Aspects in designing of a Formula1 Car
By: Ameya Joshi
Tags: F1, Cars, Design

‘Its lights out and away we go in Australia’ says the great F1 commentator David Croft and that kickstarts another Formula 1 season with world-class engines and car designs on display gliding across the smooth, velvety tracks. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is the governing body for Formula 1. There are total 10 teams with 2 cars and 2 drivers each fighting till their breaths end to finish on the podium. Out of the 10 teams or often called as the constructors, there are just 4 engine suppliers namely Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Renault which provide engines to themselves as well the other teams with whom they have a contract in place. It just isn’t any normal sport but a battlefield for all the giants of the automobile industry to flex their muscle.

(Creator and Credits to Manor Racing. No copyright intended. https://www.grandprix247.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2016-Austrian-Grand-Prix-F1-Red-Bull-Ring-7-3-2030.jpg)

Before each race, there are 2 practice sessions followed by Qualifying which determines the grid positions of all the drivers and then it is Race day. There are a total of 21 races spread across the entire globe starting from Australia to the final race in Abu Dhabi. At the end of every race, the top 10 are given points for their respective finishes with 1st, 2nd and 3rd completing the podium. The highest points total accumulated by a single driver and a team is awarded with the Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship respectively.

But the real race starts in the respective team headquarters well before the F1 season begins. Each and every team has to present their cars for the routine pre-season car testing in order to check and fit in the regulations provided by the authorities. Almost 700–800 hands are at work when it comes to finishing a single F1 car. That is a big number, isn’t it? The picture beneath shows just the pit crew of the Mercedes team so you might’ve got an idea of how big a single team is.

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Now let us see how is a F1 car designed.

A Formula 1 car is an open-wheel, single-seat vehicle which has 2 wings, the front and the rear one, and an engine which is located behind the driver. The 2 main components of a Formula 1 car or any car for that matter are the Engine and the Chassis.

The Engine:

The engine forms the heart of the F1 car and the performance of the car is more or less dependent on how the engine is designed. The FIA has some pre-defined regulations for designing of an engine. The engine specifications which need to be compiled with are four-stroke, turbocharged 1.6 liter, 90 degree V6 turbo engines although there are no regulations for the amount of power one team can use in their cars. These engines generate 800 horsepower. The image beneath is that of the engine used in a Formula 1 car developed by Ferrari.

(Image may be subject to copyright. No copyright intended. https://www.scuderia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/1280px-Ferrari_051_engine_front_Museo_Ferrari-1024x784.jpg)

Almost all the normal street cars use an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). The 4-stroke engine used in F1 car is a variation of ICE. During each engine operation, the pistons go through up-down motions to achieve each power cycle. These engines deliver a good balance of power, reliability and efficiency. Four-stroke engines reduce unburnt fuel emissions and carbon monoxide emissions as well and hence has earned the top spot when it comes to F1 cars.

(Courtesy of Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A, No copyright intended. https://www.uti.edu/images/default-source/racetrack-pages/four-stroke-engine-01.png?sfvrsn=664c785f_1)

The above image shows the 4 different strokes of a common 4-stroke engine.

1. Intake stroke: As and when the intake valve opens, the piston shown below travels downward. This creates a suction which pulls the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder

2. Compression stroke: In this stroke, both valves are closed and the air-fuel mixture is compressed. This is the ignition stage.

3. Power stroke: In this stroke, the spark plug in between the 2 valves comes into play. Now, the spark plug fires which in turn ignites the air-fuel mixture. Due to this, the piston is forced downwards, the crankshaft is rotated and the vehicle is propelled.

4. Exhaust stroke: In this stroke, the exhaust valve opens which allows the piston to evacuate the exhaust gasses out of the engine.

This completes the 4 strokes/1 complete engine cycle.

The engine developed by Mercedes is by far the best engine on the entire grid above the likes of Ferrari, Honda and Renault.

