Ferrari bringing low downforce solution to Miami GP to combat Red Bull speed

Ferrari says its planned changes for Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix will revolve mainly around a low-downforce solution, with a wider upgrade package for the F1-75 only coming later.

Mercedes targeting Miami for critical F1 upgrades
Mercedes is hoping that the upgrades aimed at helping it run its 2022 Formula 1 car lower to the ground will be ready for next week’s Miami Grand Prix.
Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Apr 28, 2022, 5:12 AM

The German car manufacturer has been held back so far this season by porpoising, which has forced the team to run its W13 with a much higher ride height than it was originally designed for.

Raising the platform is costing it a lot of downforce, but the outfit remains convinced that if it can switch off the porpoising then it can unlock a lot of pace by being able to run the car where it was originally intended.

The team has worked hard to get to the bottom of the problem and it is now hoping that it can bring developments to Miami that will offer it a proper indication about whether or not it has begun the properly get on top of the issue.

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said the updates would not instantly solve all of Mercedes’ problems, but would at least confirm if it is heading in the right direction.

So, what are the manhole lids like in Miami? :rofl2:

Interesting look at complex turn sequence and track in Miami! Video link below.

https://motorsport.tv/embed/sQLQLhzq...orner-sequence


UK specialists Apex Circuit Design laid out the 5.41-kilometre anticlockwise circuit, which hosts its first Formula 1 Grand Prix next weekend, around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Its most sinuous section is through Turns 13-16, which wind around the entrance and exit ramps and beneath the flyover sections of the Florida Turnpike, the main toll road between Miami and Orlando, and NW 203rd Street.

The track is expected to produce an average lap speed of just under 135mph, and this slow-speed section precedes a 1.28km, 320kph straight that leads towards the hairpin at Turn 17.

The approach to Turn 17 should be the track’s key overtaking opportunity and the compression effect of the Turn 13-16 sequence should ensure close running onto the back straight.

I hope I'm wrong. Seems like an underwhelming track next week. Just like putting anothwr Arabian track in Florida. Only difference is its daytime.

Quick and easy fee's for Liberty. They have been pushing swift to arrange 'street' events for years. All their ideas are street races.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1...runs/10254395/

F1 drivers encouraged by Miami GP track in simulator runs

Formula 1 drivers who have sampled the Miami Grand Prix venue in team simulators have given favourable feedback, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly calling it “pretty awesome”.
Adam Cooper
By:
Adam Cooper
May 1, 2022, 10:00 AM

Due to their busy travel schedules and also the time taken for teams to properly model circuits in their simulation software, drivers generally only sample new venues in the week prior to the race.

However, four of the current grid took the opportunity to try Miami prior to Imola, with three of them running in the Red Bull Technology sim in Milton Keynes.

“I've tried it and I must say it looks pretty awesome,” said Gasly when asked by Autosport if he drove around the track on the simulator.

“I really liked the layout. Quite a lot of high-speed content, quite challenging, unusual type of corners, extremely long corners, very long straights.

“I think we should have some pretty good American entertainment, good entertainment the whole weekend, so very excited about it, and the location is unique. So very hyped about the weekend.”

Sergio Perez cautioned that the end of the lap is quite tight, with a series of slow corners from Turns 11-16 that lead onto the back straight.

"I think it's a good circuit,” said the Mexican. “I think it has a little bit of a twisty area that is quite difficult to get right, and the visibility can be difficult.

“But I think racing can be good with all those long straights. I just hope the asphalt can be good, and we can have good racing, because when we come to new circuits we find some good surprises."

Ferrari Miami F1 helmet design.

Look at the grey drawings for something 80's Miami cool!! :tup::happydance::driving:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wh...ings/10272654/

Why tyre balance is proving critical to F1 2022 performance swings

Formula 1 teams are finding that managing the balance between the front and rear tyres is proving critical for performance with the new generation of cars.


By: Jonathan Noble
May 3, 2022, 7:47 AM


With the new rule set still in its infancy, teams are still exploring how best to extract the most speed from the latest ground effect machinery.

While a lot of time has been spent up and down on the grid on trying to resolve porpoising issues, some outfits have started getting a proper understanding of what drives other key performance areas.

And one thing they are quickly finding is that the cars are especially sensitive if there is not a good balance between how the tyres are managed across both axles.

Both Red Bull and Ferrari, for example, believes that the performance swing between their cars at the Australian and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix owed everything to the tyres.

