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119-468: The Ferrari SF70H is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Scuderia Ferrari to compete in the 2017 Formula One season . It was driven by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen . The car made its competitive début at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix , where it finished first and fourth in the hands of Vettel and Räikkönen, respectively. In keeping with his tradition of giving his cars female nicknames, Vettel named his SF70H "Gina". The model

238-432: A C d value between 0.25 and 0.35), so that, despite the enormous power output of the engines, the top speed of these cars is less than that of World War II vintage Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Silver Arrows racers. However, this drag is more than compensated for by the ability to corner at extremely high speed. The aerodynamics are adjusted for each track; with a low drag configuration for tracks where high speed

357-400: A ban on variable intake trumpets, have also been introduced with the new 2.4 L V8 formula to prevent the teams from achieving higher RPM and horsepower too quickly. The 2009 season limited engines to 18,000 rpm in order to improve engine reliability and cut costs. For a decade, F1 cars had run with 3.0 L naturally aspirated engines with all teams settling on a V10 layout by the end of

476-473: A decision was made to retire Alonso from the race in order to preserve the car. Alonso was unable to even complete the formation lap, suffering from a total car failure before being able to return to the pitlane. Carlos Sainz Jr. was given a 3-place penalty as a result of causing a collision with Lance Stroll at the Bahrain Grand Prix . Because of Alonso's car obstructing the track, the start

595-412: A downforce:weight ratio of 1:1) at 190 km/h (118 mph), while an F1 car achieves the same at 125 to 130 km/h (78 to 81 mph), and at 190 km/h (118 mph) the ratio is roughly 2:1. The bargeboards, in particular, are designed, shaped, configured, adjusted, and positioned not to create downforce directly, as with a conventional wing or underbody venturi, but to create vortices from

714-414: A driver is on wet-weather tyres), but during the race, it could only be activated when a driver is less than one second behind another car at pre-determined points on the track. (From 2013 DRS is available only at the pre-determined points during all sessions). The system is then deactivated once the driver brakes. The system "stalls" the rear wing by opening a flap, which leaves a 50 mm horizontal gap in

833-432: A fast starting Verstappen, who jumped from fifth to second before turn 1. Verstappen made slight contact with Vettel which damaged Vettel's front wing. After the safety car period which was triggered by Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso crashing into Felipe Massa's Williams, half of Vettel's front wing fell off his car and he had to pit 2 laps later which relegated him to last place. Vettel made a comeback drive and managed to overtake

952-410: A five-place grid penalty. Räikkönen qualified sixth fastest and started the race from P10. Vettel meanwhile qualified third, half a second behind polesitter Hamilton. Due to an unscheduled gearbox change for Bottas, he got promoted to the first row. On the starting grid it became clear that Vettel's car suffered some kind of problem. When the race started Vettel didn't have full power and got overtaken by

1071-413: A full race weekend. For the 2005 championship, they were required to last two full race weekends, and if a team changed an engine between the two races, they incurred a penalty of 10 grid positions. In 2007, this rule was altered slightly and an engine only had to last for Saturday and Sunday running. This was to promote Friday running. In the 2008 season, engines were required to last two full race weekends;

1190-409: A green band on the sidewall of the softer compound was painted to allow spectators to distinguish which tyre a driver is on. Beginning in 2019, Pirelli scrapped the tyre naming system such that the tyres will denote at each Grand Prix independently as hard, medium and soft with white, yellow and red sidewalls respectively rather than having a separate name and colour for each of the five tyres. The change

1309-542: A late challenge for victory, finishing just six tenths of a second behind the winner; Räikkönen meanwhile struggled for pace throughout the whole race and dropped behind Ricciardo and Hamilton to finish in fifth. At the British Grand Prix , Ferrari seemed to struggle to keep up with the Mercedes as Hamilton was half a second quicker than Räikkönen in qualifying who lined up in 2nd ahead of Vettel in 3rd. During

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1428-568: A mandatory pit stop to change his loose headrest. Three penalty points were added to Vettel's licence and he later admitted his mistake and apologised to Hamilton and the FIA which saw him avoid a possible race ban. Räikkönen collided with Bottas on the opening lap. He retired on lap 46 as a precaution to prevent the failure of his suspension which had received damage from the crash with Bottas. In Austria , Vettel qualified in second ahead of Räikkönen in third. Vettel finished second behind Bottas even after

1547-495: A row of LED shift lights . The wheel alone can cost about $ 50,000, and with carbon fibre construction, weighs in at 1.3 kilograms. In the 2014 season, certain teams such as Mercedes have chosen to use larger LCDs on their wheels which allow the driver to see additional information such as fuel flow and torque delivery. They are also more customizable owing to the possibility of using much different software. The fuel used in F1 cars

1666-615: A safety car deployment. Daniel Ricciardo retired with brake problems while running in 7th. Felipe Massa was running in 6th when he obtained a slow puncture and had to pit for new tyres, falling to 9th behind the Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon as well as the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg . There were very few on-track overtakes after the safety car period. Despite making up two places before turn 2, Max Verstappen 's Red Bull did not advance further, finishing in 5th,

1785-416: A safety car. After the race, talks arose that Ferrari had deliberately put Räikkönen on the slower strategy ( Pirelli had said that ultrasofts could last an entire race distance, so the preferred strategy was to run on ultrasofts as long as possible) so that Vettel could maximize the points gain from Hamilton's lowly finish. This was the first Ferrari win at Monaco since 2001 and first Ferrari 1–2 finish since

