advertisement


The 2022 Formula One Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes i bet a less Squashy tyre will give less grip on kerbs and the exit of the turns where the cars are running onto the edges of the track, they must have to run softer suspension to accommodate less air volume.
 
Some good comments so far as to the technical changes for 2022. I know very little about the aero development side as each team is keeping their progress secret.

Once the season starts I will try to investigate the handling characteristics of the 2022 cars with an aerodynamicist.

To discuss how 2021 and previous cars suspensions work I will define a few things to make it easier to explain.

The ride height is, for these cars, a nominal state, as it was always defined as the height of the floor under the axle above the ground. When the planks were introduced in 1994, and the aero was optimised, there was no actual chassis bottom at that position. So it became a nominal state, that everyone understood. At the front and at high speed and under heavy braking is generally negative. So all ride height changes are quoted in this context as this is what matters to aero. From the suspension perspective there is a varying mechanical advantage to the dampers, springs, bumpstops and roll bars, and so there generally is more more movement at the damper than at axle ride height condition, to give better control.

Roughly speaking the race car will be set up with around:
  • 10 to 15 mm of front ride height travel whilst the tyres in terms of ride height will compress by around 25mm (they expand due to rotating at high speed and that affects the aero).
  • 25 to 75 mm of rear ride height travel whilst the tyres in terms of ride height will compress by around 30mm. This is used to generate more downforce or less drag when required.
  • The dampers will move further than this as they are used to help to control the contact patch force variation and to control the vehicle body (called ride and covers the range a few Hz up to around 50 Hz) oscillations. As an aside the Renault mass damper was developed as a more powerful way of controlling wind tunnel model body unwanted oscillations and then was used on race cars for a short period of time.
With the 2022 car posters have correctly identified the following:
  • Tyres will compress less.
  • Tyres have less air and therefore will need to be stiffer, which will have impacts on kerb strikes.
  • The tyre + wheel assembly will affect the aero as it is different and we have less of a massive blob of tyre rubber in the air.
I will add more comments in another post as this is getting a bit long!
 
Don’t know about anyone else but I’m going to miss the small wheel/fat tyre look. Guessing there’s going to be weight increase at the four corners as well as the already mentioned less grip on kerbs, so possibly higher tyre deg and drivers won’t be banging over cars over the bigger kerbs we have at some tracks. Don’t want to see drivers abusing track limits but watching them carefully file around not wanting to ruin their tyres on the kerbs doesn’t sound it’s going to add to the racing spectacle either.

Time will tell though.
 
  • 10 to 15 mm of front ride height travel whilst the tyres in terms of ride height will compress by around 25mm (they expand due to rotating at high speed and that affects the aero)
I will add more comments in another post as this is getting a bit long!

No complaints from me with your longer posts, Ian.

For an extreme example of tyre growth at high rotational speed, see this slow mo:

 
No complaints from me with your longer posts, Ian.

For an extreme example of tyre growth at high rotational speed, see this slow mo:

That shows the expansion effect very well. The compression effect of the aerodynamics then compress the tyre between the axle and the ground.

These 2 effects make the design and development of wind tunnel tyres very different. Then when you add the need to model the sidewall bulge due to the vertical force it becomes pretty much impossible given the constraints in wind tunnels. With the teams spending a lot of money on this years ago a rule was brought in to reduce costs through forcing teams to purchase the same wind tunnel model tyres from Pirelli. So everyone has to deal with poor quality wind tunnel tyre models...
 
Don’t know about anyone else but I’m going to miss the small wheel/fat tyre look. Guessing there’s going to be weight increase at the four corners as well as the already mentioned less grip on kerbs, so possibly higher tyre deg and drivers won’t be banging over cars over the bigger kerbs we have at some tracks. Don’t want to see drivers abusing track limits but watching them carefully file around not wanting to ruin their tyres on the kerbs doesn’t sound it’s going to add to the racing spectacle either.

Time will tell though.
The suspension engineers will get around the kerb strike problems. With a lot more suspension travel the dampers will be used to better manage kerb strikes, better manage contact patch force management and body attitude.

The tyre deg will be what is engineered to be, i.e. Pirelli will trade off compound grip, stiffness based grip, tyre compliance, tyre construction etc to get to what they have been tasked with delivering. As @Bananahead has said, they have been running 18" tyres on F2 for 2 years now. They have also been testing with all the F1 teams for 2 years now so they should have built up enough experience to make the change to 18" tyres now. So I am not expecting any big surprises.
 
Wouldn’t smaller, stiffer sidewalls give a more predictable tyre performance over the course of its life? Tyres being a large part of the suspension is all very well, but they vary in behaviour so much due to temperature, thickness, wear etc that moving more suspension movement to the stable dampers and springs must be a leap forward.
 