In Melbourne, Ferrari got the F1-75 in the perfect window, and Red Bull – in trying to protect the rears – ended up abusing its fronts and that left it adrift of its rival's pace.

At Imola, however, the tables were turned on the two teams. Red Bull hooked up its RB18 up perfectly, while Ferrari didn't manage to do so and, in the sprint, it was Charles Leclerc who suffered the most from front graining.

As Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said: "We were faster than Ferrari. We got the tyres in the right window and our complete execution, including finding the right balance in the car, was much better than in Australia.

"The difference wasn't that big. We were only one to two tenths faster in terms of pure pace. We just had better tyre management. What went wrong for us in Melbourne, happened to Ferrari this time. They suffered from graining much earlier than we did because of the balance in the car."

Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson believes that when teams show a great turn of speed in races, it's likely due to them hitting the sweet spot with the tyre temperatures.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1...rack/10296480/

F1 drivers say 'fake marina' corner is key to Miami track
Formula 1 drivers have picked out Turn 7, the location of the controversial fake marina, as one of the critical areas of the new Miami Grand Prix track.
Adam Cooper
By:
Adam Cooper
May 6, 2022, 7:27 AM


The corner is a tightening left-hander that leads into the sharp-left Turn 8 and then onto a long straight that features a DRS zone.

It is followed by a heavy braking area into Turn 11, which is expected to be a popular overtaking spot.

After drivers tried the track in team simulators and walked it on arrival in Florida, the consensus was that it won’t be easy to get Turn 7 right, especially as the entry is blind.

That in turn could help the following car close up and gain DRS activation on the exit of Turn 8, and then attempt a pass at Turn 11.

New

Mercedes still in "trial and error" mode with porpoising F1 updates
Mercedes says it is still in "trial and error" mode with its Formula 1 car updates, as it continues efforts to find a cure for its porpoising problems.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/me...ates/10295468/

“Unfortunately, with no testing, every race weekend is a little bit of a live experiment.

“You can't replicate the bouncing that we see on track in the windtunnel. And therefore, it's like in the old days, it's a little bit of trial and error, what does it actually do in real life?

“Therefore we are looking at a few directions where we believe they could help us to solve the problem long term without losing the goodness of the downforce by just lifting it up or patching the floor.

“There will be tweaks on the car this weekend where we think we can get a direction. But the performance of the car, we won't unlock it from one weekend to the other.”

New

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ha...kart/10300518/

Hamilton: Miami F1 chicane like racing around B&Q car park in a kart
Lewis Hamilton says the Miami Formula 1 circuit’s tight uphill chicane reminds him of driving karts around B&Q car parks as a kid.


By: Jonathan Noble
May 7, 2022, 4:02 AM
formula-1-miami-gp-2022-lewis--2.jpg


While Hamilton escaped any major dramas on a day when a number of other drivers hit trouble around the new F1 venue, he was left far from impressed about the sequence of corners before the long final straight.

The elevated Turn 14/15 chicane, which passes under a turnpike, has been designed to generate mistakes that leave drivers exposed to a potential challenge from behind on the following run down to the last corner.

However, the ultra-compact nature of the complex, with drivers needing to attack the kerbs at slow speed, did not impress the seven-time world champion.

“The track's quite nice to drive except for the chicane,” said Hamilton. “It's so tight. It reminds me of being in a B&Q car park when I was six years old or seven years old, in a go kart, going in between cars.

“It's a corner where maybe in future they can remove that one and it will improve the track.”

Hamilton also said that he was not too happy with how bumpy the track was on the first day of running.

“It's kind of crazy when you think that people in this day and age should be able to make a flat road relatively easy,” he said. “There were frigging big, big, big bumps and so many places where the track like joins up with somewhere else. So I don't know if they will be able to grind that at night and improve it.”


But not all drivers were so downbeat about the circuit, with Kevin Magnussen saying he actually like the challenge of the chicane.

“That's kind of cool,” he said. “It's not thrilling in the same way as the high-speed corners, but it's very blind and it's like over a crest with big kerbs, and big change of direction at low speed.

“It's quite unique I'd say, so in that way cool. But it's obviously very slow.”

One of the key problems on the opening day of action, which triggered a number of incidents, was the dirty track surface. It meant that if drivers did stray off the racing line then they were almost guaranteed to spin.

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez feared that if the situation did not improve then that did not bode well for the race.

“I’m extremely disappointed that there is no grip off-line,” he said. “It’s a shame, because I think the racing will be bad due to that.

“As soon as you try to go off-line, there is no grip. It’s done. It feels very gravel-y off-line. So the racing will be hard.”

