The Body
Before we get under the skin, let's look at the skin itself, which eagle-eyed folk will notice has changed, particularly at the front. The noses will be significantly lower for safety reasons, with the tip of the nose only being allowed to be 185mm off the ground, as opposed to the 550mm they were last year. Subsequently, the front of the actual chassis, where the nose cone connects, will drop from 625 to 525mm, giving us the steep angle seen above in the new Force India. Meanwhile, the front wings will be narrower this year to reduce downforce (also making it less likely for cars to clip them during a tight overtaking manoeuvre), from 1800mm to 1650mm.
Further back, the side-exit exhausts we've seen for so long will be banned, to avoid teams using the Coandă effect (like an aero version of surface tension) to guide the exhaust gases to the diffuser. Instead there will now be one central exhaust exit under the rear wing but well above the diffuser, pointing slightly upwards just to make sure. This will also mean tighter sidepods towards the back, but conversely the large air intakes at the front of the sidepods, either side of the driver, will be wider in order to get more air into the bigger radiators, as well as improve side impact safety. The rear "beam wing" - the little wing at the bottom - will be banned in place of two vertical struts, as the new exhuast would now be pointing straight at it, opening up an opportunity for aero trickery. At the same time, the main part of the rear wing will be at a much shallower angle in another bid to reduce downforce and increase a reliance on mechanical grip and driver input. Finally, fake camera pods are now banned, as teams were using their aerofoil shape for guiding air flow to the right places. Now any camera pods must have cameras in them, and their positioning will be restricted.
One final thing to point out about the new aero regs is that the nose
measurement of 185mm is only across a small central section of the very
tip of the nose, so because air intakes/channels on the nose are banned,
we may see teams only making the tip of the nose as wide as they have
to, having this narrow pointy bit stretching out to meet rules and then
the full width of the nosecone being further back, to get more air under
the car so they can channel it to the diffuser for more rear-end grip.
Many speculative renders by people studying the regulations have given
us something that looks rather... phallic.
The nose of the VJM07 up top looks OK from the side, but they say it
will probably look much different come testing. We'll see......
The POWERRRRRR
Unless this is somehow the first F1 2014 article you've ever read,
you'll be well aware that the biggest change of all to the quickest
racing cars in the world is not the raft of exterior changes, but a new
engine. The 2.4L naturally-aspirated V8s have been heard screaming at
18000rpm in a Grand Prix for the last time, possibly ever. Feel sad. Now
feel excited again, because in their place is an all-new 1.6L V6 Turbo
engine revving to 15000rpm. Yup, dig out that '80s nostalgia CD you got
for Christmas, because turbos are back! This is to reflect the
fast-growing trend in road cars for smaller turbocharged engines that
use less fuel but make the same or more power and torque. Power output
is said to be 600bhp or more, which is down from the ~750bhp that the
V8s made, but torque will likely go up noticeably from the ~260lb/ft or
so of last year's engines. Power delivery will be very different, so
drivers will have to adapt their right legs accordingly. That said, the
turbochargers will be extremely clever hybrid ones, which brings me on
to...
KERS 'n' TERS
...Energy Recovery Systems. These will play a much bigger role than
merely being a temporary push-to-pass system as we've seen up to now.
Let's start with KERS, or ERS-K as it's now called officially (perhaps
to avoid the common tautology of "KERS system" which I find really
annoying). This will be much bigger and more potent than it has been
before, with a bigger battery. But there will now be a second ERS for
the turbo, which I'm calling TERS because it sounds kinda funny.
Essentially it works in the same way, gathering waste heat from the
turbocharger and storing it as electrical charge and then using said
charge as power. Together with KERS this will, via an electric motor on
the rear axle, add around 160 horsepower to the engine's 600, giving
us as much as 800 horsepower in total depending on which engine power
rumors you listen to. As I pointed out in yesterday's drivers post. Adrian Sutil says the new cars are actually faster in a straight line.
The hybrid turbos will also use some of that stored energy to spool up
faster, reducing lag significantly and thus improving engine response,
so the power delivery won't be as jerky as some may have feared. This
sort of technology could give us road cars with lag-less turbos in less
than five years, which will be awesome. For a better-detailed
explanation of how all these systems sync up.
The Consequences Of The POWERRRRRR
Seeing as this new age of Formula 1 is about saving fuel, a maximum of
100kg of fuel will be allowed per race (they're still allowed to store
more, but they can only use 100kg), plus the engines will now have a
"fuel flow restrictor" that limits fuel flow into the engine at 100kg/h
maximum when it's revving above 10500rpm (below that it will be changed
accordingly). This is a similar device to what you'll find on this
year's revamped Le Mans Prototype (LMP) racers in the World Endurance
Championship, although in that case the use of a fuel flow meter allows
them to use any engine they want, because the fuel delivery will be
restricted with said restriction based partially on the size of each
car's hybrid system. They get a choice of four, see. Why can't F1 enjoy
such freedom of choice? They can't pretend it's a cost-cutting thing,
because these new V6 Turbo hybrids are notably more expensive than the
V8s of old...
Interestingly, an "electronic brake control system" will now be allowed
on the rear wheels, because the brake balance will be harder to adjust
and the KERS boost - now available for 33 seconds per lap instead of
just 6.7s - will dump a massive amount of extra power onto the rear
wheels. This must surely open the door for electronic "brake steer"
where such a system can brake the inside rear wheel in a corner to keep
the car on the racing line at higher speed, much like the McLaren 12C
road car. That would be slightly ironic, as Red Bull were accused of
illegally using such a system last year.
The other big change compared to the V8s will be reliability. Last year
an engine failure was rarer than a fast Marussia, as the manufacturers
had got their designs pretty much nailed having been running them for
the eighth year. These new engines aren't only more likely to go wrong,
but the punishment will be bigger if they do. They will be required to
last 4000km, twice as long as last year, and the number of engines
allowed per car throughout this season will be five instead of eight.
Drivers using a sixth "power unit" (engine and/or supporting hybrid
systems) will be given a 10-place grid penalty. Seeing as that will
happen towards the end of the season, these penalties could change the
outcome of both championships, so both drivers and teams will be doing
everything they can to avoid breaking anything.
Weight Watchers
Of course, adding all this extra hybrid gubbins means that the cars will
weigh more in the middle. Because of this, the minimum weight limit has
been raised from 642kg to 690kg. This is one area that isn't in line
with what road cars are doing, as most car companies are finally
championing the fact that lightness is rightness, but at the end of the
day it has to happen because otherwise none of the teams would be able
to meet the minimum weight limit, and engineers hate things that are
overweight (although tastes in women may vary). Still, this change in
weight and thus balance will be something else for the drivers to get
used to this year, which they've already been doing in simulators. It
also means the drivers have to get lighter to compensate for the heavier
cars - Daniel Ricciardo was told he would have to lose 2kg for this
season, as one example. Balancing strength, stamina and fitness with
losing weight can't be much fun...
2014 Reasons To Watch!
So then, we've got a newly re-jigged lineup of drivers, new cars with
new hybrid engines and aerodynamic properties to get used to, plus a new
race track at Sochi in Russia where they're also hosting the 2014
Winter Olympics (I hope a podium-scoring driver kisses the man who
presents him with his trophy at that event). We've got Kobayashi back,
Alonso vs Räikkönen in the same cars, Ricciardo at Red Bull to prove how
talented he and Vettel really are and Bernie Ecclestone might be
relinquishing his powers this year to go to prison for being a naughty
boy with his money. How could you not watch Formula One this year?!
