Unpacking the technical changes behind F1 2022's rules shakeup

A full year after Formula 1’s reimagining of ground-effects was supposed to underpin an all-new aerodynamics package, the long-awaited technical overhaul finally enters from stage left in 2022. But the changes have a lot to live up to. The 2021 contest proved to be one of the best F1 seasons in years, with exciting races providing a more than adequate stage for one of the all-time greatest championship battles to claim the globe’s attention – and it did that with the old cars.

This year’s fresh aero package has promised to add closer racing and afford a greater chance for drivers to overtake on track. Let’s hope F1 can cope with the hype.

If it feels like a long time since the rules were first announced, that’s simply because it is. F1’s first concept model was unveiled in the latter half of 2019, and the planned 2021 date for the new regulations to come into effect was delayed by the ol’ you-know-what throwing a virally contagious spanner in the works.

Luckily, that had the side effect of placing the bulk of design and development for 2022 under the remit of a cost cap, which would not have been possible with a 2021 start date. Therefore, the overhaul in technical regulations acts as something of a soft reset, and it’ll be impossible to predict the pecking order until the season kicks off properly in Bahrain. Not that this is ever going to stop us trying, of course.

What we can do is explore what the 2022 regulations are and what they mean for the teams’ design departments across the grid as they sink their teeth into them. There’s also a smattering of other changes afoot in 2022, when a slightly reshuffled field takes on the championship’s biggest-ever calendar.

All-new regulations for 2022 will bring a new look to the cars

Photo by: Matt Fiveash

F1’s aims for 2022

When outlining the new car concept, F1 and the FIA sought to solve a problem that had irked the championship for decades: a lack of close racing and overtaking resulting in a series of bland races.

F1 had tried to solve that problem in 2009, with the skinny rear wing and wide front-wing geometries aiming to restrict the effect of wake when following another car, but undid that work eight years later to make the cars faster. Paddy Lowe, at that time the Williams technical chief, described the 2017 changes as “directionally incorrect” in creating a more serviceable visual product on-track, and so 2019’s adjustments were made to roll ever so slightly back on those changes.

Thing is, F1 has struggled to host consistently exciting races throughout its history – it’s not just a modern-day problem. The definition of the new regulations has hence been carried out in a manner unlike previous amendments to the rules, using numerous simulations and models to lessen the impact of the ‘dirty air’ that pervades every attempted overtaking move and washes the chasing car away.

The danger here is that F1 has attempted to control the inputs with tightly regulated bounding boxes and standardised parts to get the effect it wants, which some consider anathema to the creative licence designers have previously been afforded.

By relying on the floor for more of that downforce, F1 has done a lot of trimming to the body aerodynamic parts to lessen the wake and try to develop that much-coveted closer racing experience

But can you argue with the apparent figures that F1 has presented? According to the CFD simulations conducted comparing 2019’s cars to a 2022 concept, F1’s 2022 model retained 86% of its downforce when following one car length behind another, compared to the 55% retained in the same scenario for the 2019 car.

Even as far as seven car lengths behind, the 2019 car only produces 79% of its total downforce, while the 2022 car reads at 98%. Although it’s all very well to marvel at the figures in a graph, it’s difficult to know what scenarios these figures extend to. Regardless, if they’re applicable to all sorts of corners, then the figures paint the picture that cars will be able to race at much closer quarters than we’re used to.

You must admire F1 and the FIA’s dedication to the cause, given its propensity to dilute past rulesets following lobbying from the teams. In the past, technical working groups helmed by the biggest teams’ engineering figureheads have lobbied for changes that benefit them, but the 2022 rules have been left relatively unfettered by turkeys unwilling to vote for a full Christmas dinner. There’s still been a little influence from teams’ vested interests, but thankfully nothing that should detract from F1’s targets on-track.

F1 hopes new cars will enable cars to follow more closely without losing downforce

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

A new technical battleground

To try to keep those figures relatively untouched, F1 has mandated new bits of kit for the 2022 cars. The biggest-ticket item is the reintroduction of a ground-effect-style formula for the first time in about 40 years, albeit with the greater sophistication expected with years of progress. The flat underside of the floor and conventional diffuser are now done away with and replaced by Venturi tunnels, which are designed to create greater airflow acceleration, producing the drop in pressure associated with the production of downforce.

