2022 F1 cars to be twice as ‘strong’ as before with emphasis being placed on providing better safety to drivers
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After the enthralling 2021 season and even more importantly, the finale of the same season, the new season of F1 can’t be here soon enough. The beginning of the 2022 season will mark the end of the F1’s Hybrid era and bring stricter and crucial regulations into place.
With every team presenting their new car in February, there are many aspects of these beasts of F1 that we must know about. As they are becoming faster year by year, the need for increased safety is to be kept in mind by everyone competing. Hence, the cars of the new era will be twice as strong as previous seasons.
What will make the cars stronger?
A crucial amendment is to the car’s chassis, which will increase the protection against head-on accidents. This and other developments are expected to add 43 kilograms of weight to the new machines, half of which will be dedicated to safety measures.
Nikolas Tombazis, the F1 car designer, who has worked previously for the Benetton, McLaren, and Ferrari F1 teams, in an interview with Auto Motor Und Sport, said-
“The cars were homologated between 2020 and 2021,So we couldn’t ask for big changes to certain components. We only looked at some details around the fuel system and individually requested some minor changes depending on the car to make the system more robust,” said Tombazis.
“Our research showed an extremely stiff chassis flank, and a nose that absorbs more energy is the most efficient way to deal with this. It needs a good balance of both. This is achieved by thicker chassis walls and by protecting these structures better. No other components should get in the way anymore,” he added.
“The new chassis will be about two times as strong on their sides as before,” Tombazis continued. With the increased weight of the cars from 752 to 795 kgs, the static loads test directly increased by 15 percent.
“In doing so, we are struggling with one problem in particular. If the nose is designed to be too strong in its energy dissipation in the longitudinal direction, it can cause it to snap off more easily in a lateral impact,” said Tombazis
As the accidents are an unfortunate part of F1, their damage is tried to be kept at the minimum. Increasing speeds led to FIA introducing the Halo for the neck safety of the drivers. The Head and Neck Safety device (HANS) and the Halo have thus been vital to driver’s safety. To make it safer, FIA has brought in tougher standards to match for the teams.
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Manan Goel
(400 Articles Published)