Formula 1 - 2019 Season

And one team is consistently performing like a sound-check...
Good article, didn't realise the influence of the Red Bull guy is so big.
Interesting to get confirmation that there is a lot more guess-work based on copying who is fast going on than actually rationally deciding & testing aero stuff.

Commentators in I think one of the practices were saying just lifting off the throttle = ~1G deceleration due to the aero drag from the amount of downforce being generated
Then 5-6 with brakes.

I missed the tyre-change issue Torro Rosso had, apparently Kvyat went in in 7th & lost at least one place they shouldn't have due to the delay, so unlucky strikes again
Albon got it worse though & his lost places put him out of points.

 

Having high rake or low rake is no guarantee of anything. You still have to make that particular design work. Whoever went for high rake because "hey look Newey is doing i!t" (which is also debatable as he has not been the technical 'chief' for at least two years) should be simply fired.

I'm suspecting no one did that hence the implication you are aluding to is kinda baseless

 

Did you bother reading the linked article? I'll link it again https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/47838557
A senior aerodynamicist currently working at an F1 team basically explains how that, as they don't have time to test everything, they take some things "on good faith". Newey has had enough past success that it's assumed that any fundamental design choices he makes are good ones to make.

The rake angle is a fairly large part of aerodynamic concept, and the teams aren't allowed enough simulation time to fully explore both high- and low-rake designs. They've got to make choices somehow, and it seems that (according to someone that works in the industry), the design being favoured by someone that has won 10 championships in 30 years with cars he designed is something teams think is significant.

 

Based on the article it sounds like a low rake actually holds back performance a bit.

 

I think you have to read it like this:

The higher rake allows more air to flow through, but because the gap between the ground and the diffuser is larger, that air will be less energized. A low rake allows less air to flow through but because the gap between the ground and the diffuser is smaller, the air is energized more, producing more downforce.

So the question would be whether more, but less powerful air going out at the back creates more downforce than less, but more powerful air.

 

I believe the higher rake also allows for a shorter wheelbase, which may make for better turning. At least, that was the big difference between Merc and Ferrari last year. (Was it last year? It seems so long since their car was truly competitive.)

 

So the theory seems to be that you need a longer wheelbase with a low-rake car.
In 2017, there was up to 20 cm difference in wheelbase, with Mercedes being the longest car.
Although the differences in wheelbase length got smaller last year, and as far as I could see this year the difference in longest and shortest car isn't really all that much any more (just 5 cm?), Mercedes only being longer by a couple millimeters than some cars with significantly higher rake.
So I guess there's more to it than that...
And, it's actually possible to adjust rake from race to race (not entirely sure if teams are actually doing it) at least a bit, whereas wheelbase is definitely fixed.

 

Merc also has some form of rear-wheel steering, which should help offset their prodigious wheelbase. I wonder which corner type it helps most with?

I also wonder if this year's Mercedes dominance / Ferrari fade is purely down to Pirelli switching all their softs to the thinner tread they sampled last year that favored Mercedes. As if Merc didn't have enough going for them....

 

You're allowed rear-wheel steering?

 

No.

 

It’s suspension related, not directly actuated by the steering rack, IIRC. I can’t remember if I heard about it on the Sky race/practice broadcasts or the Missed Apex podcast.

Edit: all I could find via a quick google were two reddit threads about two Italian articles, one from Oct ‘18 and one from a month ago. Might be much ado about nothing.

 

Even Mark Hughes notes the Mercs’ simulated rear-wheel steering as a reason why they can gain up to 0.65sec in Barcelona’s slow cornery third sector over the Ferrari on a lap in which they’re only 0.8sec ahead.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/mph-how-mercedes-leaving-ferrari-behind

 

Hmm, if its being done through brakes wouldn't that break the Traction Control ban?
I could believe a bit of toe-in from suspension geometry but that wouldn't be controllable.

 

Rip Uncle Niki

 

So Merc dominate practice. Race to pole to decided if Hamilton or Bottas wins then...