F1
The world of Formula One is about to change. Drastically.
- 1950 – Inaugural season of what they called the pinnacle of motorsports, and the return of racing post the Second World War
- 1954 – The 1.5L Force Induced and 4.5L Naturally Aspirated engines are replaced by engines limited to 750cc FI and 2.5L NA
- 1958 – Use of Petrol is mandated, all alcohol-based racing fuels banned
- 1961 – All front engined cars are replaced by mid-engined cars, engine capacity revised to 1.5L, compressors banned, safety equipment for drivers and team compulsory, double braking system standard, flag signaling code introduced
- 1962 – An Aluminium-monocoque chassis replaces the space frame design
- 1966 – Movable aero parts banned, turbos are back, dimensional restrictions imposed
- 1971 – Total race distance restricted to 320 kilometres
- 1972 – Advent of the 6-point safety harness in cars and drivers sign code of conduct
- 1976 – Airboxes on top of cars banned
- 1977 – Colin Chapman of Lotus invents the ‘ground effect’ aerodynamics
- 1978 – Gordon Murray invents the ‘Fan car’ for Brabham in answer to the ‘ground effect’
- 1980 – Minimum weight of the car set to 575kgs
- 1982 – Lotus invents ‘active suspension’ and the wide spread use of semi-automatic gearboxes and electronic aids emerges, Rotary engines, diesel engines, gas turbine engines and Sarich Orbital engines all banned
- 1983 – ‘Ground effect’ aerodynamics are banned
- 1984 – In-race fuelling banned, maximum fuel capacity per race set to 220 litres
- 1987 – Turbo boost restricted to 4 bars and then 2.5 bars of maximum pressure
- 1989 – Turbo engines are banned
- 1994 – Electronic driver aids are banned, mid-race fuelling allowed, pit-lane speed limit introduced
- 1998 – Concorde agreement signed between teams for further safety in Formula One
- 2000 – Engines limited to 3L V10s
- 2002 – Team orders are banned
- 2006 – Engine size reduced to 2.4L 90-degree V8s, only 14 tyres allowed per weekend
- 2007 – Rev Limit of 19000rpm set, Tuned mass damper system banned
- 2008 – Traction control banned finally for good, standard ECU to be used by all teams, limits on testing in-between seasons
- 2009 – Banning of all aero devices except front and rear wings, Slick tyres make a comeback to Formula 1, KERS introduced
- 2010 – In-race refueling banned again, number of engines limited to 8 per season, teams agree to not use KERS
- 2011 – Double diffuser concept, adjustable front wings banned, adjustable rear wing introduced called Drag Reduction System or DRS, KERS use becomes standard
- 2012 – Off blown diffuser banned, exhaust pipe raised
- 2013 – Double DRS banned, Maximum weight increased to 642kgs
Formula One is an ever-changing, ever-evolving sport that undergoes alterations every year. These changes are made on account of safety, fairness, promotion, clarity, uniformity and the greater good of the sport. However, a few years have seen massive changes that transformed the sport completely – like the revised engine capacities, the advent of aerodynamics, the signing of the Concorde agreement, the banning of turbos amongst many others. But never has a single season seen such transformation at one go. 2014 is a milestone season that will alter the look, sound and feel of the sport for good. The new drivers’ line up is something every Formula One fan is looking forward to. Even the F1 pundits are refraining from any prediction and analysis before the season is under way. This is primarily because of the biggest set of changes in rules and regulations and as a consequence, the massive transformation of the cars themselves. As goes the phrase around the paddock: everything’s back in the melting pot.
