The FIA says it is ready to accept the wholesale use of moveable aerodynamic devices in Formula One in a bid to help improve the show. Although there has been a revamp of the technical regulations for this year to a bid to help make overtaking easier, FIA president Max Mosley believes that more radical steps may be needed to sort the situation out fully. He suggests that rather than opting for sporting tweaks like reverse grids or a medal system to make the spectacle better, that it may be wiser to go for a more major tweaking of the technical regulations. In a letter sent to the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), Mosley said: "The main complaint from race fans is the lack of overtaking and wheel-to-wheel racing. Changes to the aerodynamics rules have been proposed by a group of top experts from the teams and will take effect in 2009. It remains to be seen whether these plus an extra 80 bhp from KERS will help overtaking. "There are also proposals for changes to the sporting regulations such as wholly or partially reversed grids, allocating leading grid places by lot, giving the World Championship to the driver with most wins and so on. "Arguably, however, none of these deals with the problem that once the faster car gets past, it tends to drive away. So none of these proposals is conducive to close, wheel-to-wheel racing. "We intend to seek FOTA's help to investigate the use of moveable aerodynamic devices. If sufficiently radical, these could give a car following another car a performance advantage by virtue of being behind. In a primitive way, this was the case in the 1960s, when a car would get a "tow" and lose lift and thus be faster in the wake of another car. "The result was wheel-to-wheel racing at the so-called slip-streaming circuits, for example pre-chicane Monza. Using modern technology, moveable aero devices could be used to give a car more downforce and less drag whenever it was in turbulent air. "This would produce wheel-to-wheel racing on all types of circuit. It would, however, require significant (possibly automatic) moveable aero devices." Moveable aerodynamic devices have been banned in F1 for many years, but the interpretation of the rules has led to frequent controversy amid claims from some teams that their rivals have been using 'flexi-wings'. The freeing up of moveable aerodynamic devices would also end the FIA's need for labour-intensive scrutineering checks to ensure that teams are complying with the regulations.
I like the idea, but there is a built-in contradiction to Max's comments. He mentions the complaints about overtaking and wheel-to-wheel racing, and how when a car passes it tends to drive away. That's because it's quicker, and right now it's hard enough for that faster car to get around the slower car. If parity is the goal, then overtaking will all but disappear unless they make radical changes like limiting aero grip, banning carbon brakes and revamping track layouts. The current cars have crazy acceleration, even crazier short braking distances, error-free shifting and massive downforce. Plus, the majority of drivers seem to be spot on with their car placement, lap after lap, further reducing the likelihood of exploiting driver errors. Add to that the return to slicks and we'll continue to see less overtaking. Nixing TC was a great move, and most of all the results were evident to viewers. I like the idea of moveable wings because it allows (I assume) engineering innovation. But it may or may not improve the "show"--we won't know until it arrives at the track.
Just let the teams put in monster engines with like 2000hp, only the best could keep control of them. I really do not like Mosley making any of the rules because I have negative respect for him, why don't they let the teams make the rules. The teams might be able to come to good compromises to cut costs and allow overtaking instead of Mad Max just tinkering with the rules.
When will The idiots at the FIA make up their minds. Cut costs, no new regulations, wait we need to cut costs, hold on lets introduce new regulations that cost money to develop, STOP SPENDING MONEY!!!, MAKE THE SHOW MORE EXCITING BY SPENDING MORE MONEY!!!!
