Formula One Technology Explained - Cooling Mechanisms

Cooling Mechanisms

Radiators are skewed and slanted inside the sidepod maximising frontal area and swept depth whilst maintaining a thin cross section

With temperatures exceeding 400°C in the engine, the water and oil needs to be continuously cooled to maintain the optimum operating temperatures for the engine. Formula One Technology Explained looks at how the critical fluids are cooled in the sidepods and how this benefits the engine.

In each sidepod, a radiator is positioned to cool either oil or water. The radiators have to be designed specifically to fit each individual sidepod. The engineers are in a constant battle with the aerodynamicists to make sure that they can generate enough cooling for the engine and the chassis designers look for the smoothest design to minimise drag.

When the radiators are fitted into the sidepod, the engineers have to maximise the surface area. To accomplish this, they are slanted and then skewed as this also minimises the cross sectional width. The term for this conundrum is the ‘air-side capacity’. In essence it is how much air you can pass through the radiator in a given area.

Similar to a road car radiator, extra fins are added in between the channels to provide a much greater surface area. This allows even more water or lubricant to be cooled at a time by the air rushing into the front of the sidepod. This cooled lubricant and water is then passed around the engine and gearbox to cool the moving parts and minimise friction, increasing reliability.

Efficiency is critically important even in the cooling process and the pressure behind the radiators must be kept as low as possible. This low pressure, accentuated by the rear wing, draws air through the radiator, allowing more cold air into the space, making the cooling more efficient. As a secondary function, the warm air that is expelled from the radiators (about 60°C) cools the hot exhaust pipes (600+°C).

The balance between cooling and aerodynamic performance must always be reached, however, and the more air channelled through the radiators, the less efficient the chassis design becomes. On most Formula One cars, the difference between the minimum and maximum cooling package can alter downforce by 5% and affect lap times by 0.4 seconds on most circuits. But the price to pay for an engine or gearbox that is not cooled properly can be much greater.