- Speaker #0
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grand Prix Podcast! Howdy partners and a big old well...
- Speaker #1
Don't interrupt her when she's on script!
- Speaker #2
Sorry, go on.
- Speaker #0
Howdy partners and a big old welcome to the F1 2022 regulation rundown hoedown. Get ready to hitch your wagon to this episode as we untangle the who, the what and the why to the Formula One technical rulebook that shook up things back in 2022. So grab your 10 gallon hat and let's ride.
- Speaker #1
Why have you gone for a rodeo themed intro? Um,
- Speaker #0
because I, because I thought...
- Speaker #1
I'm struggling to see the correlation.
- Speaker #0
Um, okay, so we put up a thing on Insta that said that F1... regulation rundown and I thought that sounded kind of Texas. So I decided to add the word hoedown and then I wrote this script around it.
- Speaker #2
It's called... Yeah,
- Speaker #0
it's called conceptualising the concept. What? Conceptualising the idea.
- Speaker #1
Okay.
- Speaker #0
Why are you frozen in confusion? I think that makes sense. Regulation rundown, hoedown.
- Speaker #1
Sure. I guess we're going with it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Go on then, start us off.
- Speaker #0
I've actually been shaved. You guys haven't really embraced my rundown hoedown in the way that I was doing. Okay. Dramit didn't do another intro. No, no, no.
- Speaker #1
Run with it.
- Speaker #0
I bet you're wondering what the Rootin' Tootin' F1 regulation changes.
- Speaker #1
That's not in the script. You can't improvise that.
- Speaker #0
You're leaning into the conceptualisation of the concept.
- Speaker #1
Okay.
- Speaker #0
Okay, I bet you're wondering, why did the F1 technical regulations root and toot and change? Well, we're about to tell you.
- Speaker #1
you're running with it and it's not working it's running away from you obvious okay
- Speaker #0
i don't have any more like texas lingo so that's probably it you should have stopped what a blessing these are the main gun-toting reasons Okay, you've had the fanfare. Now, why do F1 technical regulations change?
- Speaker #2
I don't know. You're here to answer.
- Speaker #3
Correct answer.
- Speaker #0
The main reasons are enhancing safety, improving the spectacle of the sport and promoting closer racing, ensuring a level playing field and preventing single team dominance, cost control and sustainability, adapting to technological advancements, and clarifying ambiguities and closing loopholes.
- Speaker #1
Now, because we... can almost guarantee none of that meant anything to you Reem.
- Speaker #2
No I was trying to keep up and I couldn't.
- Speaker #1
Oh well bless you for trying. We're going to go in a bit more in depth to each of those points. So to start with enhancing safety. Safety is a main concern over F1 cars and driving regulations are changed and updated and as the cars become faster and technology improves even more the FIA works to keep assessing and adding rules to try to keep safety at the front of the sport. Rule changes can also address track safety concerns, such as requirements for runoff areas and barrier specifications. So, you know, when you have a racetrack and you can see like all of the like the gravel on the side of the track and stuff like that. Sometimes they actually make those areas bigger and sometimes they make them smaller and stuff like that based on how safe they feel the track is. OK.
- Speaker #0
The FIA also takes learnings to be able to continue to push safety from things that happen on track. So tragically, Ayrton Senna died in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix after his car crashed into a concrete wall and he died on impact at the scene. As a result, the next season, the FIA and nearly every single racetrack on the calendar went through more assessments and changes for tracks to make sure they had more runoff areas and gravel traps so that if cars did lose control over corners, that they would have gravel to be able to slow them down as opposed to just having concrete walls. And it was a huge turning point in terms of safety. But it comes as a point that they're trying to always make it safer year on year.
- Speaker #2
But it takes death for them to make it safer.
- Speaker #0
Sometimes.
- Speaker #1
Sometimes,
- Speaker #0
yeah. I think, but the level of deaths have reduced over the years as safety has improved. It was a lot higher than it is now.
- Speaker #1
Although one of the more recent ones that we've seen... has been Jules Bianchi who was driving and there was a crane on the track retrieving a car that had stopped and he couldn't see the crane and crashed into it and again tragically passed away so and you know another rule change that they made was that if there's going to be a crane on track then there aren't meant to be any cars on track however we have seen that rule relaxed weirdly in recent years which I know a lot of the drivers have expressed
- Speaker #0
concern and also confusion over like why that's fair yeah it's their life on the line yeah yeah it's always going to be a dangerous sport you've got 20 drivers going around at a track at you know nearly 200 miles per hour but it's the fia's job and the technical regulations can enforce having more safety and that is what the fia tried to push who was the driver that we watched in a movie and he like burnt his face or something nicky louder yeah did they also change rules because of him.
- Speaker #1
Well, I mean, last week we were talking about underpants. If you remember the fact that Mohammed Ben Slyam is so strict on making sure that the drivers are wearing fire retardant underwear and stuff like that. No thongs. You know, and that's a safety precaution due to, you know, stuff like fire, making sure that all of their race suits are all properly safe and to regulation to make sure that they won't burn through to their skin so easily and stuff like that. That could be seen as, you know, a direct. inspiration from what happened to nikki lauda but you know we saw it work when roman grosjean had his car crash and that was back in 2020 and his car basically went into a metal barrier and broke in half and we'll show you the drive to survive episode after this there was just a huge plume of fire that came up and he was you know no one had seen or heard from him for minutes and then suddenly out of this fire he emerged oh And he only suffered from burns to his hands and stuff like that. For the scale of the fire, you would think that he would be very, very, very seriously burnt from it. But his suit was able to protect him.
- Speaker #2
Damn. Okay. Well, that's good.