1904-435: A second behind his teammate. At the start of the race, Vettel was overtaken by both Verstappen and Hamilton. Vettel collided with Hamilton at the exit of turn 3, causing damage to both cars and forcing both drivers to pit with Vettel needing a new front wing and Hamilton needing to change tyres as a result of a puncture. Vettel rejoined the race at the back of the order but made an impressive recovery to fourth place, although it

2023-422: A second quicker than Bottas and seven-tenths faster than Hamilton despite Mercedes holding a 0.5–0.7 seconds advantage over Ferrari in qualifying trim. On Sunday morning, Vettel's car developed a hydraulic problem which had to be rectified quickly before the race began. As the race began, it was apparent that Ferrari had the quickest car on circuit, although Vettel's pace started dropping after the initial stint. This

2142-590: A set of mediums, rejoining 7 seconds back. Then the Virtual Safety Car was deployed for the Felipe Massa / Stoffel Vandoorne crash. Hamilton pitted just before the end of the VSC for softs, while Vettel pitted the next lap for mediums. They were side by side at turn 1, touched wheels and Hamilton was forced off the track and had to fall behind Vettel. He got past on lap 44 and won the race. He thus reduced

2261-426: A small drag penalty. Until 2022, the underside of the vehicle, the undertray, had to be flat between the axles. The limited size of the wings (requiring use at high angles of attack to create sufficient downforce), and vortices created by open wheels lead to a high aerodynamic drag coefficient (about 1 according to Minardi 's technical director Gabriele Tredozi ; compared with the average modern car , which has

2380-644: A standing start, a distance of only 5.2 km (3.2 mi). As well as being fast in a straight line, F1 cars have greater cornering ability. Grand Prix cars can negotiate corners at significantly higher speeds than other racing cars because of their levels of grip and downforce. Cornering speed is so high that Formula One drivers have strength training routines just for the neck muscles. Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya claimed to be able to perform 300 repetitions of 23 kg (50 lb) with his neck. The combination of light weight (642 kg in race trim for 2013), power (670–750 kW (900–1,000 bhp) with

2499-490: A suitable structure; e.g. on the ceiling . The use of aerodynamics to increase the cars' grip was pioneered in Formula One in the 1968 season by Lotus , Ferrari and Brabham . At first, Lotus introduced modest front wings and a spoiler on Graham Hill's Lotus 49 B at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix ; then, Brabham and Ferrari went one better at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix with full-width wings mounted on struts high above

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2618-474: A superb start - on his left which led to a chain reaction: Verstappen tried to evade the cut from Vettel but there was no room on the left because of the charging Räikkönen. Verstappen and Räikkönen hit each other and the Finn subsequently crashed into Vettel, ending the race for the three of them. It was the first time in F1 history that both Ferrari drivers were out on lap 1 of a race. Ferrari were fastest again at

2737-439: A superficial resemblance to a normal road tyre. Whereas a road car tyre has a useful life of up to 80,000 km (50,000 mi), a Formula One tyre does not even last the whole race distance (a little over 300 km (190 mi)); they are usually changed one or two times per race, depending on the track. This is the result of a drive to maximize the road-holding ability, leading to the use of very soft compounds (to ensure that

2856-487: A track, drivers can deploy DRS, which opens the rear wing, reduces the drag of the car, allowing it to move faster. As soon as the driver touches the brake, the rear wing shuts again. In free practice and qualifying, a driver may use it whenever he wishes to, but in the race, it can only be used if the driver is 1 second, or less, behind another driver at the DRS detection zone on the race track, at which point it can be activated in

2975-492: A year developing their car) had the option of keeping the current V10 for another season, but with a rev limiter to keep them competitive with the most powerful V8 engines. The only team to take this option was the Toro Rosso team, which was reformed and regrouped Minardi. In 2012, the engines consumed around 450 L (16 cu ft) of air per second (at the 2012 rev limit of 18,000 rpm); race fuel consumption rate

3094-442: Is 740 kg (1,631 lb) including the driver but not fuel. Cars are weighed with dry-weather tyres fitted. Prior to the 2014 F1 season, cars often weighed in under this limit so teams added ballast in order to add weight to the car. The advantage of using ballast is that it can be placed anywhere in the car to provide ideal weight distribution. This can help lower the car's centre of gravity to improve stability and also allows

3213-469: Is a critical issue, and is bolted onto the back of the engine. Fully-automatic gearboxes , and systems such as launch control and traction control , have been illegal since 2004 and 2008 , respectively, to keep driver skill and involvement important in controlling the car, and to ensure that no teams are using these systems illegally to gain a competitive advantage, as well as to keep costs down. The driver initiates gear shifts using paddles mounted on

3332-408: Is fairly similar to ordinary (premium) petrol , albeit with a far more tightly controlled mix. Formula One fuel would fall under high octane premium road fuel with octane thresholds of 95 to 102. Since the 1992 season onwards all Formula One cars must mandatorily utilize unleaded racing gasoline fuel. F1 blends are tuned for maximum performance in given weather conditions or different circuits. During

3451-459: Is more important like Autodromo Nazionale Monza , and a high traction configuration for tracks where cornering is more important, like the Circuit de Monaco . With the 2009 regulations, the FIA rid F1 cars of small winglets and other parts of the car (minus the front and rear wing) used to manipulate the airflow of the car in order to decrease drag and increase downforce. Currently, the front wing

3570-442: Is shaped specifically to push air towards all the winglets and bargeboards so that the airflow is smooth. Should these be removed, various parts of the car will cause great drag when the front wing is unable to shape the air past the body of the car. The regulations which came into effect in 2009 have reduced the width of the rear wing by 25 cm, and standardised the centre section of the front wing to prevent teams from developing

