The key tech changes that could disrupt F1 2022

Formula 1 teams have so far had three days of testing in Barcelona to learn about their all-new 2022 machines, with a further three days in Bahrain set to bring a clearer view of the competitive order.

But what exactly is different about the new generation of F1 car? Well, ‘ground-effect’ returns as wings become less important – in theory - while new 18-inch wheels mean a leap into the (almost) unknown for F1’s tyre supplier, Pirelli. Engine development remains frozen – but can cunning companies test the limits as new fuel comes into play? Meanwhile, cost cuts will mean more standardised components - even if F1 isn’t about to become a one-make championship yet.

F1 gives you wings

For many years now, Formula 1 has grappled with the issue of overtaking: there’s not enough of it, and most solutions thrown at this problem either haven’t worked or have actively made it worse.

F1’s radical new look for this season is the result of five years’ work led by GP Racing columnist and former Benetton technical director Pat Symonds, alongside Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single-seaters and former chief designer at Ferrari. This is the first time a big regulatory change has been rigorously researched, and conceived as a complete system in which every area of the car works together to achieve the stated aim – theoretically, at least.

The key factor restricting overtaking opportunities is turbulence. When a car gets into the ‘wake’ of the car ahead, it loses aerodynamic performance as its wings become less effective. Through corners it washes into understeer and loses ground it then must recover on the straights.

Previous attempts to redraw the cars to improve overtaking have failed, largely because of unintended consequences which could have been identified with more research, or by asking better questions. The ‘widebody’ formula adopted in 2017 was intended to make the cars faster and more dramatic-looking, which they were, but they created an even more turbulent wake.

F1 hopes that new cars will be able to follow each other more closely

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

This year’s package is a fundamental change to the balance of how downforce is generated, making the wings less influential and the wake less turbulent. F1 and the FIA have also been able to simulate the effects on following cars, using computing power well beyond the limits teams currently must work within.

The front wing remains an important area since this is the first part of the car which meets oncoming air, but it has been enlarged and simplified. Among the biggest changes is the removal of the gap between the multi-level horizontal wing elements and the nose; previously designers would use the inner tips of these elements to set up vortices which swept air outwards towards the bargeboards (which have now been banned).

The permitted number of these elements has been reduced from five to four, and there are strict limits on their angle, shape and how far they can overlap. In combination with wider noses and simplified endplates, and the removal of nose furniture such as capes and ducts, the aim is to make the front wings produce less downforce (despite a larger surface area) and therefore be less critical to the car’s performance.

The inward sweep at the base of the wing is intended to help pull the airflow over the car between the rear wheels, narrowing the wake

The most far-reaching change comes under the car where the floor is no longer flat, as it has been by law since 1983. The central wooden ‘plank’ remains, to prevent teams running their cars too low, but on either side of it there are now long channels running the full length of the chassis. Each one has a wide opening and then narrows as it passes around the plank before widening again. Four vertical fences are permitted at the openings to generate vortices which help to pull airflow through the tunnels towards the exit, which ramps upwards and functions like the diffusers used in the previous generation of cars. Speeding up airflow creates negative pressure which pulls the car downwards, increasing cornering grip.

At the rear, the exit ramp of the underfloor tunnels interacts with the lower beam section of the new rear wing to direct air upwards rather than outwards, so the following car encounters less turbulence. The rest of the rear wing is now one curved section without endplates, slats and sharp edges which can be used to generate vortices which are beneficial to the car but detrimental to the one following. The inward sweep at the base of the wing is intended to help pull the airflow over the car between the rear wheels, narrowing the wake.

Will this result in cars being able to follow one another closely? “So far everyone has been playing with models,” says Haas technical director Simone Resta. “We will only be able to judge once we can stay one second behind another car in a fast corner…”

F1 is confident it will work. It began by buying the defunct Manor team’s 2017 wind tunnel model and design data, which it analysed in the Sauber tunnel to establish a baseline of wake turbulence. Most recently, after evaluating its own models, it’s been able to use the cloud computing power of AWS to perform a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of two cars running together. Under the current restrictions on aero research, it takes a team around 14 hours to complete a single CFD simulation.

