Formula 1

F1 2023 cars latest trend – Carbon with stickers

Published

1 month ago

16/02/2023

Sebastien Paolinetti F1 Author

The latest trend in F1 car design is incorporating a sticker design on the cars’ carbon-based body.

For quite some time, F1 teams have recognized the advantages of leaving certain parts of their vehicles unpainted.

By doing so, they make it more challenging for their competitors to scrutinize the aerodynamic surfaces’ geometries, especially with darker hues.

However, in recent years, teams have had an additional motive to include exposed carbon fiber in their liveries, and that is to reduce weight.

With less paint on the car, the overall weight of the vehicle is lowered, providing a potential performance advantage on the track.

Upon their arrival on the grid in 2021, Aston Martin started to search for a lighter paint to use for their British Racing Green shade.

This was driven in part by the upcoming technical regulations for the following season, which raised the minimum weight limit to 798kg.

As a result, the team aimed to reduce weight wherever possible in order to improve the performance of their car.

As the last season progressed, numerous teams, including Aston Martin, made efforts to decrease the painted surfaces on their cars to shave off a few more grams. However, the technical director of Aston Martin,

Dan Fallows, acknowledged that alterations in the weight of components they do not produce, such as Pirelli’s tires, presented a challenge that they had not fully anticipated.

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Fallows admitted that “the weight limit was a bit of a moving target” during the season. He further stated, “There was a rise in the weight of the tires, which was something we didn’t expect and had to react to.” This unexpected increase in tire weight added to the challenge of reducing the weight of the car to meet the new regulations.

Fallows explained that they had to find ways to incorporate the added weight of the tires into the regulations to meet the weight limit.

He acknowledged that it was indeed a significant challenge to get the cars down to the specified weight limit.

However, he also stated that they were exploring different strategies and techniques to achieve this objective, such as using lighter materials and reducing the painted surfaces on the car, as every gram saved could make a difference in the car’s overall performance.

Fallows emphasized that the team had put in a lot of effort to ensure that they had the flexibility to make the necessary adjustments to the car to achieve the desired weight and performance.

He stated that it had been a major priority for them to have the freedom to experiment with different designs and modifications to the car, and they had worked tirelessly to achieve this goal.

Fallows expressed that Aston Martin had made significant strides in reducing the weight of their car during the 2022 season. He remarked that the AMR22 car was in much better condition by the end of the season than it was at the beginning.

He further added that the team was in a strong position for the upcoming season, AMR23, owing to the progress they had made in reducing the weight of their car and improving its overall performance.

Despite their progress in weight reduction, Aston Martin’s new AMR23 car features a similar livery to the previous year. The car’s front and rear wings are still painted black, a design choice that is also evident on the new cars of other teams, such as Williams, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, and Ferrari.

As a result, fans may be concerned that the grid will be dominated by dark liveries. However, it’s important to note that teams frequently make changes to their liveries throughout the season, so there’s still a chance for some variety on the grid. Additionally, the rules and regulations for liveries are subject to change, so it’s possible that future guidelines could encourage more diversity in car designs.

While some teams have continued to incorporate black paintwork in their liveries, other teams have made changes to add more color to their designs. For example, McLaren unveiled their new MCL60 car on Monday with a noticeable splash of orange on the rear wing, even though they had reduced the paintwork on their car in the previous season. This addition of color to the livery could signify a new trend among teams to differentiate their cars and add more visual interest to the grid.

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McLaren’s Team Principal, Andrea Stella, revealed that they have succeeded in making their chassis lighter, which has allowed them to incorporate a little more paint into the livery without exceeding the weight limit.

This weight reduction has given them more flexibility in the design of the car and allowed them to add more color to the livery, as seen in the orange rear wing on the MCL60. The team’s ability to strike a balance between reducing weight and adding visual interest to their car could potentially inspire other teams to do the same.

Stella expressed his confidence in McLaren’s engineering team, stating that they had done an excellent job in reducing the weight of several areas of the car. As a result, the team had more room to add orange and vinyl stickers to the livery without exceeding the weight limit.

He further added that the weight reduction had given the team more flexibility in the design of the car, allowing them to strike a balance between reducing weight and adding more visual elements to the livery.

Stella anticipates that other teams will also make significant strides in weight reduction and that the topic of car weight will become less of a concern as teams adjust to the new regulations. He expects that all teams will have focused on slimming down their cars to gain a competitive advantage.

As a result, weight reduction will become a common area of focus among teams, and it is likely that the weight differences between cars on the grid will become less pronounced in the future.

While there is a trend towards reducing the painted surfaces on the cars to meet the weight regulations, it is true that there may have been tensions between engineering and marketing departments in some teams.

There is often a conflict between the desire for a visually striking livery that represents the team’s brand and the need to keep the car as light as possible. Nonetheless, some teams have found ways to strike a balance between the two, such as McLaren’s use of vinyl stickers and the orange rear wing on their new car.

As the season progresses, it will become clearer how different teams have approached the weight reduction challenge and whether they have been able to find innovative solutions for their liveries.

Indeed, the coming season will reveal whether Stella’s prediction is accurate or not. It remains to be seen whether teams will continue to reduce their painted surfaces to meet the weight regulations or whether they will take inspiration from McLaren’s approach and add more color to their designs.

The choices teams make with regards to their liveries will have implications for their performance on the track, as every gram counts in F1 racing. As such, it will be interesting to see whether any team manages to find a novel solution that strikes a balance between a visually appealing livery and a lightweight car.

F1 2023 cars Carbon F1 2023 cars Carbon F1 2023 cars Carbon F1 2023 cars Carbon

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