3689-449: Is typically operated by a lever inside the cockpit as opposed to a control on the steering wheel. An average F1 car can decelerate from 100 to 0 km/h (62 to 0 mph) in about 15 meters (48 ft), compared with a 2009 BMW M3, which needs 31 meters (102 ft). When braking from higher speeds, aerodynamic downforce enables tremendous deceleration: 4.5 g to 5.0 g (44 to 49 m/s ), and up to 5.5 g (54 m/s ) at

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3808-557: The Malaysian Grand Prix but couldn't benefit from it. Vettel lost power during the end of FP3 and had his engine changed afterwards. In Q1 there were still major problems on Vettel's PU which couldn't be solved in time, making the German start from last on the grid. Räikkönen just missed out on pole position, qualifying behind Hamilton by less than half a tenth. Ferrari's woes continued on Sunday, as Raikkonen didn't even take

3927-476: The McLaren MP4-20 . Most of those innovations were effectively outlawed under even more stringent aero regulations imposed by the FIA for 2009. The changes were designed to promote overtaking by making it easier for a car to closely follow another. The new rules took the cars into another new era, with lower and wider front wings, taller and narrower rear wings, and generally much 'cleaner' bodywork. Perhaps

4046-533: The Mexican Grand Prix , Vettel was facing a 66-point deficit to Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship. In order to keep his title hopes alive, Vettel needed to finish no worse than second and have Hamilton finish tenth or worse. At the very end of Q3, Vettel edged Verstappen for pole position by less than 1 tenth of a second, his fourth of the season. Räikkönen could only manage fifth place, 3 quarters of

4165-572: The 3.0 L V10, 582 kW (780 bhp) with the 2007-regulation 2.4 L V8, 710 kW (950 bhp) with 2016 1.6 L V6 turbo), aerodynamics, and ultra-high-performance tyres is what gives the F1 car its high performance figures. The principal consideration for F1 designers is acceleration , and not simply top speed. Three types of acceleration can be considered to assess a car's performance: All three accelerations should be maximised. The way these three accelerations are obtained and their values are: 2017 Russian Grand Prix Going into

4284-627: The Drivers' Championship by 13 points over Hamilton and Ferrari trailed Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship by a single point. Ferrari were again very fast in Spain , despite major upgrades to the Mercedes cars. Vettel, who had a scare in Q1 when he was ordered to stop the car on the track, was on course to take pole. He was 3 tenths up on Hamilton's best lap in the second sector but lost time in

4403-532: The Formula One brake manufacturers to date. Every F1 car is capable of going from 0 to 160 km/h (0 to 99 mph) and back to 0 in less than five seconds. During a demonstration at the Silverstone circuit in Britain, an F1 McLaren-Mercedes car driven by David Coulthard gave a pair of Mercedes-Benz street cars a head start of seventy seconds, and was able to beat the cars to the finish line from

4522-558: The Intermediate tyre compound. At the end of lap 2, many drivers including Vettel decided to pit for dry tyres under the Virtual Safety Car caused by Williams ' Lance Stroll who had crashed. This proved to be very costly for Vettel as Sauber 's Antonio Giovinazzi crashed on lap 4 which forced the Safety Car to come out. This meant that the two Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen along with Räikkönen had eclipsed Vettel in

4641-460: The ability to fine-tune many elements of the race car from within the machine using the steering wheel. The wheel can be used to change gears, apply rev. limiter, adjust fuel/air mix, change brake balance, control the differential, power unit, engine braking and call the radio. Data such as engine rpm, lap times, tyre temperature, brake temperature, speed, and gear are displayed on an LCD screen. The wheel hub will also incorporate gear change paddles and

4760-463: The activation zone until the driver brakes. Nose box or more commonly the nose cones serve three main purposes: Nose boxes are hollow structures made of carbon fibers. They absorb the shock at the time of crash preventing injury to the driver. Just behind the driver's cockpit is a structure called the Air Box. The Air Box serves two purposes. It receives the high-speed moving air and supplies it to

4879-445: The air box is its large size, which provides a large space for advertising, in turn, providing opportunities for additional ad revenue. F1 regulations heavily limit the use of ground effect aerodynamics , which are a highly efficient means of creating downforce with a small drag penalty. The underside of the vehicle, the undertray, must be flat between the axles. A 10 mm (as of 2008) thick wooden plank, or skid block , runs down

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4998-439: The air moving through the compressor was much cooler, since it was farther away from the hot turbine section. Formula One cars use highly automated semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with paddle-shifters, with regulations stating that 8 forward gears (increased from 7 from the 2014 season onwards) and 1 reverse gear must be used, with rear-wheel-drive . The gearbox is constructed of carbon titanium, as heat dissipation

5117-465: The air spillage at their edges. The use of vortices is a significant feature of the latest breeds of F1 cars. Since a vortex is a rotating fluid that creates a low-pressure zone at its centre, creating vortices lowers the overall local pressure of the air. Since low pressure is what is desired under the car, as it allows normal atmospheric pressure to press the car down from the top; by creating vortices, downforce can be augmented while still staying within

5236-410: The amount of turbulence. Revised regulations introduced in 2005 forced the aerodynamicists to be even more ingenious. In a bid to cut speeds, the FIA reduced downforce by raising the front wing, bringing the rear wing forward, and modifying the rear diffuser profile. The designers quickly regained much of this loss, with a variety of intricate and novel solutions such as the 'horn' winglets first seen on

5355-405: The back of the steering wheel , and advanced electric solenoids , hydraulic actuators , and sensors perform the actual shift, as well as the electronic throttle control . Clutch control is also performed electro-hydraulically, except when launching from a standstill (i.e., stationary, neutral) into first gear, where the driver operates the clutch manually using a lever mounted on the back of