- Speaker #0
The drivers also have biometric gloves. And within that, they have a heart rate monitor so that medical teams... If they do have a crash, they can see what their heart rate is doing so they can know the level of emergency of which they need to get urgent care to that driver, which is also another point that they've added in to make sure that there's more safety so they can assess if someone needs urgent care, how quickly they need it.
- Speaker #1
So the second reason why we said that F1 technical regulations changed was improving the spectacle of the sport and promoting closer racing. So a key objective of regulation changes is to create closer racing and more overtaking opportunities, which will ultimately make the sport more entertaining. Aerodynamic regulations are frequently adjusted to reduce the dirty air produced by leading cars to help following cars to stay close and attempt to overtake easier. The 2026 regulations will introduce active aerodynamics with movable front and rear wings to reduce drag, on the straights and increase cornering speeds with the goal of being able to achieve even closer racing than we have with the regulations that were introduced in 2022.
- Speaker #2
Now say that as if you're explaining it to a kindergarten.
- Speaker #1
Okay, stand behind a bus, hot smelly air makes you go but new regulations make you go Zing!
- Speaker #0
passed oh i like that great wild that worked um okay i did that for the rest of the episode the next point was ensuring a level playing field and preventing single team dominance the fia often creates regulation changes to prevent one team from establishing an overwhelming and repeated dominance due to a particular technical innovation or interpretation of the rules that gives them a huge advantage over their rivals When a team discovers a loophole or develops a significantly advantageous technology, the regulations may be altered to neutralise that advantage and promote closer competition amongst all teams. So we will see this happen at the Barcelona Grand Prix in three races time this season, with the FIA clamping down on rear wings. Red Bull and Ferrari hope that this will hamper McLaren and see them closer to the rest of the pack. but we are yet to see if that will be the case or not.
- Speaker #1
McLaren are rather adamant that it will not have any impact.
- Speaker #0
Well, they're just happy no one's noticed there's water in their tyres. So, single team dominance. We saw this when there was a big technical overhaul of the regulations in 2014 that brought in turbo hybrid engines. Mercedes were able to nail those regulations and we saw them win eight Constructors' Championships back to back.
- Speaker #2
follow turbo hydrant engines hydrid hydrid okay uh the engine goes and then mercedes went zoom better yeah
- Speaker #0
so they won back to back to back to back to back to back so the 2022 regulations that came in they were very different style of regulation and it was aimed at trying to make sure that it wasn't just Mercedes winning over and over and over again. And since they have done that, the sport has gotten a lot more popular because there's a lot more racing.
- Speaker #1
Since they have done that, it was Red Bull winning over and over and over until McLaren took over. So you tend to see this with new regulation changes. You tend to see the year that it happens, one team has aced them and the other teams have kind of flopped. And then right as you get to the end of those regulations, the year before, there are new ones coming in. suddenly there's close racing and it's like no no no now we've mastered it now there's close racing keep the regulations no okay we're changing them and one team is going to be dominant again.
- Speaker #2
That can't make up their minds.
- Speaker #1
No.
- Speaker #0
The next is cost control and sustainability in recent years we've seen the FIA controlling and escalating costs for competing in F1 and it's been an important regulation change for the sport. The introduction for the cost cap happened in 2021 and it was given a more level playing field for all of the teams. The cost cap included mainly car performance related expenses like parts, engineering staff and development. It didn't include driver salaries, marketing, travel and accommodation or engine development. But the move towards more sustainable fuels, as mandated in the 2026 power unit regulations, reflects a broader push for environmental and responsibility within the sport.
- Speaker #1
Now, interestingly enough, the cost cap did include catering, which Red Bull overspent on in the 2021 season. and as a result had to suffer from a penalty of reduced time in the wind tunnel how much will they eat it a jolly good question but i mean it was a bit of a controversial one because the fia had introduced this cost cap had you know essentially said to all of the drivers here's how much money you're allowed to spend, don't spend more than that. And if you do, some... think will happen we don't know what yet but something will happen and so when red bull had overspent in 2021 which was obviously a very controversial year with max's win anyway a lot of teams were trying to push for things like points deductions which would have meant that maybe max actually didn't win the championship because you know a lot of people who were more on the side of lewis hamilton and mercedes kind of thought like oh, OK, well, they've overspent, they've cheated. He doesn't deserve to have that championship. However, the FIA had never clarified what the penalty of overspending would be, which I think was a massive flaw on their part.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, there's no point having a potential punishment if you don't have the consequence laid out ahead of time. So, yeah.
- Speaker #2
I mean, that's crazy that they get a loose penalty or unidentified penalty for overspending. But then if they wear jewellery or... or if they swear, they do get points. Yeah,
- Speaker #1
exactly that. This one's a good point.
- Speaker #3
Pace the level.
- Speaker #0
F1 has always been at the centre of technological innovation. As new technologies emerge, the regulations evolve to either embrace, restrict or guide their implementation within the sport. The 2026 power unit regulations further emphasise this trend with a nearly 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power and the use of 100% sustainable fuels. The reason that they're going to be going off to, there's going to be new power unit regulations in 2026 is that they you know what a power unit is no okay the engine oh okay the thing that powers the car the unit of the car that powers it okay um there's going to be a 50 50 split between fuel
- Speaker #1
and electricity you know ubers yeah for the listeners and i've just turned to me with the widest eyes and said you know ubers it was giving out because i'm gonna be wise um you know ubers i'm so lame you saw that i'm cutting it out you know okay you know you you've had like a toyota prius right sure
- Speaker #3
I'll be established in the last episode.
- Speaker #2
Can't tell me a name of a car and expect me to know what that means.
- Speaker #0
Yes, we can. Yes, we can.
- Speaker #1
You know hybrid cars?
- Speaker #2
Obviously not.
- Speaker #1
Okay, so we have three types of cars, basically, right?
- Speaker #2
Just generally, right?
