Michael Schumacher driving a Formula One car at the 2004 United States Grand Prix
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v•d•e
A modern Formula One car is a single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel race car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship. The Formula One regulations specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves, though the design and manufacture can be outsourced.[1]
Contents
[hide]- 1Engines
- 2Transmission
- 3Aerodynamics
- 3.1Wings
- 3.2Ground effects
- 3.3Regulations
- 4Construction
- 5Steering wheel
- 6Fuel
- 7Tyres
- 8Brakes
- 9Performance
- 9.1Positive acceleration
- 9.2Negative Acceleration
- 9.3Lateral acceleration
- 9.4Top speeds
- 10Recent FIA performance restrictions
- 11References
- 12External links
[edit]Engines
Main article: Formula One engines
A BMW Sauber P86 V8 engine, which powered the 2006 BMW Sauber F1.06.
For a decade F1 cars had run with 3.0 litre naturally-aspirated V10 engines, but in an attempt to slow the cars down, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) mandated that as of the 2006 season, the cars must be powered by 2.4 litre naturally-aspirated engines in the V8 engine configuration that have no more than four valves per cylinder. Further technical restrictions such as a ban on variable intake trumpets have also been introduced with the new 2.4 L V8 formula to prevent the teams from achieving higher rpm and horsepower too quickly. As of the start of the 2009 season all engines are now limited to 18,000 rpm in an effort to improve engine reliability and to cut costs down in general.
Once the teams started using exotic alloys in the late 1990s, the FIA banned the use of exotic materials in engine construction, and only aluminium and iron alloys were allowed for the pistons, cylinders, connecting rods, and crankshafts. Nevertheless through engineering on the limit and the use of such devices as pneumatic valves, modern F1 engines have revved up to over 18,000 rpm since approximately the 2000 season. Almost each year the FIA has enforced material and design restrictions to limit power, otherwise the 3.0L V10 engines would easily have exceeded 22,000 rpm[citation needed] and well over 1,000hp (745kW)[citation needed]. Even with the restrictions the V10s in the 2005 season were reputed to develop 980hp (715kW)[citation needed]. The new 2.4L V8 engines are reported to develop between 700hp (520kW) and 780hp (582kW).[citation needed]
The lesser funded teams (the former Minardi team spends less than 50 million, while Ferrari spent hundreds of millions of pounds a year developing their car) had the option of keeping the current V10 for another season, but with a rev limiter to keep them from being competitive with the most powerful V8 engines. The only team to take this option was the Toro Rosso team, which was the reformed and regrouped Minardi.
The engines produce over 100,000 BTU per minute (1,750kW)[citation needed] of heat that must be dumped, usually to the atmosphere via radiators and the exhaust, which can reach temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius[citation needed](1,800 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit). They consume around 650 liters (23ft³) of air per second[2]. Race fuel consumption rate is normally around 75 liters per 100 kilometers traveled (3.1 US mpg - 3.8 UK mpg - 1.3km/l). Nonetheless a Formula One engine is over 20% more efficient at turning fuel into power than most small commuter cars, considering their craftsmanship[citation needed].
All cars have the engine located between the driver and the rear axle. The engines are a stressed member in most cars, meaning that the engine is part of the structural support framework; being bolted to the cockpit at the front end, and transmission and rear suspension at the back end.
In the 2004 championship, engines were required to last a full race weekend; in the 2005 championship, they are required to last two full race weekends and if a team changes an engine between the two races, they incur a penalty of 10 grid positions. In 2007 this rule was altered slightly and an engine only had to last for Saturday and Sunday running. This was to promote Friday running. In the 2008 season, engines were required to last two full race weekends - the same regulation as the 2006 season. However for the 2009 season, each team is allowed to use a maximum of 8 engines over the season, meaning that a couple of engines per team will have to last three race weekends. This method of limiting engine costs also increases the importance of tactics, since the teams will be choosing which races to have a new engine or an already-used engine. In 2006, teams avoided running for long stints in an effort to save the engine and avoid a 10 place drop on the grid.