5474-472: The cars stripped of as much wing as possible, to reduce drag and increase speed on the long straights. Every single surface of a modern Formula One car, from the shape of the suspension links to that of the driver's helmet – has its aerodynamic effects considered. Disrupted air, where the flow 'separates' from the body, creates turbulence which creates drag – which slows the car down. Almost as much effort has been spent reducing drag as increasing downforce – from

5593-417: The championship, Hamilton would start the race in thirteenth place. The two Ferraris stayed one and two until lap 34, when Räikkönen pitted to cover off the undercut from Bottas and Verstappen. Vettel stayed out for an extra five laps, putting in blistering lap times mostly quicker than those of Räikkönen on fresh supersofts. Vettel came in on lap 39, and rejoined ahead of Räikkönen, and led to the finish despite

5712-503: The driver , intended to be used in competition at Formula One racing events. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship and specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves, though the design and manufacture can be outsourced. Formula One drivers experience peak cornering forces of up to six lateral g. Modern-day Formula One cars are constructed from composites of carbon fibre and similar ultra-lightweight materials. The minimum weight permissible

5831-414: The driver. Early experiments with movable wings and high mountings led to some spectacular accidents, and for the 1970 season, regulations were introduced to limit the size and location of wings. Having evolved over time, similar rules are still used today. In the late 1960s, Jim Hall of Chaparral, first introduced " ground effect " downforce to auto racing. In the mid-1970s, Lotus engineers found out that

5950-409: The drivers behind him. He retired after only 4 laps, all thanks to a faulty spark plug. It was his second retirement in 3 races. Räikkönen went wide on the first lap in a fight for position with Hülkenberg and only managed to salvage fifth place for the team. Leaving Asia, Ferrari lost a lot of ground in both championships. For Vettel, a three-point deficit to Hamilton quickly became a 59-point deficit in

6069-462: The dry weather compounds (generally a harder and softer compound) are brought to each race, plus both wet weather compounds. The harder tyres are more durable but give less grip, and the softer tyres the opposite. In 2009, the slick tyres returned as a part of revisions to the rules for the 2009 season; slicks have no grooves and give up to 18% more contact with the track. In the Bridgestone years,

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6188-524: The entire car could be made to act like a giant wing by the creation of an airfoil surface on its underside which would cause air moving relative to the car to push it to the road. Applying another idea of Jim Hall's from his Chaparral 2J sports racer, Gordon Murray designed the Brabham BT46B , which had a radiator fan that also extracted air from the skirted area under the car, creating enormous downforce. After technical challenges from other teams, it

6307-465: The fast lap of the race, but also the fastest ever lap at the circuit. At the chequered flag, he was followed by Lewis Hamilton , finishing a distant 4th. Hamilton had struggled with overheating throughout the race. Non-finishers were Fernando Alonso , who failed to make it to the grid with a hybrid-charge failure, as well as Jolyon Palmer and Romain Grosjean who crashed on the first lap, causing

6426-458: The final sector and qualified second, 0.051 seconds behind Hamilton. Räikkönen qualified in fourth, 0.290 seconds off the pole time. In the race, Vettel got a better start than Hamilton from second and was into first position by turn 1. Max Verstappen, Kimi Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas tried to go three-wide through turn 1 but Bottas clipped the inside kerb, hitting Räikkönen, who hit Verstappen. It ended both Räikkönen and Verstappen's race but Bottas

6545-443: The final third of the race gradually closing the distance between himself and Bottas, coming to within 0.7 seconds just a few laps before the end. Lapped traffic, particularly the delayed Williams of Massa, however, ultimately prevented him from overtaking the race leader, leading to a secure second place for the German. Kimi Räikkönen rounded off the podium. He once again set a late fastest lap of 1:36.844 on lap 49, recording not only

6664-547: The first free practice session. The initial start was aborted, as Fernando Alonso was unable to start, pulling up in the opening to the pit lane because of engine issues. Team radio from the initial parade lap suggested issues with the MGU-K electronic power supplementary unit leading to a loss of hybrid power. Without the energy recovery system (ERS), the MCL32 would be uncompetitive and racing would put an unnecessary wear upon

6783-485: The first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix . Vettel qualified in 2nd, splitting the two Mercedes cars and Räikkönen qualified in 4th. Vettel took the lead from Lewis Hamilton on lap 17 when he pitted for new tyres. Hamilton rejoined behind Max Verstappen and could not pass him. Vettel took advantage of this and came out in the lead after his stop. Vettel went on to win the inaugural race of

6902-446: The following car. Thus, for the 2022 season , the FIA made technical changes to the aerodynamic characteristics of the cars to reduce the amount of this 'dirty air' and allow for easier overtaking. Front wing, side pods, and rear wing have all been redesigned to redirect aerodynamic turbulence upwards, and larger tyres with 18-inch wheels were adopted in an effort to limit disruptive vortices generated by their rotation. The driver has

7021-411: The front wing. The cars underwent major changes in 2017, allowing wider front and rear wings, and wider tyres . Throughout much of the turbo-hybrid era, drivers have noted that following closely behind other cars, particularly when attempting to overtake, has been made considerably more difficult by large amounts of turbulence or 'dirty air' from the leading car reducing the aerodynamic performance of

7140-526: The fuel they are providing for a race. At any time, FIA inspectors can request a sample from the fueling rig to compare the "fingerprint" of what is in the car during the race with what was submitted. The teams usually abide by this rule, but in 1997, Mika Häkkinen was stripped of his third-place finish at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium after the FIA determined that his fuel was not the correct formula, as well as in 1976, both McLaren and Penske cars were forced to

