Tag Archives: rear wing

Feb201108

Rob

0

Testing for the new season begins

The 2011 began in Valencia as the teams set out to prove that their news cars are up to speed. Some teams opted to miss this first test entirely or run their old car, most notable of these was McLaren. While some may criticise that decision it didn’t seem to affect Red Bull last year who didn’t even attend the first test.
Robert Kubica ended the last day fastest, showing that the Renault may yet have some pace this year, though he may not get to drive it again due to his accident. The Red Bulls seems to be putting it some solid runs but the Mercedes car still doesn’t seem to have much pace compared. The picture is far from clear in testing though with different fuel loads run lengths and testing programmes at play. We’ve also yet to see some of the new cars for comparison.
Testing continues this week [...]

Mar201022

Rob

0

Looking forward to the Australian GP…

The Australian GP is now less than a week away and with all the main teams having had a week to digest what happened in Bahrain what can we expect from the various players? Will the Ferrari’s run away with the race again? Will the Red Bull have and an answer? Will Michael Schumacher be on the pace? Will the McLaren be fast enough to challenge?
It seems that the Australian GP is a much less predictable track though it does seem to show who’ll win the championship as over the last ten years only twice has the winner not gone on to clinch the title. It seems unlikely that the Ferrari will romp away with the victory this time out as the other teams may have the pace here. The McLaren’s rear wing won’t help them too much but any time counts.
Michael Schumacher should be more on the pace here [...]

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 [...]