In 2022, the time in the wind tunnel for the top teams will be even shorter than the year before. Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer sees advantages, but also a disadvantage to the “aero handicap” system.
Mercedes even less time in 2022
The time allowed in the wind tunnel has been reduced by twenty percent for Mercedes. The German racing team took the constructors’ title in 2020 and 2021, which meant they were allowed to spend less time in the wind tunnel testing their aerodynamic package in those subsequent years. Between those two years, under the new rules, the time allowed decreased dramatically. For Red Bull Racing, as the second team, the wind tunnel time was also already low and for 2022 even lower. However, the difference in time with Mercedes has doubled. Where before there was only a 2.5 percent difference in time, it is now five percent between the two top teams.
In relation to the worst performing team of recent years, Haas F1, the seventy percent of the time Mercedes is only allowed to use is even less. Haas is allowed a whopping 115 percent of the time. That ultimately comes down to 28 runs in the wind tunnel per week for Mercedes versus 46 runs per week for Haas. Szafnauer tells Sky Sport, “The idea was to do something just like in the NFL where the worst team gets to pick a player first.” Eventually the wind tunnel system came about.
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Szafnauer See a drawback
There was always a maximum number of hours that teams could use their wind tunnels so there was already a control system in place. According to Szafnauer, that system is still intact and it is a very strict scrutiny. Although Szafnauer mainly sees the advantages of the adjusted wind tunnel time, he also sees a disadvantage. This is because the FIA cannot see if teams are working together in the wind tunnel and sharing important information with each other. A possible deal whereby one team buys wind tunnel data from another team on the same part they both have could undermine the aero handicap.
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Szafnauer: “They could ‘go out for coffee’ together. Especially if they’re partners, they can exchange ideas: ‘How’s that latest floor going?’ and, ‘You don’t need to try that, it won’t work.'” Szafnauer himself, in all likelihood, knows very well how a collaboration within Formula 1 works. In 2020 he was team boss at Racing Point which had to surrender points because his car looked too much like the Mercedes of the previous year.
Aston Martin currently has its own factory with its own wind tunnel, but last year the team did its utmost to avoid suspicions of possible collaboration with Mercedes. “We had the opportunity to use the wind tunnel on the weekend and Mercedes used it during the week. The aerodynamicists didn’t even see each other.”
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