How Mercedes is recapturing the FRIC effect
| By Craig Scarborough | |
Engine developments, major upgrades for a team very short on those in 2016, more tweaks for the frontrunners and surprisingly hot weather have made the Belgian Grand Prix weekend more technically intriguing than might be expected of a race in the final months of the current rules cycle. But a part that probably won't be used this weekend is also worth a look.
MERCEDES' HEAVE DAMPER
Mercedes has recently run a new heave damper unit fitted to the front of the W07. Although it appears the new unit has been removed for this weekend, a closer analysis of photographs suggests Mercedes has developed a means to recreate parts of the effects of the interconnected front and rear 'FRIC' suspension that was outlawed in 2014.
The modern Formula 1 heave unit is a complex part. It is used to control the up/down motion of the suspension, known by the engineers as pitch or heave. This movement is created by braking and aero load compressing the front end.
But although this is part of the suspension, it also has a key role in controlling ride for aerodynamic gain. With the gap between the wing and ground better managed, the wing works more efficiently and ride height can also be lowered to further improve wing performance.
The heave unit is therefore slung between the front pushrod rockers and is squeezed as the suspension compresses. Control of this movement is achieved with springs and damping, but not simply conventional mechanical spring and oil dampers.
The heave unit also acts on a remote spring mounted in the sidepod, so part of the unit is a double acting hydraulic system, compressing the remote spring via a series of valves and accumulators. With this system, the ideal spring effect can be tuned into the suspension, something not possible with simple springs and dampers.
The heave units also incorporate an inerter. This component was known as the 'J-Damper' during the Ferrari/McLaren 'spygate' saga in 2007. This is a mass in the form of a metal cylinder that gets spun as the heave unit moves, the inertial effect of the mass accelerating and decelerating again to provide control not possible with conventional dampers.
Last year, Mercedes ran two heave units - one conventional coil spring and below that a hydraulic unit acting on a remote spring. In the last few races, a single element set-up was tested and then raced in Hungary and Germany. The new heave unit was hidden below a carbonfibre cover to obscure it from view.
But while hard to see, the unit is clearly still a complex multi-part device, given the hydraulics and inerter built into it. What appears to be different on the latest version is the casing is more complex, with a castellated adjuster on the left and what looks like a hydraulic accumulator on the left. This could be part of a new means for adjustment and tuning the system to get the correct hydraulic control of the remote spring.
The new complexity of the unit's body also changes the installation process for the mechanic. Before, a more conventional spring compressor clasped the body and was compressed by a threaded rod. Now the unit requires a bespoke oversize G-cramp to squeeze each end to allow it to be fitted to the pushrod rockers. Once fitted, the hydraulic system needs to be bled and pressurised, requiring a special trolley with the necessary pumps to achieve this task.
Using clever hydraulics like this goes some way to recreating the effect of FRIC in controlling the front end pitching up and down. This was a means to partially recreate the gains of active suspension, albeit with totally legal passive means.
The question is what exactly is the benefit of the new unit and why isn't it fitted for Spa having been used at the past two races? Spa is less conventional than the slower Hungaroring and Hockenheim, and Mercedes is known to be working on slow-to-medium corner performance - so its benefit could be greater in that area, or even slightly compromise fast corner pace. The proof will come when we see which of the upcoming races it appears for, with high-speed Monza and sinuous Singapore ahead.
Mercedes' power unit upgrade and array of engine component changes in Belgium have attracted plenty of attention. It was wise to coincide the timing of Lewis Hamilton's 'pool-building' penalty with the introduction of new developments.
The exact detail of what Mercedes has changed remains unknown, though the fact Hamilton's tactical changes included an additional turbo and MGU-H for second practice suggests the token spend could have gone in these areas.
HONDA'S BIG TOKEN SPEND
Now a season and a half into its new F1 programme, Honda has made progress with its power unit and is catching up its rivals as development tokens are spent.