- Speaker #1
No, generally. On the streets.
- Speaker #0
No, break it down. When you go to a petrol station, you put petrol in it.
- Speaker #1
That's type one. Then you have type two. Electric. Electric, exactly. Yes, okay. And type three is in between.
- Speaker #2
There's an in between?
- Speaker #1
It's called a hybrid car. it's got both so you can have petrol and you can also charge the battery in it so you're using the battery and if the battery runs out it switches to petrol seems excessive no it's just a middle ground it's like the transitional team oh
- Speaker #2
what's the what's the context of this that's what we're going to have in 2026 oh okay okay why not just go for electric they're trying oh
- Speaker #1
it's the hybrid bit of f1 it's it's the car's teenage era so you don't if you give her one more bloody analogy i'm trying to get through to her you don't go from being like a toddler to an adult straight away the f1 cars are going through puberty in 2026 reed yes does that make sense yes laughing Okay, the cars are going through puberty. Wonderful.
- Speaker #0
The last reason that the F1 technical regulations may change are due to clarifying ambiguities and closing loopholes. Despite extensive and detailed regulations, teams are constantly trying to find novel ways to interpret and exploit the rules to gain a performance advantage over their rival teams.
- Speaker #2
Like tire water.
- Speaker #0
Exactly that. Boom. The FIA...
- Speaker #1
Just a conspiracy.
- Speaker #0
The FIA regularly updates the technical regulations to clarify any ambiguities, close loopholes and ensure that the spirit of the rules are being upheld. This often involves reacting to specific innovations or interpretations that were not initially intended.
- Speaker #1
The best one yet? The DAS.
- Speaker #0
Oh, I was actually going to talk about the
- Speaker #1
F-duct. Oh, go for it. I like the DAS, but go for it.
- Speaker #0
Many years ago, McLaren, back in... Lewis Hamilton's era of McLaren, actually.
- Speaker #2
Oh, I forgot he was in there. Yeah. Oh, he was there.
- Speaker #0
He was there. They used to have a silver car. It wasn't papaya. They used to have a silver car and they used to have lots of red sponsorships all over it.
- Speaker #1
Santander.
- Speaker #0
Yes. And Vodafone. And on the nose of the car, the front nose, the front nose of the car. Yeah. Yeah, okay, fine.
- Speaker #2
I didn't realise you were looking at me to verify.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, it's called eye contact. It was straight at you. Okay. They had a sponsor of Vodafone going down the front nose of their car and they brought with them a little duct, a little air duct that was on the front nose of their car. People thought initially that it was just cooling the driver so that the air was going through that little duct and into the cockpit but it turns out that it was actually controlling where the air was going and it was controlling it and it almost acted like a little mini DRS so it made them a lot faster because it reduced the amount of drag and it kind of was forcing the air to go aerodynamically and push it nicely so that it would have less drag and the car would go faster.
- Speaker #2
Sneaky?
- Speaker #0
It was not sneaky at all. It was very innovative. And they called it the F-duct because it happened to sit next to the F on the Vodafone logo, which I thought was quite funny. So the F-duct started as something that teams were really like, what the fuck is this? And quickly they started seeing how fast McLaren was and they all started copying it. So the F-Duct could be activated in the cockpit by using their knee pads to activate it. So their knees would move up and down because they're sort of lying down in the car. They would push their knees up and it would then activate the F-Duct and make them go faster. All the other teams started to copy them and have their own innovations of it. And Ferrari found their loophole. But instead of having it be activated by their knees, they decided that they would have these touch sensitive gloves. And they had white gloves and these black strips on them. And the black strips, when the sensors in those gloves would feel that it wasn't touching the steering wheel anymore, it would activate the F-duct. So they would go down straight and just have their hands off the wheel. And everyone was innovating and everyone was like, oh, that's pretty cool. And the FAA was like, obviously no, Ferrari. What the fuck are you doing? You can't go 200 miles per hour with your hands. No hands. What are you doing? So they obviously mandated it. So it was a cool loophole. until Ferrari kind of fucked it, to be honest. That's a very good example.
- Speaker #1
Ferrari doing Ferrari things. Me driving with no hands.
- Speaker #0
You just imagine the driver's like, oh, is it safe that I take my hands off the wheel? And they're like, we'll come back to you.
- Speaker #1
The one I mentioned was the DAS, which is dual-axis steering. And Mercedes bought this in 2020. And it, again, was a little innovation that they bought their car. And it was noticed during the testing before the season properly starts. And it was noticed because they were looking at Lewis Hamilton's onboard cameras and saw him pulling his steering wheel closer to him.
- Speaker #2
Oh.
- Speaker #1
And everyone was just like, what the hell? His steering wheel is moving? Is he, like, pulling his... Is he detaching his steering wheel? No, he was pulling it towards him and it was essentially moving his tyres, making it easier for the car to turn. Red Bull obviously launched a complaint because they were Mercedes's main competition at the stage. And they, you know, went to the FIA, they went to the stewards, they discussed it and they essentially said, it's not illegal, but next year don't have it.
- Speaker #2
That's not fun.
- Speaker #0
There was a funny bit in Drive to Survive where Christian Horner was livid about this innovation and was saying like yeah it's fucking das you know it's fucking bullshit and then he came up to toto wolf and he was like yeah you know i've seen your das yeah hoping that they that toto would sort of you know engage in some sort of bitchy back and forth and instead toto was like i know as a technical innovation though isn't this incredible and like he was like forced to be like yeah it's great it's
- Speaker #1
a great clip you just won't start to fight yeah So Reem, are there a mandated amount of years the F1 car regulations can run before they must be updated and reconfigured?
- Speaker #2
I don't know. I've asked you guys multiple times and you refuse to answer.
- Speaker #0
To clarify, that was because we wanted to explain on the podcast, not because we're bad friends.