By relying on the floor for more of that downforce, F1 has done a lot of trimming to the body aerodynamic parts to lessen the wake and try to develop that much-coveted closer racing experience. The rear wing, for example, has shed its conventional wing planes and endplates to become a one-piece design that curls around from the horizontal components to the vertical parts with no exposed edges, limiting the amount of turbulence shed from it.

The desire to limit the exposed edges extends to the front wing too, where the endplates bend upwards akin to something you’d be more accustomed to seeing on a jet liner. The tediously named ‘Y250 vortex’, the airflow rotation you’d get from the exposed front-wing-element tops, is thankfully gone since the front-wing elements clip directly onto the nosecone. The increasingly complex bargeboards are gone too, having become ridiculously detailed after their full-size reintroduction in 2017.

Pirelli, continuing as F1’s tyre supplier, will introduce its 18-inch tyre as the centrepoint of a redefined wheel assembly. Wheelcovers return, while F1 has introduced a deflector above the front wheels to control the amount of turbulence produced as they rotate. Ditching the long-serving 13-inch tyre for the 18-inch construction will introduce a change in the overall handling characteristics, since the sidewalls will naturally prove to be stiffer owing to the larger wheel diameter, but the teams will undoubtedly try to compensate for the changes in their suspension set-ups.

Torsion bars will no longer be permitted for use as suspension springs. Instead, the rules mandate a return to a coil-over-damper arrangement to simplify the geometry, while the ‘third element’ inerters are removed entirely. This has been done to limit any trickery with hydraulic systems, closing off several avenues that vehicle dynamicists have explored over the previous few seasons.

The wheel rim covers haven’t been an entirely popular addition after they were outlawed at the end of 2009, but have been introduced as a standard component to yield the airflow targets around the front wheels experienced in the simulations. To tighten things up further, the FIA has categorised every part on an F1 car into four groups, expanding beyond the ‘listed’ and ‘non-listed’ designation implemented previously.

Wheel rim covers return as rear wings become a one-piece design that reduce turbulence

Photo by: Matt Fiveash

Listed parts remain those that the team must design itself and own all the intellectual property rights for, but there are fewer of them as F1 seeks to prioritise its dirty-air studies and hand teams a greater bevy of standardised parts. Those parts, known officially as “standard supply components”, now include the reintroduced wheel covers, the wheel rims themselves, along with the fuel pump assembly to cut costs on non-performance related items. There’s also a subset of listed parts where the teams must manufacture an item to a prescribed design, like the wheel deflector.

Teams can still make use of ‘transferable components’, such as the powertrain assembly, suspension and gearbox. This allows the likes of Haas and AlphaTauri to continue operating with several components from their ‘parent’ teams, while Williams will expand its powertrain deal with Mercedes to include gearboxes from 2022.

The technical regulations have not just been overhauled in their intent, but also in their wording; previously, bounding boxes were defined by a series of measurements, planes and datum points, but now they refer to a series of computationally defined boxes that designers have to work to in a CAD package

The final categorisation includes open-source components, where any designs will be uploaded to a common server and be made royalty-free for use by other teams. Mostly, this includes parts usually supplied by a third-party such as brake assemblies, DRS actuators and steering wheels.

The technical regulations have not just been overhauled in their intent, but also in their wording; previously, bounding boxes were defined by a series of measurements, planes and datum points, but now they refer to a series of computationally defined boxes that designers have to work to in a CAD package. This is part of the FIA’s updated scrutineering system, in which it collects all completed CAD assemblies from teams and uses them to determine at a glance whether a car is illegal during pre-event checks. Those changes sit very much behind the curtain, but it’s good to see the FIA contemporise.

There are precious few changes to the power unit designs, however. It comes as part of a freeze to allow Red Bull to keep operating the Honda powertrain package under its own steam, following the Japanese manufacturer’s decision to withdraw at the end of 2021. That’s probably been the largest level of lobbying regarding the 2022 rules but, given that Red Bull had a dearth of other options, few would argue against the freeze. Instead, plans for an all-new powertrain configuration have been kicked into 2026, with the much-criticised MGU-H facing the scythe’s remorseless swing as F1 attempts to lure Audi and/or Porsche into its den.

As a makeweight step between now and 2026’s revised power units, F1 introduces E10 fuels for 2022 – that’s replacing 10% of the overall fossil fuel volume with ethanol. This forms the first step on F1’s journey towards employing wholly sustainable fuels with a significantly reduced carbon impact. The E10 will initially hinder teams with a slight drop in overall performance, but the oil giants tasked with churning out racing fuel will inevitably find ways to make up the shortfall.

