At the present moment, Formula 1 fans aren’t too happy with the king of motorized sports because of dirty air. More specifically, a loss of downforce caused by turbulent air makes it hard to overtake.
Care to guess how the F1 car will change in 2022 for the better? In a nutshell, stuff that was previously banned to enable harder racing will come back into the fold while currently legal stuff will be… wait for it… banned.
I wish that was a joke, but Formula 1 works in mysterious ways as of late.
Unlike old-school ground effects that used to feature sliding skirts, the 2022 car has two Venturi tunnels and a range of fins that minimize any disturbance. The rear wing, which also creates a lot of dirty air, has been redesigned to slash the strength of the air vortices produced at high speeds.
Up front, the front wing boasts four elements overall and single-piece endplates. The nose is also worthy of mention because it attaches directly to the front wing. On the aerodynamic front, the final piece of the puzzle comes in the guise of wheel fairings for 18-inch wheels developed by OZ Racing. To whom it may concern, wheel covers were banned in late 2009.
Another considerable change for the 2022 season comes in the guise of E10 fuel, as in 10 percent sustainably sourced ethanol. Standardized fuel pumps and extra fuel monitoring are in the offing as well to prevent any team from maximizing performance by getting more fuel into the turbo V6 powerplant.
The FIA has mandated a considerable weight increase as well, bringing the minimum weight requirement to 790 kilograms (1,742 pounds) without 110 kilograms (243 pounds) of dinosaur juice and ethanol. The minimum weight requirement for the driver and his equipment is 80 kilograms (176 pounds).
In addition to more overtakes, the 2022 car promises to be very safe. The chassis absorbs 48 and 15 percent more energy in the front- and rear-impact tests, and in the event of a Romain Grosjean-like crash, the power unit will separate from the chassis in a safe manner without exposing the fuel tank.
As for bans, torsion bars and heave springs (a.k.a. inerters) will be eliminated in 2022 while the uprights must be included within the wheel assembly.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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