- Speaker #1
That's because we had this section of the script all mapped out.
- Speaker #0
We did.
- Speaker #1
The answer is no. No.
- Speaker #0
Wrap it up.
- Speaker #1
The FIA doesn't set a specific number of years that regulations are enforced for. There is no specific time scale they have to stick to before regulations are automatically scrapped and completely rewritten. Instead, F1 runs in regulation cycles, and these are periods typically spanning several years, four to six, where a relatively stable set of regulations are in place.
- Speaker #0
So within these cycles, the regulations don't just stay set in stone. The FIA regularly makes adjustments, clarifications and minor updates annually or even multiple times within a season to address safety concerns, close up on loopholes that teams have made, improve the show or control costs. But there have been discussions about potentially extending the length of future regulation cycles to be able to have a smaller amount of gap between all of the fields so that it's closer racing and smaller gaps of performance between teams.
- Speaker #2
I have a question.
- Speaker #0
Hit me.
- Speaker #2
How far in advance do the teams know that the regulations are going to be changed if there's no set time?
- Speaker #1
Two months.
- Speaker #2
Just two months?
- Speaker #0
No, I mean, so that actually leads us on beautifully to the next point. Oh,
- Speaker #2
I didn't plan this.
- Speaker #0
Okay.
- Speaker #2
I didn't see the document.
- Speaker #0
So the teams are actively involved in being able to know ahead of time about these F1 technical regulations that are being researched and developed over time. so that they can do their own testing and be able to give feedback to the FIA. So for these technical regulations that came out and started being implemented across the season from 2022, the initial research started in 2017. So that's five years before they ended up being rolled out. They were meant to be rolled out in 2021, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they ended up being delayed. so F1 has a motorsport team that has a team of engineers and loads of other designers and researchers around it that started looking at how they could create new car regulations that minimise the issues of cars struggling to follow each other closely due to the dirty air that the lead car would leave behind.
- Speaker #2
Like a bus.
- Speaker #0
Like a bus. We have a bus referenced. The primary goal of the 2022 regulations was to promote closer racing and increase overtaking opportunities.
- Speaker #1
The team conducted aerodynamic research including CFD which is computational fluid dynamic simulations and wind tunnel testing. They did this to try to understand the turbulent air made by the cars and how it affected the following cars and they developed various car concepts to look at different options to solve this problem. The F1 teams were actively involved in the development process and were provided with an initial car concept and encouraged to conduct their own tests and research under strict guidelines. And the data and feedback from the teams were then crucial in defining the proposed regulations. The initial concepts went through several stages of development and tweaks based on the simulation data and team input and different versions were made and analyzed with reportedly over 10,000 CFD simulations being conducted. The F1 motorsport team and the FIA technical teams finalized the set of regulations that defined the design guidelines and instructions for the 2022 F1 cars. And this involved detailed specifications for the dimensions, shapes and legal aerodynamic devices. The finalised technical regulations were then submitted to the FIA. The World Motorsport Council, a key part of the FIA's governance structure, reviewed and approved the regulations.
- Speaker #2
Damn, how did they get the time?
- Speaker #1
It's their job.
- Speaker #0
Yeah,
- Speaker #2
I mean, there's like barely, I mean, the F1 season starts well in like March.
- Speaker #0
and then that ends in December so then they only have January and February to like work on the cars and stuff they'll have separate teams so they'll have people that are working on this year's car and then they'll have like research teams that are looking at like other regulations and stuff like that oh okay they just dedicate out how many how many staff that they will they will decide to work on this year's car and then start working because the early stage of the of that process will be that they'll basically be given blueprints of a car And they will then be given a sort of a dummy car to start looking at and start being able to create their projections of what they think the good parts of the car design is and what bits they would change. So it's a very slow process. Plus, at the end of the season, they have post-season testing at the end of the last race of the season. They do Pirelli tyre tests and they will then do future car tests for the FIA. And that's when they can have running time and they have all across the winter. But the FIA takes the largest amount of time and effort to try and start pushing those regulations because they're the people that are going to be policing it.
- Speaker #1
Think of it like how Aston Martin hired Adrian Newey and Aston Martin this year are poo. And rather than getting him to work on this year's car and fix it, they've got him working on next year's car instead.
- Speaker #2
That's fair. Aston Martin domination for 2026.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, we'll see.
- Speaker #2
2027, maybe.
- Speaker #0
OK, Reem, you're my best friend, yes? and I've started to quickly realise that these episodes are becoming null and void unless there's some sort of an analogy you can hold on to to really let it visualise into your brain so I decided instead of explaining what's the current F1 technical regulations in 2022 that were introduced and how they work and just saying it and spitting straight facts that you won't really understand yeah that won't go in why don't I create a ream friendly analogy I like that Do you get what I mean?
- Speaker #2
Yeah, you're going to make an address
- Speaker #1
No, but Just do it and chill clock Okay
- Speaker #0
The F1 grid before 2022 was like Monica's meticulously clean apartment but with one major flaw the dirty air A typical F1 Sunday before 2022 was like when Joey would come over and leave a trail of sandwich crumbs and chaos everywhere making it impossible for anyone to comfortably follow him
- Speaker #1
Do you understand what she meant now by a Reem friendly?
- Speaker #0
Oh, I'm halfway through and you only just realised. I'm halfway bloody through and you only just realised.
- Speaker #2
I'm sorry to keep up with the analogy.
- Speaker #3
I thought you meant it because you said,
- Speaker #2
Reem, you're my best friend. So I thought you meant it because you said, Reem,
- Speaker #3
you're my best friend.
