By Graham Duxbury – New technical regulations for 2022 reintroduce ground effect aerodynamics to Formula One for the first time since the concept was banned in the 1980s. In terms of the latest rules, the cars’ bodywork will be simplified, making the underside – and not the conventional wing surfaces – the primary source of aerodynamic grip.
The aim is not to increase maximum downforce – and so increase cornering speeds and stresses on the tyres – but to reduce a car’s turbulent wake to allow drivers to follow each other more closely. This will, hopefully, make overtakes easier and improve the quality of the racing.
Downforce, nonetheless, will play a key role in realising these objectives. Figures released by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) reveal that a current-specification F1 car closely following another car has just 55% of its normal levels of downforce available, but a 2022-spec car following another should have up to 86% of its usual downforce on hand.
The new regulations seem tailor-made for Red Bull design genius Adrian Newey who is famously said to be able to “see air”. Regarded as one of the greatest racing designers of our time, Newey’s F1 designs have won over 150 Grands Prix and his 10 World Championship Constructors’ titles have come with three different F1 teams – which is unmatched.
Newey will be following in the footsteps of another design genius – Colin Chapman – who reportedly came up with the idea of exploiting ground effect in F1 while on holiday in Ibiza nearly half a century ago.
According to reports, Chapman’s “eureka moment” came when he realised what was needed to “produce a negative pressure beneath a car which was greater than the forces above it [in order to] hold the car down on the road without the need for wings”.
On his return from Ibiza, Chapman appointed Tony Rudd, an accomplished engineer, to oversee a project to prove the ground effect hypothesis.
Rudd tells of how, while using a quarter-scale model designed to demonstrate the viability of ground effect in London’s Imperial College rolling road wind tunnel, the “road” (an industrial-strength, steel-reinforced continuous belt) alarmingly rose up to meet the underside of the scaled-down F1 car.
“We had to rework the tunnel to hold down the road’s surface and that is when we found out the true importance of ground effect,” noted Rudd.
The first F1 car to be designed to exploit Chapman’s discovery was the Lotus 78, which, although it won more races in 1977 than any other car, just failed to win the World Championship.
The Lotus 79 was a refined version of the 78 and according to Mario Andretti who would go on to win the title in 1978, it felt “painted to the road”.
The benefits of ground effect aerodynamics were not lost on other teams and soon copies began to appear. The most successful of which was the Williams FW07. Designer Patrick Head admitted to copying the Lotus 79 and “stepping up the performance from where the Lotus had been”.
In FW07B guise, the Williams won the 1980 World Championship in the hands of Alan Jones.
As design improvements pushed the boundaries and increased the ground effect, so the strain on the mechanisms associated with became progressively evident. Particularly vulnerable were the somewhat-fragile sliding skirts which sealed the airflow beneath the car to prevent “spillage”.
Unfortunately, when this seal was broken, perhaps by a damaged skirt or a skirt stuck in the “up” position, then a significant percentage of the ground effect – and the total downforce – was almost instantly lost. The potential for a serious accident was ever-present.
With cornering speeds and G-forces escalating dramatically, the possibility of a failure brought greater levels of risk to drivers and spectators. Consequently, the FIA banned ground effect aero in 1983. Will its imminent return cause these issues to resurface?
According to McLaren engineer James Key, 2022 will mark “a completely new beginning” for the technology. Designs and engineering associated with the past will have no relevance whatsoever, he says.
Although new-generation F1 cars are expected to produce lower downforce levels than current (2021-spec) cars, could lap times be faster – due to less turbulence-induced drag – or slower due to less grip? The answer, as Bob Dylan once suggested, is blowin’ in the wind.