The 2022 rules constitute a fundamental change to how downforce is generated, making the wings less influential

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“If we wanted to use that same technology and computational power, then a two-car simulation with double the number of cells gets you to 550-600 million cells – and that would be four days,” F1’s lead engineer Rob Smedley told Autosport. “It’s a barrier to the research and development needed.

“The first iteration was spinning up in their [AWS’s] EC2 service, at 1000/1100 cores, and version two, we’re up to about 2500 cores. It got that design iteration down from four days to around about six to eight hours.

“We can’t hope to get it right first off. But let’s have a look to see that we’ve made a step forward. If we’ve made a step forward, and then there’s more fundamental steps we can take, after one year of learning in 2022, let’s continue to do that.”

The wheel deal

In a world in which those wealthy or tasteless enough to covet a Bentley Bentayga can spec one with 22-inch rims, the sight of F1 cars riding on 13-inch wheels has become increasingly anachronistic. Sizing up to 18-inch items brings F1 closer to the showroom while asking new questions of engineers and aerodynamicists – not to mention the company charged with the task of supplying the grid.

It’s also had the effect of making cars heavier, though the larger wheels aren’t the sole reason for the minimum weight creeping up to 795kg.

Once shod with Pirelli’s new family of rubber, the wheels will stand 60mm taller than before. The construction of the tyres is all new, and the shorter sidewalls will necessarily be stiffer. We’ll see the tyres moving around far less under extreme cornering forces. That means there’s much to learn in terms of tuning the suspension geometries and working out how the behaviour of the new tyres influences the airflow. It was incredibly difficult to simulate the sidewall deformation of the old tyres in the windtunnel, given the differences in scale between the models and real life.

Drivers will be hoping Pirelli has delivered on its brief to create tyres less prone to thermal degradation, a characteristic introduced a decade ago in the belief that it would lead to more unpredictable racing. While that was true in the short term, as the years went by it caused the opposite: processional races with no strategic variation as drivers were instructed to stick to a target laptime far slower than their cars were capable of. Are the days of having to nurse the rubber coming to an end? We’ll have to see.

New 18-inch rims make their debut in 2022, as do standard wheels from 
single supplier BBS

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

In recent years Mercedes has made great gains through careful control of heat transfer from the brakes, through the wheel rim and on to the tyres. These kinds of tricks are now off the menu since wheels are now standard items from a single supplier (BBS), removing the ability to add cooling fins and such.

The teams have had a chance to evaluate the new wheels and tyres, albeit on previous-generation cars with ballast added to bring them up to the new minimum weight. Since these couldn’t accurately simulate the aero loadings of the new cars, some engineers have downplayed the usefulness of the tests – but others disagree.

“Learning this new product that is very different, how it interacts with the new regulations, is an important aspect,” says Simone Resta. “As a company we made an investment [in a mule car] to test those tyres in Silverstone and Abu Dhabi last year, which was an interesting and valuable experience for us.”

Frozen, but the storm rages on…

One of the measures brought in to control costs retreads territory familiar in Formula 1: an engine freeze. Theoretically the power units raced this year must remain identical in spec until the end of 2025, after which a new engine formula is due to be introduced.

But, as with the V8 era engine freeze, which lasted from 2007 to 2013, there is a mechanism built into the rules which permits modifications “for the sole purpose of reliability, safety, cost saving, car installation and supply issues”. After the 2.4-litre V8 engine specs were frozen at the end of 2006, many manufacturers shamelessly exploited the rules to introduce ‘reliability’ improvements which also boosted performance.

While ethanol has just a quarter of the carbon atoms per molecule found in petrol, it has a lower energy density. The effect is that you have to burn more of it to produce the same amount of power

While there’s no provision in the rules to allow a team to catch up if it finds a fundamental flaw in its power unit, the FIA has said it may consider permitting some development if such a scenario comes about. Mercedes and Red Bull are basing their power units on those they used last year – Mercedes will hope it has conquered the reliability gremlins which manifested themselves mid-season – while Ferrari and Alpine are introducing new internal combustion engines in a bid to make up a small shortfall in power.

“You would naturally think that’s going to stop developments,” says Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains boss Hywel Thomas. “And I’m sure it will, in terms of peak power. But what we do know, from when we were in that situation in the V8 days, was that there was still a lot going on in that engine.”