- Speaker #0
Do you want me to start from the beginning? Yeah. Yeah, I did a head job. The F1 grid before 2022 was like Monaco's meticulously clean apartment, but with one major flaw, the dirty air. A typical F1 Sunday before 2022 was like when Joey would come over and leave a trail of sandwich crumbs and chaos everywhere, making it impossible for anyone to comfortably follow behind him. The leading car was Joey, with his meatball sub of turbulent air. And the car behind was Monica, desperately trying to keep up, but getting bombarded by greasy distractions. So the F1 brains were like a nerdier version of Ross and Monica combined, and needed a big clean-up of the regulations. And so for 2022... A pivot moment for car design was rolled out. They wanted to create a situation where cars could get closer without being completely messed up by the turbulent air, like if Joey learned to eat with a plate or over the sink for once.
- Speaker #1
I like that. Thank you.
- Speaker #2
Thank you very much. So here's how the 2022 regulations aim to achieve that. Before 2022, most of the downforce, the grip that sticks the car to the ground, do you remember downforce?
- Speaker #1
And the pattern.
- Speaker #0
No, that's the tread of the tyres.
- Speaker #3
I was thinking of the tyres.
- Speaker #0
Say the word pattern over and over.
- Speaker #2
Dog fighters. It's, you know, that...
- Speaker #0
Just move on. It's just something.
- Speaker #1
It's wasted on me.
- Speaker #2
It really is. Okay, so the thing that makes the car stick to the ground with the air flow,
- Speaker #1
yeah,
- Speaker #2
okay, came from the wings. which creates that messy, dirty air. The new regulations brought back ground effect. It generates downforce from the underfloor of the car through these special tunnel shapes. This downforce is less disruptive to the air behind, so the Joey crumbs are minimised. The front and rear wings were redesigned to be less complex. Think of the old wings as Joey trying to build a seven-layer dip. Lots of intricate bits and pieces that could spill everywhere. That's the turbulent air. The new wings are simpler, more like Joey sticking to a basic sandwich. Less potential for chaotic spillage. Oh my god,
- Speaker #3
you're Joey.
- Speaker #0
It wasn't clear who we were talking to there.
- Speaker #2
Yes. The rear wing, in particular, was shaped to throw the dirty air up. into the sky rather than directly behind into the car that's following, which would be similar to Joey finally learning how to tilt his head back when he eats so that the crumbs don't go on the floor. The bigger 18-inch tyres with wheel covers and small winglets around the wheels.
- Speaker #1
Winglets.
- Speaker #3
Why is that funny?
- Speaker #1
It's just a funny word. Winglets.
- Speaker #2
Okay, the bigger 18-inch tyres with wheel covers and small winglets around the wheels were new too. The wheel covers smooth out the airflow around the spinning wheels, reducing another source of the turbulence, less Phoebe chaos being thrown into the mix. The winglets are like little unexpected decorations that somehow subtly redirect the airflow for the better.
- Speaker #1
I've lost you.
- Speaker #0
I can't help you. I've given you a friend's analogy. There's not much else I could do for you. I've done as much as I can.
- Speaker #1
It's got too complicated.
- Speaker #2
Now that you're lost, let's go into the techie bit.
- Speaker #0
So I've written out all of the new changes that got brought in for the 2022 regulations.
- Speaker #1
With misreferences?
- Speaker #0
No, I have a translation for Reem part that's highlighted in pink colour. And I will show you on my iPad. I am not lying. I'm trying, Reem. Okay, so other changes for the 2022 regulations that were brought in. A simplified front wing. Now, just hum a song in your head whilst I say this. This is for viewers that might want to know actual technical understanding. Listen out for the translation for Reem that Nav is going to read out. Simplified front wing. The front wing design was dramatically simplified. Instead of complex multi-element wings with intricate end plates, the 2022 regulations mandated a wing with a specific shape. The goal was to make the front wing less sensitive to the weight of a leading car and direct the airflow in a less disruptive way.
- Speaker #2
Translation for Reem, the pointy bit at the front used to have lots of fancy bits on them. Now they're smoother and more simple so it doesn't throw as much messy air backwards.
- Speaker #1
I get that.
- Speaker #0
Wonderful. Rear wing with rolled tips. The rear wing also underwent a significant redesign. The end plates were replaced with rolled tips, and the overall shape was designed to push the turbulent air upwards and over the following car rather than directly into its path. While the DRS, drag reduction system, remained, its effectiveness was anticipated to be less than the previous set of regulations due to the improved wake characteristics.
- Speaker #2
translation for ream the wing at the back now has curved ends this helps to push the bad air up instead of right into the face of the car behind oh she's actually getting so much insight you should see my face whenever you're saying it whenever you're talking i'm like whenever i'm talking i'm like explain it just giggle the child
- Speaker #0
18-inch wheels with low-profile tyres. F1 moved from 13-inch to larger 18-inch wheels with low-profile Pirelli tyres. This change aimed to reduce tyre overheating and allow drivers to push harder for longer. The lower profile also meant less sidewall deflection, which could affect the aerodynamic wake.
- Speaker #2
Translation for Ream. They switched to bigger wheels with thinner tyres. This helps the tyres stay cooler when the drivers are pushing real hard.
- Speaker #0
I get it she's having a whale of a time we do this every episode yes I clearly realise I've stumbled across a bloody minefield of wonderfulness here wheel covers wheel covers were mandated to prevent teams from using the rotation of the wheels to generate downforce inducing airflow which contributed to dirty air translation for Reem the wheels now have smooth covers on them
- Speaker #2
This stops team from using the spinning wheels to create tricky air that bothers the car behind.
- Speaker #1
I like the voices too.
- Speaker #0
Elimination of... There's more. Yes. It was quite a big... That's why we're doing the episode. Elimination of barge boards. The complex barge boards were located in the area between the front wheels and the side pods and were used to maintain airflow around the car. In 2022, they were no longer used. and this simplification aimed to reduce the aerodynamic complexity and the amount of turbulent air that was produced.
