50% Less Downforce in 2009

[Jersey Tom]

Safety, cost, etc.

[Ogami musashi]

yes that's me who said according to plans F1 cars will be on some tracks only 1 to 2 seconds faster than GP2.

As shown by barcelona tests, gp2 are now in the 1:26, when heidfeld tested slicks and 50 downforce he lapped in the 1:23s.

Schumacher tried a 20% less downforce set up with slicks and lapped in 1:19 like the other cars (while the lap time with full downforce and slicks was 1:17).

The reasons are unclear, as far as i know there's no safety concern, nor cost..i think it is aimed at spectacle as there's a belief that slower cars have more overtaking opportunities..

Well the FIA would need to explain on it.

Anyway as i said, we'll see but i'm sure it won't be a full 5 seconds as new cars will be adapted and downforce loss will surely be a little bit less.

[Ogami musashi]

By the way in the autosport post, i updated the second post about turbulence:

http://forums.autosport.com/showthread. ... ost3048418

[jaho101]

You guys have to remember that:
A) Steeper diffusers allowed
B) Slick coming back
C) cars will now be 2 meters wide

There's going to be a lot more mechanical grip over-all, and I doubt that the cars will be 5 entire seconds slower. Even if they are, they'll take steps to increasing their speed. On top of that, the last time these cars had such low downforce, they had nowhere near the same aero efficiency.

EDIT: Read the Autosport thing, I think that the cars could be just as fast, or faster, at tracks like Monaco or Monza. But slower at the aero dependant ones like Barcelona and Malaysia.

[Jersey Tom]

Monaco and Monza?? Those tracks are at two entirely different ends of the spectrum.

Monaco is an extreme downforce track. Monza is opposite.

[modbaraban]

I guess in both cases mechanical grip matters more than usually because of the majority of slow corners (in Monaco) and the low downforce car setup (in Monza).

[f1italia]

Automatic downforce adjustment when following another car. This is what we can expect to see in the near future.

http://www.fia.com/mediacentre/Press_Re ... 07-01.html

[freedom_honda]

i really dont like the idea of push to pass or MAD(movable aero device) because it seems to lose the true meaning of racing. with those devices its more like formula one is about who presses the button more intelligently will win. not whos the best driver. its just not racing anymore.

on the technical side its great to see how much formula one has developed in the last decade or so. but to the fans its just no racing anymore.

maybe this is because Formula one is no longer a sport. its more like a business thanks to bernie.

[Ogami musashi]

i really dont like the idea of push to pass or MAD(movable aero device) because it seems to lose the true meaning of racing. with those devices its more like formula one is about who presses the button more intelligently will win. not whos the best driver. its just not racing anymore.

on the technical side its great to see how much formula one has developed in the last decade or so. but to the fans its just no racing anymore.

maybe this is because Formula one is no longer a sport. its more like a business thanks to bernie.

"True racing" is such a word that means everything and nothing at the same time.

But as i see what you mean, don't you find it "no true racing" to be slowed down because you follow someone?

The push to pass is another thing, and here i agree with you.

[f1italia]

This is why Valentino Rossi decided not to pursue F1. He did not like the fact that the driver doesn't have 100% control over the car like he does in Motogp. If you watch Motogp its on of the most exciting racing because of all the overtaking back and fourth down to the final laps

A race car driver should have 100% control of the race car. I thought since they got rid of traction control they would not ad anymore driver aids to help the driver drive better. An automatic adjustable front wing to slipstream by another driver sounds like great technology but it should be up to the driver.

I do like what is happening this year. We are seeing more overtaking but not in the front. The lead driver just pulls away from the pack because he gets so much clean air.

[Ogami musashi]

I do not think motogp are more driver friendly; There's a lot of electronics in motogp and traction control is one of them.


Also as far as 2 gps, the obvious thing is that overtaking is super hard because of aerodynamics.

[NeiNastran]

I agree with that statement about Motogp!

[f1italia]

The F1 sporting model is about to follow the lead of the on track action...

It will do anything to block the IRL/CCWS merger from passing it in the media as the top echelon of motorsport. Tony George will dictate what F1 does if he has the brains to open up the rules and get the major manufacturers and world market sponsors that are necessary.

Team ebay, Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, HP, Intel, AMD..........

It could be huge!

Chris

I'm surprised those companies do not sponsor F1 cars. HP and Intel used to. I would like to see Microsoft in F1 and Nascar. Microsoft is showing interest with development of the new ECU. All those companies can even start there own race teams.

[NickT]

Reducing the dependence on Aero grip has got to be a step forward in facilitating more overtaking. Once again there were several faster cars being held up in Malaysia simply because they could not get close enough to the slower cars in the preceding corners before the straights making slipstreaming and late braking impossible.

Not sure I like the MAD devices though, but 2009 will be very interesting

[mini696]

Remember that every time downforce (or mechanical grip) is reduced to lower laptimes they (the FIA) state figures like "2 seconds slower". Yet every time they teams get that speed back somehow.

Yes the first time they test they might be "2 seconds slower", but at the first race they are only just behind, or even with the previous year, and at the end of the season the FIA are again saying "the cars will be 2 seconds slower next year due to these reasons... *insert regulations here*.

So they dont actually "slow the cars" they usually manage to maintain the laptimes.

Also if GP2 did start to become too close to the speeds of F1, then the FIA would step in and slow them down more.