THE POWERTRAIN
Amidst massive protests from fans, 2014 will mark the burial of the melodic and heavenly-sounding V8s. They will be replaced by significantly smaller 1.6-litre (and this is not a typo) V6 engines. But they won’t be naturally aspirated like the V8s – the V6s will be turbocharged. It would be wide off the mark to exclaim that the crazy ‘turbo era’ of the 70s and 80s is back, because this time around the application and the significance of turbos is radically different. The 70-80s ‘turbo era’ was about more and more power, almost savage power that was untamable. The return of the turbos is largely aimed toward downsizing engines so as to improve efficiency, frugality and to reduce emissions. What’s more: These engines are hybrid powertrains that harness electric energy and feed it to the engine’s output. Not very adrenaline-inducing when read first, and I know that even road cars run on 1.6-litre turbo petrol V6s and hybrids. But hold your prejudice right there! If you think the 2014 Formula One engines are anything close to your 1.6 Ecoboost engines or your Priuses, you couldn’t be further from truth. Let me begin by throwing a figure at you right away – a combined 760 horsepower. That’s comparable to what last year’s V8s made. The introduction of turbochargers means that there will be a lot more torque at lower revs which leads to two things: one – better management of tyres – a lot more low-end torque means a lot more unwanted tyre spin (in fact Pirelli have already made alterations to the tyres for 2014 to make them more resilient to the extra torque). The other more significant consequence will be that the drivers will have to be very skillful with the throttle, ergo you can expect to see lots of racing action. The Kinetic Energy Recovery system was used last year as well, but its effect was more as an engine aide rather than a parallel source of power. The 2013 KERS system produced an extra 80 horsepower which was available to the driver for only about 6 seconds per lap. The 2014 Energy Recovery System or ERS uses two recovery systems – heat and kinetic ERSs. The overall unit is much larger and can produce an additional 160 horsepower above the engine’s 600 horsepower output, which is available to the driver for as much as 33 seconds per lap. And unlike last year’s KERS activation button that was available at the driver’s discretion, the ERS system is governed by an electronic control unit. The FIA has further imposed restrictions on the total fuel load that a car can carry to 100kgs per race, and the fuel consumption rate to 100kgs per hour. So at maximum flow the fuel will run out in about 60 minutes in a 150-180 minute race. And that makes both the engineers’ and the drivers’ jobs rather tricky. They will have to draw up a very complicated and precise balance between maximizing performance and saving fuel. The number of engines permitted over a season has been cut down from 8 to a mere 5, which might see a few constructors playing it safe in the first part of the season.
Now, since the size of the ERS batteries will be considerably larger than last year, the size of the radiator will also increase substantially, not to mention the requirement of an intercooler for the turbo. This translates into a need for larger cooling surfaces housed within the side pods (The ERS generates three times the amount of heat as the older KERS). This increases the size of the side pods which also serves an ancillary purpose – that of providing extra protection during a side impact. The biggest differentiator in the pre-season testing performances of chassis makers like Red Bull Racing, Lotus and other Renault-engined teams over factory teams like Ferrari and Mercedes is that the latter have had an advantage during the engine development stage, as they could develop the chassis side by side to incorporate the changes in the powertrain. On the other hand, RBR and their like just haven’t had the time to package their powertrain well enough and fine tune the chassis accordingly, which is the biggest source of their struggle.
The 2014 season will also see the introduction of an 8-speed gearbox which will have fixed ratios. Unlike last year, where the teams had to choose 30 gear ratios at the start of the season and use any 7 of those during a race, for 2014, constructors must choose the 8 gears before the first race and then use only those for the rest of the season. If the car faces massive problems due to the choice of ratios, the ratios can be changed only once, after which they would incur penalties. This is an intriguing rule for two reasons: teams will have to strike a balance for all kinds of circuits – from Monaco to Monza. The other interesting thing will be to see how constructors use the one-change loophole mid-season to benefit them for the rest of the season. The use of gearboxes is restricted to one gearbox per every six consecutive races. Although gears or dog rings may be changed without incurring a penalty if severe gearbox damage is reported.
A major topic of discussion is how the sound of Formula One will change with this new powertrain. From naturally aspirated V8 engines screaming at 18000RPM to a somewhat muted rumble of the V6s at a limited 15000RPM, some have even gone far enough to say: the 2014 cars sound like Hoovers and vacuum cleaners. It most certainly isn’t the same as last year, but from the sound of the tests, it isn’t as bad as everyone feared either. One thing is for sure though, when the five lights go out, the sound of 22 cars starting on the grid is still going to be riveting.
