Scuderia Ferrari arrives in Las Vegas, the twenty-second occasion of the 2024 Formulation 1 racing season, the third-to-last race of the World Championship. Confidence in potential efficiency is current. On the Nevada observe, low temperatures and lengthy straights make the tire situation central as soon as once more for the race weekend. The primary issue for the Maranello technicians and drivers can be on the entrance, the place the automotive’s axis is much less burdened by lateral forces, making it extra vulnerable to dangers of graining and the associated phenomenon of understeering. To handle these points successfully, the Maranello crew has carried out “indoor testing” beneath excessive situations on the tires.
The purpose was to look at the mathematical mannequin of the tires to make sure that the technique for managing the compounds is as correct as attainable, offering the flexibility to extract the optimum vitality profile, each in qualifying and within the race. Immediately, we wish to analyze the difficulties confronted by Ferrari’s tire and efficiency engineers in defining an correct mannequin to deliver to the observe. Moreover, we are going to attempt to perceive how necessary applicable tire evaluation is after every free apply run for the setup deliberation.
Within the try to predict tire habits, the issues lie in the truth that the three attribute parameters of every tire, hundreds, footprint, and temperature, are solely estimated. Basically, there is no such thing as a risk of utilizing a sensor to completely outline vertical load or working temperature; assumptions have to be made. Moreover, tire habits is completely nonlinear. Due to this fact, the outlined fashions could generally be incorrect, offering non-ideal output values.
All of it begins from the assessments carried out throughout the sports activities administration with Ferrari, who, nonetheless within the battle for the Constructors’ Championship, determined to dedicate appreciable time to this issue in the course of the two-week break earlier than Las Vegas. The technicians at Ferrari use a “magic components,” outlined by engineer Hans Pacejka within the Eighties. An equation that requires enter of 18 parameters supplied by Pirelli, which outline a type of identification card for the tire. These values have to be mixed with the three standards talked about above by dynamic simulations on the circuit.
Since they don’t have the race tires in-house, as every F1 crew should return the tires on the finish of each race weekend, simulations are carried out utilizing software program. The Prancing Horse has based mostly its simulations on information collected on the observe throughout this season, altering the encircling situations to simulate the Las Vegas race, additionally utilizing information gathered in the course of the earlier version. Within the dynamic program, vertical forces and the form of the contact patch with the bottom are modified, simulating the camber achieve of the tire all through the lap.
If the load estimation on every tire is right, the software program is routinely capable of present the perfect temperature on the tire’s core as output. This manner, the perfect working window for the tire in numerous situations is outlined. After all, all of that is thought-about with the understanding that, as all the time, sure components can solely be seen on the observe, and the crew have to be expert in adjusting the technique to completely exploit the compounds. It’s a actually difficult job, one which appears actually troublesome throughout the present regulatory framework, particularly in sure aggressive contexts.
In the true world, figuring out vertical pressure, the scale of the contact patch, and the temperature on the coronary heart of the tire is far more difficult than within the simulation surroundings, the place basically it’s only a matter of inputting a worth. The ensuing vertical forces, for instance, are influenced by the displacement of the lateral load in corners and the longitudinal load throughout acceleration or braking. The same dialogue applies to the footprint, which relies upon each on the vertical pressure for the reason that tire is deformable, however particularly on the camber achieve chosen by the technicians working within the dynamics division.
The rotation of the tire in a nook, across the axis parallel to the movement, due to this fact, modifications the portion of the floor involved with the observe floor, and in flip, the distribution modifies the stress contained in the compound. The temperature on the coronary heart of the tire should even be estimated, looking for a worth throughout the vary outlined by the simulations, to maximise grip. This estimate defines the majority temperature, which refers to a woven steel material inserted between the tread and the carcass. That is essential for making the tires work.
We are saying this as a result of it’s the worth on which the technology of grip for the compound is predicated. The majority is inserted beneath the tread, so it’s not attainable to make use of a sensor to immediately decide its temperature. Technicians should due to this fact estimate it by making a prediction derived from the temperature on the observe floor, crossed with each exterior and inside temperatures throughout the tire. The latter worth is strongly influenced by convective warmth phenomena, generated by the brakes, which go by the rim after which warmth the inside a part of the tire.
The temperature improve is outlined utilizing a sensor that determines the rise in stress, exploiting the linear relationship between the 2 values. The final parameter measured, through an infrared sensor, is the exterior temperature of the tread, the one sure worth obtainable to the engineers. These two final temperatures warmth the majority by convective phenomena: from the within by the carcass and from the surface by the tread, permitting the estimation of the temperature on the core. Nevertheless, the majority temperature is much less unstable than the floor temperature.
A component that permits technicians to measure it immediately on the tire as quickly as it’s faraway from the automotive is the “puncture” carried out by the Pirelli delegate, for Ferrari in addition to for different groups, passing by the compound to succeed in the majority and measure its temperature. This measurement, which doesn’t puncture the tire, is essential as it’s the solely measurable and true parameter associated to the core temperature of the compound. A price that permits for changes, if crucial, to what’s estimated by the mathematical mannequin.
This is a matter that Ferrari has not all the time managed with consideration. One solely must recall the assorted race weekends the place the 2 SF-24 vehicles, regardless of having excessive potential, confirmed performances beneath expectations. Due to this, the Italian crew was usually pressured, when the values differed from what was assumed, to regulate the estimated information to supply consistency to the mathematical mannequin. Sadly, this work has not all the time been profitable. Nevertheless, expertise helps in these circumstances, and after 21 races, the Scuderia is aware of its issues very properly.
Limits that stem partly from the traits of the suspension layouts. Regardless of this, Ferrari’s predictions have develop into more and more correct, enhancing each in-house simulations and the reliability of observe information. Via cautious evaluation of the majority temperature after every run, the Italian crew has gained related insights into the SF-24. Extra particularly, we’re speaking in regards to the temperatures on the coronary heart of the tire, that are measured on the inside half (close to the suspensions), on the middle, and on the outer a part of all 4 tires.
The purpose is to attain uniformity throughout the complete width of the tire. If the temperature within the inside or outer half is just too excessive, it signifies that the static camber angle when stationary is just not optimum. If, alternatively, the temperature within the middle of the tire is analyzed, it signifies whether or not the chilly stress is right or not. In Las Vegas, it’s anticipated that Ferrari’s weight distribution can be shifted to the entrance. This manner, the vertical load on the entrance axle may be elevated, with the clear goal of accelerating the quantity of vitality utilized to the tires.
Moreover, particularly within the tire preparation laps, Ferrari’s engineers will be capable to depend on their drivers who, by the suggestions supplied, will validate a exact warm-up technique. Technically, shifting the brake stability to the entrance may help. This manner, the better braking pressure generates the next temperature on the brake discs, selling convective results and bringing the tire to temperature extra simply. Based on our info, Ferrari believes it might handle the tire situation properly, contemplating it essential for the weekend.
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