F1 2024 - News/Regulation change/Developments

He assumes he has it evidently. To the detriment of all teams and the sport overall. He is idiot #1 administratively so far.

 

Former F1 driver Kovalainen to undergo open-heart surgery
Former Formula 1 and Super GT driver Heikki Kovalainen will undergo open-heart surgery after being diagnosed with ascending aortic aneurysm, a medical condition that affects the arteries.

 

This will end the debate about 2022 and driver safety and TD—
Max Verstappen and George Russell lead calls for major F1 car change due to health fears

According to the BBC, Verstappen raised the subject with the FIA in Bahrain with his complaints centered on “our comfort, our spine, compression over the bumps.”

With F1 set for another technical overhaul in 2026, and the exact rules set to be finalised in June, Verstappen said his motive for making the FIA aware if the situation was “just some advice to look ahead” – insisting the governing body has to “revise” it for the new generation of car.

“End of the straight with full load, the impact is too high with the low ride-heights,” Verstappen is quoted as saying.

“We still run very low but I don’t think the 2026 car is going to be any different,” he added.

Mercedes star Russell described the situation as “unsustainable” – claiming every bump is felt by the driver’s body with the cars so close to the ground.

He explained: “All the drivers have been speaking with F1 because it is a little bit unsustainable to keep running the cars like this.

 

Put in a rule stipulating that the slowest lap without incurring a 10-grid-spot penalty is 5 seconds slower than <expected> pole position time.

 

Either give them back the exotic suspension systems,
OR
give them movable aerodynamics.

 

How about no stopping in the pit lane once released - and 3 seconds slower than expected and fuel them for a min of 3 laps. I have zero sympathy for the drivers. Shut up and drive. They self create this mess mostly.

Either what you or I propose or just go back to single car qualy. None of this requires Phd level analysis!

 

Burden worth BILLIONS - Is F1 becoming a Liberty Media liability?
https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/1014805/f1-liberty-media-billion-dollar-burden/

Formula 1's growing popularity

This transformation has been nothing short of remarkable, making Formula 1 appeal to a broader audience than ever before.

The celebrity factor that names like Guenther Steiner and Christian Horner come with in 2024 is sizeable, and these characters somehow hold the same gravitas as some of the top drivers.

These once-supporting cast personalities within the paddock have become as much a part of the spectacle as the racing itself, contributing significantly to the sport's growing appeal.

As Max Verstappen sets off for what is almost certainly his fourth consecutive championship, and the also-rans strap in for another 2023 season, it's not the wheel-to-wheel action on race day that's generating interest and headlines.

Haas not renewing Steiner's contract, Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari, Christian Horner and Mohammed Ben Sulayem subject to separate investigations... each of these are the topics of gossip and conversation I'm having with my friends who have become casual fans.

They aren't spending three days of their weeks watching hours of television as they might've done in the nailbiting 2021 season because they already know who will win the race.

Why bother watching days of racing when seven minutes of YouTube can tell the shorter version of the same story?

 

Albon - please stop talking. I dont want to see the camera focused on P8-P20 the entire race. No its not exciting. What is exciting is the lack of knowledge on who might just win.

Albon: Tightest midfield ever makes F1 exciting, not ‘boring’

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/what-f1-rear-wings-are-telling-us-about-the-2024-tech-battle/10587876/

What F1 rear wings are telling us about the 2024 tech battle
Red Bull’s dominance in Formula 1’s new ground-effect era has taught many teams that aero efficiency is critical to delivering success.
Jonathan Noble Matt Somerfield Mar 16, 2024, 10:56 AM
Upd: Mar 16, 2024, 3:24 PM


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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Steven Tee / Motorsport Images


While downforce remains an important factor, you will not get far these days if it comes with too much drag. The rewards are huge if you can deliver a car that is super strong in a straight line.

Many of Max Verstappen’s successes have been built on the way in which either he is unpassable at the front or he can easily scythe his way through the pack, because of an inherent top speed advantage.