The current state of play is the ERS package is on a par with the competition, which leaves the internal combustion engine as the weak spot. The V6 turbo is down on power, has high fuel consumption and poor reliability.
With Spa the first of a string of power-sensitive circuits, Honda brought a development step affecting the engine, with tokens spent on a combustion upgrade and a revised turbo.
It's not clear if the development brings Honda into line with Ferrari and Mercedes on cutting edge lean burn combustion solutions, which would help both power and fuel consumption, or if this is a development of a more conventional combustion set-up.
A failure for Fernando Alonso in the first practice session transpired to be a water leak related to the MGU-H, so was not directly related to the updated parts.
SAUBER UPGRADES ARRIVE
The investment from new owner Longbow Finance has allowed Sauber to commence its in-season development programme at last. So there is a major upgrade for the C35 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The car has been substantially updated from front to rear, with changes to the front wing, nose, turning vanes, sidepod vanes and brake ducts. These will be joined by the new rear wing introduced at Silverstone, although it isn't being run at the low downforce Spa circuit.
That wing was caught in limbo between design and manufacturing for some time while the team's financial situation was resolved, and it's likely to have been a similar case with the Spa upgrades. The design office is now fully focused on the 2017 car.
The latest package starts with an all-new front wing, completely different to the old design. It follows the current thinking with seven outer elements, an outwash design around the endplate area and the horizontal foot of the endplate slotted too.
The cascades are revised to suit the different flow structures, the old winglet and r-vane being replaced with a three element winglet fitted with a smaller inboard winglet.
A revised nose-tip mounts the new front wing to the car, rather like Williams's recent update the wing mounting pylons are swept back and form a twisted shape to function as turning vanes behind the front wing.
Similar twisted shapes and added vanes feature on the front brake ducts, while the turning vanes under the front suspension now follow the conventional three element design, with the individual vanes connected by a plate along their feet.
Equally conventional are the vanes around the sidepod fronts, the old two-part design replaced by one large vane wrapping around the sidepod to direct airflow back over the sidepods.
This upgrade comes at a time in the season when Sauber's nearest rivals Renault and Manor are very unlikely to have any substantial updates to introduce.
HOT WEATHER PROVIDES A CURVEBALL
As a calendar stalwart since 1983, Spa is usually a familiar circuit for teams but this year's unusually hot weather has brought some new experiences.
In dry conditions the long curves place huge lateral loads through the car, pushing the tyres to the limit. The hot temperatures mean the tyres are now right on the edge. Pirelli has called for very high tyre pressures and enforces a strict maximum camber setting, to preserve the tyres, but even in qualifying the super-soft tyre may not last a full lap without blistering.
Teams may choose to find quicker lap times by going harder in slower sections of the lap, as it's the high speed turns that destroy the tyres, off-setting outright pace for a raceable set-up.
The long straights mean teams use skinny wings for maximum straightline speed, with even these producing enough loads to make cars stick through the turns. With so little downforce required at the rear in this configuration, teams often discard their more complex aero devices and this year the small wing mounted atop Williams's rollhoop has been removed and Toro Rosso's fins on top of the sidepod too.
MINOR UPDATES FOR MERCEDES' RIVALS
This season Red Bull's updates have often been so subtle as to be undetectable, so the introduction of new front wing cascade is notable step.
The entire cascade assembly is new, with the usual three element winglet now wider and then extended with two wing elements to an r-vane.
In some respects this mimics the recent update at Toro Rosso, with the inner winglet and vane working harder to turn the flow outwards towards the front tyres. This is likely to be more permanent development for future races, rather than being a Spa-specific part.
With James Allison now departed tand rumours suggesting head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer is also leaving, Ferrari's development programme is in a tricky position.
Developments on the SF16-H have been piecemeal through the season anyway, and a Spa update is similar in scale.
The diffuser has been reshaped slightly, the upper edge now bowed down a little rather than straight. This would reduce the downforce from the diffuser, but at the same time it may make the diffuser less sensitive and possible to stall at different speeds to suit the Spa/Monza high-speed set-up.
