FIA’s Single Seater Director Nikolas Tombazis believes that the issue of Formula 1cars struggling to follow each other in racing conditions “won’t get much worse” next season.
The ground effect regulations introduced at the start of 2022 had one particularly important brief: limit the aerodynamic outwash from the cars to allow competitors to follow each other closely without a great loss of downforce and thus improve the chances of overtaking.
The new regulations meant that drivers encountered an estimated 20% loss of downforce when pursuing a rival in 2022.
However, F1 teams and engineers had since found loopholes in the regulations to chase performance resulting in an increase in outwash and competitors in 2023 estimated to have experienced a 35% loss in downforce when following another car.
Whilst engineers exploiting the rules and regulations for their own team’s gain at the expense of close racing is nothing new, Tombazis believes the FIA has learnt how to combat the issue but suggested that getting rid of any loopholes in the regulations won’t happen until 2026.
“The wake has definitely got a bit worse this year,” said Tombazis via Autosport. “We knew that it would deteriorate a bit when people developed a bit more, but there were a few particular areas of the car where there were some loopholes we didn’t manage to close soon enough.
“This worsened it. The front wing endplate area was one [area], plus some of the wheel furniture area, and brake ducts inside of the front wheel.
“I think we’ve learned a bit how to do it next time around. But while the wake did get a bit worse compared to 2022, it is still a reasonable amount better than 2021.”
Tombazis stated that the timeline for eradicating these loopholes won’t be brought forward from 2026 to 2025 won’t happen “unless anything unpredictable happens.”
However, the FIA Single Seater Director was able to ease fears of the problem of F1 cars following getting any worse over the coming years before the regulations change.
“I don’t think it’s going to get much worse for next year because I don’t think there’s any other loopholes to scrape from, like the front wing area and so on,” he added.
“Therefore, I expect it’s going to stay very similar. I also don’t think it’s got worse during the year. I think it was just this year versus last year.”
Being able to follow rivals is one of several factors that aid drivers in overtaking. These factors also include tyre wear/performance, engine performance, DRS performance, the overall competitiveness of the car and so on.
So whilst following is an important facet of helping drivers overtake one another, it isn’t the only one, but it will remain heavily observed by the FIA and F1 as the series strives to improve the racing out on track.
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