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Well, there are some parameteres that are inherent no matter what rwd car you drive and these are ofcourse also the case in formula 1.
These days when the weight ratio is fixed and the aero ratio is also pretty much similar for all teams the setup differences are more up to each drivers preferences then the car itself.
But then again the different design aspects of every car does change the setup parameters, for instance Red Bull opt for a softer rear suspension then most teams while McLaren opt for a harder front suspension. The overall soft/hard ratio of rear and front is for what i've heard pretty much equal. And asfaik the flex in the different chassis today are also pretty similar, altough my informers tells me the McLaren has the most flex in the tub of all teams and thereby choose the stiff suspension. While Red Bull has a very rigid tub and therefore has the softest rear suspension of all teams. Quite interesting that these are also the two teams that are closest in pace these days, with such different approaches.
Truth to be told much of the suspension travel is still down to the tyres in F1 and the spring ratios are second to the tyre flex. With this given parameter the area of finetuning is further narrowed.
All in all, the differences in setup among teams are very small. It's just a matter of where the team wants to employ the "give" so the speak. McLaren is in one end of the spectrum with a soft chassis and stiff suspension while Red Bull is in the other with a stiff chassis and soft suspension.
I could go further down with this analysis if anyone cares, this is just scraping the surface.
There are downforce settings, but I guess a lot of that is fixed before they arrive at the track- the rear wing isn't adjustable as far as I know, but the front wing is, so they can put more or less front downforce.
From what I recall drivers talking about over race weekends, the main thing that seems to be adjusted is oversteer/understeer tendencies, I suppose this is what is referred to when the drivers talk about finding the 'balance' of the car. I don't know what aspects are to be adjusted to alter this balance, I imagine a little of everything, and probably sometimes it is hard to alter. More or less wing is applicable. Suspension also?
As mentioned tire pressure is something that must be dialed in over the weekend which can improve grip and getting tires to ideal operating temps.
Camber?
You see drivers twisting knobs on the wheel constantly during onboard shots, and I guess they are messing with fuel mix, brake balance, engine map/revs, diff (I remember seeing the knob labeled diff- what is that again?). So the appropriate time and place to alter these settings must be dialed in over the weekend, though much of that data may already be optimized through computers and simulations.
Being that the cars are built and rebuilt every weekend, it seems like every aspect of the car is adjustable, and therefore every aspect of the car should be adjusted to some extent in order to suit the track.
Well, my knowledge is just about exhausted- anyone care to elaborate or correct?
nowadays most of the inherent car set ups are approximated in the in house simulators, such as ballast distribution, basic downforce levels and suspension basics. this leaves the team more time on the friday to then evaluate new developments / fine tune set ups to tailor each drivers preference.
Therefore most of the set up changes at the track are usually done to brake bias (especially with and without KERS) to wing angles and camber based on driver and telemetry feedback. The race engineers are very experienced and can basically tell from the read outs which adjustment to make, however they do make mistakes from time to time.
"I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitations, psychological limitations. It's a way of life for me." - Ayrton Senna
if it were that simple.You need to fit the car to remain in the optimum zone of your aeromap at all track and ambient temps and the possibilities for adjustment go towards endless..you may be able to come up with some preselected choices but I´m pretty sure each and every team is surprised by a development in the cause of the weekend not being expected or predicted in advance.Why else would the engineers and drivers need to spend so much time debriefing and wading through all the data.There re so many possibilities to influence car chararacteristic it is almost impossible to find the optimum solution as most of these decisions are trade offs so you win on one aspect but lose on another ,so the aim is to find good compromise or be clever enough to find win win solutions especially when you are close to the front.Diff settings (amount of lock ,or preload has of course influence on balanceor stability ,be it on the brakes or under acceleration..)
if it were that simple.You need to fit the car to remain in the optimum zone of your aeromap at all track and ambient temps and the possibilities for adjustment go towards endless..you may be able to come up with some preselected choices but I´m pretty sure each and every team is surprised by a development in the cause of the weekend not being expected or predicted in advance.Why else would the engineers and drivers need to spend so much time debriefing and wading through all the data.There re so many possibilities to influence car chararacteristic it is almost impossible to find the optimum solution as most of these decisions are trade offs so you win on one aspect but lose on another ,so the aim is to find good compromise or be clever enough to find win win solutions especially when you are close to the front.Diff settings (amount of lock ,or preload has of course influence on balanceor stability ,be it on the brakes or under acceleration..)