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F1 dirty air Photograph: (X)
Formula 1 is a sport that has more technical challenges than any other racing sport in the world. That is the reason it is often called as the Pinnacle. For many years the F1 teams and drivers have faced one everlasting issue called ‘Dirty Air’. So how does dirty air affect a car's performance during the race? Let us see this in detail.
What is a Dirty Air?
This is why F1 racers have a hard time passing each other. https://t.co/FVPJtfspHQpic.twitter.com/rgLSXr1iqJ
— Road & Track (@RoadandTrack) February 16, 2018
The air coming out from the rear of a Formula 1 car is called ‘Dirty Air’. To make it simple, take two Formula 1 cars going in a straight line on a race track. A Downforce is the one that pushes the car towards the ground around the corners where the grip level is very low through air pressure acting downwards.
Esto que a simple vista no se ve, es lo que van a reducir drásticamente los F1 de 2022.
— 🏁「 Alerta Racing 」🏁 (@AlertaRacing) July 15, 2021
Al reducir el aire "sucio" que genera las turbulencias, veremos más rebases sin tener esperar a se llegue a las rectas para activar el DRS. pic.twitter.com/M2wXQaMuZv
Formula 1 cars have front and rear wings to use the downforce to get enough grip in the corners. If there are two cars then the car in front uses fresh air which helps in its downforce, especially in the corners. But it disrupts the airflow and creates a low-pressure area behind. The car in the back is heavily affected by this as it doesn't have enough downforce to move around the corners resulting in a low grip level and making overtaking very tricky.
Also Read: McLaren F1 2024 Team Analysis: Back to Glory After 26 Years; Marks new era of Dominance!
How does it affect the car's performance?
Ever wondered what the 'dirty air' behind an F1 car looks like?
— Racecar Engineering (@RacecarEngineer) February 17, 2018
Well @SimScale has simulated it for us! #CFD#Hypnotic 🤩🏁 pic.twitter.com/FZfkeKKJ3x
The car at the rear will have an aerodynamic change due to the low air pressure causing loss in aero balance. It will lead to a drop in performance and efficiency. It also affects the engine cooling system and braking system. It causes overheating of the brakes and the engine as there is not enough air to cool down the brake ducts and the radiators. To avoid all these, drivers usually back off from going behind another car and make racing very boring to watch.
Also Read: Top 10 Nerve-wracking crashes of the 2024 F1 season: Absolute carnage on the track
2022 FIA regulations
Visualizing the airflow around Mercedes' sidepods!👀 (Collab with @justf1car📸)@MercedesAMGF1 introduced a zero-pod design in 2022, but had to switch to a more conventional one mid-2023
— Formula Data Analysis (@FDataAnalysis) June 11, 2024
They progressively mitigated the car's high drag, but the gain in downforce wasn't as… pic.twitter.com/bVI6CpsdIq
In 2022 FIA introduced a new Formula 1 regulation which not only reduces the dirty air flow but also pushes the air upwards so that it doesn't affect the car coming behind. It improved overtaking and closing the gap between cars and made racing more exciting to watch.
Though the FIA has made many changes to reduce the dirty air from disrupting the race, many drivers still face the effect. During the 2024 Formula 1 season final race in Abu Dhabi Lando Norris, the race leader complained about the dirty air while lapping the slow cars behind him. So it is inevitable to eliminate dirty air completely as it is part of the racing.