F1 Wants To Ban Tire Heaters—heres Why Thats A Good Idea
Last weekend the annual Formula 1 street race took place in Azerbaijan. Baku, on high-speed bikes, saw thrilling races. But that wasn't the case this year, which makes it even more tragic than Ambien. But there was at least one more exciting race when the World Endurance Championships came to Belgium at the weekend. As for the two, I think it's time for Formula 1 to introduce two assistants.
Part 1: The issue of DRS suspension
This year, the problem of Formula 1 often suffers from it. One team has built a better car than anyone else, and assuming that team - Red Bull Racing - is reliable, it is guaranteed to win the driver's and constructor's championships. It's not Red Bull's fault that he's doing better than anyone else this year, but his advantage has been magnified thanks to the technocrats who were added to the sport a few years ago and have already tried to add to it.
It's called DRS (Drag Reduction System) and it was introduced in 2011 to solve the problem of one F1 car not being able to follow another adequately in a corner.
Back then, Formula 1 cars generated most of their downforce from the front wings. But a wing creates more downforce in clear air than turbulence, and these Formula 1 cars create such poor air behind them that following a car near a corner causes the car behind it to widen (or wobble). Time and no opportunity to pass.
This made racing so boring that DRS was introduced. If the next driver lets the car float for a second on certain parts of the racetrack, a button called DRS will flatten the main section of the rear wing to reduce drag and give the car some speed.
I think the number one reason the time has come for DRS is that F1 has finally changed the way cars are allowed to produce lower power rather than contributing to the technical incident. A Formula 1 car uses a sculpted lower profile that creates impact with the ground rather than relying heavily on the front spokes and top of the car for how it moves. This makes them less likely to chase other cars, and in fact, since the new technical regulations came into effect last year, we've seen F1 cars closely following each other.
As the new machines took off, it was time to take off the training wheels or training boards and see if they could work without help. I think they can.
The second reason is how good Red Bull was with DRS on the RB19. Basically dropping the rear wing main body stops the airflow in the wing spar and slows it down. As a result, the RB19 is unstoppable, running 12-15 mph faster than its competitors last weekend.
I don't think the DRS ban will stop the RB19's dominance - it's too fast in the corners for that, and both Red Bull drivers are at the top of their game right now. But at least it makes them work harder to earn those rewards.
Part 2: Losing your tire temperature isn't the end of the world
One way F1 is trying to reduce energy consumption is to ban electric blankets from heating tires during races. F1 tires operate at around 100 degrees Celsius and to help the drivers, 10 tires are heated in one car for several hours before being fitted to the car during pit stops.
Many rubber blankets operating at this temperature consume a lot of electricity and in 2010 In 2022 the rules changed to allow five tires to heat up to 70 degrees Celsius. If the organizers of the sport are put into action, there will be no tire warmers next year, but the plan has faced strong opposition from drivers and others.
Claims are clear - for the first round, cold racing tires can be made of Bakelite, so the load on them will definitely increase, some will be caught and mistakes will be made. It would be nice if F1 consisted of the best drivers in the world. IndyCar avoids overheating the tires and running fast on cold tires is a skill that helps separate the great drivers from the good ones.
The World Endurance Championship has abandoned the use of tire warmers since the beginning of this year. Like F1, the WEC is trying to reduce carbon emissions, and the removal of tire blankets has reduced the number of tire clusters.
The WEC took part in Spa-Francorchamps last weekend, on the long and challenging asphalt in the Ardennes forest that often supports two different microclimates at once. At the start of the race, the cold and wet conditions led to some teams using wet tires which ran out quickly, while others slipped and slid on dry tires for some time and eventually reached race temperatures.
As in Formula 1, the action did not go well for the drivers and Ferrari were furious after one of their 499Ps lost out on cold tires after a pit stop. But with a few exceptions, everyone performed perfectly, adding an element of wonder to the show.
- I traveled to Sebring in March because it was the only North American stop in the World Endurance Championship and I wanted to see the new hypercars in action.Jonathan Gitlin
- Toyota introduced the GR010 in 2010. He starts racing in 2022, so he has a full year behind him. Sebring in March was the first race for most of its rivals, now they are leading Le Mans in June.Jonathan Gitlin
- Team Penske Porsche participates in the World Endurance Championship with a pair of Porsche 963. At Spa, the first 963 Special appeared in the hands of Tom Brady-backed Team Jota. The 963 wasn't very competitive at Portugal's Sebring or Portimao, but it looked very strong against the Belgian pace.Jonathan Gitlin
- The 499P is a beautiful race car, and if the AF Corsa team hadn't made a huge tactical error early in the race, it could have won.Jonathan Gitlin
- The same cannot be said of the Peugeot 9X8, although the Peugeot team started racing with this car in the middle of last season.Jonathan Gitlin
That wasn't the only reason why Six Hour Spa put on such a good show. The new hypercar segment attracted a very diverse group of entrants, with Ferrari, Cadillac and the now established Toyota GR010 quickly emerging to produce sports cars. The jury will be out on this wingless Peugeot 9X8 until it hits the smooth roads at Le Mans, but I want it to run well because it looks so wild. And the team of Gilkenhouse and Floyd VanWaal have brave individual efforts. In fact, when the WEC visited the gray concrete of Sebring, Florida in March – this year it felt like a single-team race in Formula 1 – Toyota surprised the entire audience.
All the other teams have some work to do to get ready, as do the folks at Toyota Gazoo Racing, but this could be the first year since 2017 that Toyota faces real competition at Le Mans. Diversity strengthens ecosystems, and diversity makes competition better.
It was a good old mess too. Two Aston Martin GTs misbehaved with other cars on the track for a while. I saw some amazing things like a couple of LMP2 cars running side by side through the Eau Rouge and spending hours racing down the steep Radillion hill on slingshot rubber balls. , then all four wheels will be in the air. Scroll through the embedded video at 6 minutes and 37 seconds to see how it's done.
