2022 Car Launches and Pre-season Testing (March 10-12, Bahrain)

This looks pretty ugly, honestly. It gives off those silly Formula E car vibes.

So, what's the verdict on Aston?
Personally, I think they look great. That whole FIA concept looks hideous to me, and don't even get me started on that fake Red Bull vibe...

You guys have been dealing with nothing but rough patches for the last decade or so, so I guess this might actually be a decent change of pace for you. 😁

northerncobra31 said:This looks hideous—honestly, it gives off those goofy Formula E vibes.

It looked decent enough yesterday, but with that nose raised up, it’s looking even clunkier than last year's setup.

Total usisavac. But hey, we'll get used to it 😁

I honestly think this car would look much better if they went with a cleaner design. There’s just too much going on with all these colors right now.
I'm really not a fan of the blue.

It’s pretty wild how different Aston Martin and McLaren look out on track, even though they're both running Mercedes-Benz engines...

stormybadger8 said:It is quite interesting how much Aston Martin and McLaren differ, even though they both run Mercedes engines...

At first glance, Aston Martin seems to be taking a much more aggressive approach, judging by those early renders. I'm just sitting here wondering how insane the Red Bull, Mercedes-Benz, and Ferrari cars are going to look.

I get the feeling that McLaren is taking the more aggressive route here. They were already looking to trim those sidepods way before Aston Martin even considered it. Instead, AM seems stuck on their idea of routing the airflow underneath them.

I have no clue how much weight to give the Haas and Red Bull reveals (though I’m betting Red Bull won't actually end up with anything resembling what they just showed...), but based on what we've seen so far, the car concepts look wildly different from one another. The real question is just how long that gap lasts.
It probably won't take long before we figure out who actually nailed it and who completely missed the mark...

stormybadger8 said:I honestly have no clue how accurate the Haas and Red Bull reveals actually are (though I'd bet Red Bull won't have much in common with what they showed...) but based on what we've seen so far, it looks like we're looking at two drastically different cars and concepts. The real question is just how long that stays that way...
Because it’ll probably become obvious pretty quickly who got it right and who missed the mark...

Red Bull hasn't really shown anything new besides the livery; they're basically using that FOM base model that almost every team bought for the reveal, except for Haas and McLaren. Mercedes seems to have used it the most—maybe even eight times.

Looking at all these model shots, I've started to get the impression there are essentially two ways to design the sidepods:

1. The Aston Martin approach—maximizing the sidepod surface area to manage airflow as smoothly as possible. The goal is to keep the flow steady so it hits the diffuser edges and rear wing mounts perfectly, while simultaneously interacting with the fast-moving air passing through the Venturi tunnels under the car. It’s basically a "safe" concept designed to give the team a predictable, well-behaved car on track.

2. The Haas approach—which is basically just copying Lane's concept while staying within the rules. This one feels a bit more experimental and risky because instead of smooth airflow hugging the body, the air tends to dive sharply toward the floor once it clears the sidepod, hitting the rear of the car much faster. Aston Martin tries to mimic this by creating a sort of "fake" double floor, where air compresses and accelerates through the gap between the floor and the sidepods. The Haas style seems like an attempt to compensate for the gaps left by the ban on vertical deflectors.

Edit: Did I read the first page correctly? 😁


Style one and style two, for better or worse.

But check this out, a photo of the AlphaTauri leaked:



In this shot, you can see how AlphaTauri is trying to blend both the Haas and Aston Martin concepts. I expect Red Bull might try something similar.

Gregory Brown94 said:Looking at this, it seems like AlphaTauri is just mashing together bits of Haas and Aston Martin—which is pretty much what I'm expecting from Red Bull too.

The car starts off looking like an Aston Martin, but those raised sidepods are shorter. It looks like they designed it this way to fit a compact Honda engine. There might be room for gills like the Aston Martin has, but you can't see them—maybe they're just venting air out the back. We can already get a decent guess at how the Red Bull and Mercedes will handle their sidepod design and engine geometry. Everything else will probably look different—it wouldn't make sense if it were identical.

AlphaTauri really needs to find whoever leaked this.

wiredseal7 said:The car starts off looking like an Aston Martin, but that raised sidepod is shorter. This design probably accommodates a compact Honda engine. There might be room for air intakes like the Aston Martin has, but you can't see them—maybe they're channeling air to the rear instead. We can already start guessing at the Red Bull or Mercedes-style sidepods and engine geometry. Everything else will likely vary quite a bit; it shouldn't be identical.

