F1's 2014 regulation changes explained: Part 2 - Safety and aerodynamic changes

The Stepped nose on Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus F1 car

2014 will be a year of changes. An all new engine, the return of the turbo and more KERS, the sound and power systems will both be overhauled (as seen in part 1 here). However don’t expect the FIA to just provide a new soundtrack and not do anything else.

The aerodynamic game in 2014 will be quite different with the guys at health and safety butting their noses in(quite literally). The fact that the stepped noses are also being booted out is just a bonus. Of course it’s not just the safety issues that are being looked at. The blown exhaust effect is also being phased out.

So lets have a look at what has the FIA done in its bid to make the racing safer and push the teams on in their bid to get the best out of their cars -

1) The Nose-dive

The shape of the nose has been a cause of controversy ever since the infamous stepped nose came into view 2 years back. F1′s style purists went into extreme fits of rage. The rage was quelled a bit this year after the FIA allowed teams to use ‘vanity panels’ to hide the ‘bump’ created by the bump.

The stepped nose formula was introduced by the FIA in a bid to increase safety in case of a side impact (T-bone) or a nose to wheel crash. Of course the regulations weren’t that bad for that aero effect under the nose and the chassis. All that will change in 2014 as the noses take a swan dive.

The current regulations allow for a chassis height of 625mm and a nose tip height of 550mm. This still allows the teams to play with aero effects under the nose area. However, 2014′s regulations will end up putting a spanner in the works as the nose tips have to be centred at an extremely low height of 185mm. That drop of 365mm will ensure that the nose tips end up at almost the same height as the front wings which will disrupt the under nose aero effects.

The regulations will also ensure that the nose box structure will not be able to arch up too high either in a bid to ensure that the teams don’t try to work their way around the nose tip problems.

2) The positioning of the exhaust

Currently teams are able to blow their exhaust gases over the rear diffuser and with the help of the Down-wash effect (which forces the air onto the diffuser pushing it further down to generate more down-force) and the Coanda effect ( which forces the air to stick to the panels to help increase the down-wash effect). The combined effect almost seals the diffuser shut which helps the teams to go almost 2 seconds faster each lap.

The FIA has cracked down on the blown exhaust effect with the new exhaust positioning guidelines for 2014. The new turbo engines will have only one exhaust pipe sticking out of the rear of the car. The new exhaust pipe will have to exit the bodywork 170-185mm behind the rear axle of the car and will also have to be 300-500mm above the floor of the car.

Body panels behind the exhaust’s axis preventing the teams from diverting the exhaust air onto the diffuser. Finally to almost put the exhaust effect to bed, the final 150mm portion of the tail pipe will have to point five degrees upwards, destroying any prospect of using the exhaust and diffuser together.

3) Safety First

A new side impact system which uses carbon tubes and is more resistant to angular side impacts and was developed in a collaborative effort between the teams and the FIA Institute . The new structure’s final specification was manufactured by Red Bull and was based on an initial design by Marussia. The new structure has been proven to be capable of absorbing upto 40KJ of energy by crushing on impact.

The news system is explained in the video from the FIA institute below

The other major safety aid that will be added on next year is the introduction of an electronic rear brake control. The electronic brake control will help the car to brake better in order to both deal with harvesting the energy for ERS-K as will also help to control the effect of the ERS-K when it is deployed which forces an extra 160bhp to the rear wheels.

Overall the changes in the power-train as well as the safety and aero will help next year’s season to be one of the most unpredictable ones ever, unless Adrian Newey does something magical again at Milton Keynes and gives Vettel yet another opposition destroyer.