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas liked the challenges that had been posed by the layout though, as he predicted an exciting race on Sunday, despite being caught out at Turn 7 in FP1, crashing heavily which meant he missed all of FP2.

“It is not an easy track for sure,” he told Autosport. “Definitely when the track is green, it can happen more easily. But once you go slightly offline, if you lose the rear end, you can't catch it any more.

“That technical section from Turns 12 to 15 is not easy to get it right, but I think they’ve done a good job on the overtaking opportunities.

“I think we’re going to see some good racing here with the long straights and with them starting with a slow speed corner, it means you can follow close.”

WTF is going on with Carlito? Three races in a row he’s botching the ride and his and Ferrari’s shot at championship points.

I look forward to seeing how the integration of the American celebrities plus showing off Miami works out with the race weekend as a whole.

Pierre got to have dinner with Michael Jordan. Understandably, everyone else is jealous lmao.

Perez brands Miami track surface “a joke” as drivers fear poor race
Formula 1 drivers have criticised the surface of the new Miami GP track, leading to Red Bull driver Sergio Perez calling it “a joke.”

Throughout practice and qualifying drivers found that there is no grip if they stray off the rubbered-in racing line.

The consensus is that the prospect of an entertaining race will be compromised because drivers cannot move off line to attempt a pass.

“I think most importantly the surface is a joke,” said Perez when asked by Autosport if there will be any passing in the race.

“Tomorrow the racing is going be difficult. And you're going to have the drivers making mistakes because we've been put into this situation.”

In addition to Perez's comments, Fernando Alonso said that the track surface was “not F1 standards”, while Lando Norris suggested that it was “not good enough.”

Alonso revealed that the subject had been discussed in Friday night’s drivers’ briefing, and that the lack of grip had not improved on Saturday.

“It's still very difficult to go offline,” he said. “There's like rubble out of line, so it's going to be difficult. We said yesterday that the track, the tarmac, is not F1 standards.

“Nothing we can do. I think this weekend we need to put the show, but this has to change for next year. It's very difficult to race like this.”

My boy needs more speed.

Otherwise season is still delivering.

For the Love of God, Sky please take the mic away from Martin Brundle and Never let him do another Grid Walk!! It was a Total Train Wreck!! :facepalm:

Patrick....excuse me Patrick, umm Patrick?

I like this track compared to others and the physicality required to the finish was great but....

Pirelli helmets
CHiPs in Miami, sirens blazing in the tunnel
5 figure cabanas
Gridwalk circus
T14/15 wonky Crazchicanes
T12 mermaids
and Sea H20 asphalt wrap?

Send in Will Smith to slap some sense to the organizers.

I feel ya, but got to say the turn out looked like a great success. Should only improve from here.

Sort the track issues first
Then sort the other non race related issues like - seats/prices/atmosphere not so............silly. A show is good but the show has now over shadowed the race itself.

Liberty must remember its a race event. This was too processional and only the late safety car made it somewhat of a race.

When you get engine and aero parity as a focus you get lots of following........not much racing overall. Not sure this season is really more exciting than last so far.

He did officially apologize. Look SKY F1 folks are not super NFL smart. They cover F1

--The grid was incredibly busy pre-race too, and my sincere apologies to Patrick Mahomes and Paolo Banchero for the confusion.

MB--

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24...stery-persists

And honestly, I don't care what a bunch of celebrities think about the race - betting 99% are not F1 fans and couldn't tell you the names of more than 3 drivers in all the history of the sport. They're there to enhance their own brand, to see and be seen. And frankly, I don't need to watch that during coverage of an F1 race weekend.

I can only imagine what Las Vegas Grand Prix will be like. :tup:

More stupid on steroids!!!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Aston Martin will bring “half a new car” to the Spanish Grand Prix, according to Auto Motor und Sport’s Michael Schmidt.

AMuS’s Schmidt reports Aston Martin engineers have told him there will be big changes to the AMR22 at the Barcelona race, so much so they will be “very visible”.

The car could look more like the championship-leading Ferrari F1-75 with a slimmer rear and wide sidepods.

Schmidt said: “Maybe it will be a Ferrari copy, let’s see.”

Aston Martin needs 1/2 a new car at least, and the FiA needs half a new brain as well, cuz Seb V. cracked me up when he put his underwear over his race suit and walked around the pit lane. That cracked me up.

