The STR12 Project was kicked off very early in November 2015. We set out to make it the best STR engineered car to date, as we knew we had to adopt a back to basics approach to apply our existing knowledge of what makes a fast race car to a new set of regulations and constraints. We also recognized that with the major changes we had to ensure that by the time the season started we were as prepared as possible and had done our homework, meaning all rig testing and component sign-offs were completed. So this was integrated into our plan from the start.
Starting at the end of 2015, before STR11 was even completed, we were in a situation where the regulations were not clear and there were many unknowns. However, it was clear the cars would be wider, the mechanical grip from the tyres would increase and that the cars would have significantly more downforce and drag. At this early stage the focus was on the Aero and Vehicle Performance groups to understand the sensitivities of these factors. We began by preparing best estimates of the extra grip/downforce/drag that the new regulations would bring and started to estimate the performance envelope of the new cars using our simulation tools. As there were many unknowns we intentionally scanned a range of any individual parameter to derive a number of different permutations and “what if” scenarios. These results then fed into other groups to define their processes, as well as going back into the Aero and Vehicle Performan...