Wouldn’t smaller, stiffer sidewalls give a more predictable tyre performance over the course of its life? Tyres being a large part of the suspension is all very well, but they vary in behaviour so much due to temperature, thickness, wear etc that moving more suspension movement to the stable dampers and springs must be a leap forward.
Yes it should work that way.

Thermal mass in the tread and bulk should be similar.

There will be less thermal mass in the sidewalls, but more opportunity for thermal management with the rims being larger.

The suspension engineers should have developed the stiffness and damping characteristics well enough to work with the new tyres by the first race.
 
No complaints from me with your longer posts, Ian.

For an extreme example of tyre growth at high rotational speed, see this slow mo:

Now 20 of those on a starting grid **may** bring out the noise police. I miss seeing / hearing that spectacle from my younger years.
I remember seeing an in line Norton triple engine job explode - ie, the centre engine just let go, and the camshaft exited through the top of the bike, how it missed the rider (prone on top) I'll never know.

Back to 2022 - I have not studied engine / power specs, will there be more battery available, as that could hugely influence instant torque for some situations.
 
A F1 mechanic describes how tough the seasons are becoming with the triple headers:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/...or-mechanics-as-f1s-calendar-expands/6960259/

The differences that I have observed over the years are as follows:

In 1990:
  • Two separate sets of mechanics, race team mechanics attended race events and test team mechanics attended test events
  • Race team mechanics attended 16 races a year.
  • Test team mechanics would attend up to 20 tests a year.
  • Test or races involved very long days and night, with many all nighters, which were of course very hard work.

Changes to operational format etc from 1990 to 2021:
  • Parc ferme introduced on Saturday to limit amount of work on the race cars that the mechanics can do.
  • Curfew introduced so that work has to stop by a certain time at the race track to limit the amount of work that the mechanics can do.
  • Gradual increase in number of race (16 to 23)
  • Testing dropped in phases down to one 3 day pre season test in 2021. Test team mechanics job no longer exist in teams and has not done so for many years.
  • August F1 2 week shutdown introduced to give all race team personnel a mid season break.

In 2021:
  • 23 scheduled races, 22 took place.
  • 3 day pre season test.
  • Many triple headers (3 races on consecutive weekends) which are really hard work for everyone.
Whilst is has generally got easier for the mechanics, the triple headers are particularly tough and so I hope that they do listen to the mechanics when they are telling their teams that the workload is having a negative effect on them.
 
A F1 mechanic describes how tough the seasons are becoming with the triple headers:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/...or-mechanics-as-f1s-calendar-expands/6960259/

The differences that I have observed over the years are as follows:

In 1990:
  • Two separate sets of mechanics, race team mechanics attended race events and test team mechanics attended test events
  • Race team mechanics attended 16 races a year.
  • Test team mechanics would attend up to 20 tests a year.
  • Test or races involved very long days and night, with many all nighters, which were of course very hard work.

Changes to operational format etc from 1990 to 2021:
  • Parc ferme introduced on Saturday to limit amount of work on the race cars that the mechanics can do.
  • Curfew introduced so that work has to stop by a certain time at the race track to limit the amount of work that the mechanics can do.
  • Gradual increase in number of race (16 to 23)
  • Testing dropped in phases down to one 3 day pre season test in 2021. Test team mechanics job no longer exist in teams and has not done so for many years.
  • August F1 2 week shutdown introduced to give all race team personnel a mid season break.

In 2021:
  • 23 scheduled races, 22 took place.
  • 3 day pre season test.
  • Many triple headers (3 races on consecutive weekends) which are really hard work for everyone.
Whilst is has generally got easier for the mechanics, the triple headers are particularly tough and so I hope that they do listen to the mechanics when they are telling their teams that the workload is having a negative effect on them.
In my interview with Super Aguri on this day in 2005, Mick Ainsley-Cowlishaw made it very clear to ms that I’d probably be away from home from February to November…. I’d gone for a position with the factory, interview quickly evolved into a position with the combined race/test team.

Naaa.
 
In my interview with Super Aguri on this day in 2005, Mick Ainsley-Cowlishaw made it very clear to ms that I’d probably be away from home from February to November…. I’d gone for a position with the factory, interview quickly evolved into a position with the combined race/test team.

Naaa.
A very wise choice.

That would have been a very tough year!
 
Clearly not relevant to the 2021 0r 2022 season, but may be of interest to anyone who has followed F1 for 35+ years.

If you have an hour to spare and would like to understand a bit more about the 1988 MP4/4 McLaren car, then Steve Nicholls has been interviewed to tell it how it was:


I worked with Steve in his later stint at McLaren (1995 until 2001 I think). I never worked with Gordon Murray as he had started on the road car project when I started at McLaren in 1990. But I did work with pretty much everyone who signed the letter stating that the Bamsey MP4/4 book had a lot of technical errors. Some of whom I am still in contact with and would trust their statements on this book and the evidence that shows who really designed the MP4/4.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top