at the performance of cars from testing - always a fool's errand but bear with me - you might conclude that the Ferrari-style front wing is doing the better job. For this reason, quite often, a more predictable car with more consistent downforce but slightly less maximum load will end up being quicker than a car that in theory has more downforce but that which cannot generate the maximum load consistently.

Haas reveals first 2024 F1 car - but isn't happy with it - The Race

Haas reveals first 2024 F1 car - but isn't happy with it.

Posted: Fri, 02 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The lower profile tyres also have the added benefit of reducing the sidewall deflection changes and the resulting aerodynamic wake effect that occurs. The teams spend a lot of effort on simulating the airflow regimes around the tyre shapes and interactions with the car bodywork. Reducing the sensitivity in this area will be a benefit in both the car design process and resource required – something that's particularly important in the era of the cost cap. Virtual safety cars (VSC) were introduced in 2015 following Jules Bianchi’s fatal crash during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, to control cars’ speeds during yellow and double yellow flags. Bianchi hit a recovery vehicle that was removing another car that had skidded off the track. One area of particular interest is the development of sustainable technologies in F1 car design.

The car will feature 18-inch low-profile tyres for the first time

Senior sources at Red Bull say the team has received no formal resignation from Newey, who holds the role of chief technical officer at the Milton Keynes-based outfit, and that they still believe there is still room for dialogue with the 65-year-old. First reported by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport on Thursday, Sky Sports understands from senior figures within the sport that Newey has informally communicated to fellow senior Red Bull colleagues his wish to cut his near two-decade ties at F1's world champion team. The result is an instantly recognizable yet understated car and one we'll likely see on the podium a lot this season. Twinned with a lighter blue in 2022, this season's McLaren is reminiscent of the wildly popular one-off livery the team ran at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix as a tribute to long-running sponsor Gulf. Vettel, who had a penchant for naming his chassis, called his RB9 base ‘Hungry Heidi’ for the year ahead as he searched for a fourth consecutive title – and it certainly played host to moments of Formula 1 history. The final year of the previous regulation cycle saw the field largely converge for most of the year, which left the two title challengers standing above the rest on an even higher plane than the rest of the chasing pack.

For 2019 the front wings were widened to two metres wide and a tightening of regulations meant that designers had to be much more restrained in their ideas compared to the previous few years. A well-designed front wing will improve the all-round performance of a car - but if a team gets it wrong, it will have to try to recover the damage and compensate with the rest of the car. In this quest for speed an F1 team's factory never stands still, working year-round to improve every part of the car from the front wing to the diffuser, coming up with increasingly complex designs to find that edge.

How does a Formula 1 car work? Wings, diffusers and more explained

Some of these new engines were capable of achieving 20,000 rpm during 2006, though for the 2007 season engine development was frozen and the FIA limited all engines to 19,000 rpm to increase reliability and control at increasing engine speeds. A substantial amount of downforce is provided by using a rear diffuser which rises from the undertray at the rear axle to the actual rear of the bodywork. F1 regulations heavily limited the use of ground effect until the 2022 rule change, which are a highly efficient means of creating downforce with a small drag penalty. However, this drag is more than compensated for by the ability to corner at extremely high speed. The aerodynamics are adjusted for each track; with a low drag configuration for tracks where high speed is more important like Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and a high traction configuration for tracks where cornering is more important, like the Circuit de Monaco.

Over the years, significant strides have been made to improve driver safety and reduce the risk of injury in the event of an accident. The introduction of features such as the halo cockpit protection system and increased crash safety standards have helped to make F1 cars safer than ever before. In addition to carbon fiber, other advanced materials such as titanium and magnesium are used in various components of an F1 car. These materials offer excellent strength and weight properties, making them ideal for applications where weight reduction is critical. Innovative construction techniques, such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), are also being explored to further enhance the performance and efficiency of F1 cars. The area beside the driver, at the front of the sidepods, around what we call in F1 the 'barge boards', can produce a lot of downforce.

Revised regulations introduced in 2005 forced the aerodynamicists to be even more ingenious. In a bid to cut speeds, the FIA reduced downforce by raising the front wing, bringing the rear wing forward, and modifying the rear diffuser profile. The changes were designed to promote overtaking by making it easier for a car to closely follow another. The new rules took the cars into another new era, with lower and wider front wings, taller and narrower rear wings, and generally much 'cleaner' bodywork.

Tests were held on the Red Bull front wing and the FIA could find no way that the wing was breaking any regulation. Engineers and designers face a range of technical challenges that must be overcome in order to create a winning machine. One of the biggest challenges is optimizing fuel efficiency without sacrificing speed. F1 cars are highly fuel-efficient, thanks in part to their hybrid powertrains, which combine a traditional internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Balancing the power output of these two systems is crucial to achieving maximum performance.