Under the skin

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TECH. AS THE NEW F1 season gears up ahead of the first race in Bahrain at the end of March, fans have been given their first taste of Formula 1’s much-vaunted new era. It is an era that is supposed to improve the spectacle of the sport by encouraging overtaking and it has been achieved with a forensic examination and re-drawing of the technical regulations. The 2022 cars are a first in the evolution of F1 in that the regulations have been specifically devised with a set objective – of making the cars more raceable. That’s unique. Years of research have gone into this, led by what used to be the Overtaking Working Group, funded by FOM and headed by Pat Symonds and Ross Brawn – perhaps the greatest duo of poacher-turned-gamekeepers in F1 history.

But what are the main changes, how have the teams met the challenges and what will the effect be on track? As ever with F1 there are no simple answers. However, Motor Sport asked Mark Hughes, our grand prix editor, and Craig Scarborough, our technical illustrator and one of the most informed technical experts around, to sit down and discuss the key areas. Both have brought their unique insights and expertise, not to mention off-the-record chats with team engineers, to the table to give us the insider’s guide to F1 ’22.

Aero

MH: “We are beginning to see the first of these cars breaking cover and in combination with the new larger 18-inch wheels, they are at first glance more aesthetically pleasing than where F1 had evolved to under the old regulations. For one, with the underbody venturi tunnels it seems they need to be run close to the ground both front and rear so that very tail-up high-rake attitude has gone. But the lines themselves look more harmonious too.

“The big worry was that the new regulations are so prescriptive that there would be little to distinguish between the cars, but with four cars launched at the time of writing that is absolutely not the case. With the new Haas, Aston Martin, McLaren and AlphaTauri this could easily be discerned even without their livery. There are very different sidepod and bodywork arrangements. Craig, has that surprised you?”

“Not really. They’ve left quite a lot of big visible areas to play around with – the nose, front wings, sidepods, roll hoop – so the stuff that most people notice will look different between every car. It’s been a while since we had anything other than a generic-looking car and people were expecting