2022 F1 Launch dates and car reveals

The Red Bull looks an Alpha Tauri clone. Oh, surprise.

 

W13 might be the ugliest one this year with those kinked sidepods.

 

Surprise, Lewis is looking at his phone. Never underestimate Mercedes.

 

Be interesting what all the teams show on last day of Bahrain testing.

 

The more I see it, the more I am worried about the Mercedes. Those that think it's very conventional, and not radical and therefore going to be slow are fooling themselves.

The sidepods are VERY tight. Look how much of the floor is exposed. With all the air that will flow over the floor towards the beam wing and the top of the diffuser should have a huge pressure differential which means more downforce.

The 45 degree flat panel to the outside of the cooling inlets are even larger with their clever mounting of their mirrors. They really want to kick out the dirty wake off the front tires and force it outwards hard. This keeps air going to the back of the car clean, and it potentially can reduce drag if it steers the air away from the rear tires. This also will make it more difficult for the cars behind them to stay close.

As mentioned already, the front wing connection points allow a massive central opening for clean air to go through. Plus so far the only team that may get a "Y250" vortex to energize airflow either towards the undercuts, or towards the most aggressive strakes leading into the tunnels. Mercedes have all their strakes very far forward, like want to work the underbody as quick and hard as possible. Their front wing profile also seems heavily targeted around downforce generated by the front wing.

With basic aero fundamentals like getting clean air where you want it, pressure differentials, angles of attack, etc. The Mercedes appears like it will general the most downforce of all the cars seen so far. However, it would be reasonable to assume it could come at the cost of drag. Unfortunately that's not usually a problem for Mercedes as they will likely still hold a significant power advantage over everyone.

 

I'm quite worried about this. The Y250 vortex was extremely powerful, and I can't see why it wouldn't be useful to energize air towards the undercuts, and more so the tunnels under the car. This might be why Mercedes have their straights so for forward.

Also look at the size of the wing differences. It's like a Monaco package vs a Spa package. At least launch car vs launch car, I'd go all in on a bet that the Mercedes is making more downforce. From this view, it appears the main element of the rear wing on the Mercedes does not have the typical tear drop profile. I'd like to see more of that.

 

The Ferrari is so different that any comparison is impossible. It seems they even don't care about undercut and tight sidepods, the basics of aero in F1 for the last 20 years.

 

They released 2 different sets of imagines as well...I looked at the one that made it look quite...boring. The other ones are indeed more in line with what you say. Unfortunately.

 

Mercedes aero does not get the credit it deserves. They are not incapable at all. I hope Ferrari are up to the challenge this year. We need wins!

 

A lot of wins actually!! Mercedes is, it seems, some 50-80 wins shy of the total wins in Grandprix held since the inception, which is being held by Ferrari till now. It could change soon in the coming years if we have an non-competitive engine. Ferrari has a lot to deliver than what is being made out.

 

Its difficult to compare the aerodynamics of pre-testing launch cars as they can all follow different routes but end up equal. I am glad SF went with the pushrod front setup as the earlier indications of a pullrod suspension could have been a disaster.

Mercedes learned a lot form Forumale E about ground effect and undoubtebly gained huge knowledge and possibly the upper hand for competing in that series and not handicapped by the current testing & wind tunnel restrictions endured by other F1 teams.

As the old saying goes - when the flags drops the BS stops.

To be brutal, I dont have a lot of faith in Sanchez. He hasnt done much in the last 4-5 years. Lets hope he has had all last year to sharpen his pencil. Lets also hope the team work as a team too, strategy is key part of racing (unfortunately) today.

As for Todt coming back - Whats the point of hiring him as a consultant. He will have no authority like he used to in the politics of the team, full control or none!

I just hope Rory Byrne is behind the concept of this car, he is undoubtebly Neweys nemesis. RBR is the team to watch with the new regulations.

Tony

 

Does anyone think the E effort at Mercedes last year was predicated on F1 cross over lol??? Of course

PU development with multiple engines changed etc

Aero-wise Mercedes are equal as a team to RedBull

Given how few updates Mercedes actually installed - essentially winning both titles minus the mess at Yas - the team Im most focused on after Ferrari is not RedBull lol. Mercedes are a unified and focused operation. Everything I wish Ferrari were right now.

Mercedes could also have all this very wrong same for Ferrari and RedBull as well.

 

Possibly but look at the experience at RB in comparison to SF. Its going to be hard to leapfrog RB & MB in one foul swoop. I'd settle for winning 5 GPs this year and build on that. They have the drivers and I must say Sainz has exceeded my expectations, but then both havent been subjected to the intense pressures of a WDC battle with a formidable driver such a LH.

As you say SF could pull the rabbit out of the hat and sweep to WDC WCC for 2022, but then the alarm clock went off and I woke up

 

Gold wheels on the F1-75 would be epic!


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat

 

No pic, Joe.

 

This picture shows very well that the projected frontal area, the A in the equation for drag…

D = Cd * A * .5 * r * V^2

…is pretty much similar for the two cars, with the Ferrari having slightly taller sidepods but no blockage below the mirror and smaller inlet behind the driver versus the Merc with its mirror support vortex generators and bulkier centreline cooling.

As regards frontal area, the Merc pylon undercut is masked by the tires and the FW. And know that the rotating tires and the wings on an F1 are responsible for probably the majority of the drag.

Both cars have a similar sized “W” rear wing and flap with Ferrari’s mainplane less cambered outboard. These could also be different DF configuration cars. The Ferrari FW seems evenly loaded across its span compared to the Merc.

Ultimately, it seems Ferrari is creating, with its tall and blunt sidepods, downwash (to guide the air down into the tunnel entrances) and outwash to manage the front wheel wake without the use of, for example, Merc’s concave sidepod corner and the vortex generators on top of the sidepods—both pretty dirty aero devices.

The shape of the Ferrari’s sidepods effectively accelerate the air as it flows around the front corner and the reduced pressure here helps draw air from the front of the tunnels so reducing underfloor pressure and aiding the flow through the tunnels. There is even a useful undercut—more than is noticeable in some pictures:

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Not sure how that would really help them as this is a spec series and with a very different configuration of car, even if ground effect.

The work done last year, working with the practically abandoned 2020 car—with the outdated nose not revised in 2020 because they thought they were going to the new rules in 2021–and with limited token opportunities was pretty impressive. Also considering they basically put no new bits on the car all year long save the updated hybrid system.

They’ve mentioned and this shows that they have their simulation tools working well

This new car’s side pods remind me of his ‘94 and ‘95 Benettons, especially the ‘95 with its raised outer sections of the sidepods:
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Unfortunately, it also kind of reminds me of the side pods of this car, LOL:
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