Alongside the much-vaunted return of the ground effect concept is the revival of wheel rim covers. F1 hopes these will help smooth out the turbulence ordinarily created by the wheel and tyre, and thus help reduce the overall wake generated by the lead car when another is chasing.
The rim covers used in 2022 will be a far cry from the complexity of what we’ve seen in the past though, as teams will have little influence in their design – in order that they don’t use them to damage the overall intent of their inclusion.
However, that won’t stop us taking a trip down memory lane to see how and why wheel rim covers have been deployed by teams in the past…
Ferrari 641 rims detail
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
As can be seen from Giorgio Piola’s illustration (above), the roots of the wheel rim cover can actually be traced much further back than you might expect. Ferrari experimented with them at Monza in 1990 to reduce drag at the ‘temple of speed’ during qualifying.
The…
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