Will F1 2014 be different from F1 2013?

[steveaki13]

I know its early, but in light of the interesting thread on F1 2013 compared to 2012, I thought with the big changes on the cards for 2014 it mightb be interesting to discuss what F1 2014 will look like in terms of the season and the teams approach.

Afterall I think personally that 2013 will remain so stable that it will be really close and tight like 2012 and the order wont change much.

However from some things I have heard people say, 2014 will spread the field wide open again as teams go completely different ways on the 2014 design and engines could vary in performance widley. Going back to the 5 or 6 even second spread on say the early 2000s or late 90s perhaps rather than the 1 second covering the top 16 as we sometimes get now.

Also would it be worth a team like Caterham taking a chance on still being around in 2014 and fogetting 2013 completely and just have a 2013 car and do no further development on it and throw loads at 2014. Afterall if all stays similar Caterham have little or no chance of catching the midfield, but with the potential spread of the field and relatively clean slate for 2014 it could be worth the getting set early and they might find themselves up the field.

What do people think?

[F1boat]

I think that if Newey stays in Red Bull, he will outsmart the rest again :)

[steveaki13]

Could be. Afterall when its a fresh start and clean slate, then the best designer has an advantage.

The rest will be hoping he decides to design boats.

[zako85]

Also would it be worth a team like Caterham taking a chance on still being around in 2014 and fogetting 2013 completely and just have a 2013 car and do no further development on it and throw loads at 2014. Afterall if all stays similar Caterham have little or no chance of catching the midfield, but with the potential spread of the field and relatively clean slate for 2014 it could be worth the getting set early and they might find themselves up the field.

What do people think?

This wouldn't make sense for Caterham. The issue is that the money for TV rights is dispensed only to the top 10 teams. I believe the 10th position pay off is about 30 million euros. 11th place team gets nothing. The backmarker teams need this money, so they will fight for it seriously. I do think that Marussia will overtake Caterham next year. Marussia stands 10th right now, and I would love to see what they can do with increased budget. Caterham hasn't demonstrated the leap everyone was hoping to see, even with Renault engine, 2010/11 prize money, and a couple of good drivers.


It's possible that we might see big changes due to new engines which will not be equal. However, the difference in engine power will not be huge. These days engine RPM and turbo pressure are limited. Horsepower and torque figures will probably lie pretty close to each other.

[wedge]

Smaller wings and mandated lower nose. Aero spec will be just as interesting (or ad nauseum).

[wedge]

If you're planning to run your own F1 team/struggling at the back of the grid Cosworth is up for sale and PURE doesn't look like a viable business.

[wedge]

Paddy Lowe reckons the blown diffuser concept will be nullified by the turbo exhaust set up:


Lowe said: "There is a completely new set of regulations around the exhaust location, with the turbo engine, so there will be one pipe with a wastegate and that has to be central and exiting just forward of the rear axle.

"So in that context the systems we are using now will be eliminated completely."

BBC Sport - F1's exhaust development is within acceptable levels say McLaren (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20170339)

[N. Jones]

Yes. I need more teams and engines! More choices for FGP!
:D

[zako85]

There is no reason to believe that 2014 cars will perform similar to 2013 or that the current car ranking order will be the same at the time. First, there will be differences in engine power. By now, the currently frozen V8 engines have gone though several stages of "equalization". All engines have very similar performance, except perhaps for Cosworth engines which supposedly use more fuel and suffer from a massive loss of power after the first race weekend. There is no reason to believe that 2014 engines will have equal performance. Moreover, bad engineering mistakes in engine designs can have a very long lasting impact. For example, Ferrari basically "lost" the first half of the 90s decade because their V12 naturally aspirated engine was an inferior design and they couldn't do much about it until they finally came up with a clean sheet 3.0 V10 design. (By the way, this sort of issues can affect Ferrari again as well as Mercedes, because if their design is not good, it's not like Ferrari or Mercedes would put a Renault engine in their car, but other teams can usually switch engines at will if they're not bound by a long lasting contract).

Next, the entire car is redesigned around the new engine spec. Aerodynamics profile, suspension setting, etc will have to be changed, as the new engine will be lighter and smaller.

[Tazio]

A pretty good read IMO :bulb:
Renault RS34 (http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/renault-rs34-the-future-of-formula-1/)

[airshifter]

I think 2014 may see some major "shuffling of the deck" if you will, as the changes are enough to wipe much of the slate clean and force teams to redesign many things. For example I wasn't aware of the exhaust restrictions Wedge clarified. Even for the best of the best, such a change is a major factor in how the overall car design takes place. The new engines will not only change the center of gravity but the new powerbands created by those engines might for instance produce a difference in how much straight line traction is needed to get out of a corner quickly.

Even the best designers have limits to what they can do, and even at the level of F1 the "lesser" designers and engineers have a lot of experience and knowledge in hand. In a sport where fractions of a second per lap can result in either horrid results or consistent top of the pack results, I think it's inevitable that the field will likely spread out some.

[Bagwan]

A pretty good read IMO :bulb:
Renault RS34 (http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/renault-rs34-the-future-of-formula-1/)

Indeed , a good read .

One thing I picked up , near the end of the article , was a reference to a relationship between PURE , and Mechachrome .
Mechachrome is a name I haven't heard in a while . Isn't Flavio involved with them ?

[Bagwan]

Another thing I found interesting , is the move to have some common components with other series , notably LeMans .

We have had highly restrictive testing limits for the last few years , and the possibility of being able to create some relevence between series' bodes well , I believe for F1 et al .

Now , if they can find a way to help the young guys get some seat time to prepare them better for the big time .
Perhaps Pirelli's testing could have all the reserve drivers take turns in the car ?
If all the teams helped pay for it , they could get direct data from the test-bed .
And the tire company gets direct data from all the reserve drivers , which could really benefit in designing tires for the next generation .

It could be optional for teams to send drivers to tire school , thus avoiding draining small team budgets .
Large teams , though , could really love the idea , and fund it , putting no more economic penalty on Pirelli to spend on development for tires that the FIA seems to move the boundaries on yearly .