Car 2022 dissected: “The ground always offers room for creative ideas”

In a few months, we will know what the teams have proposed for their 2022 cars in the rules. More rules, less freedom, FORMULA 1 technology expert Rob van den Heijkant points out where the possibilities lie. “Because of the ground effect, drivers break a floor faster.”

Van den Heijkant was not very happy with the limitations of the front fenders. “They look futuristic, but there is almost nothing you can do with them: almost all the profiles and corners have been ‘fixed’.” In other areas of the car, there may be room for designers to differentiate themselves.

Read also: 2022 car dissected: “Futuristic front wings but nothing is allowed”

Tires
“Where there is still a little freedom is the wheel suspension. Maybe some teams will make an interesting find, instead of today’s standard solutions. However, you are not allowed to do much around the tires in terms of fenders and flaps ”, explains Van den Heijkant. “The kind of ‘caps’ that surround it will significantly reduce the resistance of the tires. “

“As mentioned, the turbulent air in the tires can’t really be regulated anymore (see ‘front wing’) and so it comes back straight instead of going under the floor or being pushed out. It takes support, but that’s precisely it contaminted air coming from the tires and – via the ground – from the diffuser, made it difficult to chase. Now it comes under your own car and you yourself suffer from it, but it should make overtaking easier. “

Ground
“This is one of the few areas where there is still room for improvement in terms of creative ideas. Then I mainly look at the front of the ground and the front part with the pontoons. New cars have a kind of “tunnel” under the floor, to ground effect to recover from the past. How it works? There is still a shelf in the middle, like now. Next to it is a neutral zone – at a fixed height – then it goes up and you get to the tunnel, before the outside ground comes down again. “

Also read: Newey Dislikes 2022 Rules: “Haven’t Found Something To Make Them Exciting For Myself”

“This tunnel sucks or pulls the car to the ground, which produces a lot of downforce. That’s a point: the floor will soon be lower on the sides than it is now, and cars will likely have more due to the ground effect. to roll through the bends. So count on conductors who break a lot of soil. Although there have been discussions about the possibility of making the ends of the floor out of a stronger material. “