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One of the 10 Formula 1 teams, currently unknown which one, is gathering suspicion from other teams for illegally interfering with its car between qualifying tests and the race – by changing the ground clearance setting. The FIA was forced to intervene by changing the mode of policing to park-and-ride for the time being.
Interference with the cars – and even more so the change of a parameter as important as the height from the ground – is prohibited when they are in park-fix status, i.e. from the end of the qualifying tests on Saturday until the start of the race on Sunday.
Especially in the cars from 2022, which brought ground effect back to the fore (the production of the largest percentage of the lift from the floor), the height from the ground is extremely critical, and can offer very large aerodynamic benefits.
As revealed by the English magazine Autosport, in recent weeks the FIA has been in constant contact with some Formula 1 teams to discuss suspicions that one of the teams is changing the height from the ground of the so-called T-tray between qualifying and the race.
The T-tray, also called a splitter, is essentially the front end of the floor. A horizontal fin located at the bottom of the keel, below the driver’s cockpit and from the nose of the car.
The T-Tray is the forward end of the floor, under the nose of the car
MCLAREN MEDIA CENTRE
The T-tray’s primary role is to support the wooden section of the floor, which the FIA uses to determine (based on its wear) whether and to what extent a car is “rubbing” its underbelly on the tarmac.
Over the years, the T-tray has been aerodynamically exploited by designers to provide lift and airflow management benefits under the floor and to its sides.
When ground effect returned in 2022, therefore, the T-tray became even more important, given the criticality of directing air to the multiple channels on the bottom of the floor.
More specifically, designers exploit the T-tray primarily to produce vortices that accelerate the flow of air entering the floor channels. The more this flow is accelerated, the more the pressure under the floor is reduced and the more the lift produced by the diffuser at the rear edge of the floor is enhanced.
At the same time, by lowering the height of the T-Tray, a team can also lower the front wing’s height from the ground, thus making it more efficient – that is, increasing lift production from the wing and reducing any drag understeer of the vehicle.
By increasing the height of the T-Tray, on the other hand, the team can have other benefits. Like, for example, bringing the ground clearance to a more desirable level when the fuel tank is full (for the race), and the weight is heavy, or when required by a circuit that has rough spots that would cause friction of the hypogastrium on the asphalt.
Therefore, team engineers must constantly search for the perfect ground clearance compromise. And interfering with the height of the T-Tray can give them much more freedom of movement, in order to adjust the aerodynamics of their car closer to the specifics of each different racing season, or each different track.
However, when this is done in a park-and-ride situation, such as between qualifying tests and the race, it is illegal. The only aerodynamic interventions allowed in park-and-hold are adjustments to the front wing, but without changing its components.
And back to the present, and the Texas GP: the – currently unknown – team that has reportedly found a way to bypass the park-hold regime and change the height of the T-Tray, reportedly doesn’t do it externally with special tools – but with a simple spring controlled from the cockpit, as part of the standard preparation of the car on the starting line before the race.
Complaints by some teams over the issue prompted the FIA to take emergency action in Austin. At this time, the Federation is unable to prove, with concrete and incontrovertible evidence, that the team alleged to be infringing is actually doing so.
Thus, the FIA has announced that it will modify policing under the park-and-ride regime, with methods it has yet to specify. But it is certain that this issue will continue – especially if opposing teams continue to find that the illegality of changing the height of the T-Tray is still being practiced by this one team.
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