But achieving the right downforce/drag level for a track is not as easy as it was in the past, where rear wing designs meant the flaps were adjustable, so things could be trimmed up or down depending on what was best.

With the modern generation of rear wings, and the way the rules are configured, flap angles are fixed. The game has therefore changed and, if a team wants to deliver a lot less drag or a lot more downforce, then that means a totally different rear wing.

Over the first two years of the current rules era, a number of teams had perhaps not focused as much attention on this area – but that has all changed now as the reality has bit about this critical element of performance.

As McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained, the only way teams can adjust drag levels now is with new families of wings.

“Once you have a certain car that is relatively mature, like the launch car, the drag level is pretty much set by the rear wing,” he said. “Because you have all the bodywork, floor, and front wing, you need to kind of redesign new families of rear wings [to compensate].

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Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“You design new families of rear wings because you see that in introducing new families, you just find more efficient rear wings. So, it's not like the rear wing needs to follow, in terms of drag level, the overall car. It almost has an independent journey.”

But this is not to say that teams can pursue a super-low-drag wing and expect it to automatically work.

The current cars are very much about how every aero component talks to another, so being able to trim back on a rear wing can only come if there is a degree of confidence over the rest of its performance.

As Stella added: “The rear wing does interact with the shape of the bodywork, with the shape of the floor, and with the rear brakes.

“So, you do have to do all this combination creating the car as a single element, in harmony with the rest. But it's not like you need to change the concept of rear wing because you change drag level. The drag level is very much set by the rear wing.”

The proof of how much teams are playing around with drag levels was shown in Saudi Arabia last weekend as teams put a lot of effort into trying to find the right approach for the first low-downforce track of the season.

Mercedes W15 rear wing comparison, Saudi Arabian GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Mercedes ran with two specifications of rear wing during the course of the race weekend, as it tried to find the right performance balance for both qualifying and the race.

Both drivers ran the lower-downforce arrangement on Thursday for FP1 and FP2 but Lewis Hamilton, perhaps in search of some answers and a little more balance, made the switch to the higher-downforce arrangement used in Bahrain for FP3.

However, needing the top speed offered by the lower-downforce configuration, both drivers ended up utilising it for qualifying and the race.

In terms of the wing’s design, the two solutions have a comparable overall DNA, with the spoon-shaped mainplane’s central section reduced in chord and the outer portion tapered less toward the endplate.

The tip section’s leading edge appears to be drawn down over the endplate more so than before and covers the metal attachment point, which sits astride the rolled mainplane and endplate junction, with all of those surfaces – including the rear cutout – having an impact on the vortex that’s formed.

Notably, the upper flap also features a semi-circular notch in the central section that's been trimmed from the trailing edge in order to better manage the airflow across that portion of the wing.

Interestingly, Mercedes seemed to pair its lower-downforce rear wing arrangement with the same beam wing arrangement as it had used with the higher-downforce wing in Bahrain, which is contrary to what a lot of its rivals did in Saudi Arabia.

Ferrari SF-24 rear wing detail, Saudi Arabian GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Ferrari announced via the car presentation document ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that it had a new, lower-downforce rear wing at its disposal. But, having done the same last season, the Scuderia never actually put the assembly on its car, instead favouring the same design used in Bahrain.

However, it did have another trick up its sleeve in order to help reduce drag and boost its straight-line and high-speed corner performance. It ran just a single beam wing element, rather than the bi-plane arrangement seen on the SF-24 in Bahrain.

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McLaren MCL38 rear wing detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

McLaren’s lower-downforce rear wing includes two different design features on the upper flap, as it joins a growing contingent of teams to redeploy a centreline notch on the flap’s trailing edge.

However, in McLaren’s case, it has gone one step further, as the flap is also sunken around the notch to create a different flow environment on the lead up to the semi-circular cutout.

