Adrian Newey returns to speak, guest of the Beyond the Grid podcast produced by Formula 1. “The key to these ground effect machines lies not only in the aerodynamics, but also in how this goes with the frame”, the concept expressed by the chief designer at Red Bull. Thanks to the numerous experiences gained in his long career, Newey was able to approach ground effect regulations with an overall vision, drawing inspiration from the past to win in the present.
Keke Rosberg with wheels in the air
The 2022 regulations mark the return of ground effect to Formula 1, which Newey had already had experience with in the single-seaters of the 1980s. One of the problems common to the two eras is that of porpoising, a phenomenon that causes cars to oscillate vertically at high speeds. From this already emerges the interaction between aerodynamics and mechanics on these particular cars. In fact, porpoising can have different trigger modes, one of which is mechanical. In these cases, an irregularity in the asphalt brings the car closer to the ground, entering a condition of aerodynamic instability such that the car repeatedly loses and regains load, starting oscillations.
The suspension mechanics are therefore fundamental to prevent the car from entering those particular conditions of instability. Once the oscillations begin, the internal springs and shock absorbers have the task of dampening the car’s movements. In the very early 1980s, at the beginning of his careerNewey sees first-hand the consequences of a compromised mechanic unable to mitigate porpoising, an experience he carries with him until the 2022 regulations.
“Harvey Postlethwaite was the technical director at Fittipaldi and, since the car always ran very stiff, he had the idea of removing the springs and shock absorbers to save weight,” says Newey. “He replaced them with rubber elements, something he had tried during his days at Hesketh. I remember at Silverstone when Keke Rosberg passed on the old pit straight the wheels were in the air so the car was bouncing. It was one of the first times I realized it wasn’t just about the aerodynamics, but about its coupling with the suspension.”
Priority to suspensions
The importance attributed to mechanics is such that in conceiving the RB18, the first ground-effect Red Bull of 2022, Newey dedicated himself above all to the suspension: “We start by deciding the basic architecture and from there, in my case, I focused on the front and rear suspension. They are those key components that you want to make to the best of your ability. If you get the bodywork wrong, up to a certain point it is possible to change it during the season. However, if the underlying architecture is wrong, you are bound to it for at least one season.”
The choice of suspension scheme is crucial for its influence on aerodynamics, which acts on two fronts. The first is the ability to guarantee high stabilization of the bottom height, crucial to exploit maximum aerodynamic performance. At the same time, the arrangement of the arms must take into account their interaction with the external flows. This acquires further relevance on the 2022-2023 cars where, being devoid of the centre-car aerodynamics present on previous Formula 1 cars, the suspension elements are the only ones to come between the front wing and the bottom.
For the 2022 RB18, of which the RB19 is a direct descendant, Adrian Newey and Red Bull go against the flow of the competition, presenting a scheme shared only by McLaren. The front suspension is of the pull-rod type, i.e. with the rod that pivots in the lower part of the frame where springs and shock absorbers are located, the opposite of the push-rod of the opponents. Conversely, at the rear Red Bull mounts a push-rod scheme, so that the inclination of the rod upwards frees up space in the lower part, favoring the passage of the flows collected by the bellies.
Another distinctive trademark of ground effect Red Bulls is the anti-pitching kinematics. The front suspension arms have a large overhang between the front and rear elements, a geometry that reduces the forward inclination of the car when braking, stabilizing the surface. This is something that opponents have also started to implement, although they have not yet reached the extreme levels of the RB19.
The importance of the platform
According to Newey, the attention paid to chassis and suspension is one of the reasons behind Red Bull’s superiority during the ground effect regulations. “The advantage was that we got the basic architecture right last year. In the first part of the season Ferrari was as fast as us, if not faster. We did the fundamentals well and that gave us a good platform.” All this made it possible to compensate for the lesser time dedicated to the aerodynamic development of the RB18, a side effect of the resources invested in the 2021 world championship campaign.
“In 2021 we were in the midst of the fight with Mercedes for the championship. Maybe we were wrong in this, but since it was the first opportunity in many years we had decided to invest large resources in development during the year. Ferrari, on the other hand, took the opposite approach. They stopped development of the 2021 car very early and focused on 2022. Mercedes is in the middle. Theoretically, this put us at a disadvantage”.
The initial delay in aerodynamic development was then bridged by managing to promptly manage the phenomenon of porpoising. In this way, Red Bull was able to dedicate hours in the wind tunnel to developing performance: “In the tests we had a certain level of rebounds, although not as good as our opponents, but we still had to get to the bottom of it. We had a pretty good understanding of what we needed to do and with the updates we brought to the first race in Bahrain the problem had diminished considerably. This meant that we didn’t have to invest as much energy in solving it as Ferrari and Mercedes did.” Mechanics and aerodynamics are the two pillars on which Adrian Newey and Red Bull have built their world titles in the last two years. Anyone wanting to break Milton Keynes’ streak will need to pay close attention to the suspension, as well as the body and floor shapes.
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