As part of this makeover, the Sport has finally embraced a larger rim design, having flirted with the idea on many occasions in the past.
This move to 18 inches means that Pirelli has also had to adjust its offering and will produce a tire with a much shorter sidewall.
And this is where teams and drivers may need to adapt the most, considering how the new tires perform compared to the old rubber.
Firstly, the driver’s vision is more impaired than before. Not only the rims have been increased in diameter, but also the entire unit.
With Pirelli tires fitted, they’re 60mm taller than the previous generation, which of course makes it a bit more difficult to look over them.
Also, the driver’s view is further compromised if we consider the wheel tow deflector mounted above it.
Aerodynamicists will also be challenged by the changes, as the lower-profile tire will behave differently than the base rubber – with the tire’s dynamic behavior creating inconsistencies that they would be keen to get to grips with.
In the sport’s more recent past, a number of aerodynamic tricks have been employed to mitigate the effect known as “tire spatter”. But with many of these design features either removed or severely restricted, teams must find new ways to deal with the resulting change in tire stiffness and sidewall height.
deformation of the tires
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Pirelli has long been at the mercy of the sport to increase the entertainment aspect, with thermal degradation identified as a way to create strategic differences between teams and drivers.
However, as part of the overhaul, drivers had asked to focus less on it so they could ride more freely without fear of having to manage the tires over the course of a race.
Driving well below the actual potential of the car has been an issue time and again over the past few years, so that the tires do not overheat and there is an additional pit stop than originally planned.
During a stint the driver only had to meet a lap time delta, which meant he was going faster on older tires than wasting time in the pit lane to buy new tyres.
Factor in the time lost passing traffic or overtaking lapped cars, and suddenly the turtle-style strategy was much more appealing than the full-throttle rabbit.
However, Pirelli’s approach to the design of the new tires and the implications of the car’s redesign could change that perception of strategy.
The stiffer, shorter sidewall tires will feature a new construction to address some of the temperature issues teams were facing on the tire’s shoulder, which should result in less management.
performance hunt
Teams have worked hard in the previous era to solve some of these problems and have found sources of power from numerous sources, be it their tire cover strategy, wheel rim design, brake ducts or suspension setup.
All of these face a significant re-orientation in terms of their design by 2022, not forgetting that the car’s aerodynamic balance will also vary given the move to a more underbody-oriented design.
Stack of tires in electric blankets
Photo by: Andrew Hone / Motorsport Images
First of all, while the current regulations envisage a permanent ban on tire covers from 2024, the most important change for 2022 is that the maximum temperature of the covers will be reduced from 100 to 70 degrees Celsius.
This could affect how drivers approach their pit lane exit or the start of a race as they may need to warm up the tires rather than check their temperature immediately.
However, the way the tires are machined can differ in each case, as many teams in recent years have raised the suspension elements and used more extreme pushrod-on-upright solutions to help with various aerodynamic efforts along with the hydraulic solutions that helped with compliance have been removed.
Front suspension detail Mercedes AMG F1 W10
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Instead, teams are reverting to classic sprung suspension arrangements, which obviously affect the car’s behavior and give the driver a different feedback and feel.
However, moving to BBS as the sport’s sole supplier of rims means that the advantages gained so far in terms of controlling heat transfer between rim and tire are also reversed.
The large cooling fins, as seen on Mercedes in recent years, are no longer possible.
Mercedes F1 AMG W09 rim tires
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
The size of the brake discs is also different in 2022, because the 278 mm diameter for front and rear wheel discs, which has been standard since 2017, have been replaced with new dimensions.
At the front, teams can choose a disc size between 325 and 330 mm, while at the rear the permissible disc diameter is between 275 and 280 mm.
These changes obviously have implications for the disc’s design and its proximity to the larger wheel rims, with additional design considerations then flowing into the brake duct design as well.
This could be seen as a way that teams can potentially make some small gains over their rivals.
But while the ability to create the complex designs used in the past has been drastically limited, transferring the heat generated during braking could still prove crucial to managing tire temperatures.
As we can see from McLaren’s design for its Mule Car, there are ways to enlarge the brake drum to accommodate the size of the wheel arch, as it would have done in the past.
However, teams might also find that a slightly smaller drum and larger cavity between it and the wheel rim has some advantages.
As anticipation builds for the 2022 season and as we see the cars for the first time, we will no doubt be gushing about the different aerodynamic approaches teams have taken in light of the new regulations.
But make no mistake, teams and drivers will hope they got things right when it comes to the aspects that can affect tire performance.
