They made a return for the European Grand Prix at Donington, the scene of Ayrton Senna’s wet weather masterclass, where the Brazilian driver, starting in fourth, lost a place at the start but finished the first lap in the lead, having overtaken Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger, Damon Hill and Alain Prost.īoth Ferrari drivers had been disqualified from the Malaysian Grand Prix, when in post-race scrutineering it was found that the bargeboards on their F399’s did not comply with article 3.12.1 of the technical regulations. However, while these appendages featured on the car at the first race of the season, in Kyalami, they were absent when the team arrived at the second round of the championship in Brazil. The McLaren MP4-8 (above) was the first F1 car to appear with what we consider a bargeboard, a simple, single-piece affair that was mounted between the front suspension and sidepods. In pre-season testing, we will learn a lot.In recent years, driven by the openness of the regulations in that region, the bargeboards had become so complex and sprouted so many sub-sections that they accrued the title ‘bargeboard cluster’.īut they had much humbler beginnings, so as a swansong let’s take a look at how life started for the bargeboard and how, over time, it became an incredibly powerful series of aerodynamic surfaces. “We’re pretty close to knowing what we’re going to get from the tyres, but really understanding how they’ll sync with the new regulations will be quite a challenge. Additionally, the 2016 mule cars won’t behave in the same way as the 2017 cars – so what we’re trying to do is identify which areas of performance are attached to the tyre and which to the mule car. “And there’s a couple of reasons for that: even nowadays, it’s still quite difficult to understand tyre behaviour – even if you go track-testing. But, from all of that testing, trying to piece together what we think the tyres are going to do in terms of performance, degradation, thermal stability etc, that’s still quite challenging. They got lots of mileage under their belts throughout 2016, and all that data has been provided to all the other teams. “Pirelli ran a very intensive test programme during 2016 to develop the new tyres, with the support of three teams. Imagine the old 2016 rear tyre now going on the front of the car, and a similar-sized increase on the rear tyre to accommodate. “The 2017 tyres are slightly larger in diameter, but, more significantly, they are wider. “Understanding what the tyres are actually going to do has been a huge challenge. But for the engineering department, the changes to the aerodynamic and tyre regulations are the two most challenging areas to tackle." The lower rear-wing, big fat tyres and big diffuser look cool – they look mean. “These 2017 cars are lower and squatter they just look meaner. By that, we don’t mean that they’re more of a handful for the drivers, but that they’re more physically demanding for them, so that they get out of the car having had to work hard – like they did in years past. The aim was to make the cars look more aggressive to make them faster, so that F1 was very much at the pinnacle of motorsport in terms of outright speed, and to make them more difficult to drive. “These new cars will definitely look different, and that was always one of the objectives of the rule-changes. Historically, that has changed the order – but then what normally happens is that the best, and most well-equipped, teams tend to rise to the top again. “That’s likely to change the competition order – because it’s such a big disturbance. But this season’s changes rank as some of the most significant we’ve ever had in the sport. We’ve had bigger changes in the past – the change between 1982 and ’83 from ground-effect to flat floors, for example, which had a massive impact on performance. “Let’s be clear, we’re looking at some huge regulatory changes ahead of the 2017 season. We sat down with McLaren-Honda’s technical director Tim Goss to find out how he manages the pressure of getting the show on the road for the 2017 season. When the avenues of development are so open, it’s essential to quickly evaluate the options, and act decisively and effectively to choose the optimal route forward – all with the nagging feeling that another team may have chosen a different route, and found a better solution… The start of every Formula 1 season is nerve-wracking.įor the technical department, it’s especially tough: they have to complete a 15,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and ensure that it’s both reliable and competitive, all while juggling impossibly tough objectives and incredibly tight deadlines.Īt a time of big regulatory change, when all the pieces of that puzzle get thrown into the air, scattered to the four winds, and then need to be pieced together within a desperately short time, the pressure to get it right is immense.
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