The Most Radical and Ingenious Innovations in Formula 1
10 min readFormula 1 is known for its fast cars, enthralling races, and incredible driving stunts. Like any sport, Formula 1 is also governed by a federation, namely the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile or mostly known as the FIA. The FIA regulates motorsports through a plethora of rules and regulations. The main categories of these regulations are Sporting, Technical and Financial. In this article, we focus on how teams find loopholes in technical regulations and exploit the grey area for their benefit.
Since inventions within these loopholes are technically legal, the FIA has to allow them to exist for the interim and perhaps introduce new rules to counter them in the next season. Some of the standout innovations were: The Double Diffuser introduced by the new Brawn GP team in 2009 [2] and the X-wings introduced by Tyrell in 1997 [3]. Both of these innovations triggered a developmental war and were soon banned by the FIA. This article will discuss five such innovations with their cars, designers, advantages, and the subsequent response from the FIA and the rest of the paddock.
Tyrell P34 (Project 34)
Perhaps the first car most people think about when they hear the term “Radical F1 car”. The Tyrell P34 (short for project 34) not just broke conventions, by having six wheels, but also the regulations according to most teams in the paddock [2]. The concept of the six-wheeled car officially started in 1975, when designer Derek Gardner tried to achieve the goal to confine the tires within the width of the bodywork of the car. However, each solution ended up increasing the understeer of the car, hence making the changes redundant. Formula 1 at that time did not have a huge performance difference and all the teams were inching closer to each other in terms of performance. The reason was all teams (except Ferrari) were using the same engine, gearbox, and Goodyear tires [6].
This forced designers like Gardner to be creative beyond convention and thus the Tyrrell P34 was born. It used 4 smaller front tires which sat inside the width of the bodywork and measured 10 inches each. It was an uphill battle trying to convince Goodyear to produce those tyres but Gardner insisted that the publicity and attention generated would make the project worthwhile and Goodyear agreed [7].
The advantages of this setup were three-fold. The first and most obvious one is the increased contact patch area. This increased the front-end grip and allowed for better corner exits. Having four front wheels also meant having four front brakes. This increased the braking power and allowed drivers to brake later than others. However, the most important advantage of having 4 wheels was the reduction of front lift [7]. The weight of the wheels made sure the nose stuck to the ground and reduced understeer drastically, increasing the cornering speed. According to Gardner, these factors combined gave the car a performance increase that was equivalent to 40 horsepower [6].
The Tyrrell P34 performed quite well in its initial races, with both cars finishing in the top 3 in back-to-back races in Monaco and Sweden [8]. However, the lack of support from Goodyear to produce the unique 10-inch tyres, the hassle of managing the brake balance of six wheels, and increased tyre wear meant the Tyrrell P34 only lasted two years in the sport.
Brabham BT46B (Fan Car)
The Brabham BT46 was designed by one of the most legendary names in Motorsport, Gordon Murray CBE, a South African-born British Designer. In the late 1970s, the Lotus team developed the Lotus 79 for the 1978 season which used side skirts to seal the floor and use ground effect to suck their car to the ground and increase cornering speed. Brabham started the season with the BT46 which used flat panel heat exchangers instead of traditional radiators, however, this was removed before the car’s debut. They cooled the car using modified radiators mounted on the nose.
To increase the cooling further, Brabham introduced the ‘BT46B’ at the Swedish Grand Prix. The car had a fan mounted at the back to increase cooling. However, it not only cooled the car, but it also reduced the pressure under the car effectively and pulled it to the ground thus increasing the downforce. The paddock went into a frenzy when Brabham pulled up on the grid with the BT46B. Even worse was driving behind it as mentioned by Andretti who drove for Lotus, exclaiming that he was “showered with stones” [13].
The fan car also did not last long, other team principals led by Colin Chapman showed their discontent and threatened to withdraw support for the team after a few more legal troubles the car was banned and the two chassis were converted back to their original configurations. [13]
Lotus 88 (Twin Chassis)
So far, we’ve had a car with a fan at the back and another with six wheels. The Lotus 88 was also equally radical even though it may not look like it at first glance. But before we get into Lotus 88, we have to understand the concept of the sprung mass. According to Wikipedia, “Sprung mass is the load sitting on top of the springs and unsprung mass is the weight connected to the bottom of the suspension.” The ‘sprung’ mass is responsible for counteracting the forces that the car experiences as it moves. Lotus essentially divided the sprung mass into two. They had two chassis on top of the unsprung mass. The mechanical forces that the car went through were handled by the ‘inner’ chassis while the ‘outer’ chassis counteracted the aerodynamic forces [15].
The inner chassis was one of the first times an F1 team extensively used Carbon Fibre in its designs. It was a monocoque chassis (vehicle structure in which the chassis is integral to the body) that also housed the Cosworth DFV Engine. The outer chassis, however, was designed to withstand most of the load the car was put through. It was connected to the sidepod with titanium structures to preserve stiffness [16].
This car theoretically should’ve shown incredible performance, however, it never got to even participate in a race. It ran for a few practice sessions and was swiftly protested against by the rest of the teams on the grid [16]. As the rules stated that all aerodynamic devices must be either rigid or bounded completely to the sprung mass. The chassis was classified by other teams as a “movable aerodynamic device” and was consequently banned, even after a revised 88B variant. For the rest of that season, Lotus bought back the Lotus 87.
