At the end of the Technical Advisory Committee meeting that took place last Thursday with the FIA and Formula 1, some of the technical directors of the teams were left open-mouthed with the work of the single-seaters for 2023, which will be started a few months ago and now needs to be stopped and perhaps reviewed.
The international federation went to the TAC to formulate the changes in the rules for next year, after the heads of the teams reached an agreement at the meeting of the Formula 1 Commission held in Austria before free practice at the Red BullRing.
The bottom blocks will undergo more extensive testing from the Belgian GP
The governing body’s document defines the modifications that will come into force at two different times. The first will be at the Belgian Grand Prix, and it will deal with metrics through an algorithm to control bounces caused by porpoising or bottoming , as well as measures to check bottoms and board wear.
The second will be applied at the start of the 2023 season with the design of the new single-seaters, whose objective is to anticipate the increase in porpoising due to the increase in aerodynamic load after the development of the current year’s cars.
2023 regulations: how the heights of the ground will change with respect to the asphalt
However, the changes are not the result of an open discussion between the parties, but of a unilateral imposition by the FIA that only responds to security reasons, something that the federation has accepted to avoid criticism.
There are three main points that will make Formula 1 cars change, not so much in the visible parts, but in the way they work. The lateral edge of the floors will have to be raised by 25 mm compared to last year, which will prevent the lower area from being sealed against the asphalt.
At the same time, the channel where the bottom and the rear diffuser meet, one of the most sensitive parts of the car, will be raised, since the higher this section is from the ground, the greater the load that can be generated.
F1 2023 – Diffuser apex will be raised and a vertical element will be allowed
The measurements have not yet been made official, and the reason is simple, because if it were to drop 25mm like in the other region, some teams would have to start from a blank sheet for their 2023 car, because the change would also imply a displacement up radiators and exhausts, thus causing some current designs to go overboard.
Engineers have complained to the FIA’s manager for single-seater technical matters, Nikolas Tombazis , that the 2022 aerodynamic regulations have been too restrictive, making it impossible to fix porpoising and vortices being generated in the rear diffuser.
2023 rules: detail of the diffuser with a vertical element
It will have to be a fence of a simpler design, but one that gives some freedom to the designers to counteract porpoising , which allows the cars to improve safety. The international federation’s strategy is clear, the car will lift off the ground by changing a bit the way downforce is created.
It is clear that the teams that will pay the highest price will be those that have worked hardest in the development of this season, such as Red Bull and Ferrari, whose ideas to solve the issue have allowed them to be the fastest, but, at the same time, , will be the most penalized by the changes. Meanwhile, Mercedes will benefit from the following regulations, since it has been one of the leaders that has interpreted the rules of ground effect the worst, and therefore, in 2023, they have the possibility of closing the gap with respect to the leaders.
The new rules are a godsend for the Silver Arrows, though some wonder if it was their boss, Toto Wolff , who goaded the governing body into making those changes.
The FIA is using security as a hook to respond before the changes, in addition to the fact that they intend to reduce the distances between the competitors, especially between the middle zone and the best. That has caused sparks to fly in the paddock, as some Ferrari customers, such as Haas or Alfa Romeo, or Red Bull sibling AlphaTauri, could implement evolutions of the current chassis.
However, others are divided, such as McLaren, Aston Martin and Alpine, who refuse to change the regulations, although it is the FIA World Council that must ratify the rules. While that is taking place, the Tombazis technical commissioners will have to make official the figures that have not yet been defined, not only that of the area between the floor and the rear diffuser, but also the new loads that they will have to undergo the 23 anti-roll bars to obtain the homologation in the crash tests.
Guanyu Zhou’s horrific crash at Silverstone highlighted a serious safety issue in that the Chinese driver’s roll bar detached, leaving only the Halo to do its duty to keep the Alfa Romeo alive. The FIA reserves the right to intervene in this area, but has not yet defined the limits for the modifications.
As the applied forces increase, will the chassis need to be checked at the fixing points or will the Swiss team simply be asked to check the roll bar? It is a question without an answer yet.
Decisions related to safety could affect the costs that the teams would have to assume with the budget limit. In the TAC a debate has been opened that will go far, opening broader fronts, but the disappointment of Red Bull and Ferrari is evident in seeing the attempt to close the competitive gap so that Mercedes returns to the fight, and that is that in the eight years of German rule the rules were never changed to allow for smaller distances between teams.
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