7259-439: The gap to Vettel in the Drivers' Championship to 6 points, while Mercedes extended their Constructors' lead to 8 points. At Monaco , both Mercedes cars struggled to find the right setup, while Ferrari were very fast yet again. Kimi Räikkönen got his first pole position since 2008 French Grand Prix by 0.043 seconds over Vettel, who himself was just 0.002 seconds clear of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in third. But, crucially for

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7378-705: The high-speed circuits such as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Canadian GP) and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Italian GP). This contrasts with 1.0 g to 1.5 g (10 to 15 m/s ) for sports cars (the Bugatti Veyron is claimed to be able to brake at 1.3 g). An F1 car can brake from 200 km/h (124 mph) to a complete stop in just 2.9 seconds, using only 65 metres (213 ft). Currently Brembo along with its sister brand AP Racing and Hitco are

7497-459: The infamous 2010 German Grand Prix . Ferrari retook the lead in the Constructors' Championship after both Mercedes cars had a poor race and Vettel increased his lead over Hamilton to 25 points. Ferrari had a poor weekend in Canada . Vettel qualified in second splitting the two Mercedes cars and Räikkönen qualified in fourth ahead of the two Red Bulls. At the start Vettel lost positions to Bottas and

7616-475: The intake manifold of the engine. This high-speed air is pressurised and hence is compressed due to the Ram Effect. This high-pressure air, when supplied to the engine, boosts its power. Also, the air supplied to it is highly turbulent since it passes above the driver's helmet. The airbox absorbs this turbulent air, preventing it from disturbing the laminar airflow along with other parts. The second advantage of

7735-501: The last podium place behind Bottas and Hamilton, and ahead his teammate. These results placed Ferrari in second place in the Constructors' Championship, whereas Vettel and Räikkönen finished 2nd and 4th in the Drivers' Championship. This was the final year for Santander , their long-term sponsor since 2010 until Santander returned to sponsor the team in 2022. At the Italian Grand Prix , to celebrate their 70th anniversary,

7854-423: The last podium place. He was overtaken by Verstappen on the last lap. As Verstappen received a five-second post-race penalty for exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage, it brought Vettel back to fourth place and allowed Ferrari their first double-podium finish since Hungary. Furthermore, Ferrari lost out in the Constructors' Championship after Mercedes scored their fourth consecutive crown. One week later at

7973-562: The lead to win the Bahrain Grand Prix for the third time, with Räikkönen finishing fourth. It was Vettel's second win in first three races in the season. Ferrari would earn their first front-row lockout of the season in Russia with Vettel taking pole position. However Bottas was able to overtake both Vettel and Räikkönen at the start and maintained the lead throughout the race. Vettel initially struggled to match Bottas' pace but in

8092-451: The logo was featured on the engine cover. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed greater than 90% of the race distance. Formula One car A Formula One car or F1 car is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind

8211-411: The many reasons that Mercedes dominated the season early was due to the placement of the turbocharger's compressor at one side of the engine and the turbine at the other; both were then linked by a shaft travelling through the vee of the engine. The benefit was that air was not traveling through as much pipework, in turn reducing turbo lag and increasing the efficiency of the car. In addition, it meant that

8330-425: The maximum amount of downforce for the minimal amount of drag. The primary wings mounted on the front and rear are fitted with different profiles depending on the downforce requirements of a particular track. Tight, slow circuits like Monaco require very aggressive wing profiles – cars run two separate 'blades' of 'elements' on the rear wings (two is the maximum permitted). In contrast, high-speed circuits like Monza see

8449-415: The middle of the car to prevent the cars from running low enough to contact the track surface; this skid block is measured before and after a race. Should the plank be less than 9 mm thick after the race, the car is disqualified. The 2022 rule change allowed for teams to utilise venturi tunnels to create much more ground effect than previous seasons allowed. This change, along with a vast simplification of

8568-466: The most interesting change, however, was the introduction of 'moveable aerodynamics', with the driver able to make limited adjustments to the front wing from the cockpit during a race. The new DRS (Drag Reduction System) rear wing system, introduced in 2011 usurped the former system. This too allows drivers to make adjustments, but the system's availability is electronically governed – originally it could be used at any time in practice and qualifying (unless

8687-589: The nose is raised above the centre of the front aerofoil, allowing its entire width to provide downforce. The front and rear wings are highly sculpted and extremely fine 'tuned', along with the rest of the body such as the turning vanes beneath the nose, bargeboards , sidepods, underbody, and the rear diffuser . They also feature aerodynamic appendages that direct the airflow. Such an extreme level of aerodynamic development means that an F1 car produces much more downforce than any other open-wheel formula; Indycars, for example, produce downforce equal to their weight (that is,

8806-460: The outsides subsequently creating greater downforce. Tests were held on the Red Bull front wing and the FIA could find no way that the wing was breaking any regulation. Since the start of the 2011 season, cars have been allowed to run with an adjustable rear wing, more commonly known as DRS (drag reduction system), a system to combat the problem of turbulent air when overtaking. On the straights of

8925-442: The over body aerodynamics, was done with the intention of creating closer racing by reducing the vortices created by the complex wings. A substantial amount of downforce is provided by using a rear diffuser which rises from the undertray at the rear axle to the actual rear of the bodywork. F1 regulations heavily limited the use of ground effect until the 2022 rule change, which are a highly efficient means of creating downforce with

9044-409: The period when teams were limited to a specific volume of fuel during a race, exotic high-density fuel blends were used which were actually more dense than water, since the energy content of a fuel depends on its mass density. To make sure that the teams and fuel suppliers are not violating the fuel regulations, the FIA requires Elf, Shell, Mobil, Petronas, and the other fuel teams to submit a sample of