As of the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix all engine development was frozen until 2009, meaning that the teams must use existing engine specs for the next two seasons.[3] FIA President Max Mosley has suggested the possible introduction of bio-fuel and reintroduction of turbochargers to F1 to improve the efficiency of future engines developed after the freeze is lifted.[4]
[edit]Transmission
Formula One cars use semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with seven forward gears and one reverse gear. The driver initiates gear changes using paddles mounted on the back of the steering wheel and electro-hydraulics perform the actual change as well as throttle control. Clutch control is also performed electro-hydraulically except from and to a standstill when the driver must operate the clutch using a lever mounted on the back of the steering wheel. By regulation the cars use rear wheel drive. A modern F1 clutch is a multi-plate carbon design with a diameter of less than four inches (100mm)[citation needed], weighing less than 2.20lb (1.00kg)[citation needed] and handling 900hp (670kW) or so[citation needed].
As of the 2009[update] race season, all teams are using seamless shift transmissions. Shift times are around 0.05 second[citation needed] for the 2007 season.
As of 2008 race season, all gearboxes must last four consecutive events, although gear ratios can be changed for each race. Changing a gearbox before the allowed time will cause a five places drop on the starting grid.[5]
[edit]Aerodynamics
The rear wing of a modern Formula One car, with three aerodynamic elements (1, 2, 3). The rows of holes for adjustment of the angle of attack (4) and installation of another element (5) are visible on the wing's endplate.
The use of aerodynamics to increase the cars' grip was pioneered in Formula One in the late 1960s by Lotus, Ferrari and Brabham.
[edit]Wings
Early designs linked wings directly to the suspension, but several accidents led to rules stating that wings must be fixed rigidly to the chassis. The cars' aerodynamics are designed to provide maximum downforce with a minimum of drag; every part of the bodywork is designed with this aim in mind. Like most open wheeler cars they feature large front and rear aerofoils, but they are far more developed than American open wheel racers, which depend more on suspension tuning; for instance, the nose is raised above the centre of the front aerofoil, allowing its entire width to provide downforce. The front and rear wings are highly sculpted and extremely fine 'tuned', along with the rest of the body such as the turning vanes beneath the nose, bargeboards, sidepods, underbody, and the rear diffuser. They also feature aerodynamic appendages that direct the airflow. Such an extreme level of aerodynamic development means that an F1 car produces much more downforce than any other open-wheel formula; for example the Indycars produce downforce equal to their weight at 190km/h (118mph), while an F1 car achieves the same downforce:weight ratio of 1:1 at 125 to 130km/h (78 to 81mph), and at 190km/h (118mph) the ratio is roughly 2:1.[6]
The bargeboards in particular are designed, shaped, configured, adjusted and positioned not to create downforce directly, as with a conventional wing or underbody venturi, but to create vortices from the air spillage at their edges. The use of vortices is a significant feature of the latest breeds of F1 cars. Since a vortex is a rotating fluid that creates a low pressure zone at its centre, creating vortices lowers the overall local pressure of the air. Since low pressure is what is desired under the car, as it allows normal atmospheric pressure to press the car down from the top, by creating vortices downforce can be augmented while still staying within the rules prohibiting ground effects.[dubious– discuss]
The new F1 cars for the 2009 season have come under much questioning especially the rear diffusers of the Brawn GP cars raced by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. Appeals from many of the teams were heard by the FIA, which met in Paris, before the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix and the use of diffusers was declared as legal. Brawn GP boss Ross Brawn claimed the diffuser design as "an innovative approach of an existing idea".
[edit]Ground effects
F1 regulations heavily limit the use of ground effect aerodynamics, which are a highly efficient means of creating downforce with a relatively small drag penalty. The underside of the vehicle, the undertray, must be flat between the axles. A 10mm[7] thick wooden plank or skid block runs down the middle of the car to prevent the cars from running low enough to contact the track surface; this skid block is measured before and after a race. Should the plank be less than 9mm thick after the race, the car is disqualified.
A substantial amount of downforce is provided by using a rear diffuser which rises from the undertray at the rear axle to the actual rear of the bodywork. The limitations on ground effects, limited size of the wings (requiring use at high angles of attack to create sufficient downforce), and vortices created by open wheels lead to a high aerodynamic drag coefficient (about 1 according to Minardi's technical director Gabriele Tredozi;[8] compare with the average modern saloon car (sedan in the USA), which has a Cd value between 0.25 and 0.35), so that, despite the enormous power output of the engines, the top speed of these cars is less than that of World War II vintage Mercedes-Benz and Auto UnionSilver Arrows racers. However, this drag is more than compensated for by the ability to corner at extremely high speed. The aerodynamics are adjusted for each track; with a relatively low drag configuration for tracks where high speed is relatively more important like Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and a high traction configuration for tracks where cornering is more important, like the Circuit de Monaco.
[edit]Regulations
The front wing is lower than ever before.
