Tag Archives: drag

Mar201013

Rob

0

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 [...]

Feb201009

Rob

0

No more wheel spinners, another new 2010 F1 rule

Another of the new rules for 2010 is that the teams can’t use the spinners that became popular in the last couple of years. These used to smooth the airflow over the wheels and ensure they caused minimal turbulence and drag. It also used to improve rear downforce and cooling.
These little gadgets had many benefits to the teams so it’s hard to see that they would have abandoned them without a fight but then the whole Alonso debacle where the spinner wasn’t fitted correctly and eventually tore the wheel free may have softened them up on that one. With the teams fighting for every inch I’ll be interested to see what the teams can do to claw back the positive sides to these devices.
It does mean that pit stops will really all be about getting the tyres on and off this year, there’s no room for any mistakes. I seem to [...]