Tech specs?

[Captain Chaos]

Do all F1 cars have the exact same technical specifications? Or is that not mandatory?

[SGWilko]

They are given a set of technical regulations, which the designers have to conform to. More grey areas than a black and white TV set though.......

[Captain Chaos]

They are given a set of technical regulations, which the designers have to conform to. More grey areas than a black and white TV set though.......

But are they all the same in terms of performance? Do they have their own individual engines?

[Mark]

No they are most certainly not the same. There are several different engine manufacturers.

[Nem14]

F1 is a spec series. But, each team builds it's own cars o conform with those specs.

Each engine brand is the same size and has to conform to the same set of specifications.

Here you go, the Technical Regulations:
Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website (http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/technical_regulations/)

And here are the Sporting Regulations:
Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website (http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/)

[steveaki13]

Have I heard someone put it "They have a box to design a car in and as long as the car stays in the box its fine

That I suppose only refers to aero but it gives you an idea

[Jag_Warrior]

To make a rough comparison to other series, F1 mandates that each team *must* build its own chassis. And as has been stated, each chassis must conform to the current regulations and specifications. In NASCAR, teams can build their own chassis or they buy a chassis. In fact, they can buy/lease an entire car/engine package for a race weekend or season if they want to. In the IRL/Indy Car, teams may not buy a chassis from anyone other than Dallara. They can buy a used Dallara from another team, but it still must be a "stock"/spec Dallara - much like in GP2. And if they start out with a Brand X engine, they must stick with that maker for some defined period of time... a season, I'm thinking. In racing circles, when people speak of a "spec series", that's usually what they are referring to. All series have specs. But some have almost complete control over where almost all the parts come from - like with F1 and Pirelli tires. There are no major "formula libre" series running these days, that I'm aware of.

As far as engines, I assume that if a team had the resources and wanted to build its own engines, it could. Just as Ferrari and Mercedes do. I have no idea if F1 has minimum supply limits, in case other teams would like to lease engines though. You used to see various steps or versions of engines being leased... customer engines vs. factory engines. I believe that practice has now been banned.

[Mark]

Have I heard someone put it "They have a box to design a car in and as long as the car stays in the box its fine

That I suppose only refers to aero but it gives you an idea

Not really, that's a suggestion that people who want to see no regulations except dimensions of a box. In reality F1 is pretty tightly regulated.

[markabilly]

Not really, that's a suggestion that people who want to see no regulations except dimensions of a box. In reality F1 is pretty tightly regulated.
when he said "box" ,I think he meant the design parameters of the rules--like the rear diffusers being limited, the size and position of the rear wing, amount of fuel, the DRS, the other components, et, al. Hence the designer is "boxed" in by the regulations as to what he can do. However, ever so often, someone "thinks outside the box", and tries to gain an advantage while claiming it is inside the box--ie not banned by the regulations

[Mark]

when he said "box" ,I think he meant the design parameters of the rules--like the rear diffusers being limited, the size and position of the rear wing, amount of fuel, the DRS, the other components, et, al. Hence the designer is "boxed" in by the regulations as to what he can do. However, ever so often, someone "thinks outside the box", and tries to gain an advantage while claiming it is inside the box--ie not banned by the regulations

Yes, but there are also areas of the design which are indeed governed by boxes. e.g No aero features outside this boxed area defined by x y z.

[dj_bytedisaster]

As far as engines, I assume that if a team had the resources and wanted to build its own engines, it could. Just as Ferrari and Mercedes do. I have no idea if F1 has minimum supply limits, in case other teams would like to lease engines though. You used to see various steps or versions of engines being leased... customer engines vs. factory engines. I believe that practice has now been banned.

As far as I remember, there is a ruling that an engine manufacturer must be able to supply a certain number of teams (3 ??), but it isn't a must, that's why Cosworth supplies only one team - nobody else took them up on the offer. Same goes for Honda 2015. So far only one team will run Honda engines, but Honda could not refuse to sign up a second team on the grounds of wanting to be an exclusive partner to McLaren. They could however make their conditions (price) so unfavourable that no other team wants them - that's a different thing ;)
I don't think - technically speaking - that any team builds his own engine. In the case of Merc, they are built by Mercedes AMG High Perfomance Powertrains, which is a completely different company within the Daimler AG empire. Without knowing the structure at Ferrari, I would suppose it is the same for them. Considering they have an own company for running older F1 cars (Corse Clienti), I would suppose the engine department is also separated from the core team in hierarchy.

[AndyL]

So far only one team will run Honda engines, but Honda could not refuse to sign up a second team on the grounds of wanting to be an exclusive partner to McLaren. They could however make their conditions (price) so unfavourable that no other team wants them - that's a different thing ;)

I doubt they would do that though, I'm sure they'll be keen to sign up one or more customer teams if possible to spread their development cost.

[Mark]

Yes they have to be prepared to supply a number of teams if called upon to do so. Which isn't helpful really as it's a barrier to new entrants. Having said that, back in the day you'd often get engine manufacturers just supplying a single team, whereas now with most supplying several it's more of a level playing field.

[Jag_Warrior]

From most of the posts I've seen, I believe Captain Chaos is more of an IRL/Indy Car fan. I'm not sure when he became a fan, but from a technical perspective, I believe he would have greatly enjoyed the old CART days. Back then, somewhat like NASCAR now, a team could buy a customer car or build its own (Penske, Gurney, Galles, etc.). A team could buy a customer car and heavily modify it to meet its own wants & needs (what most teams did). It's safe to say that no two Reynards, Lolas or Swifts were exactly alike from team to team - because they didn't have to be. Engine manufacturers were also somewhat free to try different things along the way - such as the Toyota "single side turbo" concept for super speedway races.

F1 may not allow things like 6-wheeled cars any longer. But the passive DRS being developed by Lotus and Mercedes is confirmation that innovation in Formula One is still alive, if not well. In the IRL/Indy Car, it just doesn't exist any longer. We used to have something of a version of F1 here, now we have a version of GP2. :(