Indianapolis US GP 2002

With all teams currently working very hard at the 2003 championship contender, there are nearly some changes noticeable at the cars. Most time is spent for the future, and for these last races of 2002, some parts like front wings and their end plates are recovered from being used earlier in this year (most likely from tracks more or less resembling Indianapolis).

Covering it all up

I get more and more tempted to say that the Ferrari barge boards are more or less useless to the aerodynamics of the car, and are only there because of esthetic reasons, and trying to cover some specialties from the other teams. Barge boards, as small as Ferrari's, can block the better view on the spiller underneath the cockpit and nose cone, and the lower front part of the side pods. A severe crash of Barrichello permits us to see some more detailed pictures about these particular items of the F2002. The splitter is more or less like you can imagine, with the most up front part holding suspension arms of the front wheels. Furthermore, the air under the monocoque is then splitted on both sides and below the underside of the car, to direct air to the diffuser.

The left picture shows what it is really about. Right above the underside of the side pod, you can see the bottom front slope up. In opposite to all other teams, the air intake box is not just a bent rectangle that catches air flowing onto it but more like an air director, especially the area that is normally covered with a barge board. The spiller under the nose redirects a lot of air around the monocoque, and it is exactly that air, coming from under the center of the nose that is also guided to the water and oil coolers in the side pods.

The other two pictures show how air can flow under the nose without much resistance, and maybe even more importantly, without having to go downwards, which would work opposite to the downforce, and thus decrease it.

Snapshots

Sauber's 'stop aids' campaign continues on both the mirrors and barge boards, and will still be there in Suzuka. Meanwhile,, Sauber have constructed a double barge board, consisting of one small on the outer side of the usual, quite large barge board. They showed up with it at Indianapolis, but were certainly not the first team to introduce a wind channel barge board. McLaren have had such barge boards for some time now, with a channel that guides the air as good as possible around the side pods.

Williams is starting to show inconsistency like Ferrari when it comes to the front wing. JP Montoya started the weekend with a flat front wing, that was formerly used in the beginning of the season, while R Schumacher drove the Ferrari -like curved front wing. This was probably for some testing seasons as they both switched to the curved new specification as commonly used in the most recent GP's by Williams. The front wing end plates are also a subject for discussion at the team. Each grand prix they come up with something else. The one at Indianapolis was completely different from all others before, leaving out the winglet, and now having a groove at the underside (see picture).

Michael Schumacher once again came up with a new helmet, now separating his breath air, and the air in contact with his visor. Since drivers are more and more pushed to keep their visor closed during pit stops for safety reasons, they must find a way to prevent a decrease of visibility due to the driver's breath. Schumacher's system consists of a layer of rubber that separates those two areas in his helmet, and thus allows him to keep his helmet closed all the time.

The side pod story

There has been a lot of fuss about the use and shape of side pods at the different F1 teams. First of all, you can find a large paragraph about the F2002's side pods in the specials part, F2002 on this site. We know by now that it is important to keep the side pods as compact as possible. The lower and smaller your side pod, the more efficient the rear wing can be. The F2002 has quite high pods at the front, but those are quickly sloping down towards the end of the car. Williams saw early this season that was one of the necessary things to make their car competitive against Ferrari. Therefore, lots of changes have been made, with reasonably low pods as a result (see picture). This way, a smaller amount of air is disturbed by the water cooling inside the pods, and can flow over the side pods without hindrance onto the rear wing generating more downforce.

BAR on the opposite have had problems with reliability, leaving a lot less time left for aerodynamic enhancements. The fact is they have very high side pods, disturbing a lot of air, possibly because of the Honda engine that needs more cooling than the BMW. Anyway, the reason for it doesn't really matter, they should just get on with it and find a way to make the side pods smaller if they want to move up the grid next year.

Noticed...

• For the first time in 10 years, a woman drove a Formula one car. Sarah Fisher made a demonstration run after friday's free practice, and drove three laps in the MP4/17. The 21-year-old made history earlier this year by being the first female ever to take a pole position for an Indy Racing League event, when she set the pace in qualifying for the Belterra Casino 300 at the Kentucky Speedway.
• HH Frentzen was driving car number 8, to avoid a sanctioning of the FIA to relegate Massa 10 places back on the grid, following his collision with De La Rosa's Jaguar in Monza two weeks ago. Apparently, Frentzen was not yet used to the car, and was slower than his teammate at Sauber, Nick Heidfeld, during the whole weekend.
• Williams appeared once again with a slightly modified flap up, which is now a little rounded between the two rear wheels, thus allowing a little more air to escape from the flip up and flow between the wheels to the rear wing.
• The Indianapolis podium showed a novelty in showing the best of the race. The winning car is being lifter up about 2 meters above the ground to express its superiority together with the drivers.
• Patrick Head was very angry after the collision in the second lap of the race between both Williams teammates. He said a beautiful chance of finishing on the podium had been lost by a stupid incident, although he would not out himself on who he thought was to blame.
• Ferrari noticed the closest win ever in formula one this weekend. Barrichello has the honor to write this new all time record on his name, after a tiny little move of Schumacher, probably letting him pass to thank him for the season. Most critics though believe it was a complete error of Schumacher, who would only liked to have the Ferrari's cross the brickyard side by side