How Mercedes is recapturing the FRIC effect
| By Craig Scarborough | |
Engine developments, major upgrades for a team very short on those in 2016, more tweaks for the frontrunners and surprisingly hot weather have made the Belgian Grand Prix weekend more technically intriguing than might be expected of a race in the final months of the current rules cycle. But a part that probably won't be used this weekend is also worth a look.
MERCEDES' HEAVE DAMPER
Mercedes has recently run a new heave damper unit fitted to the front of the W07. Although it appears the new unit has been removed for this weekend, a closer analysis of photographs suggests Mercedes has developed a means to recreate parts of the effects of the interconnected front and rear 'FRIC' suspension that was outlawed in 2014.
The modern Formula 1 heave unit is a complex part. It is used to control the up/down motion of the suspension, known by the engineers as pitch or heave. This movement is created by braking and aero load compressing the front end.
But although this is part of the suspension, it also has a key role in controlling ride for aerodynamic gain. With the gap between the wing and ground better managed, the wing works more efficiently and ride height can also be lowered to further improve wing performance.
The heave unit is therefore slung between the front pushrod rockers and is squeezed as the suspension compresses. Control of this movement is achieved with springs and damping, but not simply conventional mechanical spring and oil dampers.
The heave unit also acts on a remote spring mounted in the sidepod, so part of the unit is a double acting hydraulic system, compressing the remote spring via a series of valves and accumulators. With this system, the ideal spring effect can be tuned into the suspension, something not possible with simple springs and dampers.
The heave units also incorporate an inerter. This component was known as the 'J-Damper' during the Ferrari/McLaren 'spygate' saga in 2007. This is a mass in the form of a metal cylinder that gets spun as the heave unit moves, the inertial effect of the mass accelerating and decelerating again to provide control not possible with conventional dampers.
Last year, Mercedes ran two heave units - one conventional coil spring and below that a hydraulic unit acting on a remote spring. In the last few races, a single element set-up was tested and then raced in Hungary and Germany. The new heave unit was hidden below a carbonfibre cover to obscure it from view.
But while hard to see, the unit is clearly still a complex multi-part device, given the hydraulics and inerter built into it. What appears to be different on the latest version is the casing is more complex, with a castellated adjuster on the left and what looks like a hydraulic accumulator on the left. This could be part of a new means for adjustment and tuning the system to get the correct hydraulic control of the remote spring.
The new complexity of the unit's body also changes the installation process for the mechanic. Before, a more conventional spring compressor clasped the body and was compressed by a threaded rod. Now the unit requires a bespoke oversize G-cramp to squeeze each end to allow it to be fitted to the pushrod rockers. Once fitted, the hydraulic system needs to be bled and pressurised, requiring a special trolley with the necessary pumps to achieve this task.
Using clever hydraulics like this goes some way to recreating the effect of FRIC in controlling the front end pitching up and down. This was a means to partially recreate the gains of active suspension, albeit with totally legal passive means.
The question is what exactly is the benefit of the new unit and why isn't it fitted for Spa having been used at the past two races? Spa is less conventional than the slower Hungaroring and Hockenheim, and Mercedes is known to be working on slow-to-medium corner performance - so its benefit could be greater in that area, or even slightly compromise fast corner pace. The proof will come when we see which of the upcoming races it appears for, with high-speed Monza and sinuous Singapore ahead.
Mercedes' power unit upgrade and array of engine component changes in Belgium have attracted plenty of attention. It was wise to coincide the timing of Lewis Hamilton's 'pool-building' penalty with the introduction of new developments.
The exact detail of what Mercedes has changed remains unknown, though the fact Hamilton's tactical changes included an additional turbo and MGU-H for second practice suggests the token spend could have gone in these areas.
HONDA'S BIG TOKEN SPEND
Now a season and a half into its new F1 programme, Honda has made progress with its power unit and is catching up its rivals as development tokens are spent.