The Chassis:

If the engine is said to be the heart of the F1 car, then the Chassis is its spine. Every element of the car is connected to the chassis and relies on its strength. The evolution of the chassis has been very interesting throughout the years. Manufacturers used aluminium and steel to build the chassis until 1981 but then McLaren came up with a revolutionary change when they replaced steel and aluminium chassis with a carbon-fibre chassis which is still the material of choice till date. The reason behind the popularity of the carbon-fibre composite material is its strength and weight. It is twice as strong as steel but five times as lighter. In order to complete the framework, 12 layers of such material are used which are five times thinner than human hair. The driver is more or less sitting on the floor when driving a Formula 1 car so to protect his legs during an accident, FIA has imposed a rule which states that the layer closest to the drivers feet must be made out of Kevlar (an extremely strong synthetic fibre) which is highly resistant to penetration forces. Kevlar has to be used in the drivers helmet as well. Below shown is the image of a complete, ready to use carbon-fibre monocoque chassis.

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The Monocoque Chassis is being used widely in almost all cars on the grid for the past few years. The Monocoque (mono-single, coque-shell) is a vehicle structure in which the chassis is integral with the body. It basically is developed from a single piece of material.

A central carbon-fibre structure called as a ‘tub’ is centrally located around which a modern F1 car is built. Like any other car, this car too has to pass through a series of static load and crash tests which includes a simulated rollover as well.

eg. The cockpit wall must be strong enough to withstand an impact of about 250 tons.

The teams can alter the design to suit their engines but to keep the competition fair, the minimum car weight should be 728 kg. which includes the weight of the driver as well but not the fuel.

The chassis designed by the Aston Martin Red Bull team is considered to be the best on the grid which is what helps the team to compete with the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.

Gearbox:

These cars use semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with paddle shifters with regulations stating that 8 forward gears and 1 reverse gear be used. These gearboxes are made up of carbon titanium as heat dissipation is a critical issue. The addition of carbon to titanium increases the strength of the material at higher temperatures. The gearbox is bolted to the back of the engine. Now some might ask ‘why aren’t there fully automatic gearbox systems at such a high level of motor sport?’ Well fully automatic gearboxes have been illegal since 2008 in order to keep the driver skill and his involvement important in controlling the car. Gear shifts are initiated by the driver using paddles that are mounted on the back of the steering wheel. In order to keep the costs low in F1, gearboxes must last 5 consecutive events. Changing the gearbox before the allowed time causes a penalty of five places drop on the starting grid for the first event the new gearbox is used.

Steering Wheel:

The steering wheel of a Formula 1 car is not at all close to the steering wheels we use. Accompanied with a lot of buttons serving various purposes, it is extremely complicated but at the same time made easy for the drivers to use. The image displayed below is that of Mercedes steering wheel from the year 2019.

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Taking into consideration, the 2019 steering wheel of the Mercedes team, there are in all 25 buttons and switches along with the clutch and gear shift paddles. The steering wheel is made up of different materials but the main materials are carbon-fibre, fibreglass, silicon, copper and titanium. The entire steering wheel has to be produced in-house by the respective teams suiting their requirement. The central display and the underlying circuit board are common to all the teams. 5 of the 25 buttons change the brake settings of the car, eg. the driver can shift the brake balance from the front to the rear or vice-versa, to optimise the brakes for a sharp corner and so on. Another 3 buttons control the differential — the amount of torque between the rear wheels at different stages of a corner. The rest of the buttons and switches have a variety of applications from adjusting the settings of the Power Unit to changing the display on the screen or even activating the radio in order to talk with the pit crew. The Drag Reduction System (DRS) can also be activated at the push of a button.

The steering wheel is one part of the car where the driver’s opinion is of utmost value. The ergonomics of the wheel and the physical layout of the shape and grips are made keeping in mind the driver’s hands. The drivers can ask for any amount of changes to the design of the steering wheel during the season, the FIA has no regulations stating they cannot change that.