Similarly to Ferrari, McLaren also opted for just a single-element beam-wing arrangement for the MCL38 in Saudi Arabia.

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Aston Martin AMR24 rear wing detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Aston Martin was another team to don a new rear wing in Saudi Arabia, with a focus on reducing downforce and drag.

And, like what we’ve already encountered elsewhere, the trailing edge of the AMR24’s upper flap had a centreline notch cut into it.

The outboard section of the wing had also been treated to some changes, with the trailing edge tapered to meet with a shallower, dog-eared tip section, in order to reduce downforce and influence the resultant vortex generated in this region.

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Aston Martin AMR23 and AMR24 diffuser wing detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Elsewhere on the Aston Martin car, Saudi offered us a glimpse of an extra aero tweak that the team had tried in 2023 but couldn’t get to work properly.

It had introduced a bow-tie-like crash structure winglet at the Dutch GP last season but struggled to prevent it becoming damaged during pitstops, even though it had also designed a new jack to accommodate it.

For 2024, the team has overhauled the arrangement, as the AMR24 now features two winglets: one attached to the side of the crash structure, while another, flatter winglet than the one used last season, sits on the back of the crash structure.

 

Pirelli's new F1 tyre plan for 2025 set to address overheating problems
Pirelli has confidence that a new range of tyres it plans to introduce to Formula 1 next year will reduce the overheating problems that are hurting the racing.


As F1 teams have fully understood the new ground-effect regulations, they have found ways to increase the downforce and better manipulate outwash to improve their performance.

But one of the consequences of this is that it is getting much harder for drivers to follow each other, and that means tyres can overheat quickly if cars start sliding in the dirty air of a rival.

This is believed to have been a contributing factor in why overtaking has become harder, and the field spreads out so quickly in races now, as drivers have to get out of the turbulence of the car in front so they can better manage their tyre temperatures.

Pirelli has been aware of this problem for a while and undertook a great deal of analysis last winter to try to get to the bottom of what was causing the overheating issue – and how it could be addressed.

Tests have taken place with new tyre designs at Barcelona and Jerez, and the next run will take place at Suzuka after next month’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Speaking to Autosport about the improvements planned, Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing Mario Isola said the focus right now was on a new construction to address the overheating.

 

Hint, reduce car weights by 200 Kg and the tire heating problem will vanish.......

 

Too easy, no drama, no sexting etc lol

 

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Interesting insight into the Driver/Engineer relationship in current F1 teams via the BBC.

Fear, faith, friendship: Inside F1’s most precious relationship

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/68597260

 

F1 owner Liberty Media set to finalise purchase of MotoGP
Formula 1 owner Liberty Media intends to finalise its purchase of the MotoGP World Championship for a figure of around €4 billion.

 

Liberty would buy outright Dona Sports that holds the rights of MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships, as well as the World Superbike and Supersport Championships and the MotoE series. In fact, all the major world motorcycle series.

 

The title should say, "Not content with only destroying Formula 1, Liberty Media seeks to destroy MotoGP as well"

 

I hope they don't !!!

MotoGP and WSBK are 2 series that were running independently before they came under Dorna's umbrella .
There were talks, a few years back, to amalgamate them to only one championship.
I hope it won't happend under Liberty. That's the main worry for motorcle racing enthusiasts.
It's better to have the prototype series (MotoGP) and the production based series (WSBK) separate, IMO.
But, there are a few good ideas for Liberty to pick up from these 2 series that could be brought into F1.

 

Pulled from another forum:
--Fortunately for MotoGP fans, it's impossible to race motorbikes between walls, it will save their championship. Good for them.--

Im certain Liberty is going to try the idiocy of more street circuits. Bump ticket prices way up and also provide NETFLIX with another soap opera, and hype the celebrity, influencer mob to over-run the grid!

 

The Macau GP and the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy prove it's not impossible to race between walls.

 

Exactly. Liberty is a volume business and streets are inexpensive with high priced tickets = high profit! That location/experience formula for money!