9163-500: The period; however, development had led to these engines producing between 730 and 750 kW (980 and 1,000 hp), and the cars reaching top speeds of 375 km/h (233 mph) (Jacques Villeneuve with Sauber-Ferrari) on the Monza circuit. Teams started to use exotic alloys in the late 1990s, leading to the FIA banning the use of exotic materials in engine construction, with only aluminium, titanium and iron alloys being allowed for

9282-513: The pistons, cylinders, connecting rods and crankshafts. The FIA has continually enforced material and design restrictions to limit power. Even with the restrictions, the V10s in the 2005 season were reputed to develop 730 kW (980 hp), power levels not seen since before the ban on turbo-charged engines in 1989. The lesser funded teams (the former Minardi team spent less than 50 million, while Ferrari spent hundreds of millions of euros

9401-403: The pits and he was relegated to 5th. Vettel eventually managed to climb back up into 2nd and maintain his position till the end. Räikkönen meanwhile struggled with understeer throughout the whole weekend. At the start of the race, he was overtaken by Ricciardo into the first corner. Unlike his teammate, Räikkönen could not find a way past the two Red Bull cars and finished in fifth. Hamilton winning

9520-678: The podium and saw Vettel fall down to 7th and they finished in those positions. This allowed Hamilton, who won the fourth British Grand Prix in succession, to reduce the championship deficit to Vettel to just 1 point and allowed Mercedes to open up a gap of 55 points in the Constructors' Championship at the halfway point of the season. After an appalling weekend in Silverstone, Ferrari looked to be struggling during Friday practice in Hungary ; however both cars looked dominant on Saturday with Vettel scoring pole position from Räikkönen and being half

9639-479: The race both drivers couldn't go the pace from the Mercedes' drivers and even came under pressure from Red Bull. Vettel managed damage limitation by grabbing the final podium spot, giving the tifosi a reason to cheer. Räikkönen finished fifth, behind Ricciardo. At the end of the European rounds Vettel lost his lead in the Drivers' Championship. Going into the overseas races he was 3 points behind Hamilton while Ferrari

9758-501: The race meant that he and Vettel were tied in points after two races. Mercedes also managed to outscore Ferrari which put them 1 point ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship before the Bahrain Grand Prix . At the Bahrain Grand Prix , Vettel qualified third, 4 tenths of a second down on pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas . Räikkönen qualified fifth, behind Ricciardo. At the start, Vettel passed Hamilton for second and

9877-585: The race, Vettel led Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship by seven points, with Bottas third; they remained in the same order after the race. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari was in the lead ahead of Mercedes before the race, with Red Bull Racing third; Mercedes was ahead of Ferrari after the race. Sergey Sirotkin made his first appearance of the season with Renault , driving in place of Nico Hülkenberg in

9996-470: The rear of the Italian Grand Prix after the octane number of the mixture was found to be too high. The 2009 season saw the re-introduction of slick tyres replacing the grooved tyres used from 1998 to 2008 . Tyres can be no wider than 405 mm (15.9 in) at the rear, front tyre width expanded from 245 mm to 305 mm for the 2017 season. Unlike the fuel, the tyres bear only

10115-576: The reception of the DRS system has differed among drivers, fans, and specialists. Early designs linked wings directly to the suspension, but several accidents led to rules stating that wings must be fixed rigidly to the chassis. The cars' aerodynamics are designed to provide maximum downforce with a minimum of drag ; every part of the bodywork is designed with this aim in mind. Like most open-wheel cars they feature large front and rear aerofoils , but they are far more developed than American open-wheel racers, which depend more on suspension tuning; for instance,

10234-421: The region of 2 – 3 ms . In order to keep costs low in Formula One, gearboxes must last five consecutive events, and since 2015, gearbox ratios will be fixed for each season (for 2014 they could be changed only once). Changing a gearbox before the allowed time will cause a penalty of five places drop on the starting grid for the first event that the new gearbox is used. Aerodynamics has become key to success in

10353-410: The rest of the power unit. Alonso's McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne had already been given a 15-place grid penalty, having exceeded the limit of four exchanges of power unit per driver and car throughout the season stipulated by the 2017 regulations . With Alonso's car already being at least partially on its fourth power unit of the season on only race 4 out of 20, in the light of the charge failure,

10472-568: The rules prohibiting ground effects . The F1 cars for the 2009 season came under much questioning due to the design of the rear diffusers of the Williams, Toyota and the Brawn GP cars raced by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, dubbed double diffusers . Appeals from many of the teams were heard by the FIA, which met in Paris, before the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix , and the use of such diffusers

10591-405: The same principle as aircraft wings but are configured to cause a downward force rather than an upward one. A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 6 Gs of lateral cornering force due to aerodynamic downforce. The aerodynamic downforce allowing this is typically greater than the weight of the car. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds, they could drive on the upside-down surface of

10710-603: The same regulation as the 2006 season. However, for the 2009 season, drivers were allowed to use a maximum of 8 engines per head over the season, meaning that a couple of engines had to last three race weekends. This method of limiting engine costs also increased the importance of tactics, since the teams had to choose in which races to employ a new or an already-used engine. As of the 2014 season, all F1 cars have been equipped with turbocharged 1.6 L V6 engines. Turbochargers had previously been banned since 1989. This change may give an improvement of up to 29% fuel efficiency. One of

10829-631: The season ahead of the two Mercedes drivers, giving Ferrari its first win since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix . Räikkönen finished in 4th after fending off a late charge from Verstappen. This result also marked the first race weekend after which a Mercedes-powered team was not leading the Constructors' Championship since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix . In China Vettel and Räikkönen qualified in same positions as in Australia, i.e., in 2nd and 4th respectively. The race started in semi-dry conditions. Everyone, except Toro Rosso 's Carlos Sainz Jr. started on

