Almost all of the debate around the era of new Formula 1 rules has focused on ground effect which should help improve racing.
But as teams and drivers begin to delve into the new cars, the existence of a completely different driving model has come to the fore.
After years in which teams have tweaked complex suspension systems to improve handling, help tire degradation and ride curbs well, F1 drivers could face a more brutal experience in 2022.
The move to a ground effect concept has prioritized managing airflow under the car through the Venturi tunnels , and the best way to maximize that is to position the bottom as close to the ground as possible.
To achieve this, the teams will have to stiffen the suspension a lot, and that in turn could be a bit stressful for the drivers.
Aston Martin technical director Andrew Green said the new cars have a kart-like feel due to the lack of suspension movement, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be as fun as karting.
Daniel Ricciardo hopes the perhaps tricky handling and rock-hard suspension won’t spoil things for the drivers.
“It could go one of two ways,” he said, when asked by Motorsport.com if the new cars might be a bit unwieldy.
“Race cars can be uncontrollable. If you look at IndyCar, especially on the circuits, the drivers are fighting their cars all the time. I find that funny, but others might think, ‘I can’t handle that!’ !”.
“So there’s nice fun and ugly fun. I hope this one is nice.”
“I think the feeling is going to be worse, but I hope it’s not that bad and that we literally get a headache driving these cars.”
“Nobody likes having to concentrate with a headache, but I’m more with the idea that it will be happy and fun, I see the glass as half full.”
(Before you go on, check out the photo and see all four 2022 F1 cars featured so far)
Foto de: Aston Martin Racing
Photo de: McLaren
Foto de: Cryptoland PR
Photo de: Haas F1 Team
But it’s not just the stiffer suspension that’s going to be a problem for the drivers, because the way ground effect produces downforce at different speeds, plus changing tires, will take things farther away than we had the last few years.
Sebastian Vettel thinks the cars will be more agile, thanks to the more unforgiving tires, and there will be a big contrast between low and high speed corners.
“I think the expectation is that the cars will be a bit quicker on the straights,” he said. “The expectation is that it will depend a lot on the speed. That means that in fast corners I think we will have a lot of downforce, and in slow corners less.
“How will that be in combination with the tyres, how will it feel on the track, how will the cars drive? I don’t know. At the moment we can only try to guess a little bit.”
“We already heard last year in the test that the tires change the driving behavior a bit and that the limit zone is not so wide in that aspect: that it is more in the middle, not on the edge. So, when you lose grip, you skid faster or lose the car faster in that sense. It takes longer to catch the car. We have to be prepared to be surprised.”
So could F1 be experiencing a repeat of the ground effect era of the early 1980s, when super-stiff suspension and brutal handling made cars less fun to drive?
McLaren F1 technical boss James Key doesn’t think things will be that bad, but admits it’s a possibility he plans on the environment. However, he is sure of one thing: that the drivers won’t care how bad the cars feel if they end up winning races.
“Ground effect gets you to work in a narrow range of ride height,” he said. “It’s not desirable from a car dynamics point of view or a tire degradation point of view, as all those things play a key role in where you can really set it up.
“Driver comfort is certainly one of those factors, but I think the drivers don’t mind a bit of discomfort if the car goes faster!”
“I’m sure it’s going to be a matter of getting used to how these cars are set up. If they have to be really stiff, we’ll only find out as the development process continues.”
“But I hope it will not be as hard as in the past,” he concluded.
