Tech analysis: Ferrari steering wheel may hold key to rocket F1 starts

Ferrari’s brilliant getaways at the Australian Grand Prix were key to its early victory challenge – and could well be the result of a unique approach to new start restrictions that Giorgio Piola has uncovered.

Although Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid in Melbourne, it was a sensational getaway from Sebastian Vettel that helped the German swoop into the lead by the first corner.
As team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said: “The start was super. I have to say both of the drivers, they start like two rockets. After that they were able to take an advantage, and that was good for us.”
Such great starts from Ferrari are nothing new – just look at Hungary last year – but as Piola’s exclusive drawing reveals, the team may well have taken things to an all-new level in ensuring it does not miss any detail in this area.

In-built advantage

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H leads at the start of the race

Photo by: Ferrari

As early as pre-season testing, rivals had been alerted about what Ferrari was capable of by monitoring data from Barcelona.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: “We saw that in pre-season testing their starts have been really strong.”
Even ahead of the race, there were rumours that Ferrari knew it would excel in this area. Its decision to not do a second run in Melbourne’s Q3 was mainly fuelled by its desire to save a set of super soft tyres for the race.
But another suggestion also emerged – that the team knew just how good its starts were so securing the second row of the grid was good enough for it to believe it had a shout of the lead on the first lap.

A single paddle

Ferrari SF15T and Ferrari SF16H steering wheels comparison

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

As Piola’s comparison of Ferrari’s 2015 and 2016 steering wheel arrangement shows, the team has been the most aggressive in changing its clutch configuration for this year.
New rules mean that drivers can only use a single hand on a single clutch paddle for the race start – even if teams choose to keep a double-paddle arrangement for emergencies.
Ferrari has opted for something totally different to its main rivals by abandoning a double paddle arrangement (see red arrows on above left image). Instead, it has a single ‘rocker’ paddle that stretches all the way across the back of the wheel.
Investing in such a dramatic design change clearly points to it having unlocked a decent performance advantage.
The exact reasons for this configuration are unclear, but it may be that it allows the driver a greater feel for the clutch bite point – and means he is better able to judge how to deliver the perfect getaway.
If you ally that to Ferrari’s known behaviour of being aggressive with race start engine maps - the same ones that are used after pit stops and have caught Kimi Raikkonen out in the past – the combination could be well lift it well clear of the opposition.

Keeping the advantage

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team W07 and Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H battle for position

Photo by: XPB Images

It will be fascinating to see if Ferrari can repeat its Australian GP getaway in Bahrain – as rivals will now be looking deeply at what happened in Melbourne.
Mercedes in particular will have to work out how it managed to get overtaken by both Ferraris on a relatively short run down to Turn 1 in Australia.
Speaking earlier this week, Mercedes executive director Paddy Lowe said that there was not a simple explanation for why Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had not been a match for Ferrari off the line.
"There's not some single disaster that went on that we need to go analyse,” Lowe told Motorsport.com.
“I think it was probably a number of things combining to create some fairly poor starts. You have to say the objective of the regulation change, or reinterpretation in fact, is to make the starts more variable.
"And that's what we've seen [in the race]. So that was something that was well considered in advance.”

Tech analysis: The key safety advances that saved Alonso's life(2)

The 'survival cell' has minimum external dimensions to ensure that the drivers are adequately protected, whilst the cockpit opening is heavily regulated, ensuring that all of the teams' designs are the same, acting as a further control measure in the event of an accident and allowing swift departure by the driver from the car.
Since 1988, the drivers' feet have been required to be behind the front wheel centreline, following several accidents that had resulted in broken legs in the preceding seasons.
This resulted in a dramatic change in the driving position, with drivers' feet raised, which is in sharp contrast to the ordinary seated position they'd be used to.
The wide, sweeping regulation changes for 2014 were accompanied by a change to the side impact protection spars, which are the first line of defence in a side on impact.
Following Robert Kubica's huge crash in Montreal in 2007, the FIA in collaboration with a number of teams conducted additional research into crash structures when hit at an oblique angle.
It is this research that led to the spars that are currently being used, the original design of which stemmed from the Marussia team and was subsequently refined by Red Bull Racing.
The spars are now able to absorb almost 40kJ of energy, in both normal and oblique impact directions.

Mercedes AMG F1 W07 detail

Photo by: XPB Images

The standardisation of these side impact spars has seen many teams resorting to creating blisters on their sidepods shoulders [see Mercedes above], in order that they house the spars but improve aero in quite a sensitive area.

Side head protections height

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

In 2007, the FIA introduced measures which required the teams to flank the cockpit with Zylon strips, Zylon is used in bulletproof vests owing to its remarkable tensile strength.
The FIA earmarked the material as a way of further protecting the driver from ballistic shards that could otherwise penetrate the cockpit.
The Zylon is mounted around the inner edge of the cockpit template, the height of which was increased by 20mm for 2016, whilst the load test was increased from 15kn to 50kn.

Removable seat

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

You'll often hear reference to a 'seat fitting' on the lead-up to any F1 season - this is when a driver goes to the factory to have their seat prepared for the upcoming season.
During the seat fitting, they will sit on a bag inside the cockpit, which is filled with a resin that, once dry, forms the negative mould for the carbon layup. The finished seat is a lightweight carbon fibre construction that can be easily removed from the cockpit along with the driver if they cannot exit of their own accord.
The seat is held to the chassis with two bolts, which can be released using a standard tool, issued to all rescue crews. Although it seems almost unthinkable now, the six point harness that holds the driver to this removable seat only became mandatory in 1972.
The seat has further straps attached to it in case the driver needs to be extricated, whilst a slot is added to the upper surface so that a stabilizer can be inserted by the medical team to support the driver's head and neck whilst they are removed from the car.

