If I had my two cents worth, I would say that the increase in the vorticity from the shed vortices will be either compensated or at least reduced by the increase in width from the front and rear wings. Aerodynamics in F1 is mostly about vortex control and with the current designs, the endplates need to be quite aggressive in order to divert the vortices around the wheels. Having the front wing wider will aid in this and so reduce the bluff body effects which we currently get. These rear wings were implemented back in 2009 as well by te Overtaking Working Group in order to make for more dramatic racing. They thought that by reducing the width of the rear wing whilst increasing the width of the front wing that the car would be less sensitive to the turbulent air when following behind another racer. This didn't actually work in practice, but this failure was masked by the dramatic increase in overtaking due to DRS and Pirelli tyre degradation.godlameroso wrote:Anyone care to guess how the new much wider tires will affect aerodynamics? The shapes can't possibly be the same, the wake from the tires will be different, the angles of the outer elements of the wings will have to change in order to do the same thing they were doing before.
I would say that the main issue that I have with the changes to the aerodynamics in 2017 isn't all of the self interactions of the different vehicular surfaces, but rather the influence that the changes (especially to the rear wing) will have on overtaking...
With the current setup, F1 cars following behind the cars in front struggle for aerodynamic grip due to the turbulent air which they must drive through. You sometimes see a drop in downforce by as much as 60% depending on how close you are to the car in front which is insane. With the new changes, a beam wing has been introduced, rear wing aggressiveness has been added, wider aero parts etc... All of this means that the hole which is punched in the air by the first car is even bigger than before; add in the fact that the beam wing will essentially act as a method of turbocharging air way up and over the top of the following car, and downforce drops may even approach 70+%........
I genuinely feel that the rule makers and other non-aerodynamicists have literally sat around a table and done a Jeremy Clarkson: shouted the aerodynamic equivalent of "POWERRRRRRR" and then moved on before consulting the experts. 2017 will definitely see faster lap times - there is no doubt in my mind about that... However, what we will see is MUCH less overtaking, and a lot more undercuts in the pits because the time increase incurred by following someone and actually trying to overtake someone is so steep, that if you can time a pitstop correctly and come out in clean air, you can overtake them much easier. I couldnt care less about the lap speed times (to a point of course) but what I want to see is more wheel to wheel racing. If races start and finish with bugger all overtaking except in pits, but the cars lap 10 seconds faster, that to me is utterly boring. With constant battling for positions all over the field, youre always on the edge of your seat watching people jostle for position... THAT is how F1 needs to be: The fastest motorsport on the planet by a decent margin, but beyond that, constant overtaking to make it exciting. If this was done, I "may" even forgive the abhorrent engine sounds......