Renault R25
The R25 was Renault’s entry for the 2005 season, the last season for the truly iconic and screaming V-10 engine. It was also the year when a few new rules were introduced, including the minimum height of the nose. It was stated that the nose shall be at least 50mm above the ground in all conditions [17]. This caused a dilemma for the F1 teams as the cornering speeds, especially in high-speed corners were directly proportional to the front downforce and the key to increasing the downforce at the front was to keep the nose as low as possible to the ground. Raising the nose by 50mm meant that the cornering speeds were drastically reduced and increasing the speeds further made the front end twitchy.
To counteract this twitchiness and the bouncing of the nose, Renault introduced the “mass damper”. It was simply a weight that was suspended in between two springs and moved vertically. This made the nose of the car a lot more stable as it prevented bouncing. It was, of course, a mechanical device that helped aerodynamics by stopping the nose from flinching too much and disturbing the air around it.
Although not the most radical invention, especially relative to others on the list, the Mass Damper solved another problem that F1 cars of that era had: weight restrictions. It was quite easy to not reach the minimum weight and hence be underweight. Teams used a ballast to help gain those extra few kilos to meet the weight requirements. However, these ballasts had a negative effect on the car’s performance as it was just extra weight that made the car slower. Renault’s Mass Damper was essentially a Suspended Ballast that not only increased the weight of the car to meet the minimum weight criteria but also improved performance significantly.
Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance
The W11, Mercedes’ entry for the 2020 F1 season. Widely regarded as the fastest F1 car of all time. Statistically, the holder of the fastest lap record in F1 history set by Sir Lewis Hamilton in Qualifying at Monza, with an average speed of 264.362 kmph [20]. The W11 went on to win both the Driver’s and Constructor’s championships for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes respectively. But a major reason for that success was first seen publicly at the start of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
During one of the practice runs in Barcelona, Hamilton was seen physically pulling the steering wheel towards him which changed the toe angle of the front wheels. The change was done during the straights and reverted once the car approached a turn. This Invention was termed DAS (Dual-Axis Steering) and it sent a shock wave through the F1 paddock as many teams questioned the legality of the invention. The W11 was designed to maximize the durability of the tyres and make them last as long as possible. This meant reducing the contact patch between the rubber and the tarmac, as this increased the life of the tyres. However, this also meant that the amount of energy (heat) transferred into the rubber was drastically reduced and since Formula 1 tyres work best when the surface and carcass of the tyre are sufficiently heated which increases the grip of the rubber, Mercedes had to find a new solution to generate heat into the rubber.
The tyres are coldest when they leave the pits, restarting behind a Safety Car or before starting a qualifying lap due to traffic or track temperature[21]. As seen from the figure above, during normal circumstances, the tyre has a “Toe-out” (or a “Toe-in”) angle depending on the track. This helps during the corners and provides extra grip. But on the straights, the tyre is not fully in contact with the ground which is a potential source of getting energy into the tyres. Mercedes realized that and used the DAS System to straighten the front wheels at the start of straights and allow maximum contact patch area between the rubber and the tarmac to generate as much heat as possible into the tyres. At the end of the straight, the driver would just return the steering into the default position and the front wheels would also return to the original toe angle but now with more heat into the tyres.
The DAS System was deemed legal by the FIA for the 2020 Season but was banned after that. A seemingly simple solution to an ever-existing problem of tyre management that assisted Mercedes in winning both Championships comfortably that year.
CONCLUSION
Formula 1 is a strictly regulated sport and it always has been. From sporting regulations to financial regulations and most importantly Technical Regulations. These rules become restrictions for Engineers and Designers and to get the best out of the car, sometimes teams have to think outside the box and find grey areas within the regulations that they can exploit legally. Sometimes these inventions are banned immediately while other times they are allowed to exist for a while.
Regardless of the regulations, it is almost an assurance that season after season, teams will find new, creative and fresh ideas that excite the fans and bring the extra edge of performance required to thrust their place in the championship. These creative solutions have led to some of the most incredible cars in the history of the sport as discussed in this article.
REFERENCES
[1] https://www.fia.com/regulation/category/110
[3] https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/why-x-wings-were-banned/4776778/
[6] https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2016/6/six-fascinating-facts-tyrrell-P34.html
[7] https://8-js.com/blogs/racing-history/when-6-wheels-were-better-than-4
[8] https://f1.fandom.com/wiki/Tyrrell_P34#1976
[11] https://www.tracksidelegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/foto-gerold-smits-goodwood-1-714×357.png
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabham_BT46
[13] https://racer.com/2021/11/09/special-won-and-done-the-brabham-bt46b-fan-car/
[14] https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/static/img/archive/autosport/news/149000_1011001/s8/1011001.jpg
[15] https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/banned-tech-twin-chassis-lotus/4780030
[16] https://www.hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/infamous-one-of-two-lotus-88/
[17] https://www.rediff.com/sports/2005/feb/15f1.htm
[19] https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/static/img/archive/autosport/news/149299_1010246/s8/1010246.jpg
[20] https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/09/formula-1-lewis-hamilton-italian-gp-record-fast-lap
[21] https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a34962680/mercedes-amg-f1-dual-axis-steering-explained/
The following blog post has been written by Aamir Ghare. An Instrumentation Engineer deeply engaged in cars all his life. Aamir loves watching motorsport and hopes to be involved in it in the near future.
This post has been edited for grammar and other inconsistencies.