Cockpit crash test

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

The monocoque has two roll structures in case of inversion: one ahead of the steering wheel, atop the chassis [secondary] and one that must be placed at least 940mm above the reference plane, 30mm behind the cockpit template [primary].
The triangulation of these two points means the driver's helmet should never come into contact with the ground, should the car roll over.
The primary structure is constructed taking into account the airbox, which feeds air to the internal combustion unit.
Great effort is made in order to shape this structure to improve aero whilst reducing weight. After all, this is the highest point on the car and has a genuine effect on the cars CoG.
However, the FIA insists that the structure be able to withstand a load equivalent to 50kN laterally, 60kN longitudinally in a rearward direction and 90kN vertically, as a failure of this roll hoop would be catastrophic.

HANS system

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

When the HANS device was made mandatory in 2003, after extensive testing many questioned why it was needed. However, it is now a ubiquitous item worn by motorsport stars around the world and has likely saved numerous lives.
The simple device retains the relative position of the head to the driver's body, transferring energy to the torso as the head is decelerated.
It is the movement of the head that the FIA is interested in as it continues to study accidents after the fact, which will be further helped over the coming years by the introduction of a high-speed camera, mounted in front of the driver atop the chassis from 2016.
The footage collected from Alonso's crash last weekend could be invaluable in future safety initiatives and studies undertaken by the governing body.

FIA closed cockpit testing

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

In recent months the discussion of additional head protection has come to the fore, with the emergence of the 'Halo'.
Whilst most fans seem to reluctant to see the merits, the FIA, teams and drivers alike have agreed that head protection will be introduced in 2017.
Whilst we concur that the Halo is not exactly aesthetically pleasing, it is at least better than some of the initial concepts first tested by the FIA.
The halo is a stylised version of the hoop first tested by the FIA, along with many other solutions, in order to deflect large objects, such as an errant wheel, from impacting with the driver's head.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H running the Halo cockpit cover

Photo by: XPB Images

The Halo used by Ferrari during pre-season testing was not a structural device and so running was limited to installation laps, although neither driver complained of line of sight issues during their short runs whilst it was attached.
The Halo has come in for criticism based on the lack of protection offered from smaller debris, like the errant spring from Rubens Barrichello's BGP001 that struck Felipe Massa's helmet in 2009.

Red Bull Halo concept

Illustration by: Giorgio Piola

Although that was not the express intent of the additional hoop, Red Bull have since weighed in with their own iteration, featuring a windshield and dual A pillars, in order to cover both bases.
Yet it still has its detractors, with most focused on the negatives rather the benefits of enclosing the driver and shielding them from debris.
No matter which solution is ultimately chosen by the FIA for use in 2017, it shows that the governing body still strives to make improvements and heed observations from ongoing incidents.

Tech analysis: The key safety advances that saved Alonso's life

Fernando Alonso walking away from his accident at the Australian Grand Prix was a testament to the safety measures of modern Formula 1. Matt Somerfield and Giorgio Piola look at how F1 protects its drivers.

Formula 1's omnipresent pursuit of safety usually remains under the radar and it is only on occasions like we witnessed in Melbourne that it is bought into sharp focus just how far F1 has come in the field of protecting its drivers.
A huge amount of research and development goes into understanding how to dissipate the energy created when bodies collide.

Crashes like the one that befell Alonso on lap 17 may look spectacular but arguably even more fascinating are the various structures and mechanisms that played their part in making sure he could escape unharmed.
Rather than being as rigid and incompressible as possible, as was the case a couple of decades ago, structures of the car are now placed with the express intent of them decelerating a foreign body, absorbing the kinetic energy as the structure is crushed.
In order so that accidents can be controlled in a similar fashion, the FIA regulates the dimensions of many of the areas of the car, whilst several key structures must also undergo stringent load and crash tests.

The nosecone undergoes the most tests, not because it is more important but because it is also in a prime aerodynamic position, forcing teams to chase ever-demanding geometric shapes to save weight and improve aero whilst still passing the crash tests.
In order to maximise the global performance of the car within the current regulations, the teams are currently pursuing avenues which allow for the shortest nose possible, placing even more demand on them, as this means decelerating the car over a shorter distance.

Wheel tethers have been used by F1 teams since 2001, in an effort to reduce the chances of a wheel coming loose during an accident and impacting with the driver's head or threatening spectators and officials.
Following the tragic accident involving Henry Surtees, who was killed in a Formula 2 race when a competitor's wheel became detached and struck him on the head, the FIA updated the wheel tether requirement.
In 2011, the FIA revised the frequency of the tethers, as each wheel is now fitted with not one, but two tethers, each of which must have a minimum energy absorption of 6kJ.
During an accident, a wheel may be ejected at velocities in excess of 150km/h relative to the car, which corresponds to a linear kinetic energy of 17kJ for a 20kg wheel assembly, making it essential this energy be controlled.
The 2017 regulations will see further amendments, taking into account the change in the cars' width, increasing the minimum absorption to 8kJ.

At the heart of the car is the monocoque, made up predominantly of carbon fibre. First introduced by McLaren in partnership with Hercules in 1981, it subsequently went on to revolutionise the sport.
At first, there was scepticism from within the sport that the material and design were not up to the task but, before long, all of the teams were planning their own and out went the metal structures that had been used before.
The composite material is both lighter and stronger than anything that went before and it has since allowed teams to build complex structures that would otherwise be impossible with conventional methods and materials.

Bernie Won’t Buy Back F1, Wants Flavio On Board