The Ferrari F1-75 "Goldfish Bowls"

Sidepods and aerodynamics

The Ferrari Goldfish Bowls

The 2022 season has brought some of the most interesting innovations regarding sidepods. One of the most intriguing of those are the “goldfish bowl” sidepods of the Ferrari F1-75. As you can see below, there are deep crevices on either side of the driver cockpit.

Charles Leclerc getting into his F1-75

What are sidepods?

Sidepods are the bulge on the chassis of the car. The main use of sidepods is for cooling and the radiators are located on either sidepod. Air moves into the radiator and then the hot air gets pushed out to maximize cooling. Sidepods are also used for safety: side impact structures (also knowns as SIS’s) are made of carbon fiber and located by the drivers elbow and near the floor of the car on either sidepod. This helps to make sure the basic structure doesn’t crumple if the car flips or rolls on the track. Electronics are also put in the sidepods—while many of the electronics are located in the front of the car, technology like lap time triggers are positioned on the sidepods.

Ferrari’s sidepods

Ferrari’s sidepods are different from the sidepods on other cars in many ways. Most noticeable are the goldfish bowls also known as the bathtubs of the car. This concave shape helps direct the hot air blown from the radiators to the rear of the car, allowing for streamlined air flow which is key to a fast car.

Aside from the inconsistent performance of the F1-75, it has been one of the fastest cars on the grid this year. And this is not the only innovation on the sidepods that Ferrari has come up with to help with aerodynamics. The F1-75 also has a very low drag set-up and this is because it has good balance between front and rear downforce. Ferrari has done this by creating a smaller front undercut which means there is more front downforce; then, there is a second undercut that balances out the front downforce by directing air towards the rear.

The F1-75 is still slightly front biased, but it is overall a very balanced car.

Comparison with the Red Bull RB18

You can see the quirks of the F1-75 when compared to the more traditional approach of the RB18.

The RB18’s undercut is much larger and it has a smaller inlet (used for air intake) as well. It also lacks the defining bathtub feature of the F1-75. These differences may account for the fact that Red Bull is normally faster on straights and high speed corners, while the Ferrari excels at low and medium speed corners.

Competing teams have come up with other approaches such as the Mercedes W13’s almost non-existent sidepods but the goldfish bowls have been one of the most interesting features of the 2022 cars.

Sources

1. https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-radical-f1-design-new/8262555/

2. The Innovative F1 2022 Sidepods Explained! | F1 TV Tech Talk | Crypto.com

3. https://www.funoanalisitecnica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Lec-scaled.jpg