Mario Andretti confident in bringing 11th F1 team to grid in 2024 but money dispute could scupper bid

Mario and Michael Andretti want to bring 'Andretti Global' team to grid in 2024; The plan is for the team to have American drivers and an American-built car, although other teams say there has to be a change to the prize fund structure to agree to an 11th team

What's the issue with F1 adding 11th team?

With none of the 10 franchises up for sale, Andretti has to persuade the sport to allow an 11th team.

The problem with that for the current teams is that they currently split the prize fund among the 10 entries, and so an 11th team - without a change in the structure - would essentially be costing them money,

"It makes total logical sense to say that the 10 teams or 10 franchises have an intrinsic value and you dilute that by increasing the number," said Red Bull principal Christian Horner.

Ferrari’s top secret F1 filming day fuels upgrade intrigue

Ferrari’s lockdown of the Monza circuit in Italy on Friday for a top-secret filming day has fuelled intrigue about its upgrade push for Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Co-author:
Franco Nugnes
, Featured writer
May 13, 2022, 3:52 PM


In a largely unprecedented move for the Maranello squad, whose every step is followed closely by the tifosi, its hiring of Monza for a promotional event resulted in beefed up security to prevent onlookers getting in.

Access to the track was strictly prohibited for fans, with barriers set up on access roads, and only one spy shot has emerged – which shows the F1-75 heavily obscured by barriers so its key details cannot be seen.

Officially, Charles Leclerc was on duty in the morning to deliver video material for Ferrari of both the car on track as well as further images in the pits and paddock.

The move was especially important with Ferrari needing some fresh footage of the car without the logos of the Russian Kaspersky brand, which was dropped by the team in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

Ferrrari’s previous filming day footage had taken place prior to the pre-season Barcelona test when the logos were still on the car, so there was a need for some more up-to-date video of the team in action.

While F1 teams doing filming days is nothing out of the ordinary, the level of secrecy that has surrounded Ferrari’s 100km run – equivalent to 17 laps – has prompted some intrigue about it being used as well to gather vital data for the next race.

Ferrari is expected to bring a major upgrade to Barcelona as it bids to overhaul the 0.2 seconds per lap advantage that it thinks Red Bull has right now.

Changes to the Ferrari are expected to revolve around efforts to reduce both drag and weight – and could include a new lower drag rear wing and modifications to the sidepods and floor.

The image that emerged from the Monza filming did not reveal any obvious new parts – although intriguingly the DRS was in a silver colour suggesting it may be modified from the regular unit that is under a black shroud in races.

There are also suggestions that Ferrari may help trim off some weight by removing a transparent film from its bodywork paint. Stripping this clear coat could help it shed around 700 grammes, with all teams still chasing gains to get near F1’s 798kg weight limit.

The tweak to the paint scheme is said to only impact how the car looks in certain light conditions, and could be something that Ferrari was looking at in Monza as well.

Yikes. Gotta get that obligatory Monaco crash out of the way.

As Autosport's exclusive photograph shows, Leclerc's incident appears to have been caused by a total failure of the front left brakes.

The image taken shortly before Leclerc spun shows a shattered brake disc on the floor after it had come loose from the front left caliper.

With no stopping power on the left front corner of the car, the brakes would have grabbed entirely on the right side, leaving Leclerc powerless as the car would have snapped instantly right.

Spain F1 weekend!! Practice2 is on soon. Stream link below if are able to watch there at work lol :)

https://cricfree.live/live/sky-sports-f1-backup-1

FIA clears Aston Martin over Red Bull F1 car design similarities after investigation

The FIA has cleared Aston Martin after carrying out an investigation into the similarities between its updated Formula 1 car and Red Bull’s car ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Luke Smith
By:
Luke Smith
May 20, 2022, 2:25 PM
FIA clears Aston Martin over Red Bull F1 car design similarities after investigation

Aston Martin debuted a number of upgrades for its AMR22 F1 car on Friday in opening practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, including changes to its sidepod, floor, halo and rear wing.

But the similarities between the updated Aston Martin and Red Bull’s RB18 car were quickly noted, leading to the design being dubbed a ‘green Red Bull’.

It is not the first time the Silverstone-based team has seen similarities be drawn between its car and another design. In 2020, the Racing Point car was known as a ‘pink Mercedes’ after being based off the 2019 title-winning car.

The FIA clamped down on reverse engineering car designs in the wake of the pink Mercedes case, and revealed in Barcelona on Friday that it did look into the updated Aston Martin car.

F1’s governing body said that during a “routine pre-event legality check” of the planned Aston Martin updates, “it became apparent that a number of features on the Aston Martin resembled those of another Competitor”.

