Last year, when FIA launched the ground effect floor regulations in F1, it became the most important factor on the battlefield. Who will win and who will lose all depends upon which team adopts the new regulations. Red Bull, fortunately, developed well with the end of the turbo hybrid era and finally claimed their dominance back. But Mercedes, who is a master of turbo hybrids, faced shocking change with the ground effects they have zero experience with. As a result, they ended up the season with just one win.
Changing the ground floor does not necessarily means changing the car’s floor. It aims to change the overall development of the Formula One car. After the 2022 F1 season, the teams are needed to go more in-depth into the design scheme. Earlier in the sport, the teams only used to focus on the flat surface with the diffuser section. This offered the ability to add vertical volumes in the car. However, the new regulation, which announced an entirely changed era in Formula One, allows a lot of variations in terms of developing the under neath designs of the cars. Now, engineers are more liable to create different types of transitions from the shape of the floor.
This Is How The Teams Have To Work Under The New F1 Ground Effect Regulations
Looking at the floor of Red Bull which was arguably the best car on the grid in 2022, one can suspect that the underfloor of RB18 was well-developed with curvature across all surfaces. With this, one thing is very much clear; there is no need to fully focus on creating the maximum volume. Because the F1 team should focus more on controlling the tunnel’s flow which is created, and also, they need to focus on how the pressure is getting distributed, which is responsible for creating en routes.
However, the 2022 F1 Ground Effect Floor Regulations are not that easy to get adjusted to. It takes time to understand the concept; it takes an entire season to analyze and find the experimental data. The ground floor changes ultimately bring variations in the height of rides. What Red Bull did last year is they approached the design of its edge wings in a different way. Apparently, the Milton-Keynes-based team opted for the ‘ice skate’ solution. This was different from launching a detached horizontal extension of the floor.
Mercedes had no experience with such developments. Thus, they failed to build a strong W13. The team was about to end the season winless. But somehow, with the constant upgrades, they succeeded in claiming their first victory in Interlagos. When Mercedes’s principal was asked the reasons for their downfall, he claimed it was the new regulations implemented in 2022. Indeed, if Mercedes and Red Bull ignore the F1 ground effect floor regulations in 2023, they will have to face serious consequences.
