Scuderia Ferrari arrives in Las Vegas, the twenty-second occasion of the 2024 Method 1 racing season, the third-to-last race of the World Championship. Confidence in potential efficiency is current. On the Nevada monitor, low temperatures and lengthy straights make the tire challenge central as soon as once more for the race weekend. The principle issue for the Maranello technicians and drivers will probably be on the entrance, the place the automotive’s axis is much less pressured by lateral forces, making it extra vulnerable to dangers of graining and the associated phenomenon of understeering. To handle these points successfully, the Maranello workforce has performed “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 potential, offering the flexibility to extract the optimum vitality profile, each in qualifying and within the race. As we speak, we wish to analyze the difficulties confronted by Ferrari’s tire and efficiency engineers in defining an correct mannequin to carry to the monitor. Moreover, we are going to attempt to perceive how necessary applicable tire evaluation is after every free follow run for the setup deliberation.
Within the try and predict tire conduct, the issues lie in the truth that the three attribute parameters of every tire, hundreds, footprint, and temperature, are solely estimated. Primarily, there isn’t a risk of utilizing a sensor to completely outline vertical load or working temperature; assumptions have to be made. Moreover, tire conduct is totally nonlinear. Due to this fact, the outlined fashions might generally be incorrect, offering non-ideal output values.
All of it begins from the assessments performed inside the sports activities administration with Ferrari, who, nonetheless within the battle for the Constructors’ Championship, determined to dedicate appreciable time to this issue through the two-week break earlier than Las Vegas. The technicians at Ferrari use a “magic system,” outlined by engineer Hans Pacejka within the Eighties. An equation that requires enter of 18 parameters offered 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 way of dynamic simulations on the circuit.
Since they don’t have the race tires in-house, as every F1 workforce 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 knowledge collected on the monitor throughout this season, altering the encircling situations to simulate the Las Vegas race, additionally utilizing knowledge gathered through 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 robotically in a position to present the best temperature on the tire’s core as output. This manner, the best working window for the tire in numerous situations is outlined. After all, all of that is thought of with the understanding that, as all the time, sure components can solely be seen on the monitor, and the workforce have to be expert in adjusting the technique to totally exploit the compounds. It’s a actually difficult job, one which appears actually tough inside the present regulatory framework, particularly in sure aggressive contexts.
In the true world, figuring out vertical power, the dimensions of the contact patch, and the temperature on the coronary heart of the tire is rather more difficult than within the simulation setting, the place basically it’s only a matter of inputting a price. 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. An analogous dialogue applies to the footprint, which relies upon each on the vertical power 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, adjustments the portion of the floor involved with the monitor floor, and in flip, the distribution modifies the strain contained in the compound. The temperature on the coronary heart of the tire should even be estimated, searching for a price inside the vary outlined by the simulations, to maximise grip. This estimate defines the majority temperature, which refers to a woven steel cloth 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 era of grip for the compound is predicated. The majority is inserted beneath the tread, so it isn’t potential to make use of a sensor to instantly decide its temperature. Technicians should due to this fact estimate it by making a prediction derived from the temperature on the monitor floor, crossed with each exterior and inner temperatures inside the tire. The latter worth is strongly influenced by convective warmth phenomena, generated by the brakes, which cross by way of the rim after which warmth the internal a part of the tire.
The temperature improve is outlined utilizing a sensor that determines the rise in strain, exploiting the linear relationship between the 2 values. The final parameter measured, by way of an infrared sensor, is the exterior temperature of the tread, the one sure worth out there to the engineers. These two final temperatures warmth the majority by way of convective phenomena: from the within by way of the carcass and from the skin by way of the tread, permitting the estimation of the temperature on the core. Nonetheless, the majority temperature is much less risky than the floor temperature.
A component that permits technicians to measure it instantly 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 way of the compound to achieve 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 worth that permits for changes, if vital, 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 varied race weekends the place the 2 SF-24 automobiles, regardless of having excessive potential, confirmed performances under expectations. Due to this, the Italian workforce was typically compelled, when the values differed from what was assumed, to regulate the estimated knowledge to supply consistency to the mathematical mannequin. Sadly, this work has not all the time been profitable. Nonetheless, expertise helps in these instances, 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, bettering each in-house simulations and the reliability of monitor knowledge. By means of cautious evaluation of the majority temperature after every run, the Italian workforce has gained related insights into the SF-24. Extra particularly, we’re speaking concerning the temperatures on the coronary heart of the tire, that are measured on the internal half (close to the suspensions), on the heart, and on the outer a part of all 4 tires.
The purpose is to realize uniformity throughout all the width of the tire. If the temperature within the internal or outer half is simply too excessive, it implies that the static camber angle when stationary isn’t optimum. If, alternatively, the temperature within the heart of the tire is analyzed, it signifies whether or not the chilly strain is right or not. In Las Vegas, it’s anticipated that Ferrari’s weight distribution will probably be shifted to the entrance. This manner, the vertical load on the entrance axle will be elevated, with the clear purpose of accelerating the quantity of vitality utilized to the tires.
Moreover, particularly within the tire preparation laps, Ferrari’s engineers will be capable of depend on their drivers who, by way of the suggestions offered, will validate a exact warm-up technique. Technically, shifting the brake steadiness to the entrance may help. This manner, the better braking power generates the next temperature on the brake discs, selling convective results and bringing the tire to temperature extra simply. In line with our data, Ferrari believes it could handle the tire challenge properly, contemplating it essential for the weekend.
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