F1 moves to new E10 fuels for 2022

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Will the new aero targets work?

Having a technical overhaul to shake up the order is all well and good, but will the changes actually yield more exciting races? McLaren star Lando Norris raised a very salient point about F1’s aims to reduce the overall dirty-air situation; the revised aero specifications will help the following car catch through the corners, but at a cost.

“Everything that they are doing for next year is because they want to try to make the cars better to race and so on,” Norris explained. “But of course if there’s less dirty air while following, there is also less slipstream. It’s like gaining in one area and then losing in another because they are quite related to each other. So I hope it’s better.”

Norris’s assessment is pretty much spot on, and many often forget that wholesale changes do have big consequences. To alleviate the reduced potency of the slipstream, DRS will remain for 2022 as F1 assesses the possibility of reducing its reliance on the system later down the line. It also depends on how much the teams are able to explore the bounds of the regulations; creating cars that race competitively on track is not at the top of a team’s list of concerns, and they’ll be looking to fight against that tide.

But it’s too early to say how things will play out. If the 2022 rules can bring previously unloved circuits to life with great racing, close-quarters skirmishes and overtaking that extends beyond DRS zones, F1 can consider it a job well done.

How will the new cars develop?

One thing’s certain when you consider the cumulative effect of the new technical regulations and the cost caps: there won’t be as much in-season development compared to previous years. And there are additional sporting regulations in play, whereby simulation time in the windtunnel and in CFD is restricted depending on your constructors’ championship position.

Keeping the bean-counters happy will be the primary restriction on development as the cost cap drops to $135million for the 2023 season, but this could have a knock-on effect on any teams who struggle to pen a functional car from the get-go. But there’s still some leeway to develop, and Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies says that teams won’t be left “screwed” with a difficult start –and, like any other season, any difficulties in testing will provide a focal point to develop towards.

“No, I don’t think you are screwed [with a difficult start],” Mekies explained. “I think you put the car on the ground, and you start to check if you measure what you were hoping to measure. And if not, you try to fix that, as you have done the last 40 or 50 years. It doesn’t matter if the car is new.

Ferrari's Mekies predicts teams will still be able to recover from a difficult start

Photo by: Ferrari

“We had a different shape in the past, so we are supposed to be able to, even more now than 20 years ago, to simulate, to understand the flow and to understand how it’s working. So first you try to get on the track what you think you should have. Then where that puts you compared to the opposition, it will just be the push on your development.”

In 2021, flexi-wings cycled back into F1 parlance to add another hot coal into the incandescent Mercedes and Red Bull battle. It should be less of a concern in 2022, given the increasing stringency of the load tests, but McLaren technical chief James Key says that there are several new areas on this year’s cars that could be exploited.

"You’ve got a couple of different components on the car, the ground effects of the floor and beam wings are back again now, which can have a certain level of stiffness, which you could exploit legally. So there are various new tools to play with in 2022" James Key

“Some of the tests are more stringent,” Key explained. “Rear-wing tests, for example, will be a little bit tougher and some of the things that happened earlier in the year with these areas have carried through to 2022 – and I think there is a lot of attention being paid to that.

“The front wing in 2022 is a massive thing, but it still has a very stringent set of guidelines on stiffnesses. There’ll always be a few tricks to play, but I don’t think there’s going to be something easy to exploit.

“You’ve got a couple of different components on the car, the ground effects of the floor and beam wings are back again now, which can have a certain level of stiffness, which you could exploit legally. So there are various new tools to play with in 2022, and it will probably become some form of issue I’m sure. But it’s not something the teams or the FIA are ignoring; it is a fairly clear area where we are very careful to regulate correctly.”

It’s also expected that, with the tightest regulatory boundaries ever recorded in F1’s history, the 2022 formula will rapidly approach convergence in design concepts. If you’re a fan of closely contested seasons, that can only be a good thing, but there’s also a chance that you’ll have to wait for that. This season will be won by the team that understands the new rules the quickest but, as convergence begins to take effect and returns diminish, 2023 and 2024 could theoretically herald the tightest margins ever seen in F1.

Several areas can be exploited on the 2022 cars, according to Key - but who will do the best job remains to be seen

Photo by: Matt Fiveash