10948-426: The second half of the race, he was able to close the gap to Bottas, who was on an older set of tyres than Vettel. During the last lap, Vettel managed to get within a second of Bottas but it was too little too late as Bottas claimed his first win of his career. Räikkönen secured his first podium finish of the season by finishing in third and also had the fastest lap of the race. With 20% of the season completed, Vettel led

11067-442: The second row of the grid behind the two Mercedes. A race which saw many crashes and incidents, was also a centre of controversy for Vettel who, under the safety car, steered his car into Hamilton's in frustration as he claimed that Hamilton had brake checked him just before the restart which caused damage to his front wing. He was awarded a 10-second stop-go penalty for that move. He finished in fourth, ahead of Hamilton who had to make

11186-734: The space of just three races while Mercedes managed to extend their lead to 145 points in the WCC. Ferrari had a complicated Friday at the United States Grand Prix . The team elected to change Vettel's chassis after the German experienced problems in Friday's second practice session in Austin which limited his running to only 11 laps. During qualifying Vettel grabbed second place with a great last attempt in Q3, 2 tenths behind Hamilton. Räikkönen

11305-431: The sport, and teams spend tens of millions of dollars on research and development in the field each year. The aerodynamic designer has two primary concerns: the creation of downforce, to help push the car's tyres onto the track and improve cornering forces, and minimising drag caused by turbulence that slows the car. Several teams started to experiment with the now familiar wings in the late 1960s. Racecar wings operate on

11424-584: The start after being pushed off his front-row slot and into the pits after experiencing power loss on his way to the grid. Vettel stormed back through the field and narrowly missed out on the podium, unable to pass Ricciardo for third. During the weekend of the Japanese Grand Prix , trouble hit Ferrari yet again. After losing control in the Degner's curve in FP3, Räikkönen damaged his gearbox, earning him

11543-458: The start of the race, Vettel dropped behind Verstappen and was relegated to 4th but he regained his position by undercutting the Red Bull in the pits. On lap 49, running in 2nd place, Räikkönen's front left tyre lost pressure and he had to pit 2 laps from the end which saw him fall to 4th behind Vettel. On the next lap Vettel suffered with the same issue as his teammate which forced him to pit with 1 lap to go while in 3rd. This re-promoted Räikkönen to

11662-587: The steering wheel. The last F1 car fitted with a conventional manual gearbox , the Forti FG01 , raced in 1995 . A modern F1 clutch is a multi-plate carbon design with a diameter of less than 100 mm (3.9 in), weighing less than 1 kg (2.2 lb) and handling around 540 kW (720 hp). As of the 2009 race season, all teams are using seamless-shift transmissions , which allow almost instantaneous changing of gears with minimum loss of drive. Shift times for modern Formula One cars are in

11781-534: The team to fine-tune the weight distribution of the car to suit individual circuits. The 2006 Formula One season saw the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) introduce a then-new engine formula, which mandated cars to be powered by 2.4 L naturally aspirated engines in the V8 engine configuration, with no more than four valves per cylinder. Further technical restrictions, such as

11900-539: The two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon , who were engaged in an inter-team battle which possibly cost them a chance for a podium finish, and finished in fourth; Räikkonen meanwhile was running in sixth but had a brake issue which forced him to limp home in seventh. This allowed Mercedes to retake the lead in the Constructors' Championship by 8 points. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix , Räikkönen managed to out-qualify Vettel as they lined up on

12019-507: The tyre surface conforms to the road surface as closely as possible). Since the start of the 2007 season, F1 has had a sole tyre supplier. From 2007 to 2010, this was Bridgestone, but 2011 saw the reintroduction of Pirelli into the sport, following the departure of Bridgestone. Seven compounds of F1 tyre exist; 5 are dry weather compounds (labeled C1 through C5) while 2 are wet compounds (intermediates for damp surfaces with no standing water and full wets for surfaces with standing water). Three of

12138-405: The vast amounts of heat produced by the engine and brakes. In recent years, most Formula One teams have tried to emulate Ferrari's 'narrow waist' design, where the rear of the car is made as narrow and low as possible. This reduces drag and maximises the amount of air available to the rear wing. The 'barge boards' fitted to the sides of cars have also helped to shape the flow of the air and minimise

12257-407: The vertical end-plates fitted to wings to prevent vortices forming to the diffuser plates mounted low at the back, which helps to re-equalise pressure of the faster-flowing air that has passed under the car and would otherwise create a low-pressure 'balloon' dragging at the back. Despite this, designers can't make their cars too 'slippery', as a good supply of airflow has to be ensured to help dissipate

12376-404: The wing, thus reducing drag and allowing higher top speeds. However, this also reduces downforce so it is normally used on long straight track sections or sections which do not require high downforce. The system was introduced to promote more overtaking, and is often the reason for overtaking on straights or at the end of straights where overtaking is encouraged in the following corner(s). However,

12495-578: Was 62 points behind Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship. Ferrari managed to edge out the competition from Red Bull in qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix . With a breathtaking lap Vettel grabbed pole position, beating Verstappen by over 3 tenths of a second. Räikkönen qualified fourth, behind Ricciardo but in front of Hamilton and Bottas. During the first ever wet-dry night race Vettel tried to chop Verstappen off in order to maintain his lead. He didn't see his Finnish teammate - who had

