With the current regulations (blue ribbon in Figure 3) the optimal racing line requires late braking down to a low speed, followed by a sharp turn in. However, with front-axle KERS (orange ribbon), the driving style is much smoother:

The ideal braking point is 10m earlier which allows the car to turn in early.

At mid corner the driver can start to feather the throttle which allows the front-axle torque vectoring to help maintain a tighter racing line.

On exit the driver can accelerate harder while maintaining a tighter line.

Why should we care about this difference in optimal driving style? In a race situation if cars are already braking as late as they possibly can, then it is difficult to out-brake competitors without going wide at the apex and losing out on exit. However, if the optimal braking point is 10m earlier then the lead car is faced with a dilemma; a) should they stick to the optimal line, or b) brake late (as per 2018 line) to defend their position?

We know that the 2021 car can brake as late as the 2018 car and still make the corner, so whichever option the lead car takes might present the following car with a competitive advantage. If the lead car picks a) and drives for minimum laptime, the following car could brake 10m later in an attempt to overtake and use the torque vectoring to help stay ahead on exit. Alternatively if the lead car picks b) and drives defensively, the following car could stick to the optimal 2021 racing line and get a laptime advantage thus slowly closing the gap and waiting for an overtaking opportunity.

There are also fuel savings to be gained from front-axle KERS. Over a race distance we would expect a saving of around 1.5kg in fuel by recovering additional kinetic energy during the brake zones, and providing better acceleration. If the cars are quicker they spend less time on the straights hence use less fuel. This gives another boost for teams with less efficient engines or aerodynamics as it will reduce the amount of fuel saving necessary and help close the gap to the best teams.

In summary, we found that front-axle KERS could make the cars go 2.2sec per lap quicker, while helping them to follow closely in dirty air. The new optimal racing line could open up opportunities for overtaking, plus there are fuel saving benefits which may help to improve competition by benefiting teams with less efficient cars. If you would like to learn more about 4WD and torque vectoring then the following article might be of interest: Front, Rear or All Wheel Drive at the Nürburgring Nordschleife?

By this point you can probably tell that we’re biased towards adding more exciting and road relevant technology to F1 cars which we can prove out in simulation. Over the coming weeks we are building an overtaking simulation which will be able to answer questions like this more objectively! If you have a great idea about how the F1 regulations should be changed then let us know and we’ll try to find out who it would help and how? Send us a message at hello@canopysimulations.com.