In answering a question from Autosport regarding the ability to follow other cars and overtake, George Russell declared that it is easier to follow other cars but “the slipstream effect has been reduced quite substantially”.
Does this mean F1 will be forced to keep one of the more unpopular elements of the sport, the Drag Reduction System or DRS?
Introduced in 2011, DRS is the primary aid to overtaking in Formula 1. When a driver is following a rival, DRS is activated when passing a “detection point” before the “DRS zone” within one second of the car ahead.
The driver then presses a button to open part of the rear wing, usually the upper element, which creates what can be described as a letterbox, which reduces drag caused by the rear wing, allowing for an increase in straight line top speed.
The 2022 season witnesses a regulatory design change that is as drastic as anything that has come before. Gone is the heavy reliance on aerodynamic performance over the car and returning is an emphasis on ground effect produced downforce to produce a greater upwash at the rear of the car.
There are many changes that have been made in the hope of curing an issue that has long plagued F1, the ability of one car to follow another closely. The ambition is to create better on track racing with cars that do not depend on highly tuned aerodynamics and thus perform poorly when stuck behind another car.
Have the design changes made following easier?
The 2022 breed of Formula 1 cars were run last week for the first time in anger at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya and there was widespread agreement from the drivers in Barcelona that the new car designs had indeed made following another car easier.
One of the major issues with the previous generation of cars was the massive amounts of “dirty air” caused by the aerodynamics of the cars as they raced.
As the leading car drove into the settled air ahead, the car would create huge amounts of downforce with the intricately formed barge boards, powerful wings and floors that were meticulously detailed. This caused turbulent air to tumble out behind the car, which was bad news for a car following.
The chasing car would not be as efficient at working this unsettled air to produce downforce, which would lead to understeer or oversteer in certain corners.
The design changes for 2022 have been made with the aim to clean up the air forced out behind the car and drivers were quick to test it out in Spain, at a circuit notorious for being tough to follow and overtake an opponent.
To do this, ground effect floors are the main source of downforce on the car while the front wings aim to be less sensitive to disrupted air with wheel covers and elements that arch over the front wheels, which should work together to stop the air being disrupted at the rear of the car so badly.
Did the drivers feel that this was the case?
Lando Norris commented that “following in the corners is an improvement”, while his ex-McLaren team mate Carlos Sainz stated that he had “already felt some differences” and that he thought it was “going in the right direction.”
Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was also positive about the changes, saying that “you don’t get this weird loss of downforce” when behind another car.
All of this sounds positive, right?
New Mercedes driver, George Russell echoed the encouraging sentiments saying that following “has been improved”, but cited that “the slipstream effect has been reduced”.
Reduced slipstream effect
One of F1’s aims for the future with this new generation of car has been to remove the DRS aid, pitching for a more natural overtaking formula.
Considering what the Mercedes man had to say, could this suggest a new barrier to overtaking?
The powerful slipstreams that the previous cars allowed for, created by a vacuum in the air streams where the car could accelerate without the added drag, are the perfect natural aid to overtaking.
This is where the DRS system comes into play, as it would often be activated and bring the chasing car close, but then the corners would arrive and the benefits could be lost.
If George is right and the slipstream is not as powerful as before then we may need the “necessary evil” that is DRS.
Purists will demand that it is banished instantly and it becomes a classic battle of driver/car combination to get the job done.
Newer fans, who may have only seen F1 with DRS, might claim that it helps the show and promote overtaking. After all, DRS is not always a slam dunk overtake, and the driver still needs to compensate for the extra speed on the brakes.
Obviously, it is impossible to please everyone all the time so it could be that DRS is with us for a little while yet.
Personally, I feel that DRS a place in F1 as it does aid drivers in racing each other. You can make an argument that Fernando Alonso would have won the 2010 WDC had DRS been around that season, but then would we have witnessed his incredible duel with Michael Schumacher at the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola? Probably not.
DRS can more or less effective from circuit to circuit, like many other facets to the sport, such as the “under-cut” on pit strategy or fuel consumption.
“It’s hard to know”
Lando offered a good summary of the situation, considering it is only winter testing.
“It’s hard to know because you’re always on different fuel levels and tyres. Maybe when there are two, three, four, five, six cars ahead, it could be quite different again.”
As with many facets of pre-season testing, there are multiple caveats to consider and smokescreens to cover the real information that is there. The teams are not really bothered about how the car runs in traffic at this stage, as they are all hoping that they are the team running at the front.
It is entirely plausible that when George was following others, he was on a longer “race-sim” programme.
The jury is out
Time will tell how successful the new concept of car design and downforce creation is regarding improving overtaking, or at least following another car.
So far, we have only seen the cars in testing and with another test in Bahrain ahead of the opening round at the same location in Sakhir, we wait to see how the changes affect the closeness of the racing.
As with the “porpoising” issue, perhaps the decreased effectiveness of a slipstream is an unforeseen consequence of the sweeping changes. If that is the case, DRS could be here to stay and the question becomes what F1 does next to aid overtaking.
If things have improved around Barcelona, which is one of the toughest tracks to execute an overtake on, it would seem that competing for position has got a more closely debated arguement.
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