The F1 season may have started off with various sidepod designs, from ramps to zero-pods to bathtubs and slidepods, but one design is prevailing as the strongest option in 2023 - downwash aero designs. With Mercedes and Ferrari both changing concepts over, and Aston Martin pushing their sidepod downwash design to the extreme, will any of it help the teams catch Red Bull, the original ramp design in 2023? Jon Noble chats with Matt Somerfield to find this out and more.
0:00 What Is Downwash?
2:23 Why Change Designs to Downwash?
3:37 Mercedes' Zero-Pods
4:35 Ferrari's Bathtub Sidepod
5:49 Why Is Downwash King?
7:54 Aston's Aggressive Design
8:57 Wider Sidepods
10:17 The Future Designs
#f1 #sidepods #aero
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I feel like inwash cause less dirty air than downwash
@felixjones9198 Says:
How can I apply this knowledge to my Evo X?
@thasmandotory589 Says:
Drs and mgu h is ruining the sport
@moiz04 Says:
I was thinking the same. These down wash concept are making following another car difficult. And imo against intention of these new regulations.
@akagainesy Says:
Surely now all the teams have worked this out, Merc have the overall advantage here. Coz everything under their body work is so tightly packaged, they can have their side pods vertically any shape. Any angle of down wash or whatever shape, angle, waterslide or bathtub they can find to manipulate the air for the best aero downforce.
@CT37BN Says:
In basic terms when you look at the shape of RBR's side pods they are almost akin to an airplane wing. Works both to direct/streamline air to the rear and also adds just enough downforce to plant the car better to the ground and stability on it's side. And the ground effect of the underfloor gives it another level of cohesion.
This I think was what's missing to the Mercedes-AMG's zero side pod W13 (of last year) and 2023 Spec-A W14. It was too streamlined that it didn't have anything on it's side to give it stability during turns.
@colinhare4722 Says:
So what happens is they all converge after 4 years then we get one good season where there's real competition for the WDC then they change the technical regs again and only one team dominates again....
@rossrreyes Says:
Merc last year; ‘it’s not the sidepods’. Merc this spring; ‘it’s not the sidepods’. Merc this summer; ‘ohhh ok it IS the sidepods.
@CHEGTO Says:
Hopefully Ferrari can make a late title charge as well as Merc and Aston finishing 4th…
I’ll be okay with that for this season
@mini696 Says:
The fact the teams have room under the sidepods prooves the cars could be smaller.
@amaccama3267 Says:
I've been thinking that the outer side of the side pods will eventually get closer to the floor edge in an effort to maximise both outer flow and underflow of the air.
@suryaray2809 Says:
Bunny boy 😊😂
@rolandotillit2867 Says:
It's not just wide sidepods, it's using the regulation volume to stop air from going to the beam wing and diffuser, so it's forced to interact with the edge wing. If you cram air there, the furniture of the wheels, the wheel itself, and the edge wing all slow down that air raising the static pressure. The air underneath the edge wing however, is going much faster as it's interacting with the throat in the venturi tunnel. This difference in pressure drives a strong vortex to wrap around the edge wing. The tire then sheds it's own vortex, and we have 2 counter rotating pairs. The edge wing vortex then enters the diffuser at a lateral angle, and adds rotation to the vortex that is shed by the floor fences. It also has the added benefit of overriding the tire squirt vortex, preventing it from affecting the diffuser. The wide sidepods let you have two air streams that don't get in the way of each other, one to the edge wing, and one to the beam wing/diffuser.
Sealing is an improper word in my opinion, much more accurate to say restrict. As in the flow structures under the floor don't seal air, as much as restrict it. In the same way an hourglass is a restriction for the sand that passes through it.
@scottmeredith3359 Says:
I love an optimized rear end too 🍑
@richardpatton2502 Says:
Pressure…
Pressure differentials…
That’s how aerodynamics work
All the best to everyone
@hh-jy1ld Says:
Perez crash… will cost RB next years or the following year’s championship.
Such a costly crash.
@nicholaschai4458 Says:
Will all this sidepod development will cause the dirty air to return and making following and overtaking hard again?
@corpsecoder_nw6746 Says:
I think some of the sidepod design is to push airflow away to create outwash and deflect the front tire wake a bit, but also to redirect air towards floor edge vortex generating cuts and flaps so that there's more air going towards that and sealing the floor effectively so that they can run higher ride heights to not stall the airflow underneath.
@Osprey6m Says:
Very good. Nice to have someone who firmly puts out his idea of what’s going on.
@ntshembo Says:
Imagine red bull switching to zero pods next year 😅
@hilroydaniels5109 Says:
Every side pod has downwash. Do you ever see a side pod with upwash? You guys are just eager to give Red Bull all the credit. Alpine launched car in 2022 had the same downwash, but you guys only see it on the red bull car.
@nalaunobelmoura4000 Says:
Imagine combining the 2 concepts, assuming that they make it so packaging and cooling is not an issue, hmmm what a car that will be
@emgyee Says:
Have this guy more often here! It was great to hear this explanation!
@francesco5254 Says:
What should be underlined is that NONE of the main sidepod concepts is conceptually "wrong". They all have their pros and their cons and It's all about seeing which of the optimised solutions takes a little bit of advantage over the other ones numerically. None of us can explain why bathtubs "don't work", the only way is carefully looking at numbers that we don't have. The only thing that can be understood is what benefits each type of sidepods aims to bring.
@philliptiestopl1511 Says:
THE OTHER CARS WERE BETTER BACK IN 2021
@javiazar Says:
If the ride height hadn't been raised last year, none of this shit would be happening.
Put the cars back down where they belong and watch us get a real championship where 3-4 teams can win races instead of just Red Bull.
@brandonhiggs6669 Says:
Feels illegal to be this early
@mgnoodle2589 Says:
Come on Alonso. Just win one race. Preferably the Dutch GP
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