Come sail away

[roon]

The sails make the cars look taller. This negates the effect of lowering the rear wing height. Was the aerodynamic benefit really so crucial for some teams, to insist upon its return? In contravention of the goal to make the cars look lower, wider, sleeker. Now most of the field look like breadvans again. Ah, well, at least Merc looks good. But then, maybe it benefits more the teams who expect to be driving in wake.

[OneAlex]

I quite like Renault's but other than that I'm not a fan of them; Force India's in particular is just a big blank piece of metal.

I wonder if they might have looked better if the regulation stated they couldn't go any higher than the rear wing, a sort of in-between of Mercedes and the other cars.

[mclaren111]

roon:
The sails make the cars look taller. This negates the effect of lowering the rear wing height. Was the aerodynamic benefit really so crucial for some teams, to insist upon its return?

Totally agree !!

I don't think the rules was written to allow the Shark Fins again.

The FIA forgot, as usual, to write the rules properly and did not ensure that area was "clean"

[krisfx]

roon:
The sails make the cars look taller. This negates the effect of lowering the rear wing height. Was the aerodynamic benefit really so crucial for some teams, to insist upon its return?

Totally agree !!

I don't think the rules was written to allow the Shark Fins again.

The FIA forgot, as usual, to write the rules properly and did not ensure that area was "clean"

Did the rules ever ban shark fins? iirc the only part they banned was the connection to the rear wing, which left the cars with them in 2011 but slightly shorter...

[Cuky]

I hope fins are there to stay actually. If it was my decision I would make them mandatory with same size and shape for every team. And as a cherry on the top of the cake I would mandate that large drivers' numbers must be place on them

[bhall II]

I like 'em for safety.

I strongly suspect these cars are going to be much quicker than the sport's "brain trust" intended. So, the last thing we need is for a tumbling-type crash, which shark fins help guard against and is why they're required in LMP1 and LMP2, to cause a hasty rethink of the rules.

[roon]

How 'bout a collapsible safety sail? A BHF with less B & H.

[bhall II]

If they were made from acrylic, aesthetics would be less of an issue.

[edu2703]

[tomazy]

Aestetics is not the issue, f1 is a speed competition not a beauty pageant.

[roon]

Bhall, I can't see what you're talking about.

...

Ha. But seriously. You raise a good point. Much simpler than my rube-goldbergian-mechanical-mohawk.

tomazy, I agree, but the new regs were a specific effort toward improving aesthetics. I only mean to point out the inconsistency of the approach.

[BosF1]

tomazy, I agree, but the new regs were a specific effort toward improving aesthetics. I only mean to point out the inconsistency of the approach.

I think the new regulations are there foremost to improve laptimes and hence the attractiveness of the sport.

Edit: spelling

[roon]

I thought the angled front & rear wings were an aesthetic decision.

[Scuderia1967]

I like 'em for safety.

I strongly suspect these cars are going to be much quicker than the sport's "brain trust" intended. So, the last thing we need is for a tumbling-type crash, which shark fins help guard against and is why they're required in LMP1 and LMP2, to cause a hasty rethink of the rules.

http://i.imgur.com/9342vHX.jpg

Sharkfins in F1 have nothing to do with safety. If they had, don't you think that, like in WEC, they would be mandatory? No, they're just there for aero reasons

[bhall II]

Ever heard of unintended consequences?