2022 car comparison thread

[silver]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/the- ... /10247155/
https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl ... ari-1.webp
Funny how under the last set of regulations this would be the last thing a team would do.

Wide and outwashing sidepods seem like the only way to go...

A team that designed their car as an "undercut car" just killed said undercut to create outwash...
That can be a huge sign.

Any truth to these murmurs?

Have the likes of McLaren, Williams and Mercedes missed the boat, or are these murmurs unfounded and there is more than one good solution to upper bodywork?

In the absence of erstwhile barge boards to manage the wake, it appears sidepods are the new barge boards. In the past, a well sorted flowstream could be pushed to the undercut tunnel or over tight sidepods and over the diffuser and increase the downforce. But without the barge boards that ability seems to have gone. Without the ability to sort the upstream flow structures, having tight body work or a tunnel means letting more of wake to go downstream and that's not helping in downforce generation and also leading to drag.

This is all relative and when some teams were working in dark before the season started, probably their numbers appeared all good, only to see other teams having understood the impact of lack of barge boards and their bet to go with bulgier sidepods seems to have been more effective solution. Ferrari wasn't wrong when they commented on Mercedes' new sidepods in second test when they said they had that model before ditching it.

[BlueCheetah66]

I think it's fair to say that even with all the variation in sidepods we've had at the start of the season, I expect next season's teams to converge on either Red Bulls or Ferraris solution. Maybe the Mercedes if the benefits do come through. I hope someone finds a new solution for next season to add a bit more variance to it

[JordanMugen]

In the absence of erstwhile barge boards to manage the wake, it appears sidepods are the new barge boards.

Now McLaren have joined the shaped sidepod club, with halfway house tub-pods (not as wide as Red Bull or Aston Martin or Ferrari or Alfa Romeo or even Alpine or AlphaTauri, but rather an iteration of their existing design):

seem a bit interim between their own and rb, ren etc. They have more of a ramp to help guide the air down the sidepod and the air going around the sidepod is now guided by a tunnel, before it was just one big "open" area like merc. And looking at both rb, renault, ferrari etc, theyre all using the sidepod to guide the air, so seem the right way forward

@AlbertFabrega

https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl ... lea-1.webp

Will Williams and Mercedes eventually join the club too?

[JordanMugen]

Unlike the optimists, i think they have a very important decision for 2023 to make.

So Mercedes are wrong to pursue micro-pods?

[dialtone]

Leclerc v Max rear wing after quali in Spain. Maybe it's just the angle but it seems like the RBR wing has more camber.

[Big Tea]

Unlike the optimists, i think they have a very important decision for 2023 to make.

So Mercedes are wrong to pursue micro-pods?

Only they know what the estimated 'potential performance' they can expect to achieve from this design and a swap to the sidepod design would be.
If there is easy gain from a swap to sidepods but limited extra scope, and difficult to achieve from this design but far more potential the decision would then need to be how much of either they can use in the future.

While not really out of the question, getting another title this year is a long shot, so starting next year with a car they developed the potential of this year and could run up front would look to me a better option.

Only they know the pros and cons. (Won't stop us discussing it though )

[101FlyingDutchman]

That front wing comparison is illuminating. Totally different flow structure or not optimised on the AM (yet)

[Marble]

Comparative pics of the evolutions brought to Barcelona, team by team :

https://blog.autoplus.fr/moncet/2022/05 ... lone-2022/

[AeroDynamic]

[diffuser]

Ride hight difference in FP1 ...

[Mansell89]

Ride hight difference in FP1 ...

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... -01-17.jpg

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... -27-19.jpg

Is the Alpine just too conservative a car do you think?

[diffuser]

Ride hight difference in FP1 ...

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... -01-17.jpg

https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/upl ... -27-19.jpg

Is the Alpine just too conservative a car do you think?

Hopefully we'll get new picture after FP2 that show they've lowered the car. Maybe they were testing stuff in FP1. It sure seemed like it like they were testing stuff.

Plus the car isn't traveling very fast where this picture was taken. Maybe Alpine run a softer suspension with a higher initial hight but as the car accelerates is drops down to the same height....


"Toto Wolff says a stiff suspension set-up used on the Mercedes W13 during first practice was responsible for the severe vibrations Lewis Hamilton complained about."
https://www.racefans.net/2022/05/27/sti ... ice-wolff/

[diffuser]

More Ride hieght

[Blackout]

Man, these cars dont only have different aeros, their monocoques are also very diverse with some radical/exotic designs. This is how the back of these 4 monocoques seem to be shaped (roughly - and if you only look at the bulkhead and discard the rest).
So one of the biggest differentiator is how the side coolers are pushed inside the tub recesses and how some designs favour a low centre of gravity, while others favor overall slimness and frontal area....

RB is kinda similar to Merc but they have cut the bulkhead so high up* that they need to add that metallic extension to support the mid engine mounting point...
*for slimness but also to pass the compressor-interccolers-plenum pipes IMO

[Stu]

Man, these cars dont only have different aeros, their monocoques are also very diverse with some radical/exotic designs. This is how the back of these 4 monocoques seem to be shaped (roughly - and if you only look at the bulkhead and discard the rest).
So one of the biggest differentiator is how the side coolers are pushed inside the tub recesses and how some designs favour a low centre of gravity, while others favor overall slimness and frontal area....

RB is kinda similar to Merc but they have cut the bulkhead so high up* that they need to add that metallic extension to support the mid engine mounting point...
*for slimness but also to pass the compressor-interccolers-plenum pipes IMO

https://i.imgur.com/R2xkSbq.jpg

While the McLaren looks the most conventional at the bulkhead, the are achieving a similar effect by moving their cooling forwards (it is located diagonally through the gap between the SIS).

Great bit of research, @Blackout, thanks for taking the time and posting it.