Weight re-distribution

[MattkD37 62]

What does the weight re-distribution actually do and how does it improve laptime?

[janbonator 300]

This is just a hunch, but seeing how the affected parts are things like an engine cover, I suppose weight distribution lowers the center of gravity of the car - which translates to less body roll and better cornering.

[marioho 686]

I'm in chorus with @janbonator here.

It greatly impacts your handling – well, on reality at least. Alonso era's Renault is a prime example as those car were notorious for having their weight concentrated on the rear of the car:

Quote

 

Most F1 cars of the time were trying to get the weight as far forwards as possible and by 2005 were able to get to around 47/53% front/rear. Renault preferred a split of around 42/58%, ie with 5% more of the car’s total weight on the rear axle than rival designs.

That helped retain the fantastic traction that had been part of the previous wide-angled cars’ strength.

[…]

The unusual weight distribution and massive structural stiffness at the rear endowed the car with quite a distinct handling trait. It would tend to understeer, the lightly-loaded front tyres taking longer to load up than a more forwards-heavy car. But once loaded up, they could generate more grip for a given level of load.

 

 In video, though with a heavier focus on the tyres: 

[Ultra3142 384]

Is there a way to change this in F1 2020? I didn't think there was but I'm probably missing something.

[marioho 686]

Haha that's on the R&D tree! It is one of the categories in the Chassis upgrades tree

[Krisperfectline 63]

I am also a bit confused among the weight reduction, redistribution and aero downforce upgrades. 
 

If I understand this correctly then:

- Weight reduction/redistribution upgrades allow the car to respond better to change directions and allow better balance under or on acceleration.

- Aero downforce upgrades improve grip. As such, cornering speeds.

Therefore these could mean the following:

-Having lots of weight reduction/redistribution upgrades but not many aero downforce upgrades, make the car more responsive, but limit the car’s speed in the corners? 
 

- Having many aero downforce upgrades with not many weight reduction/redistribution upgrades will enable the car to carry more speed into corners with a lack of responsiveness? 
 

It appears that Chassis upgrades could also mean aero upgrades as well.
 

15 hours ago, janbonator said:

This is just a hunch, but seeing how the affected parts are things like an engine cover, I suppose weight distribution lowers the center of gravity of the car - which translates to less body roll and better cornering.

In taking this, this means that weight distribution is an aero upgrade, as lowering the center of gravity gives more downforce. Does this make sense?

Edited August 12 by Krisperfectline

[marioho 686]

@Krisperfectline maybe it helps if you think of it this way.

What use is all that fast vroom vroomness when coming to a corner (good aero) if as soon as you steer into it or you hit the apex or you try to accelerate out of it your car goes kapow outside the track (good chassis)?

Your aero upgrades dictates how well the car deals with the all that air pushing against it. If you improve your front or rear downforce (which is one of the categories in the Aero R&D tree) you'll be able to have more grip when cornering and thus more speed, better braking and better acceleration. If you develop the drag reduction upgrades (another category under Aero), your car will be better at dealing with the air resistance and thus have higher top speed on straights – assuming you're not doing any drastic steering on the straights, this aspect has nothing to do with your chassis performance.

The weight reduction and weight redistribution categories under the chassis upgrades department will have their influence felt when shifting the car momentum. That has nothing to do with downforce though. Your F1 machinery still goes blazingly fast even without any of the aero upgrades and any momentum shift will induce either roll or pitch of the chassis, with direct impact to your handling.

Grip is a polyvalent thing. Everything happens through grip, as it is through the grip available that any force between the car and the tarmac takes place. Be it acceleration, braking or steering, it all occurs within the limits of your grip. Downforce has a direct impact on grip. The weight shifting on your car structure has a direct impact on grip too, but for other reasons. 

[Krisperfectline 63]

3 hours ago, marioho said:

@Krisperfectline maybe it helps if you think of it this way.

What use is all that fast vroom vroomness when coming to a corner (good aero) if as soon as you steer into it or you hit the apex or you try to accelerate out of it your car goes kapow outside the track (good chassis)?