- Speaker #2
Translation for Ream, all those complicated little wing bits that used to be near the middle of the car are gone. This makes their airflow cleaner.
- Speaker #1
Okay.
- Speaker #0
Increased minimum weight. The new minimum weight of the cars was increased, partly due to the heavier 18-inch wheels and increased safety requirements put onto the cars.
- Speaker #2
Translation for Ream. All the new parts and safety stuff makes the cars heavier.
- Speaker #0
It got bad. Well, just in case you didn't. Frozen power unit development. Whilst a fundamental design of the 1.6 litre V6 turbo hybrid power units remained the same, their performance development was frozen from the start of the 2022 season until the new power unit regulations in 2026 emerged. Only reliability upgrades have been permitted.
- Speaker #2
Translation for Reem. The engines couldn't be made more powerful after 2021. Teams can only make them more trustworthy.
- Speaker #3
Okay.
- Speaker #0
Now, what's all the techie bit about?
- Speaker #1
I don't know.
- Speaker #0
Okay, cool. So, the 2022 regulations that were brought in saw the return of ground effect cars. The 2022 F1 cars saw the return of the ground effect era, which was first seen in F1 in the form of the Lotus 78 in 1977. 7. Ground effect cars were later banned in 1983 due to safety concerns, as the sudden loss of the ground effect could lead cars to losing control and potentially crashing. But 40 years later, F1 teams and the FIA got a much better understanding of the aerodynamics through advanced simulators and wind tunnel testing, which has reduced the risk of injuries and crashes.
- Speaker #2
But back in the 70s, the Lotus team found you could create a downforce in a new way called the Venturi effect. The Venturi effect is when an F1 car's underfloor has specifically shaped tunnels that are narrow in the middle. As the air flows through these narrow tunnel areas, the air is forced to move faster. This increase in air speed resulted in a decrease in air pressure. This sucks the car down to the track and increases grip. Ground effect cars generate significant downforce by running very close to the track. The closer the underfloor is to the ground, the more pronounced the Venturi effect and the greater the downforce produced.
- Speaker #0
Now, I bet you're wondering, why do we and F1 teams always bang on about downforce?
- Speaker #1
I don't know.
- Speaker #0
Because it's quite important.
- Speaker #1
Oh,
- Speaker #3
OK.
- Speaker #0
OK, so downforce. It's the aerodynamic force pushing the car downwards as it travels forwards. A precious commodity in F1, and it enables the drivers to push the car to its absolute limit through corners. Downforce is a vertical aerodynamic force acting on a car as the car moves forward, traveling through the air. The downforce pushes the car down towards the ground and the teams work very hard to create areas on their car that will generate more downforce and maximize their performance. Make sense? Ish. So it's basically just an aerodynamic phenomenon that pushes the car down as it goes forward. And they want that to be pushing down so that as they go through corners, they're not going to be sliding around or losing grip. Okay. So it means that as they approach a corner, they've got a decent amount of downforce in their car so that it will stick to the ground and it's not going to go sliding.
- Speaker #1
So they have grip.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, exactly that.
- Speaker #1
Now I understand when they say, I don't have grip.
- Speaker #0
Boom. Now you see why they say we're just lacking downforce, we're just lacking grip. Because those are two things that you definitely need in Formula One.
- Speaker #1
Now it makes sense.
- Speaker #2
And wheels.
- Speaker #1
And wheels, yeah.
- Speaker #0
For example, being able to push the car into the ground on tight and twisty corners, which will give them more grip and traction, will allow the drivers to take the corners at higher speeds. Downforce can be created from the floor of the car and the front and rear wings. On a circuit where it's flat and has long straights, the wings will be flat to let the air travel through them nicely. And on a twisty circuit, they'll be larger and have bigger angle against the airflow to push the air into the ground and give them more downforce. I think you're getting it.
- Speaker #1
I think I am.
- Speaker #0
Shit.
- Speaker #1
See you in the quiz.
- Speaker #2
So what have been some of the challenges that these 2022 regulations have brought the F1 teams?
- Speaker #0
Can I give a noise to try and get her to guess?
- Speaker #2
Yes.
- Speaker #1
I hated that.
- Speaker #0
No, need that.
- Speaker #2
That was a good noise.
- Speaker #1
Why was it that noise?
- Speaker #2
What was the noise of?
- Speaker #0
I don't know. It's an animal.
- Speaker #1
Bird.
- Speaker #0
No.
- Speaker #1
A whale?
- Speaker #0
No need for that.
- Speaker #3
No need for that.
- Speaker #0
No fucking need for that, love. It's not alright. Get in the bin. I had a salad two days ago.
- Speaker #2
Do it one more.
- Speaker #0
Oh no, I'm trapped in SeaWorld.
- Speaker #2
I mean, that could be any number of animals.
- Speaker #1
I'm kidding,
- Speaker #0
right?
- Speaker #3
You're an evil animal.
- Speaker #2
It's a dolphin. Oh,
- Speaker #1
a dolphin.
- Speaker #2
Incorrect. The word we are looking for is porpoising. Okay.
- Speaker #0
If I'm being honest with you, I've actually forgotten. Why did I do that noise?
- Speaker #2
Dolphin, porpoise.
- Speaker #0
The porpoise. Oh, sorry. For some reason, I thought I was doing the noise because dolphins did porpoise.
- Speaker #2
Porpoises are small dolphin-like fish classified under the family... Focinadia.
- Speaker #1
My God.
- Speaker #0
I can't believe you just got that out of your own brain.
- Speaker #2
Wow.
- Speaker #0
You should have had a weird moment when you slowed right down, but it was really believable. No one thinks you got that from Google.