12614-615: Was a close battle but he wasn't able to pass him. Räikkönen was fourth in the second Ferrari after a recovery drive. The Finn had been given a 10-second stop-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags when the luckless Max Verstappen retired. Ferrari was off pace at their home Grand Prix in Italy . In a wet weather qualifying session Vettel and Räikkönen only managed to qualify in P7 and P8, 2.5 seconds off Hamilton's pole time. Due to engine penalties from both Red Bulls, they were promoted to P5 and P6. During

12733-406: Was able to continue. Meanwhile, Vettel had stretched the gap to 2.2 seconds over Hamilton by the end of lap 1; the gap stayed around that margin till lap 14, when Vettel pitted from the lead for soft tyres, to cover off the undercut threat from Hamilton. He made easy work of passing Daniel Ricciardo but lost around 4 seconds trying to pass Bottas. Hamilton stayed out till lap 21 and then changed onto

12852-409: Was aborted by the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting , and the cars were sent on an additional formation lap. The race was accordingly shortened by a lap. Valtteri Bottas attained his maiden victory after taking first place at the start, passing both Ferraris before turn 2 – aided by starting from the clean side of the grid, and picking up the slipstream behind Vettel. Hamilton attempted the same, but

12971-428: Was declared as legal. Brawn GP boss Ross Brawn claimed the double diffuser design as "an innovative approach of an existing idea". These were subsequently banned for the 2011 season. Another controversy of the 2010 and 2011 seasons was the front wing of the Red Bull cars. Several teams protested claiming the wing was breaking regulations. Footage from high-speed sections of circuits showed the Red Bull front wing bending on

13090-519: Was due to a steering wheel issues which occurred before the race began (media suspecting it was due to the quick hydraulic fix Ferrari did) which meant that Vettel was holding up Räikkönen but was allowing the Mercedes to close in on the Ferraris. Despite this, Vettel won the race from Räikkönen and was 12.462 seconds ahead of Bottas in 3rd place. As a result of this, Ferrari were 2nd in the Constructors' Championship, 39 points behind Mercedes, while Vettel

13209-823: Was implemented so that casual fans could better understand the tyre system. Generally, the three dry compounds brought to the track are of consecutive specifications. Disc brakes consist of a rotor and caliper at each wheel. Carbon composite rotors (introduced by the Brabham team in 1976 ) are used instead of steel or cast iron because of their superior frictional, thermal, and anti-warping properties, as well as significant weight savings. These brakes are designed and manufactured to work in extreme temperatures, up to 1,000 degrees Celsius (1800 °F). The driver can control brake force distribution fore and aft to compensate for changes in track conditions or fuel load. Regulations specify this control must be mechanical, not electronic, thus it

13328-531: Was leading the Drivers' Championship by 14 points ahead of Hamilton going into the summer break with Bottas 33 points behind in 3rd and Räikkönen in 5th place 86 points behind Vettel. Ferrari proved to be very competitive at the Belgian Grand Prix , considering that Spa was considered to be a track which suited Mercedes. Vettel qualified second while Räikkönen got P4. On Sunday Vettel had the better race pace and put Hamilton constantly under pressure. It

13447-542: Was named "SF70H", marking Ferrari's 70th anniversary as a manufacturer. The chassis was designed by Mattia Binotto , Simone Resta , Enrico Cardile , David Sanchez and Rory Byrne with Corrado Iotti leading the powertrain design. The SF70H features a shark fin for the first time since the F10 in 2010 and the nose cone inlets since the F2008 in 2008. The car proved to be fast in pre-season testing, and it carried its form into

13566-447: Was normally around 75 L/100 km (3.8 mpg ‑imp ; 3.1 mpg ‑US ). All cars have the engine located between the driver and the rear axle. The engines are a stressed member in most cars, meaning that the engine is part of the structural support framework, being bolted to the cockpit at the front end, and transmission and rear suspension at the back end. In the 2004 championship, engines were required to last

13685-405: Was not enough to keep his title hopes alive as Hamilton finished in ninth, securing his fourth Drivers' crown. Räikkönen got away poorly at the start, losing several positions but also made a recovery to third place. The last two races were at Interlagos and Yas Marina. In Brazil , Vettel won the race after overtaking Bottas at the start, while Räikkönen finished 3rd. In Abu Dhabi , the German got

13804-434: Was pushing Bottas who struggled with pace and rear tyres. Vettel pitted for supersoft tyres when the safety car came out. Vettel came out in first place and started making advantage on softer tyres. Vettel pitted again and returned on soft tyres, while Hamilton took the lead on older tyres, with Bottas moving into second place. Hamilton pitted for new tyres and started chasing Vettel. He easily passed Bottas but Vettel maintained

13923-563: Was squeezed on both sides by the Ferrari of Räikkönen, now running 3rd – and Ricciardo of Red Bull, challenging for 4th from 5th. This caused him to be held up and hemmed into his starting grid position, where he would stay for the remainder of the race. Vettel meanwhile pulled away from tight racing of the main straight, and pursued Bottas. Vettel briefly led the race when Bottas went into the pits following his one-stop strategy, but then lost his position again after his own pit stop. He again spent

14042-437: Was unlucky: he scored exactly the same time as Ricciardo but he had to start from fifth because the Red Bull set the time first. Vettel passed Hamilton with a perfect start on Sunday but he couldn't pull a gap. Hamilton passed him on lap 6 and Vettel could not match his pace. He tried an alternative strategy with 2 pit stops but he had to settle for second place. Räikkönen had a great race and managed to overtake Bottas on track for

14161-407: Was withdrawn after a single race. Rule changes then followed to limit the benefits of 'ground effects' – firstly a ban on the skirts used to contain the low-pressure area, later a requirement for a 'stepped floor'. Despite the full-sized wind tunnels and vast computing power used by the aerodynamic departments of most teams, the fundamental principles of Formula One aerodynamics still apply: to create

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