Manoah2u wrote:just a question that popped into my mind.....could constructors perhaps delibaretly create vortices or 'aerodynamics' at the rear of the car that cause turbulent air with the intention of messing up the air behind so it will cause a negative effect to the cars behind? Obviously there is the risk of actually ruining your own aero if not done properly, but is it actually possible and is it legal?
for example; let's say Ferrari has a car that is aerodynamically sound, and they put some effects at the very rear of their
rear wing endplates, which will not harm them but will induce a significant amount of turbulent air behind them, messing
up the aero for the car directly behind them.
is that possible, are there rules that prevent this and if not, does this already happen?
As they said, there is no way to put extra things on that create turbulence without hurting your own cars performance. To answer your other question, once designers stay within the rule book when it comes to car design then they can do what they want. There has been some rules introduced throughout the years to reduce turbulence. If I remember correctly, the neutral center section of the front wing was added to try to smoothen out airflow around the car. Also the banning of all the extra wings and body protrusions. Part of it was to slow the cars down but I also suspect to reduce turbulent air for following cars. I'm also of the opinion that at least part of the reason for removing the beamwing was to have more clean airflow for any car following close behind.