- Speaker #1
I'm just going to cut this out. Is it a mini dolphin? Yeah,
- Speaker #2
kind of.
- Speaker #1
There's mini dolphins.
- Speaker #2
Well, a porpoise is a type of dolphin.
- Speaker #0
I can't believe that you didn't Google that.
- Speaker #2
We already knew that.
- Speaker #1
We didn't cut everything out.
- Speaker #2
I already knew that.
- Speaker #0
You got Mrs. Google to help you out there, girl.
- Speaker #2
No, I was confirming.
- Speaker #1
That's why you seemed confused reading it out.
- Speaker #0
I just couldn't read the words.
- Speaker #2
They were big words.
- Speaker #1
Is that the hill you want to die on? I can't read the words.
- Speaker #2
You don't understand half the shit we talk about on this podcast. You're trying to come at me for not...
- Speaker #0
Please,
- Speaker #1
don't do my brand. I'm the dumb one here.
- Speaker #3
No,
- Speaker #0
you're not. You're learning. She fucking is.
- Speaker #2
She doesn't know what a Toyota Prius is.
- Speaker #0
Heart defence you on that one. Sorry, doll. Okay, back to education time.
- Speaker #2
Porpoising is a phenomenon where cars bounce excessively due to sudden loss of downforce. Porpoising is the result of the way that the car's downforce is generated. It pulls the car towards the track surface, hitting the ground and then bouncing it back up again. And the process... repeats itself causing a very bumpy ride for the drivers affected lewis hamilton suffered back pain as he struggled to pull himself out of the car after the 2022 azerbaijan grand prix he described it as the most painful race i've ever experienced and mentioned praying for it to end due to the discomfort sorry did you mean beijing no
- Speaker #0
azerbaijan oh why have you said why on earth have you said that was so much confidence You escaped it.
- Speaker #1
I thought you said Bajong.
- Speaker #2
Not you. Trying to make out that I'm thick. I'm sorry,
- Speaker #1
do you mean Beijing? So confidently. How did you say it? Azerbaijan. I feel like that's not the way you say it.
- Speaker #2
How do you say it?
- Speaker #0
Sorry, Azerbaijan.
- Speaker #2
That's what I said.
- Speaker #1
Azerbaijan.
- Speaker #2
Azerbaijan. We're saying the same bloody thing.
- Speaker #0
Anyway, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
- Speaker #2
Fernando Alonso also suffered the same fate at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix. That's in Brazil.
- Speaker #0
FYI. It's Brazilian.
- Speaker #3
Whatever.
- Speaker #2
He mentioned over the radio that his back is hurting and this bouncing is not normal. He also required medical attention after the race and described the pain in a post-race interview.
- Speaker #0
It isn't flattering because two people that were complaining are the oldest on the grid. But there was a serious problem.
- Speaker #2
No, we didn't need to point that out.
- Speaker #0
No.
- Speaker #2
And yet you did.
- Speaker #0
Whoever did that was a complete cow. She is spiked out.
- Speaker #2
As the oldest one here,
- Speaker #1
yes. Exposed.
- Speaker #2
The FIA eventually intervened due to concerns about driver safety and long-term health, acknowledging that the extreme bouncing could lead to fatigue, pain and potential long-term physical issues for the drivers.
- Speaker #0
As the youngest one here, it's like totally giving, like, totally giving, like, not good, skibbity.
- Speaker #3
Said the Gen Z group.
- Speaker #0
I want to be born in 2001, am I right, girlies? bottoming that's the next point did
- Speaker #2
you think she was just saying one of her millennial terms lindsey boomer
- Speaker #1
The listeners will never know if your word's against mine.
- Speaker #0
Your word's not very strong.
- Speaker #3
I'm just saying.
- Speaker #2
Killy's bullet pack.
- Speaker #0
Bottoming is more common in the current era of cars. This is when the floor of the car scrapes along the track surface. This can disrupt the airflow under the car, which can momentarily reduce downforce and make the car unstable to drive. After a cold winter of 2021, a chill was in the air up and down the paddock. Testing came and testing went. And 2022, a new era, a new dawn of Formula One was finally upon us. A new way that downforce was created. Ground effects cars were back, bitch. And what rolled out of the Mercedes garage come race day was fucking weird. The Mercedes Zero side pod concept was controversial because the car was wildly different to the conventionally shaped ground effect cars. Up and down the grid, it was widely known. The Mercedes W13 did not deliver in looks or performance. Well, looks was kind of my added thing. Mercedes had delivered top-notch performances from 2014 to 2021, but their 2022 car was plagued with porpoising and a persistent lack of pace compared to their rivals with wide side pods. This led to questions being raised about its aerodynamic efficiency and cooling capabilities. Mercedes kept this concept despite its underwhelming results. until they eventually abandoned it and followed a more typical side pod design.
- Speaker #1
They tried to be different.
- Speaker #2
I'd also like to say it's not a concept.
- Speaker #0
Sorry, it's not. My bad, my bad. Although, did we not love it when we saw Drive to Survive and they showed all the drivers seeing the cars for the first time and all of them were like, hmm, okay, that's quite cool. And they all looked at the Mercedes and they were like, that looks well shit. And then George in the interview was like, I saw that car and I thought... This looks fast.
- Speaker #1
What an idiot.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, fuck it, it wasn't.
- Speaker #2
Oh, you can't blame him. His last car was a fucking Williams when it was tanking. That's true.
- Speaker #1
He was in Williams?
- Speaker #0
Yeah. He was in Williams and then he was a reserve driver for Mercedes, which they took him up on for 2020 when Lewis had COVID. And then for 2022, he was their driver.
- Speaker #1
Oh, I thought he was there for longer. I did not pay attention in the teens episode. No,
- Speaker #3
you did not.
