Supercomputing in F1 – Unlocking the Power of CFD

The highly sophisticated body shape of a modern Formula One (F1) car is dictated by
aerodynamic efficiency and performance. With numerous deflectors and external devices
added, the coupling and interaction between the front-end and rear-end of the car have become strong. Minute changes in geometrical details or car set-up can have a significant impact on car performance and, therefore, can result in success or failure. Such detail optimisation is accomplished in wind tunnels which increasing numbers of competitors in F1 runs 24 hours a day to discover that last fraction of performance gain. This level of finetuning is beyond the current CFD capabilities.
Still, though, this design evolution process through physical testing is somewhat of a heuristic method. The fundamental understanding and knowledge of the underlying physical mechanisms are not necessarily gained. The complexity and nature of F1 aerodynamics can only be fully understood through advanced and highly accurate CFD simulations.

With ever increasing simulation capacities, new horizons are opening up. New investments in computer hardware and CFD technology allow SAUBER PETRONAS to further explore and uncover even some of the most subtle flow phenomena responsible for fundamental changes in car behaviour, handling, and performance.

In recent years the automotive industry has experienced significant changes in the
development process for new vehicles in order to have:
a) Improved product performance and quality.
b) Reduced development costs.
c) Reduced lead-times and “time-to-market”.
The traditional Vehicle Development Process (VDP) has been replaced with a modern
approach that relies more on computational tools and simulations. In the early 90’s the automotive industry was running on an average 60 month VDP’s. Today, most major
automotive manufacturers are working to a VDP of 18 months or less (fast VDP). This
resulted from considerable effort that has been devoted to the development of computational methods, providing guidance in the design of various components of modern cars. The introduction of unstructured grid technology, accurate and robust numerical methods, and the availability of powerful parallel computers has acted as catalysts in the rapid acceptance of these approaches.


Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is now becoming a cornerstone in vehicle development and is extensively used throughout the complete process, from early concept phase to detailed analysis of a final product. Within the F1 industry, development lead-times have to be kept even shorter. In F1, not only a brand new race car is born before the start of every season, but intense development of the race car also continues throughout the season for every race, which takes place only two to three weeks apart. Hence, the importance of an efficient and fast development process becomes evident to keep up with such a demanding pace.