The first single-seater of 2022 that we will see will be the Haas VF-22, on Friday, February 4, and there are still a few days to go until the veil of the Red Bull car falls, on Wednesday the 9th of the same month, but curiosity is growing to know how It will be the cars with ground effect, which will kick off the regulatory revolution that the FIA and the FOM want.
Until now we have seen the show car that the category showed at the 2021 British GP and that several teams decorated with its colors, but from the teams it has always been maintained that the Formula 1 cars that were being manufactured were different from the mentioned model.
Downforce Distribution 2022
It is worth repeating, because we have already written it several times, that reading and interpreting the 2022 rules is not easy at all if you do not have CAD tools: the philosophy of ground effect cars is not to have sharp edges that can generate vortices that dirty the wake created, so that the following car is not prevented from being close enough to try to overtake and offer a better show.
The rules are very prescriptive and the tendency is to drive teams to make very similar cars. At least in the first year this will not be the case, because it is not yet clear which of the two possible construction philosophies will prevail, although as time goes on there will be a greater convergence that will give rise to more similar Formula 1 cars.
Among the rumours, it is said that Aston Martin itself is not very enthusiastic because the staff led by Andy Green would have opted for the version shown below in Giorgio Piola ‘s drawing, that is, the F1 with the long belly and narrow and a lower radiator opening, with a long nose that extends to the end of the front wing.
F1 2022 rules, side view
It’s an arrangement that makes it easy to get results in the wind tunnel, so those who didn’t have the resources or time to study and analyze the two philosophies will have thrown themselves headlong into the easier solution. But let it be clear that this does not mean having the most competitive car, but perhaps the one that can reach a certain level first.
The other philosophy, in fact, requires more careful work in the wind tunnel but, although it takes more time, it should guarantee greater possibilities for development: how is one aspect different from the other? For starters, short bellies with a taller air intake and perhaps a shorter aardvark-style nose (like the 1991 Williams or 1993 McLaren MP4-8 ) to dig under the bodywork and increase airflow to the rear. the two Venturi tunnels.
Front detail of the McLaren MP4-8
We have identified macro zones to recognize the different cars, but the big differences will be discovered under the bodies. The first distinction should be the wheelbase: the FIA allows a wheelbase of between 3,400 and 3,600mm. All the 2021 F1 cars were longer so it will be important to understand which direction the teams will be going in, bearing in mind that the 2022 cars will weigh 43kg (795kg) more than their parents and getting to the minimum weight won’t be easy, so that having a wheelbase of less than 3600mm could allow you to lose weight (remember that 10kg at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is worth about three tenths of a second per lap).
To develop maximum downforce with Venturi channels, the general trend will be to have a long rear end and a front end that can vary as needed.
However, cars with long, narrow bellies will seek to mount the engine further back, and may have a short gearbox, and perhaps mount a push rod suspension. By contrast, F1 cars with short bellies will have the engine closer to the driver and will need a long gearbox. In that configuration there could be a draw-rod suspension.
The location of the radiators will also vary greatly depending on the chosen layout: there will be those who keep the elements of the cooling system above the engine and those who try to place them on the sides.
Regarding the suspension, there will be a return to the past, since the supports to raise the upper triangle and move the anchor point of the strut are prohibited, as has happened in recent years .
F1 2022 rules, front view
McLaren is set to reintroduce the connecting rod arrangement with a solution that will overhaul the concepts Ferrari used until 2015, allowing it to shift the weight down. The regulations also prohibit hydraulic control of the third element, so ground clearance management will be very difficult, and rake settings will disappear as teams try to keep the car as close to the ground as possible.
With the disappearance of the turning vanes and bargeboards , the front suspension arms, duly profiled, will become the first “flow diverters”. Some, and it’s easy to think a team could be Red Bull, could go so far as to use “multi-links” instead of the more traditional wishbones, to use the suspension for important aerodynamic functions. It is possible that the steering arm itself is no longer aligned with one of the triangles.
As we insist, the regulatory body wants to avoid edges, which is why definitions of concave or convex curves have appeared in the regulations. By virtue of that approach, we can expect very different front wings: with a flat main profile or gull-winged, or spoon-shaped. In short, at least at the beginning, we will see many different things.
But what will be the winning technical line? We will know soon. And it will not surprise us that there are teams that take out “compromise” cars, especially in terms of wheelbase, and then adapt it to the most competitive solutions they see in their rivals.