- Speaker #0
McLaren FlexiWings. In late 2024, rumblings and suspicions were about, and they started within teams regarding the potential exploitation of wing flexibility, particularly concerning McLaren's designs. In January 2025, the FIA announced upcoming stricter load deflection tests for front and rear wings for the 2025 season. Pre-season testing came around in February, and Red Bull reportedly began to more actively voice concerns about McLaren's rear wing, observing potential mini DRS effect that it seemed to have. Pre-season testing came around in February 2025 and Red Bull began to more actively voice concerns about McLaren's rear wing, observing that they had a potential mini DRS effect. In the Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the season saw increased FIA scrutiny and monitoring of rear wings, and the tighter rear wing deflection tests were implemented from the subsequent Chinese Grand Prix. And in April, Red Bull publicly questioned the FIA's timeline, specifically asking why the stricter front wing tests weren't being introduced until the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, which will be happening in early June this year. And in May, currently, the debate continues, with McLaren defending their designs and downplaying the impact of the upcoming rule changes. while Red Bull maintains their scepticism about the delay in the front wing regulations. But I mean,
- Speaker #1
Red Bull does shady stuff all the time. They just seem to have a problem with someone else.
- Speaker #0
I think all the teams are very much like that, though. Like when they have an advantage, they're like, chill, it's just racing. And then as soon as they feel their competitors have something that is making them faster, like they say in the press, like, no, they're doing a great job. But then the next race, they'll be like, but they're illegal. So it is very, I mean, they're all very competitive. And ultimately, they want to be at the top. but yeah I mean, Red Bull have, they were, Christian Horner, as you know, for years was pushing for there to be different regulations so that Mercedes wouldn't be dominant. And then that's happened. And then McLaren have got ahead of Red Bull. So now he's like, well, they're illegal too. So get rid of them. But we're going to be interesting to see. And there's a good thing to add into this, into this episode, because you're going to see actively the regulations change this season. and it will impact potentially the results of races because of the fact that... the FIA have decided to have a look and to create more stringent testing because what they're after is they don't want McLaren to be winning every single. They want it to be close, but they don't want to win everything. They want it to be...
- Speaker #2
Because you've just got another season of dominance otherwise.
- Speaker #0
Exactly. So they've obviously found reason to change them. And we may see a change in pecking order as a result of these changes. So it'll be interesting to see. We've got a triple header. And the final race of that triple header in Barcelona is when those tests will be changed. So it will be interesting to see whether McLaren will still be as dominant as they have been with these different tests there.
- Speaker #1
I mean, that makes sense. Like McLaren is way ahead in constructors currently. So if they stayed the same, we would have just known they're going to win.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. But that's when we say like the regulations aren't set in stone. They get rolled out, but then they adapt and change over the course of the years that they're in place as the FIA sees fit.
- Speaker #2
And that. is the 2022 regulations so marim how prepped are you feeling for ream's recap oh i'm not not not very confident if i'm being honest oh well when are you really so let's just get cracking i guess is
- Speaker #0
take it away for this episode i'm not giving i'm not feeding you lines summarize your favorite parts of the episode and not the silly bits the actual factual parts go okay
- Speaker #1
So cars had a bunch of dirty air when other cars would try to overtake. So they changed stuff in the cars like the wings and the winglets. And they made the air come out from under the car instead of the sides. So then there's less dirty air when cars try to overtake. And then... Next year, there's going to be hybrid cars, which just found out are half electrical, half fuel. And that's because of sustainability, because we care about the planet, Mother Nature. No! And, oh, mini dolphins. So there was...
- Speaker #0
Call it porpoisek.
- Speaker #1
Please don't call it mini-dolphining. I forgot the word. Mini-dolph. So, so... Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, two of the oldest people in F1. No, not the oldest people in F1.
- Speaker #2
That's wild.
- Speaker #1
Two of the oldest drivers of the track. They kept bouncing, bouncing in the car. Ew,
- Speaker #3
pause.
- Speaker #0
It wasn't just them.
- Speaker #2
It was happening to everyone.
- Speaker #1
But they were the only ones complaining, so it was that day.
- Speaker #0
They had incidents where they were complaining the most.
- Speaker #1
Yeah, because of age. So they kept bouncing in the cars and that would hurt their back. So then they complained and then they ended up changing it. Forgot how they changed it. And then also there were some incidents on the track which made the FIA be more cautious about safety. So then they made sure that there were less incidents that were happening. They introduced some new regulations such as more fireproof suits so that they don't burn. What have I missed?
- Speaker #0
So much, it doesn't matter. Thank you for playing, as always.
- Speaker #1
You're welcome. How did I do? There.
- Speaker #0
We haven't got time for that. The actual show. Well, partners, it's time to giddy on up out of here after a fact. What's wrong?
- Speaker #1
Partners.
- Speaker #0
Yeah, like you say, howdy, partners.
- Speaker #1
Still singing with it.
- Speaker #0
Yeah. Well, partners, it's about that time. We've got to give you a big old goodbye from the Grand Prix podcast. Thank you for tuning in and listening to our F1 2022 Regulation Rundown Hoedown. We hope you've had. a rootin' tootin' gunslingin' amazin' time. We've sure loved having you being here. Now, you wonderful cowboys, cowgirls, and calvays, if you could please follow us on social media, such as X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and also if you were able to give us a review. We're still really unclear on if that helps us or not. Nav always says that it does. So if you could give us a good review. then we could test if it does actually help. And if it doesn't, then we'll stop asking. We'll be back next time to be able to deep dive everything that happened in the 2025 IMA Le Grand Prix, the first race of the European leg and a triple header that will see us head to Italy, Monaco and Espanyol. So please stay tuned, stay safe and have a wonderful rest of your week. Goodbye? What's your mark? Why are you staring at me?
- Speaker #1
Italy, Monaco, Espanyol.
