The @AstonMartinF1#AMR22 is the first 2022 #F1 car to be revealed, and as such gives us a first real indication of the trends expected this season. Tech thread..
The car features a Mercedes power unit and Mercedes transmission, but unlike the AMR21 and R20 this car is not based on a Mercedes car concept. Surprisingly Aston Marin claims that 10% of the car has carried over from the AMR21.
Starting at the front the most striking feature of the car is the tip of the nose, set back from the leading edge of the front wing and slightly above it. It is a design hinted at in some of @F1’s 2022 renders. It will be interesting to see if other teams follow this lead.
Note how the second highest wing element blends into the nose. The nose is not a simple thing to change as it requires a crash test - so will be interesting if other teams follow this lead. The small hole is for driver cooling.
The front wing is of interest, noticeably different in shape to the more curved wings fitted to the show cars. Note how angular the upper element is, also note how the outer edges of the wing drop down.
The front wing endplate is fairly standard within the rules, but the single external element or dive plane is an area open for team development, it will be interesting to see if this becomes anymore complex as the season gets under way.
Looking at the inner face of the end plate it is possible to see how much wider the lower elements are at the outer end of the wing are compared to the two upper elements. On the show car these were far more evenly spaced, and not as blended with the nose.
Aston Martin has opted to retain pushrod actuated front suspension, some teams are expected to utilise pull-rod. The reasons for this are detailed here:
The front brake duct is an area where some development is expected, the small duct on the tyre side of the rim plate is interesting. Note the front wheel flow conditioner (needs a better name), standard to all cars.
There is a lot of interest in the radiator duct inlet, smaller and far squarer than expected, also note the internal sweep channelling the airflow outward under the bodywork. Notably Haas has a similar concept on display on its otherwise vague renders.
The shape of the sidepod further rearward is interesting, as it sticks out above the floor a long way - a bit like a Toro Rosso STR6. Have a look here for a theory on the cooler layout under the bodywork in this area:
On top of the sidepod are a number of cooling slats (or gills as @AlexBrundle calls them) this is likely to be an area with a lot of development track to track.
The roll hoop concept is a straight carry over from the AMR21, and is an indication that most Mercedes powered cars will have a similar layout.
That roll hoop concept can be traced right back to the Mercedes W10!
At the rear of the car things are a little less clear, we can see that the AMR22 uses a pull rod rear suspension layout, and that the rear floor is pretty close to that of the show cars (as expected)
There is a distinctive hump on the engine cover, something required to accommodate the plenums of the Mercedes V6, they also appeared on the AMR21 but seem to be slightly longer and thinner on the AMR22 - expect these on the W13 as well.
DRS! The first proper look at a 2022 DRS design, and its pretty much as expected. Question is, how powerful will it be?
The only real look at the rear of the car is in the form of renders, which do not really give much of a clue about the design. So that will be something to look at after the shakedown.
So thats pretty much it for my first impressions, will have a lot more when we see it on track.
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The Red Bull RB20 is something of a mystery machine, despite having been shaken down at Silverstone a while ago very few pictures of it are in circulation at the moment. Short tech observation thread.
#F1Testing #F12024 #F1 #RB20
While Red Bull did issue some launch renders these are never particularly reliable sources, so I’m not going to use those much here.
Despite having already had a shakedown Red Bull did hold a proper launch for the RB20, though how much of the car that was revealed is actually the true RB20 is unclear. Despite this let’s take a closer look.
Aston Martin issued a few low quality renders of its 2024 F1 car, the #AMR24, before taking the real thing out on track at Silverstone - so here is a Technical Observations Thread. #F1 #AstonMartin #F12024
Aston Martin claim that the team hope to be fully in the development fight this season, last year the team’s development stalled out badly and the AMR23 became less competitive.
Starting at the front of the car the AMR24 features a new approach with its nose tip, which picks up on the second element of the front wing, rather than the leading element as was the case on the AMR23.
The RB team (previously known as Alpha Tauri, Toro Rosso and Minardi), launched its latest F1 car recently. So here is a Technical Observations Thread. #F1 #F12024 #VCARB01
The VCARB01 was developed in the Red Bull wind tunnel, at the old RAE Bedford facility in England, it utilised the oldest wind tunnel in the UK - more on that here -
Starting at the front of the car the shape of the nose tip is notable in that it seems to have largely carried over from the AT04. Meeting the leading element of the front wing, note the NACA style driver cooling inlet.
Alpine was the first F1 team to reveal an actual 2024 car releasing some images of the car at its UK factory. The Alpine A524 - it is the fifth Alpine #F1 car design. Tech observations thread. I only do these when there is a real car to look at - so far Alpine is the only one!
At first glance the car seems to have a lot in common with the late season A523, but according to the team the new car is a “brand-new concept created for the next two seasons.” This may suggest that the chassis may carry over into next season.
The team continues to state that the A524 “is marked by innovative solutions as a result of learnings from previous iterations. The bold approach will allow the team to apply a stronger development path across the next two campaigns before the radical change in technical regs”
A question we get all the time on #F1Live is why do @WilliamsRacing not have the dash display on the steering wheel like everyone else - very short thread to answer that:
#F1 #BritishGP
I put that question to @paddylowe when he was in charge at Williams - this is what he told me: "I don’t actually remember the history of how all the other teams migrated to having the dash on the steering wheel, or indeed why they did it"....
"It was probably driven by the drivers saying they wanted that, it was a trend or a fashion that started somewhere – some of these things are just a fashion not for any technical merit. I never really got it, for me the right place for the dashboard is on the car, not the wheel"
Ferrari launched its 2023 #F1 car yesterday, and ran it for the first time on the Fiorano circuit after the formal launch. Looking over the initial photos I thought I’d share some thoughts and observations in this Tech Thread. #Ferrari#F12023
Starting at the front Ferrari has changed its nose concept, with the blunter tip no longer meeting the forward most wing element as was the case with the F1-75 (shown for comparison). Instead it joins the second element, while the leading edge has a noticeable dip in the centre.
The nose tip has a rectangular driver cooling slot, note the small circular fastener below it. There is a pocket for ballast in the centre of the leading edge of the front wing element. The NACA style shape of the F1-75 has been dropped.