F1 test days: what to look out for!

Now that the first car has been revealed, the 2022 season is about to start. The testday will be held From February 23 - 25 in Barcelona and March 10 - 12 in Bahrain. Many news sites will say that we have entered a new era, but the turbo hybrid era (started in 2014) is still in use. This year there are a lot of changes in earodynamics. It is especially important now to look at the new adjustments. But what should you pay attention to?

This year the F1 cars have completely changed. The intent of these changes is to improve and encourage racing. Whether this will also be war will become clearer later in the season. During the test days, the teams will not reveal everything as usual. But what should you look for during the test days?

1. New tyres

The traditional 13 inch tires will disappear. These tires have been in service in Formula 1 for the last 30 years, but Pirelli thought it was time to change. So Pirelli introduced new 18 inch tires last year. But what is the advantage of the new tyres?

The biggest part is that according to Pirell they are lower in tire degradation. Testing so far has only resulted in positive driver feedback, with less tyre flex and less impact on car aerodynamics. This increased stability means less focus is required from the teams to address the turbulence, meaning lower costs. Also the wheel covers are back. (last used 2009 ed.). By adding a physical seal to prevent engineers intentionally directing disruptive airflow out through the wheels.

2. Ground effect is back

When F1 was coming up with the new rules, they also reintroduced the ground effect. According to them, this is one of the reasons why there will be better race to race action on the track. the ground effect was invented in the 1970s. In the 1980s, this engineering was banned in Formula 1 because if the cars would fail, then the car may spin off the track with disastrous consequences.  

But how does groundeffect work?

When a car moves over the ground, the boundary layer on the ground becomes helpful. In the reference frame of the car, the ground is moving backwards at some speed. As the ground moves, it pulls on the air above it and causes it to move faster. This enhances the so called ''Bernoulli effect'' and increases downforce. 

3. Better rear wings!

That fairly excellent, workmanship deco-looking rear wing on the 2022 vehicle, really has a significant capacity - forming an invisible 'mushroom'-shaped wake. Allow us to clarify...

While current vehicles' back wings direct wind stream upwards, they are additionally intended to send stream outwards, leaving the 'messy air' staying there for the accompanying vehicle to pass through. Paradoxically, the shape and position of the 2022 vehicle's back wing makes a rotational wind current that gathers the back tire wake and folds it into the stream leaving the diffuser - framing an imperceptible 'mushroom'- molded wake.

This smaller wake is then tossed - on account of a more extreme diffuser incline - high out of sight, permitting an after vehicle to pass through less upset 'clean air'.

DRS stays on the back wing, in the mean time, with the Motorsports group quick to concentrate on its impact related to the standard changes.

4. New front wing and over-wheel winglets

Front wings have been getting dynamically less difficult in ongoing seasons, the 2022 F1 vehicle will include an absolutely new front wing shape.

Keeping with the way of thinking of the 2022 vehicle, the new front wing's position is to both produce steady downforce while running intently behind another vehicle, and guarantee that the front wheel wake is very much controlled and coordinated down the vehicle at all problematic way.

As for the new over-wheel winglets: their responsibility is to assist with controlling the wake falling off the front tires and direct it away from the back wing. That has been a job customarily performed by vortices from the front wing - yet such that makes them gigantically touchy while running in after vehicle conditions. The winglets will accomplish exactly the same thing, yet in a way that is all the more efficiently tough in close hustling.

5. Suspension

The manner in which the suspension is appended to the wheels has been rearranged, with the lengthy mounting focuses spearheaded by Mercedes and Toro Rosso that have since become banned. This implies the suspension should now be joined straightforwardly to the wheelhub.

The teams' ability to use their suspension systems to improve the ride will be reduced by other rulebook revisions. In recent years F1 has outlawed some of the ride optimisation devices teams have developed, notably Mercedes' Front Rear Inter-Connected (FRIC) suspension. All this is a bigger problem for Mercedes than anyone else. Mainly because Mercedes uses this form of suspension the most.

For the rest, there are other changes that are either not visible (such as the new fuel) or that are not interesting. The engines remain the same and nothing changes. Whether we will see other teams at the top this year is a question and whether these are the right changes. We shall see. Hopefully we will see better track to track action and people can race better and closer together!

Rick