Your aero upgrades dictates how well the car deals with the all that air pushing against it. If you improve your front or rear downforce (which is one of the categories in the Aero R&D tree) you'll be able to have more grip when cornering and thus more speed, better braking and better acceleration. If you develop the drag reduction upgrades (another category under Aero), your car will be better at dealing with the air resistance and thus have higher top speed on straights – assuming you're not doing any drastic steering on the straights, this aspect has nothing to do with your chassis performance.

The weight reduction and weight redistribution categories under the chassis upgrades department will have their influence felt when shifting the car momentum. That has nothing to do with downforce though. Your F1 machinery still goes blazingly fast even without any of the aero upgrades and any momentum shift will induce either roll or pitch of the chassis, with direct impact to your handling.

Grip is a polyvalent thing. Everything happens through grip, as it is through the grip available that any force between the car and the tarmac takes place. Be it acceleration, braking or steering, it all occurs within the limits of your grip. Downforce has a direct impact on grip. The weight shifting on your car structure has a direct impact on grip too, but for other reasons. 

I think it’s time to just focus on rear downforce upgrades and on chassis weight upgrades if you want your car to be more responsive and stable. With the weight upgrades on the chassis, it looks like ignoring the front aero downforce upgrades could be a bargain in terms of upgrading because with the chassis weight upgrades, the will make your car better in corners while the rear downforce upgrades will keep the car stable. This way you can leave the front downforce upgrades for last. 

[CarloLewis 418]

I'd be interested to know if the individual upgrades have their own specific effect, or do they just improve a generic "Chassis" value behind the scenes? With different upgrades having different impacts on this value.

Edited August 12 by CarloLewis

[marioho 686]

@Krisperfectline I partially agree, except for what you're suggesting accounts only for an oversteery twitchy car in corners. That's like half the problem: there's still the issue of an understeery car and for that you could use more front downforce.

@CarloLewis I would love some confirmation too but seems to me they have a specific effect. I have zero braking upgrades and few weight reduction ones on My Team and the first thing I struggle with when playing TT is missing all the braking points. The real cars, at least the ones I played with (sorry Williams and Haas) just seem way more efficient on braking.

[janbonator 300]

7 hours ago, Krisperfectline said:

I am also a bit confused among the weight reduction, redistribution and aero downforce upgrades. 
 

If I understand this correctly then:

- Weight reduction/redistribution upgrades allow the car to respond better to change directions and allow better balance under or on acceleration.

- Aero downforce upgrades improve grip. As such, cornering speeds.

Therefore these could mean the following:

-Having lots of weight reduction/redistribution upgrades but not many aero downforce upgrades, make the car more responsive, but limit the car’s speed in the corners? 
 

- Having many aero downforce upgrades with not many weight reduction/redistribution upgrades will enable the car to carry more speed into corners with a lack of responsiveness? 
 

It appears that Chassis upgrades could also mean aero upgrades as well.
 

In taking this, this means that weight distribution is an aero upgrade, as lowering the center of gravity gives more downforce. Does this make sense?

You are kind of right on some accounts, but perhaps there needs to be some clarification. @marioho already had a solid crack, but just having poured my morning coffee (4pm...) I could give it a go.

First of all, lowering the center of gravity has no impact on aerodynamic performance, at least generally speaking. There could be some small changes, but IRL these would be offset with suspension settings such as ride height.

While aero and the chassis both play a part in all corners, it's helpful to remember that the faster a corner is, the more grip you are getting from the aero package. In slow speed corners aero is "meaningless" compared to your chassis performance. Drag increases as a square of velocity and I believe the same general principle holds for downforce as well.

In my My Team season I've been aggressively developing my chassis, concentrating on weight reduction and weight distribution. It makes the car much more enjoyable to drive. A major weight reduction RD package feels similar to taking ~5 laps of fuel out of the tank.

[75Vette 509]

I've noticed as my driver ages the weight distribution get's closer to the floor of the car.

Or at least I like to think so.