AlphaTauri really needs to find whoever leaked this.

One thing is certain: teams using split turbocharger systems (like Mercedes-Benz and Honda) tend to have similar designs where we see two specific things:

1. An elongated chassis paired with an attempt at an ultra-slim engine cover.

2. Aggressive sidepods featuring an ultra-wide outlet for hot air exhaust to stabilize the rear end.

Haas showed what Ferrari is capable of; they had that sudden drop-off and those aggressive sidepods. What I don't get is what Aston Martin is aiming for. For instance, look at the 2012 Toro Rosso or the Ferrari 1992—they didn't exactly make a name for themselves with that "double floor" style sidepod concept. They seem to think it’ll actually work in this new era.

And then there's the 2009 Renault R29. Back when the regulations shifted drastically toward cleaner cars, the team from Enstone decided to be the only ones besides Force India attempting a fake wing by bulging out the sidepods. Naturally, it wasn't a success, and they reverted to a conventional design after just a few races.



In my opinion, the next major aero shift happened when they banned the "blown diffuser," where they used to feed hot exhaust gases into the diffuser like in the early 90s. During that 2012 period, we saw just about everything, including a return to that R29 concept where they tried to bulge the sidepods to create a sort of "free" extra wing during an era where wings were heavily restricted since 2008. But Toro Rosso went even further, deepening the sidepod to create a tunnel under the radiator.



In theory, you have everything that could give you an edge: faster fluid flow toward the diffuser, massive sidepods that direct air toward the rear, and ultimately, organized airflow that provides stability. But honestly, the concept just doesn't hold water when you compare it to, say, the one guy who actually knows what he's doing—the way Red Bull approached it back in 2009 when the regs moved from heavy cars to light ones. We saw a beautiful concept where the fluid was aggressively directed toward the diffuser.



The sidepod is literally cut diagonally from the opening down to the diffuser, but that brought a huge change and worked great for Red Bull. They later used that same idea to blow the diffuser, eventually dominating during the Koanda effect era, where fast-moving fluid was aggressively channeled along the upper edge of the diffuser via the exhaust, which sat right on the downward slope of the sidepod.

I think the Red Bull RB5 concept will be very relevant in 2022, much like how the Brawn GP BGP001 shared similarities with that RB5. Aston Martin is taking a gamble this year. Haas and McLaren, however, have delivered the real deal. Haas spent a year and a half designing their stuff, which isn't something to take lightly. AlphaTauri is trying to channel air toward the diffuser conventionally, but to me, it looks just like 2013 again, with that subtle concave shape:



Who did Sauber beat by using that aggressively slim sidepod?



So, the takeaway from my somewhat ridiculous deep dive is this: an aggressively sculpted sidepod that speeds up airflow toward the diffuser is going to outperform pretty much any other concept out there.

What am I actually expecting from Mercedes or even Red Bull? Honestly, just something similar to Haas, but maybe a little more polished and refined. For instance, just take a look at how the Mercedes sidepods looked ten years ago (:

Gregory Brown94 said:What should I expect from Mercedes-Benz or even Red Bull? Something akin to Haas, just more polished and sophisticated. Just look at how those Mercedes sidepods looked ten years ago! (:

Seriously, you should probably tone down that moving GIF in your avatar... it makes reading your posts nearly impossible because it’s such a massive distraction.

🤦🤦

To me, the way the Aston Martin looks on track is quite striking:


And there is one rather intriguing detail worth noting:


It seems they have sealed off certain inlets for some reason; could they perhaps be conducting airflow tests?

fadedwalker18 said:Seriously, just get rid of that moving GIF in your avatar... I can barely read your post... it's such a distraction...

🤦🤦

Sebastian Vettel isn't impressed 🙂

AlphaTauri just unveiled the AT03!











It looks like the Koanda effect is back ♥ But combined with those Aston Martin style bargeboards, it might actually be a perfected Koanda effect, which is pretty impressive.

It's a lie.

Purely from an aesthetic standpoint—AM and AT look way better than they did last season. I’m really not feeling the McLaren vibe, though; that light blue just clashes with everything, it looks off. But hey, if it ends up being fast, I guess I can live with it. 🤣