AEveryone was excited about these test drives. Formula 1 tried to get used to new cars, new tires and new fuel over three days in Barcelona. It was a step into unknown territory. This was already evident from the fact that the ten teams showed up with ten completely different cars. Although the engineers have six times less technical freedom than in 2021, they came up with different constructions. There are still many ways to get there, but everything is still just theory. “It will be reduced to three or four solutions by the middle of the season,” predict the experts. Red Bull technology guru Adrian Newey believes: “And in a year there will be at most two more.”
It is a comforting realization that even the best simulation tools cannot depict reality if you have no reference to the past. The ground effect principle, in which a wing profile under the car accelerates the air and thus achieves a suction effect, was last permitted in 1982. That is why the launch of the new cars was so important. The engineers had to learn whether their theories worked in practice. The drivers how they have to drive these cars. And everyone together how to set up the car to get the best possible lap time. “These were days of learning, understanding and collecting data to compare the mathematical models with reality,” summarizes Aston Martin Operations Manager Tom McCollough.
