As the season progresses, with each new race new previously ignored details emerge of the characteristics of the new generation of cars. The attention is captured not only by the updates brought by the teams to each Grand Prix, but also by solutions present on the single-seaters since the beginning of the season, but which went unnoticed in the multitude of technical ideas that emerged during the season. Some of the differences of greatest interest are concentrated in the bottom area, a primary component for the generation of load on the current Formula 1 cars.
The 2022 technical regulations reintroduced the Venturi channels on the sides of the car body, characterized by a convergent trend and then divergent again towards the rear. The shape of the inlet section on the sides of the passenger compartment is of absolute importance, as it is required to convey as much air as possible into the underbody, managing at the same time to guarantee a homogeneous distribution of pressure and to exclude harmful turbulence coming from the front wheels. Almost all of the teams adopt an entrance section whose upper edge extends over the entire width until it meets the lower part of the framealthough presenting different inclinations and trends depending on the vehicle.
McLaren, on the other hand, has a peculiar design. The “mouth” of the Venturi channel is in fact truncated before joining the body, thus leaving it free a small channel on the side of the keel that collects air from the top of the flat bottom, subsequently placing it in the room obtained between the bottom and the flare of the side. The Woking team thus renounced part of the inlet section and the theoretically channelable air flow in the Venturi, a choice that was probably justified by other advantages. However, it is difficult to establish from the outside whether the channel on the side of the keel improves the management of the flow along the lower part of the flanks or rather generates local downforce thanks to the upward design.
Although the British team is far from the expected competitiveness on the track, such a solution is certainly worthy of attention from the teams. The 2023 single-seaters will determine whether the particular geometry of the MCL36 is destined to spread to the grid or whether it will be McLaren to convert to a more traditional solution.
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