Adjustable Rear Wing (DRS)

[siskue2005]

- Do we expect this to lead to a rediscovery of some teamwork? What I mean is that let's say two cars of the same team are line-astern in say P2 and P3, chasing down the car in P1. As the car in P1 would not be allowed to deploy his ARW ('cos he's not within 1 second of another car) his laptime will theoretically be compromised compared to the car in P3. If the two team-members worked together passing each other at alternate laps, they could aggregate the benefit of ARW in order to more quickly catch the car in P1. Catching is one thing, passing and MAINTAINING a pass is of course quite another, especially now we have ARW into the mix!

I'm actually most interested in the final line of thought. This MIGHT lead to some exciting racing, but of course the tacticians at the top teams would already have been working on ways of countering this.

thats exactly what is going to happen
as team orders are legal next season

I did that with a friend in a oval race in rfactor (indy car) we were slipstreaming each other ......And we were able to catch the lead driver
and it really happens in oval racing i guess

i guess we can see teammates or even other team members working together to catch the leader

[forty-two]

Well, if it leads to some proper team-playing, then I am in favour of that.

Could be very exciting this season!

[ringo]

What else could happen is the tactic of blocking and early braking to spook out the following car to tap his brakes.
Squeezing a following car could accomplish this as well. A driver may touch the brakes as a reflex and disengages his ARW.

There may be other tactics to dummy a follower into touching his brake.

I am expecting some banzai crashes and overshooting with the ARW.

[Holm86]

I was thinking if it is possible to make a f-duct/ARW combo???

My idea is that the main plane has an intake in the middle(sort of like mercedes had last year just not as extreme) which is blocked off when the flap is in its max downforce position. And the when the flap is activatet and raises up to its low downforce position the intake will be able to take in air to blow through the slot in the rear.

Would this be legal?

[CMSMJ1]

I was thinking if it is possible to make a f-duct/ARW combo???

My idea is that the main plane has an intake in the middle(sort of like mercedes had last year just not as extreme) which is blocked off when the flap is in its max downforce position. And the when the flap is activatet and raises up to its low downforce position the intake will be able to take in air to blow through the slot in the rear.

Would this be legal?

No - the exit slot is now banned.

[Holm86]

Hmm okay ... Too bad

[ajdavison2]

Quick question, my apologies if this has already been covered, but can the wing be infinitely adjusted between the 2 positions, or is it either fully 'closed, (I.e, not being activated)' or fully 'open, (I.e, in the overtaking position)', I'm assuming from the talks about the wing being activated at pre determined points on the track that it is the latter of these 2?

[hollus]

I don't yet fully understand the "When can the ARW be deployed" element of the new regulations, but a few points occur to me.

- When considering only two cars (let's say for example P1 and P2), if the P2 car closes to within 1 second of the car in P1, he can deploy his ARW. Surely, as soon as he gets alongside and marginally in front of the other car, the other car is then in P2, and therefore "behind" the passing car within 1 second, can the car now in P2 then deploy HIS ARW?

- When considering three cars in close formation (let's say for example P1, P2 and P3), let's assume they're all running within .75 seconds of one another, so a gap between P1 and P3 of 1.5 seconds. When approaching the "zone" in which the FIA decide the ARW can be deployed, presumably both the trailing cars are able to deploy their ARW (as they are both within 1 second of the car in front). Isn't this likely to lead to a pile up between all three cars?

- Do we expect this to lead to a rediscovery of some teamwork? What I mean is that let's say two cars of the same team are line-astern in say P2 and P3, chasing down the car in P1. As the car in P1 would not be allowed to deploy his ARW ('cos he's not within 1 second of another car) his laptime will theoretically be compromised compared to the car in P3. If the two team-members worked together passing each other at alternate laps, they could aggregate the benefit of ARW in order to more quickly catch the car in P1. Catching is one thing, passing and MAINTAINING a pass is of course quite another, especially now we have ARW into the mix!

I'm actually most interested in the final line of thought. This MIGHT lead to some exciting racing, but of course the tacticians at the top teams would already have been working on ways of countering this.

We won't see any such strategies, 42, although it would be fun.
The rule seems to be written so that when you are within 1 second at a "predetermined point in the lap" (hence, only once per lap!) you will be allowed to change the angle of the rear wing at a second predetermined point int e lap, which should follow shortly after. The passed car does not get a chance to counterattack (via the wing) until a lap later. Also, it looks like not only will it be activated at one straight per lap, but only for a short(ish) part of that straight. The talk is about a distance to be adjusted in a race by race basis, but of about 300m. Nobody will get the advantage for 1Km, as it is considered too big an advantage.
I think the idea is that in those last 300m before braking, the trailing ca might get 4-5 extra meters, but not more. Just enough to show your nose where you couldn't before or to complete a pass where you could otherwise show your nose.
But we'll see how it is implemented in reality. As usual the rules are as clear as mud and carefully hidden from the general public.

[timd]

With the wing deployable at any point of Qualifying and Pratice its going to be very difficult to see who has the fastest race care this year until the lights go out.

I am thinking you could end up seeing someone with an average car but very good ARW taking poll's along with the whole rest of the grid moaning about it

I suppose the question is how much performance can be developed out of the idea and how restrictive the rules are.

