Formula 1 drivers are among the finest in the world, with an innate skill behind the wheel and an uncanny knack for getting the most from a car. But even the best of them are relearning their craft as they adapt to new rules and technology that's made this season’s cars more challenging to drive.
The adoption of hybrid drivetrains coupled with aerodynamic changes have led to cars with less downforce, less grip, and a whole lot more torque, making them trickier to drive. That's required drivers to use far more finesse through turns, while brake-by-wire technology and new limits on how much fuel cars can burn has them rethinking such basic skills as where to brake and how soon to get on the gas.
“It’s all new for the drivers this year,” says Christian Horner, team principal at Red Bull Racing. The new regulations are, he says, “a bit of a grid shuffler.”
Indeed. As the season moves to Europe for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel has struggled with his car and is ranked fifth in the championship standings. Meanwhile, Mercedes has dominated, with second-tier teams like Force India and Williams performing exceptionally well--thanks in part to the Mercedes drivetrains they're using. Mercedes used a clever trick to increase the performance of its turbocharged engines, and has shown a particular knack for maximizing downforce and grip.
That said, it's been three weeks since the last race, and every team has been working around the clock to refine its cars. All of them are expected to debut new components, improved aerodynamics, and other tricks. And drivers have no doubt spent hours in the simulator, further honing their skills as they climb what's proven to be a steep learning curve this year.
“As the car develops, as the engine develops, you get more understanding of the car and some of the complexities,” Horner says. “With the technology being so new this year, it inevitably takes a little longer than previous years.”
The biggest change this season has been the adoption of 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engines with sophisticated hybrid drivetrains. The cars produce far more torque--570 foot-pounds from the engine alone, up from 402 last year--than the 2.4-liter V8s that had been used since 2006. Aerodynamic changes (most notably, narrower front wings and the elimination of one rear wing) coupled with new exhaust regulations that eliminate the Coanda effect and ban the use of exhaust flow for aerodynamic effect1 has reduced downforce.
Less downforce means less grip in the corners, an issue that’s been compounded by the harder tires Pirelli introduced this year to handle the added torque. A car with less grip is “less forgiving on mistakes,” says Gianluca Pisanello, Head of Engineering Operations at Caterham.
“You’re always a little more on edge,” he says.
As a result, we’ve seen even the best drivers drivers battle understeer—the tendency of the front end to run wide, turning less than you want it to—entering a turn, then have the back end break loose when they get on the power.
“It’s quite a lot easier to get wheelspin and break traction out of a corner,” says Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is currently ranked sixth in the championship. “Managing the throttle and having more finesse in that area has been the biggest challenge.”
No kidding, says McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen, who is ranked ninth.
“The torque comes in a very different way,” he says. “It’s very aggressive. You need to be very sensitive with your right foot when putting the power down.”
Drivers must be no less sensitive with their left foot when getting on the brakes. For the first time, F1 cars are using brake-by-wire technology on the rear wheels. Instead of a traditional hydraulic system, the rear brakes are controlled electronically.
This change is part of the cars’ hybrid drivetrains, which use a battery and a small electric motor to provide an additional 160 horsepower in 33-second bursts for overtaking. The battery is charged by, among other things, capturing braking energy that would otherwise be lost as heat. The brake-by-wire system allows engineers to compensate for the extra braking force introduced by the energy recovery system.
Because team engineers can adjust how much energy is collected throughout a lap, or even through a given corner, the feel of the brake pedal can be inconsistent from turn to turn. Although the computer-controlled system theoretically adjusts the system to deliver consistent braking performance, “the reality is a little more complex than that,” Pisanello says, and drivers sometimes find the brakes are not responding as they expect them to. When you're one of the world's best drivers in one of the world's most precise racing cars, every little bit of feedback is incredibly important.
“It means that the braking for drivers is a little more unsettled than it used to be,” Pisanello says.
As if all that weren’t enough to contend with, the rulesmakers at the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile cut by almost one-third the amount of fuel cars can carry during a race. Teams are limited to 100 kilograms of fuel per car. Although the drivetrains are far more efficient than in the past, drivers must conserve fuel if they are finish the race. At some point during the race, a driver may hear his engineer instruct him over the radio to conserve fuel.
This most typically is done with a technique called “lift-and-coast,” which is exactly what it sounds like. As a driver approaches a turn, rather than lifting off the throttle and immediately applying the brake, as he's been taught since childhood, he will instead let off the gas before the braking point—“lift”—and coast some distance before getting on the brakes. This can make the braking point something of a moving target.
“Instead of braking at 80 meters, you have to lift at 120 meters and then you have to find out when to apply the brakes, for how long to apply the brakes, and how hard to apply the brakes in order to not be slow like my grandmother around the corner, or to not brake hard enough and go off,” said Pisanello. “In terms of competitive driving, it’s a nightmare.”
Ricciardo is more charitable, saying, “It’s a little bit unnatural. It took a bit of time adjusting and trying to find the right brake point.”
Many of these changes have been made in the interest of saving money, increasing competitiveness, and making F1 technology more applicable to cars the rest of us drive. And though adapting to the new cars and maximizing their performance has been a challenge for some teams and drivers, the racing has been intense. Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg went wheel-to-wheel for several laps during the race in Bahrain, fighting for first and second. We've also seen stellar drives further down the grid, and expect more action as the teams continue developing their cars and drivers sharpen their skills.
Fans have complained about the relatively quiet cars--though turbos provide a unique sound all their own-- but if the Bahrain was any indication, 2014 is shaping up as the most exciting Formula One season in years.
“We keep people entertained, I hope,” says Pisanello.
1UPDATED 11:40 ET 05/10/14: This story has been updated to include a reference to new exhaust regulations and their impact on the cars.