The current state of play is the ERS package is on a par with the competition, which leaves the internal combustion engine as the weak spot. The V6 turbo is down on power, has high fuel consumption and poor reliability.
With Spa the first of a string of power-sensitive circuits, Honda brought a development step affecting the engine, with tokens spent on a combustion upgrade and a revised turbo.
It's not clear if the development brings Honda into line with Ferrari and Mercedes on cutting edge lean burn combustion solutions, which would help both power and fuel consumption, or if this is a development of a more conventional combustion set-up.
A failure for Fernando Alonso in the first practice session transpired to be a water leak related to the MGU-H, so was not directly related to the updated parts.
SAUBER UPGRADES ARRIVE
The investment from new owner Longbow Finance has allowed Sauber to commence its in-season development programme at last. So there is a major upgrade for the C35 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The car has been substantially updated from front to rear, with changes to the front wing, nose, turning vanes, sidepod vanes and brake ducts. These will be joined by the new rear wing introduced at Silverstone, although it isn't being run at the low downforce Spa circuit.
That wing was caught in limbo between design and manufacturing for some time while the team's financial situation was resolved, and it's likely to have been a similar case with the Spa upgrades. The design office is now fully focused on the 2017 car.
The latest package starts with an all-new front wing, completely different to the old design. It follows the current thinking with seven outer elements, an outwash design around the endplate area and the horizontal foot of the endplate slotted too.
The cascades are revised to suit the different flow structures, the old winglet and r-vane being replaced with a three element winglet fitted with a smaller inboard winglet.
A revised nose-tip mounts the new front wing to the car, rather like Williams's recent update the wing mounting pylons are swept back and form a twisted shape to function as turning vanes behind the front wing.
Similar twisted shapes and added vanes feature on the front brake ducts, while the turning vanes under the front suspension now follow the conventional three element design, with the individual vanes connected by a plate along their feet.
Equally conventional are the vanes around the sidepod fronts, the old two-part design replaced by one large vane wrapping around the sidepod to direct airflow back over the sidepods.
This upgrade comes at a time in the season when Sauber's nearest rivals Renault and Manor are very unlikely to have any substantial updates to introduce.
HOT WEATHER PROVIDES A CURVEBALL
As a calendar stalwart since 1983, Spa is usually a familiar circuit for teams but this year's unusually hot weather has brought some new experiences.
In dry conditions the long curves place huge lateral loads through the car, pushing the tyres to the limit. The hot temperatures mean the tyres are now right on the edge. Pirelli has called for very high tyre pressures and enforces a strict maximum camber setting, to preserve the tyres, but even in qualifying the super-soft tyre may not last a full lap without blistering.
Teams may choose to find quicker lap times by going harder in slower sections of the lap, as it's the high speed turns that destroy the tyres, off-setting outright pace for a raceable set-up.
The long straights mean teams use skinny wings for maximum straightline speed, with even these producing enough loads to make cars stick through the turns. With so little downforce required at the rear in this configuration, teams often discard their more complex aero devices and this year the small wing mounted atop Williams's rollhoop has been removed and Toro Rosso's fins on top of the sidepod too.
MINOR UPDATES FOR MERCEDES' RIVALS
This season Red Bull's updates have often been so subtle as to be undetectable, so the introduction of new front wing cascade is notable step.
The entire cascade assembly is new, with the usual three element winglet now wider and then extended with two wing elements to an r-vane.
In some respects this mimics the recent update at Toro Rosso, with the inner winglet and vane working harder to turn the flow outwards towards the front tyres. This is likely to be more permanent development for future races, rather than being a Spa-specific part.
With James Allison now departed tand rumours suggesting head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer is also leaving, Ferrari's development programme is in a tricky position.
Developments on the SF16-H have been piecemeal through the season anyway, and a Spa update is similar in scale.
The diffuser has been reshaped slightly, the upper edge now bowed down a little rather than straight. This would reduce the downforce from the diffuser, but at the same time it may make the diffuser less sensitive and possible to stall at different speeds to suit the Spa/Monza high-speed set-up.
