2022 Barcelona - Catalunya Testing

Rumours around the paddock that HAAS might terminate its relationship with Uralkrali.

Seb and other drivers agree not to race in Russia.

FIA will hold a meeting tonight with the teams regarding the RussianGP.

 

I don't think Haas will simply put Uralkali aside. It'll be because of imposed sanctions...Unless Andretti made a play and will sponsor replace uralkali with immediate effect as the start of a take over or partnership.

 

IF the rumor is true, it would be an opportune time for Andretti to step in.....IF he's able to do it in such short notice.

 

Much cheaper way to get in, that's for sure.

 

Liberty could provide bridge financing.

 

Sometimes friends in high places can be the last people you want to associate with...Sochi 2018.

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Bouncing F1 cars
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Andrew Benson

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

With new rules come new problems, and one that has emerged very quickly at this test is of the cars “bouncing” on the straights. This is to do with the way aerodynamics work under F1’s new rules, which have reintroduced a phenomenon called “ground effect”, by using shaped tunnels called “venturis” under the car to create the majority of the downforce.

Downforce increases as the car speeds up. This pushes the car lower and lower to the ground. Eventually, there comes a point where the airflow under the floor cannot stay attached to the underbody. This creates a phenomenon called “stalling”, where the airflow is disrupted and downforce rapidly decreases. That leads to the car jumping up, before the airflow reattaches and the car starts to be sucked down again, until it reaches the point of stall again, and so on.

All the teams are struggling with this to a greater or lesser extent. Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said: “Most of us underestimated the problem and we are bouncing more than expected. We knew it was a learning process. How long it takes to address or solve? Solving it can be straightforward but optimising the performance could be a less easy exercise. I am pretty sure each team will get to a solution and the ones that get there sooner will have an advantage.”

Solving the bouncing can be done simply by raising the ride height - but that reduces performance as the closer the car can run to the ground for more of the time, the more downforce it creates and the faster they corner. So teams do not want to raise the ride height too much.

 

Formula 1 on Twitter: "Bumpy road to the top for Charles Leclerc! #F1 https://t.co/Z6a5e6d3bo" / Twitter

...Ferrari being one of the better cars with this porpoising...

 

Gary Anderson: The old ground effect obstacle facing F1 teams

https://the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-the-old-ground-effect-obstacle-facing-f1-teams/

One of the main surprises of Formula 1’s 2022 pre-season test so far is the amount of porpoising the cars are suffering from.

It wasn’t visible in the simulations for the majority of teams, but most of them are struggling with it now their cars have hit the real-life circuit.

Porpoising isn’t a new problem, in fact, it was quite the challenge back in the old days of ground effect F1 cars, and now on the first day of pre-season testing here at Barcelona, it seems some teams are having similar problems.

The term itself comes from the effect porpoising causes whereby it can cause resonance (i.e the car rocks back and forth) like the aquatic porpoise creature dipping in and out of the ocean.

On F1 cars, porpoising comes from airflow separation problems. With the underfloor responsible for a much higher percentage of the front downforce and running close to track surface, the new cars are a likely candidate to suffer from this problem.



However, it could be set off from the front wing so the teams need to investigate where the problem originates from and not just blindly try to fix it.

Porpoising happens as the car is approaching maximum speed and hence load, which in turn reduces the ride height. If the separation is sufficient to mean that the downforce is reducing, then the car will be released and the ride height will increase.

Then, the airflow will reattach and the ride height will again reduce creating the same separation. This cycle will continue with the front of the car bouncing up and down.

The fix is to make sure the downforce is never reduced. The effect of the separation on the downforce produced should mean it is either linear or increases at a slower rate. It is about finding a happy medium so the car does not bounce around so much.

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I remember in the old days of F1, the ground-effect Ligier (pictured above in Argentina in 1979) going past the pits at Monza porpoising so badly that the front tyres were coming off the ground by a good two inches!

 

If it is that bad for Ferrari and Charles is quickest, while the Alfa broke its floor imagine Batteri Voltas and Zhou bouncing like kangooroos

Neither cars nor drivers would last a race distance like that....serious sorting out to do.

in FIA GT in the days of the Mercedes, McLarens etc I saw the Merc factory team at Sebring had an actual sea container absolutely full of floors, they ran them practically against the ground so they wore out fast, one per session or so.

 

Leave it up to the FIA and the "technical working group" or whatever they're called today to make a catastrophic **** up like this, at the same time having only 6 days of testing.

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Mazapin Sr may be unable to transfer funds out of Russia anyway. That also put Mazepin Jr's career in doubt perhaps.

 

Yes possible major crisis.
Either they have to run the cars rock hard like karts which is likely to be undriveable OR vote unanimously to get rid of underbody downforce alltogether: flat floors. A major rush job redesign of the underside and many all nighters for teams. But then they would need big old school wings again...and there is not time to make new ones now before the first race so...? Modify the current wings for much bigger effect...F1 may have painted itself into a bad corner...

 

Will need a combination of floor and wing altering to compensate. Time works against them possibly. After yesterday I think parts are being made to test already lol. They are quick to adapt. Is there enough time ??

 

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True and the 'sim' is not a track either. Well we are here now. Lets see what the teams discover and provide to counter this.

 

Interesting to see who is most resourceful; this is a dream challenge for major talents like Adrian Newey.

 

In the "olden days", after the Lotus 79 had won the World Championship, Colin Chapman attempted to eliminate wings by increasing downforce in the Lotus 80, but the porpoising was problematic. Wings were added back but eventually the car was shelved and the drivers went back to the 79, which was now outdated. The Arrows A2 was the other car that I remember having similar porpoising problems, and it too was abandoned.

 

And designer Ducarouge fixed this by putting in an illegal pressure relief trap door—also helping reduce drag—hidden below the rads until discovered by Piola:

https://motorsport.tv/f1-updates/video/discovering-an-illegal-secret-on-a-formula-1-car/28388

 

Seems like some simple active aero in the floor may fix this.

 

What do the regs specify on 'active aero' devices...........

 

So why racing in Saudi Arabia which is killing innocent people in Yemen right now ?
Drivers shouldn’t do politics, they are not legitimate to do this.

 

The only movable aero device allowed is the DRS.

Maybe teams can find a way to stall out the floor at a given speed, or flex the fences that lead into the venturi tunnels, but technically that would be against the regs.

 

Change them.

 

So if Haas continues and Uralkali is out who gets Mazepin's seat(unless he got the drive on merit)?
Piastri?