McLaren’s rear wing and the prospect of provisional results
The rear wing of the the McLaren – or rather the mechanism that can affect the effectiveness of the rear wing at high speed on the McLaren has been questioned by the other teams ahead of Sundays race. The stewards have passed it as legal and the FIA have backed them up on this, but with the propect that one of the other teams could appeal or lodge a protest then the race result may end up being provisional.
The issue centres around the device on the McLaren which allows the driver to change the airflow over the rear wing. Normally the device will be shut and won’t effect the airflow at all but at high speed the driver can open the flap which will then let the air pass through the chassis and exit over the rear wing which has the effect of stalling it, reducing drag and therefore increasing speed about 6km/h apparently – it does not as one UK newspaper stated increase downforce.
The device itself walks a thin line with the regulations and some of the teams are saying that this breaks the spirit of the rules but I think it may be jealousy that they didn’t think of it. Red Bull have already said that as it’s been declared legal they’ll be copying it.
The thing that could really damage F1 is the fact the any result on Sunday could be made provisional pending the hearing with the FIA much like last years rear diffuser row. I would have thought that the FIA could have introduced something to ensure that this couldn’t happen again. Come on, get it together and sort out what is allowed before you start the season in front of millions of fans.
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