John N
The new season is fast approaching and with that brings a raft of new technical rules! Some may not find them too interesting, but for the obsessive F1 fan like myself, I’m always interested in how these changes are going to play out. Knowing how these rules will affect things like lap time, overtaking, and speed will give us a better insight into how the year ahead will shape up. Let’s begin!!
Team Principals Not Allowed To Contact Race Director
Following last season’s incident at the AbuDhabi Grand Prix which saw Mercedes team principal contact the race director to express his displeasure over the decision to let the lapped cars pass the safety car which then let Verstappen be just behind Hamilton. This season the F1 director has stopped all team principals from contacting the race director while the race is ongoing.
Suspension and Tyre Size
Starting from next season, F1 team will be required to use 18’’ tyres instead of the 13’’ inch tyres used last season. The switch is aimed at having less temperature sensitive tyres. The attachment of suspension is simplified by directly attaching them to the wheel hub. Only springs and dampers can control stiffness as hydraulic suspension is banned. The use of inerters no longer accepted and a standard tyre pressure sensor will be used to monitor the working conditions of tyres.
Car Design and Aerodynamics
The new cars will see improved aerodynamics which includes a ground-effect floor with two long tunnels that will ensure a greater proportion of the car’s downforce is generated from the underbody. The upwash of air from the floor is designed to be much higher in order to allow more time to dissipate its energy. There will also be a four-element front wing attached directly to the nose which will transition into a simplified single piece endplate which will be far less sensitive to wake.The rear wing end plate is replaced with an incut wrap-round connecting the main profile and the lower beam wing. The wheel/axle is replaced by standardised flush wheel covers. There will be a limit placed on the brake duct shaping used for downforce creation. The combined effects of these changes shows an improved maximum downforce of 86% from 55% on the current car.
Engines
The rules applicable to the 1.6 litre V6 Turbo engine still remain the same,but the power units will be homologated at the beginning of the season and frozen up at the end of 2025. However, it’s mandatory that at least 10% of the fuel used must contain advanced sustainable ethanol (E10).