[bonjon1979]

I think the most interesting part of the ARW is how the gear ratios will be effected. Because you can deploy the wing at any point during qualifying there is a distinct pace advantage to setting your gear ratio for top speed with the wing flat on the main straight of the track. This will cause your race pace to be compromised as you're gears aren't optimised for the straight. However, you will have track position and if you can get on to the back of one of the cars in front of you then you'll be able to get the most benefit out of your ARW as your gear ratios are set up for it. Could lead to some interesting choices and a mixed up grid.

[timd]

Look what what happened to the Williams pole last year. That was quickly lost because the car just wasnt fast enough and with the rear wing for overtaking its going to happen even quicker.

Is there room for "innovation" with the gearing problem in the rules?

I suppose the next question is which engine has best midrange (relatively)

Another question is: Is reaching top speed on the straight a priority for overtaking in the race or could we see lower gearing with strange KERS usage locations to avoid the limiter.

Your right that there may be several approaches to this mix. Might make for some entertaining racing until they all work out who stole the march and copy it

You know at some point probably sooner rather than later someone is going to stuff it in qualy deploying the wing too early in an attempt to grab pole and there will be "safety talk".

[raymondu999]

I wonder if any teams would consider the following scenarios:

Gear 7th for topspeed while the wing is activated, then in the race, while they're not within a second, use KERS to kind of supplant the motor and reach their "normal" topspeed

OR

Gear 7th for topspeed while the wing is NOT activated, then use KERS to supplant the motor to reach a higher topspeed while it's activated

Or do you guys think that they'll just use them mostly for acceleration boosts?

Wouldn't a better rule have allowed them, when they're within a second, to go into an 8th "overdrive" gear while the rear wing is activated? That way they can gear 7th as per normal. The overdrive gear then could also be used for qualy

[747heavy]

your option A (gear for wing in low drag position) does make sense to me from a technical PoV.

I think, it will be difficult to "over run" the rev limiter on the engine with KERS.
Assuming you would gear to reach the limiter in 7th gear at the end of the longest straight. Reducing the drag of the car/wing would made you hit the limiter earlier.
Traveling at max. speed for longer, but at the limiter.

A neater solution from a technical PoV would have been to allow for an "over rev"
of ~200-500rpm (or whatever would make technical sense) while he wing is in the low drag position.
This would have made for a larger advantage, clearer overtake.
Now the car behind, will hit it´s rev limiter (terminal speed) earlier, but the speed difference to the car in front will reduce, as longer the overtake maneuver takes, as the car in front will still gain speed, unless it reaches it´s teminal speed/rev limiter.

I guess, we will have to wait and see, how it turns out in practice, and how they tweak it during the season.

The thought about the qualifying strategy is interesting. If they allow free usage of the device in Qualifying (and they may not), you would gear perhaps slightly longer, to reach higher topspeeds with the wing in low drag position. But if this helps you to gain pole position, it will harm you in the first couple of laps, because as long as you run in P1 you would be too long in 7th gear when the wing is in max. downforce position, making you a "sitting duck" for the cars behind.
Not sure someone, would want to cary this risk.
More interesting to me would be the last lap of the race.
Depending on the track, we could perhaps see similar situations, as we have seen in Indycar/oval racing. Lead into the last lap, and be sure to lose the race.
We may see some race defining overtakes in the last lap/last long straight. Where the car in second place holds all the aces, and the car in font can´t do much to defend his position (fairly).
This is the only reservation I have against the system.
I think the moveable wing(flap) as such is o.k., but I would have rather given every driver 10x 10s to use it.
Then he can decide when and how he can use it, and if he runs out of "shots", then be it.
It would have given the guy in front, the chance to defend it´s position on equal terms.

But let´s give them some credit, maybe it works out better then we think.
We will see soon enough.

[ringo]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89011

However, to ensure that the wing boost advantage is not over-egged, the FIA will only allow use of the wing's speed boost at a single zone on the track. This will be carefully monitored and controlled to ensure that overtaking still remains a challenge - and this area may not even be on the main start-finish straight.

Hmm, things are starting to look predictable, but i guess it's the safer thing to do.
It makes it more challenging as well, as an overtaker has to make use of the single opportunity when it comes. If he can't get the 1 second proximity he wont have a go with the wing to further reduce the gap.
An interesting implication with the single zone is that a driver who is saving tyres and fuel may chose to go all out and get himself the 1 second gap when he is approaching the zone. He can relax for the rest of the lap until he comes around to that zone again.

Concerning the gear ratios. Maybe it's best to only widen 7th gear, and leave the other 6 unaffected. The KERS could make up for any lost acceleration with the wider gear.

[f136]

F1 teams and the Formula 1 governing body (FIA) will not allow the new adjustable rear wing to fail the sport this year - despite latest concerns about the impact it will have on racing.

That is the view of McLaren F1 team Principal Martin Whitmarsh, who thinks that efforts by the teams over forthcoming tests, plus intelligent execution of regulations by the sport's governing body, will ensure the wing will only be used if it is a boost for F1.

http://www.formula1onlive.com/2011/01/f ... -rear.html