Operating the steering wheel is very difficult because of the size of the buttons and the vibrations that a driver may face due to the bumpy nature of the circuit.

Tires:

FIA has regulations for tires that can be used by the drivers in the races. Pirelli is the official tire supplier to the F1 providing 3 dry sets of tires — soft, medium and hard. In case of rainy conditions, intermediate and full wet tires are also provided by Pirelli. All the tires are color coded — red for soft, yellow for medium, white for hard, green for intermediate and blue for full wet. The difference in all these tires is found only in the rubber compound and grooves present on the tires. Tires used in rainy conditions, i.e the blue ones have grooves on them so as to help the water escape from the tires.

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Pirelli has 5 different categories for tires.

1. C1 — stands for Compound 1 and is the hardest tire a driver can use. These are used on circuits that put the highest energy loadings through the tires.

2. C2 — stands for Compound 2 and falls into the category of a medium tire. These are used on circuits that tend towards high speed, temperature and loadings.

3. C3 — stands for Compound 3 and is equivalent to a soft tire. This tire strikes a good balance between speed and durability.

4. C4 — stands for Compound 4 and is the supersoft tire. These are mainly used on tight and twisty circuits. It has a huge peak performance but very low overall life.

5. C5 — stands for Compound 5 and is the ultrasoft tire. This tire is suitable for all circuits which require high mechanical grip.

To put it in easy words, ultrasofts to hards — tyre hardness increases, grip decreases and durability increases. All said and done, although the ultrasofts should be the fastest in theory, one day the supersoft or soft might prove to be the faster of the lot. Since these tires are designed to perform at high speeds and face a lot of heat, the rubber wears out in no time. To give you an extent of the durability of these tires, a normal tire used in a street car can go about 15000 km but the tire used in F1 can go in between 60 km to 120 km only.

Aerodynamics:

There are 2 different schools of thought when it comes to aerodynamics. One is headed by none other than Mr. Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari who says “Aerodynamics are for those who can’t build an engine” and the other half has the opinion “Aerodynamics is the start, middle and end of whether a car is quick”. Now even though Mr. Enzo Ferrari might say this, careful construction of the front and rear wing taking into consideration drag and downward force is of utmost importance. The entire design of a Formula 1 car is dictated by aerodynamics.

What exactly is aerodynamics? It is the study of forces and their impact on how objects move through air. Now when a car can go from 0 to 160 km/h and back to 0 in less than 5 seconds, there is going to be a lot of interaction with air. When anyone says aerodynamics of a Formula 1 car, 2 things are vital, producing downforce and controlling drag. The downforce as the name suggests is the force that pushes the tires of the cars onto the road and this helps in traveling fast through corners. Drag is the column of air resistance a car disturbs as it races ahead which helps in increasing the straight line speed of the car.

Even though these principles may sound very easy, producing aerodynamically sound vehicle which abides with the FIA policies is very difficult. Each year millions of pounds are spent by every team on the grid to perfect the aerodynamics.

For this, a front and rear wing is incorporated in the car. The front wing is the first part of the car that comes in contact with air so it also controls the overall aerodynamics of the vehicle. Wings in airplanes create lift and similarly, wings in F1 cars are used to create downforce which creates more grip of the vehicle ending in faster turns. F1 car wings are more or less inverted airplane wings.

There is concept called the Drag Reduction System (DRS) in F1. In order to use DRS, the driver presses a button made available to him on the steering wheel. The rear wing of a car has an adjustable flap. When DRS is used, this adjustable flap is opened which helps in reducing drag thus giving the car advantage while overtaking another one ahead of it. The FIA estimates that the change is speed is about 10–12 km/h to the positive side at the end of its activation. DRS is switched ON on the part of circuit where it a straight line and then immediately off which produces a downforce helping the car run the corners. There are certain zones on the circuits when the DRS could be used differing from 2 to 3 on various circuits.

Compiling all these components and fitting them within the guidelines provided by the FIA is one big task. Below is the car driven by 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton in 2020-