Post by buildPost by D MunzKimi said something interesting following the British GP. He made
the comment about the difference between the wake from the Red
Bull versus the Mercedes. This is quoted from a number of
sources (most slightly different which is interesting for a
"...once I was behind them [Red Bull] their wake seemed to affect
my car a lot more than the Mercedes did; I was losing a lot of
downforce and that upset the balance of the car."
I know Mercedes has made changes to their aero package. Could the
net result of these changes also yield less turbulence off the
rear of the car? Also, is there any prohibition (or performance
penalty) to designing the aero package so that it creates a messy
wake and disrupts a following car?
FWIW
DLM
The RedBull has been the most difficult car to follow since 2009.
So that is not new. What is new is that this year perhaps the Merc
is the easiest car to follow.
In reference to the wake it would not be about the amount/volume of
turbulence but rather the shape, etc. It is not a simple thing to
describe and i'm not qualified to explain it, nor are any of the
search engine couch experts especially the "bring back ground
effect" fans.
[warning here follows a ramble]
The main thing stopping a resolution to the overtaking problem is
vested interests. There are three influential teams who have the
resources to solve the problem but they are focused on "what's in
it for me".
A while back one of the pundits said that if downforce stops
overtaking why is there more overtaking in the wet when wings are
cranked up. Bloody stupid statement and if you can see why then you
are half way to understanding that the answer to overtaking is too
complex for amateurs like me and stupid pundits. These half baked
ideas only ad confusion to the fans view of the problems.
BTW. There are two distinctive wakes, one is low and wide, the
other high and narrow. It's the low and wide wake that disturbs
when close and passing, say inside 0.5 secs. Beyond that distance
the high wake has more effect. The 2019 regs for the front wing
may address some but not all of the low wide wake, we'll see.
If you are interested Rory Byrne wrote or was interviewed about
this a few years back. Start with that if you can find it.
There is an easy answer to overtaking, take away the aero and give
them skinny tyres. We *know* that will work but we won't get 140k
in the grandstands at Silverstone to watch it.
Finally, after Liberty brought in this years regs I'm less hopeful
they will be capable of addressing the problem :-(
Even keep the aero but mandate harder tyres, as wide as they like.
clean the crap off the tyres. It wasn't always like this.
multiple racing lines which will result in more passing.