A ban on aerodynamic appendages resulted in the 2009 cars having smoother bodywork.
The FIA is hoping to rid F1 of small winglets and other parts of the car (minus the front and rear wing) used to manipulate the airflow of the car in order to decrease drag and increase downforce. As it is now, the front wing is shaped specifically to push air towards all the winglets and bargeboards so that the airflow is smooth. Should these be removed, various parts of the car will cause great drag when the front wing is unable to shape the air past the body of the car. The regulations which came into effect in 2009 have reduced the width of the rear wing by 25cm, and standardised the centre section of the front wing to prevent teams developing the front wing.
[edit]Construction
The cars are constructed from composites of carbon fibre and similar ultra-lightweight (and expensive to manufacture) materials. The minimum weight permissible is 605kg (1,334lb) including the driver, fluids and on-board cameras. However, all F1 cars weigh significantly less than this (some as little as 440kg (970lb)[citation needed]) so teams add ballast to the cars to bring them up to the minimum legal weight. The advantage of using ballast is that it can be placed anywhere in the car to provide ideal weight distribution.
[edit]Steering wheel
A modern Toyota F1 steering wheel, with a complex array of dials, knobs, and buttons.
The driver has the ability to fine tune many elements of the race car from within the machine using the steering wheel. The wheel can be used to change gears, apply rev limiter, adjust fuel air mix, change brake pressure and call the radio. Data such as rpm, laptimes, speed and gear is displayed on an LCD screen. The wheel alone can cost about £25,000,[9] and with carbon fibre construction, weighs in at 1.3 kilograms.
[edit]Fuel
The fuel used in F1 cars is fairly similar to ordinary gasoline, albeit with a far more tightly controlled mix. Formula One fuel can only contain compounds that are found in commercial gasoline, in contrast to alcohol-based fuels used in American open-wheel racing. Blends are tuned for maximum performance in given weather conditions or different circuits. During the period when teams were limited to a specific volume of fuel during a race, exotic high-density fuel blends were used which were actually heavier than water, since the energy content of a fuel depends on its mass density.
To make sure that the teams and fuel suppliers are not violating the fuel regulations, the FIA requires Elf, Shell, Mobil, Petronas and the other fuel teams to submit a sample of the fuel they are providing for a race. At any time, FIA inspectors can request a sample from the fueling rig to compare the "fingerprint" of what is in the car during the race with what was submitted. The teams usually abide by this rule, but in 1997, Mika Häkkinen was stripped of his third place finish at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium after the FIA determined that his fuel was not the correct formula, as well as in 1976, both McLaren and Penske cars were forced to the rear of the Italian Grand Prix after the octane mixture was found to be too high.
[edit]Tyres
Main article: Formula One tyres
A BMW Sauber's right-rear Bridgestone tyre.
The 2009 season has seen the re-introduction of slick tyres replacing the grooved tyres used for a number of previous seasons.
Tyres can be no wider than 355 and 380mm (14.0 and 15.0in) at the front and rear respectively. Unlike the fuel, the tyres bear only a superficial resemblance to a normal road tyre. Whereas a roadcar tyre has a useful life of up to 80,000km (50,000mi), in 2005, a Formula One tyre is built to last just one race distance (a little over 300km (190mi)). This is the result of a drive to maximize the road-holding ability, leading to the use of very soft compounds (to ensure that the tyre surface conforms to the road surface as closely as possible).
Since the start of the 2007 season Bridgestone is the sole tyre supplier and have introduced four compounds (Hard, Medium, Soft and Super Soft) of tyre, two of which will be made available at each race. The harder tyre is more durable but gives less grip, and the softer tyre gives more grip but is less durable. In 2009 the slick tyres have returned as a part of revisions to the rules for the current 2009 season; slicks have no grooves and give up to 18% more contact with the track. A green band on the sidewall of the softer compound allows spectators to distinguish which tyre a driver is on. Bridgestone brings two compounds to the track that are separated by at least one specification. So if they bring the Hard tyres then they also take the Soft, because the Medium (although in some cases a better choice than the hard or soft) is not allowed. This was implemented by the FIA to create more noticeable difference between the compounds and hopefully add more excitement to the race when two drivers are on different strategies. Except for the Monaco GP, where they brought the soft and super soft tyres, because Monte Carlo has a very different track surface than other tracks with much less grip. Bridgestone have recently decided to bring consecutive compounds to some of the remaining races due to the data they have collected so far this season.