THE AERODYNAMICS
Apart from the aforementioned side pods, most panels, wings and members of the car has had to be put under the knife. The front wing has been made narrower to avoid punctures in the event of the end plate colliding with the rear tyre of a car in front. The width has been reduced from 1800mm to 1650mm. Incidentally, this has been something that Gordon Murray has been lobbying for since his time in Formula One and after all these years it is finally in effect. This has massive aerodynamic implications as designers will have to find another way to divert air around the tyres. The height of the front nose has been drastically decreased from 550mm to 185mm to improve safety during a frontal collision. Of course, until last year, aerodynamicists used the height of the nose to direct air under the car to maximize down force, something that they’ll have to work around this year.
On a tangent, this is the ‘changing the look of Formula One’ that I was alluding to, as this regulation has caused designers to come up with the most controversial nose designs in the history of Formula One. The overall height of the chassis too has been reduced from 625mm to 525mm which further reduces the downforce. The other implication is that the mounting point for the suspension set up might have to change from a pull-rod to a push-rod setup. For the driver, this means that his driving position will be more relaxed with his feet about 100mm lower than last year.
Towards the rear, the aero box in which the rear wing flap was mounted is 20mm smaller, which means that the rear wing flap sits shallower than before. The lower beam wing has been abolished and in its place designers can have two vertical beams to hold up the rear wing. This will significantly reduce the downforce towards the rear and in order to counter it, expect the suspension parts will to serve an additional aerodynamic function. This leaves a lot of scope for creativity for the designers to extract maximum possible downforce for the cars from these constraints. The DRS wing can be opened 15mm wider than last year, which should make DRS overtaking moves even more effective. Rule makers have completely taken away the advantages of the exhaust gases in aerodynamics as they now won’t be able to use phenomena like ‘blown diffuser’ to increase downforce. This is due to the mandatory placement of a singular exhaust pipe with a central exit.
The minimum weight of the car and driver combined has been increased from 642kgs to 690kgs to compensate for the added weight of the larger batteries and ERS units. Some teams think this increase isn’t enough and that teams with taller or larger built drivers will be at a disadvantage.
SPORTING REGULATION CHANGES
There are 4 major regulation changes and some minor tweaks to existing ones in the realm of the conduct of the sport. Of course unlike the technical changes which all have valid grounds, some of the sporting regulation introductions are widely debatable – the most controversial one being the awarding of double points for the last race. FIA claim, in light of last season’s Red Bull white wash, this double points system will make the title chase far more interesting. In the opinions of many, including yours truly, this isn’t the logical way of glamorizing the climax, especially when they’ve leveled out the playing field to begin with. Also, in the event of a similar circumstance as Red Bull’s complete dominance in the last season, double points will only ensure that the dominant team and driver wins by an even greater margin, unless non-sporting conducts like crash-gate are revisited again.
For the year 2015, a cost cap has been imposed on teams, which too has been severely criticized by some of the top teams, deeming it to be unnecessary and claiming that it cannot be policed. There is also the question of whether the scrutiny of such a cost cap is possible without infringement of technical privacy. A similar cost cap was suggested for the 2010 season for $40 million by the-then FIA president Max Mosely, but was later dropped due to stiff opposition from the teams.
A welcome reintroduction is drivers’ numbers between 2 to 99 so that each driver may be associated with one number for the duration of his Formula One career. The numbers are a branding exercise and will represent the brand of a driver. The reigning champion may choose to keep the number 1 or may pick the number of his choice. Numbers have been known to be excellent associations to the identity of an exponent in other sports as well, and now Formula One will cash in on it too.
In conclusion, a 5-second penalty has been proposed for minor infringements. Teams have the option of having it added to the final time of the driver at the end of the race, or incurring it during a drive-through or a pit-stop during which no work on the car must ensue.
The author Jamshed Patel is the Presenter/Producer of the automobile show Overdrive on CNBC TV18. You can reach him on twitter @AutoJam.
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