Here’s how Formula 1 is changing the America’s Cup and AC75

America’s Cup and Formula 1, the partnership seems to be getting closer and closer, and not only because of the agreements between Red Bull Racing and Alinghi and between Ineos Team UK and Mercedes, with Luna Rossa dialoguing under the radar with Ferrari. The AC 75s were conceived in their original concept by Dan Bernasconi, Team New Zealand’s head of design as well as an engineer who worked for six years with the McLaren team in F1.

The first generations of AC 75 (boat 1 and 2 produced for the 36th America’s Cup) marked the way for osmosis between the two worlds, the third generation we will see on the water for the 37th edition will explore even further the interaction between Formula 1 and the Cup. To understand what direction the oldest and most prestigious sailing trophy there is taking, and to understand the technical implications of the relationship between sailing and Formula 1, we asked the specialists at Formulapassion.it, and in particular Federico Albano, for their opinion. A sailor, racer and great expert on Formula 1, in the following lines Federico explains what is happening and especially what can happen in the America’s Cup with the collaboration of F1 teams.

The challenges of the 2.0 version of AC 75

The first edition of the Cup raced with AC75s showed impressive numerical data, but also a growth curve of teams and means that promise a sure jump in remarkable performance with the new generation of boats. The technical and technological fronts on which to work, however, are particularly numerous, and the America’s Cup teams’ fledgling collaborations with Formula 1 teams represent an opportunity to develop wide-ranging synergies from which the designers of the new generation of boats will benefit greatly.

The challenges that will see the designers of the AC75 version 2.0 will range from Hull aerodynamics, fluid dynamics on foils, and materials engineering, three fields in which engineers of the caliber of James Allison (Mercedes) and Adrian Newey (Formula 1’s aerodynamic genius, currently with RedBull) can make key contributions.

Hull forms, previously so crucial for obvious reasons, along with deck forms will become a component of the aerodynamic package (we will probably have to start using this term in the Cup as well) of boats. In the last edition, Luna Rossa itself was the first to show in-depth research on the subject, with the deck plane going to form the cutting plane of the mainsail’s airfoil and was therefore called the “end-plate,” just like the side bulkheads of the ailerons on Formula 1 cars.

What will happen in the next America’s Cup

In the next Cup, a flight as close to the surface of the water as possible will be sought, with a hull that can become an active part of generating lift to stay up and decrease the need for foil surface area, while at the same time producing as little drag as possible, perhaps trying to form a kind of aerodynamic cushion between sea surface and hull to glide on. Te Rehutai, the New Zealand boat that won the last Cup, featured a hull shape with two large air ducts underneath the two sides of the hull, a concept similar to the revolutionized Formula 1 that we will see from 2022 on the track, which will use precisely two longitudinal tunnels under the car to reintroduce ground effect.

While the purposes will be different, with Formula 1 cars committed to generating downforce and not lift, a thorough understanding of flow behaviors in that configuration can surely bring innovative solutions and new territory for engineers to explore.

There is still much more, however, first and foremost in materials engineering, a field in which the limits of physics will literally be challenged and in which synergy with the top motorsport series may perhaps find its greatest culmination. Suffice it to say that one of the most important fields of study in Formula 1 aerodynamics is the controlled deformation of profiles under load.

F1 regulations impose strict limits, but the advantage of an active aerodynamics is such that teams have found increasingly advanced techniques to get around them, managing to literally control wing deformations to the millimeter at various speeds, while still complying with Federation tests (which have been forced to tighten them several times but have failed to contain the phenomenon).

Imagining such technology applied to foils the possibilities that open up are innumerable, both in terms of reduced drag, and thus higher possible speeds, and in terms of profile lift, upward and in the wind axis, with less effort of the boat to maintain flight and better sailing angles upwind and aft.

On-board electronics will also change
The field theoretically furthest from the sailing world, the motor field, will be an opportunity for Formula 1 and sailing teams to share technology. The hybrid component of Power Units in Formula 1 has become fundamental and at an enormous level of complexity, with extremely sophisticated and optimized management and control software, a know-how that can be transferred to the electronic management package of the boats, where system optimization can lead to more fruitful use of the crew’s energies and more accurate management of flight and boat tuning parameters, with obvious gains in absolute performance.

Recall also that automatic systems not allowed for racing may still be implemented by teams to validate the various solutions being tested or to provide a benchmark for sailors during training. Needless to say, for the latter, the development of accurate simulators will be crucial, a reality that Formula 1 has had to get used to with large investments after the huge forced reduction of on-track testing.
However, all of this will have to be accompanied by what may become the most challenging limitation, namely that of the sail plan.

How performance will change

Already in the first Cup contested with AC75s the apparent wind angles upwind in medium winds were just over 10 degrees, around 16-18 downwind. Thinking about upwind, increasing speed without allowing the sail plan to “absorb” reductions in apparent angle would risk limiting the usefulness of progress. The development of sail aerodynamics will remain one of the key points, where a profitable CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations approach will be of great value, in order to be able to develop profitable avenues, without wasting valuable time and large capital on suboptimal solutions. The world of Formula 1 is also particularly accustomed to this reality, as hours at the CFD and wind tunnel are even limited and verified by the Federation, which is why they must necessarily be profitable.

by Federico Albano

Edited by Mauro Giuffrè

HELP US KEEP YOU UP TO DATE

The journalists of the Sailing Newspaper, strive every day to ensure quality, up-to-date and correct information about the boating world free of charge through their websites. If you appreciate our work, support us by subscribing to the magazine. The annual subscription costs only 49 euros and we give you two gifts!

DISCOVER THE SAILING NEWSPAPER YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Daily interviews, boat trials, webinars and all the sailing, minute by minute. But on video! CLICK HERE To sign up, it’s free!

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

To stay up-to-date on all the news from the world of sailing, selected by our editorial staff, sign up for the Sailing Newspaper newsletter! It’s super easy, just enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “Sign Me Up” button. You will then receive on your email, twice a week, the best sailing news! It’s a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time, with no obligation!