This led to an investigation of the car to confirm compliance with Article 17.3 of the technical regulations, relating to reverse engineering and "potential illicit IP transfer”.

Through the investigation, the FIA found that Aston Martin had complied with the regulations through its process, making the new updates legal.

https://racingnews365.com/horner-tak...f-red-bull-car

Horner reacts to Aston Martin/Red Bull comparisons

Speaking before the investigation outcome was announced, Red Bull boss Horner made his feelings clear about the comparisons between the two cars.

"It is quite a thing to instruct your team to come up with a very close-looking clone of our car," Horner said in BBC 5 Live Sport's Spanish Grand Prix preview podcast, as quoted by Andrew Benson on Twitter.

"A few people have moved over the winter period, and what you can't control is what they take in their heads.

"But what would be of grave concern to us would be if any IP had in any way changed hands.

"That is where we rely on the FIA to do their job. They have all the access and we will be relying on them heavily to ensure that no Red Bull IP has found its way into that car."

RedBull are upset and rightfully so it appears.

Red Bull: Transfer of IP in Aston Martin F1 design would be "a serious concern"

Red Bull has responded to the FIA's statement clearing Aston Martin over similarities in its Formula 1 car design by saying any transfer of IP would be "a serious concern".
Luke Smith
By:
Luke Smith
Co-author:
Christian Nimmervoll
May 20, 2022, 4:09 PM
Red Bull: Transfer of IP in Aston Martin F1 design would be "a serious concern"

Aston Martin debuted a raft of updates for its AMR22 car in opening practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday that were quickly noted for similarities to Red Bull’s RB18 concept.

The FIA confirmed it had investigated the matter due to the similarities between the updates and Red Bull’s design, but cleared Aston Martin of any wrongdoing, saying all of the new parts and their processes complied with the regulations. Reverse engineering has been banned in F1 since Racing Point – Aston Martin’s predecessor – based its 2020 car design on the 2019 Mercedes title-winner.

Red Bull issued a public statement as a response to the FIA’s comments, saying it had “noted the FIA’s statement with interest”.

“While imitation is the greatest form of flattery, any replication of design would obviously need to comply with the FIA’s rules around ‘Reverse Engineering’,” said Red Bull.

“However, should any transfer of IP have taken place that would clearly be a breach of regulations and would be a serious concern.”

The similarities between the two cars have already led to the Aston Martin car being dubbed as a ‘green Red Bull’. During FP1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, all members of the Red Bull pitwall were sat with a can of the ‘green edition’ flavour energy drink on their desks.

As part of its recruitment drive since rebranding, Aston Martin has hired a number of high-profile staff members through the paddock, including Red Bull’s former head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows.

A dispute between the two teams over Fallows’ contract was settled in January when it was agreed that he would begin as Aston Martin’s technical director at the beginning of April.
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Speaking on Sky Germany, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said it was important to “clarify how it came to this unbelievable copy” of the RB18 car.

“As things stand, copying is not forbidden,” Marko said.

“But you also have to take into account that seven people were poached from us and that our chief aerodynamicist was pulled to Aston Martin with a disproportionately high fee.

“There are still some facts that we are checking. We will look into it in detail.”

Marko added that it was “not just Dan Fallows” and claimed “there is evidence that data was downloaded”.

“Dan Fallows was on gardening leave,” Marko said. “What he has in his head… Copying is not prohibited in the approach. But can you copy without documents and then make such a detailed copy of our car?”

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/re...cern/10307446/

FP2, was interesting....
Top ten
1. Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m19.670s, soft
2. Russell (Mercedes) 1m19.787s, soft
3. Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m19.874s, soft
4. Sainz (Ferrari) 1m19.990s, soft
5. Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m20.006s, soft
6. Alonso (Alpine) 1m20.203s, soft
7. Perez (Red Bull) 1m20.632s, soft
8. Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m20.703s, soft
9. Ocon (Alpine) 1m20.745s, soft
10. Schumacher (Haas) 1m20.757s, soft

notes: softs were going off really bad, track was hot (Mediums may be faster)
Interesting where Haas was with no Upgrades
Has MB found the magic
Amazing if they run over the curbs -- check for floor damage. it but Norris out of the session.

Bottas - had an engine problem

Don't forget Hamilton's last weekend with the nose ring, and all drivers must wear fire proof undies :stirthepot:

Ferrari are fast but way down on race pace and destroying the mediums vs RedBull. They have an issue. Qualy they are fine but race sims were not good compared to others.

I have heard nothing about that this weekend...