Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix will not be billed as one of Formula 1’s all-time classics as low tyre degradation largely left the field in its qualifying order by the chequered flag. The lack of passing opportunities during the race was also of significant note.
It has never been particularly easy to pass at Suzuka; in modern times, the nature of Turn 1 makes DRS generally ineffective, and the few straightline sections transitioning into hard stops means it is very difficult to slipstream a driver in front.
The other factor at play is the increasing dirty-air problem. F1’s current generation of cars was designed to make passing opportunities easier, as the reduced reliance on ‘overbody’ aerodynamics was supposed to a) ensure that cars lost less downforce when in turbulence, and b) produce less turbulence through the prescriptive approach to the aerodynamic design.
In previous generations, turbulent air produced by the ever-increasing desire to create outwashing air with the front wing, and from the increasing quantity of vortex-generating aero devices, made it difficult for cars to follow. F1 cars are generally designed to work in ‘clean’, laminar air; furthermore, turbulence is incredibly hard to model given its randomness.
At the time of the new regulations’ introduction, it was estimated in F1’s research that a 2021-spec car could lose up to 47% downforce when around 10 metres behind, and around 35% at 20m. With the now outgoing rules, it stated that its models showed an 18% downforce reduction at the 10m mark, and 4% at 20m.
Reduced downforce while following also causes the chasing car to slide more, putting more energy through the tyres and resulting in higher degradation. It was hoped that the new rules could minimise this effect and allow cars to race closer.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
But Suzuka exposed how this has regressed, as it was apparent that closing to within a second of the car in front was incredibly difficult. Again, the low tyre wear contributed to this factor as drivers were generally able to push for the whole race, but that cars with clearly different performance characteristics remained separated by over a second showed that it was difficult to catch up.
As the current ruleset has matured, F1 teams have found loopholes to expand on the performance of their cars at the penalty of following F1’s intentions. Note the front wings, for example; although strictly governed to ensure the wing elements transition directly into the endplate, teams have found methods of exposing edges and tips to push more airflow away from the front tyres to glean further performance.
The edges of the floors have become much more complex, and the rear wings also now come with exposed wing tips on the upper element; the regulations intended to merge the top flap into the rear wing endplates but, again, teams have sidestepped this to increase the power of the wings.
Each of these innovations over the past couple of seasons have generally contributed to greater levels of turbulent wake, making it incrementally more difficult to follow other cars.
“Ultimately we keep adding aerodynamic downforce, which means that the losses are even bigger,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained.
“So I think the dirty air is a problem – we have seen this even in China; if you see [Lewis] Hamilton when he was in the lead of the sprint, he could do pretty much whatever he wanted, even if the tyre was damaged.
Andrea Stella, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“Possibly this is one of the reasons why the 2026 regulations may introduce some reset from this point of view, because I think even if this generation of cars was conceived to actually improve following – that was what we were talking about in 2022 – there’s been so much aerodynamic development now.
“Again, [the cars] have become so much of an aerodynamic machine that as soon as you follow, you lose the performance.”
That’s not the fault of the teams, as their target is to build the fastest car – not satisfy an overtaking metric intended by the rules. But it’s not going to get any better through the year as development continues.
The inclusion of active aerodynamics may potentially help the situation next year, as could the implementation of the power unit override to give the drivers more power at their fingertips.
But, even with the close field that currently defines 2025, certain circuits are going to make passing very difficult – so expect to be hearing more about dirty air until the end of the season.
In this article
Jake Boxall-Legge
Formula 1
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