New E10 fuel has 10% ethanol content to reduce carbon emissions, creating a challenge for engine engineers

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

One of the biggest concerns for the teams has been the mandatory introduction of E10 petrol, a fuel which has become standard in the UK and many other territories. Thomas describes it as “probably the largest regulation change we’ve had since 2014 [when the hybrid V6 formula was introduced].” It has 10% ethanol content, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions. But while ethanol has just a quarter of the carbon atoms per molecule found in petrol, it has a lower energy density. The effect is that you have to burn more of it to produce the same amount of power.

Methanol does have some benefits to performance, since it has a better cooling effect than petrol and is more resistant to pre-ignition (when the fuel-air mixture ignites during the compression phase of the cylinder stroke, before the spark plug fires). All the power unit manufacturers have had to pay close attention to the impact the new fuel will have on the behaviour of the internal combustion engine.

“The engine architecture had already been set [last season],” says Honda’s Yasuaki Asagi, “so we have made changes to bring out the best performance. With E10 fuel the power and energy that it has with the same weight are reduced. That is the characteristic of alcohol fuel.

“On the other hand, the abnormal combustion [pre-ignition] of the old fuel will be easier to control now. We are aiming for maximum efficiency, but with E10 fuel, the power of the engine will also decrease and the amount of power generation will also decrease.”

The sum of its parts

Formula 1’s ‘listed parts’ system has been refined with a view to further driving down expenses, and enabling competitors to effectively collaborate on improving many of the parts which are standardised. At the same time, it aims to stop teams copying or reverse-engineering each other’s work, as with as Racing Point’s controversial 2020 ‘Pink Mercedes’.

Parts now fall into four categories. Listed team components (LTC) covers what used to be known as listed parts, components for which each team is responsible for designing and constructing. These are the areas which are fundamental to a car’s performance and design concept, such as the survival cell and front impact structures, plus all aerodynamic components – including wheel drums. Rules allow these to be “influenced by the design or concept of a competitor’s LTC”, but strictly forbid cloning techniques such as using computer software to extract surfaces and geometries from photographs.

Transferrable components (TRC) are what used to be known as non-listed parts, the components teams are allowed to supply to one another. This is a much longer menu comprising bits which are essential for a car to function but have very little differentiating effect on laptime – assorted pumps and actuators, gearbox and clutch components, axles and suspension members, mountings and electrical looms and so on. Teams must supply the same TRCs they use themselves and, to comply with budget cap regulations, be transparent about their cost and fair market value.

There are more standard parts than ever in 2022 cars, but the need for secrecy hasn't changed

Photo by: Erik Junius

The third category covers spec parts used by all teams and outsourced to suppliers designated by the FIA. Known as Standard Supply Components (SSC), these must not be modified to enhance performance. The list includes items such as the standard ECUs, fuel flow meters and Pirelli’s tyres. New for this year are the standardised wheel covers supplied by BBS and the mandatory tyre pressure sensors mounted in each wheel.

Open Source Components (OSC) is the category which has required the biggest shift in mindset. First proposed in 2019, when teams pushed back against proposals for a bigger list of standardised parts in this year’s new technical package, this will enable competitors to redesign certain parts.

The OSC category theoretically enables teams to pool their knowledge and reduce research costs. A requirement to publish the designs should act as a cap on performance-related development

Among the key objections to imposing more standard components was the effect they might have on performance, reliability and weight, plus the additional costs involved in validating them. The OSC category theoretically enables teams to pool their knowledge and reduce research costs. A requirement to publish the designs should act as a cap on performance-related development.

“The best design eventually percolates through all the teams,” said Mercedes chief technical officer James Allison when the idea was floated. “It then ceases to be an area where any of us would particularly want to spend development money, because a good design is out there.”

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The list includes structural elements such as the front floor, and covers elements of the steering, braking and fuel systems as well as the DRS actuator, driveshafts and axles. But, given the nature of F1, it will take time to bed in because teams generally don’t finalise designs until the last possible minute.

“You couldn’t sit there waiting for the open sources design to come from a competitor,” said Allison, “thinking, ‘I won’t do that myself, I’ll just wait for it to appear on the internet.’ Because by the time it appeared it would be too late.”

Teams still have much to learn about their new cars to work out where they lack relative to rivals

Photo by: Erik Junius