With the aerodynamic overhaul of this year’s cars, ground effect and Venturi channels are gone and so the downforce extracted from the floor will be considerably less. To counter this problem we will see the return of the car setup that dominated the mid 2010s and the 2020 and 2021 seasons: the rake.
What is it?
The definition of rake is the difference of distance from the ground between the front and the back of the floor. In the lateral view of the car we can see how it generates an angle of inclination between the two axles.
The purpose
Without a channeled underfloor, this system is used to suck air from underneath the car and push it out from the rear diffuser to generate some levels of downforce. Higher the rake, higher is the amount of downforce coming from the ground. A car that has a big difference between heights at the front and at the back of the floor creates a low pressure zone that accelerates the air that’s flowing under the chassis to extract performance.
Different philosophies
Before the 2022 regs, we saw a comparison between the various implementations of this setup. Red Bull were the team with the higher rake while Mercedes were the ones with the lower.
Rake is central in how a car is built given its implications on mass, weight distribution and general balance. So it must be the core of the project rather than an upgrade or a race weekend setup’s tweak.
The case of 2021
Low rake teams such as Mercedes and Racing Point (later Aston Martin) opted for this choice since 2017 and countered the lack of downforce from the diffuser with a longer wheelbase and with aero appendix on the side part of the floor. This worked beautifully for the Mercs until the end of 2020, when with the goal to reduce dirty air the FIA banned those slices on the floor cutting the levels of downforce. A decision like that played well in favour of the high rake teams like Red Bull which in 2021 has been able to be closer to Mercedes and ending Hamilton’s domination.
What to expect now
Aero works on the floor still very limited by the rules so it will be interesting to see if all the teams opted for a high rake philosophy or if someone came out with an alternative idea to build performance through floor’s aerodynamics.
