xpb Formula 1: McLaren wing still under discussion
12.03.2010
Actually the discussion about the McLaren - rear wing already finished. During the technical inspection on Thursday, the FIA stewards examined the MP4-25 and had no cause for complaint. At R enault was astonishing. 'It is clear that the McLaren system is completely illegal,' complained Renault team manager Bob Bell in an interview with the British BBC.
McLaren against the spirit of the regulations
According to Bell, the wing violates the spirit of the regulations, as the drivers manually influence the aerodynamics of the car. As most experts suspect, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button control the airflow to the rear wing with a knee movement. The air flows through a small opening on the nose through a pipe inside the cockpit and through the long airbox fin into the rear wing.
At the level of the pilot, there must be a hole in the pipe that the pilot can use Seal with your own body while driving. If the driver closes the opening with his knee, the air continues to flow to the rear wing and causes a stall there. This reduces downforce and makes the car faster on the straight. In Bahrain you could already see that the system is working. Hamilton and Button were around six km /h faster than the rest of the field.
In corners, of course, the drivers need all the downforce that is available. The drivers leave the hole open in slow passages so that the sucked in air is simply directed into the cockpit without affecting the aerodynamics. According to the FIA there is nothing wrong with that. At Renault, however, they are toying with the idea of protesting. 'At the moment I can't say anything about it. But it is certainly being discussed by some teams.'
New development opportunities
From the others No one has wanted to be critical of competitors. At Red Bull one already had tried everything before the race to make the FIA aware of the problem. Now you want to analyze the matter in peace first. Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn didn't seem very happy: 'The FIA opened with it a completely new space for innovation. '
So it may be that the McLaren system will not only be copied in the future, but that the possibilities will be further exhausted. Bob Bell also fears such a development: 'That costs a lot of money again. The FIA should act more strongly in such matters.'
