No Bahrain, time to catch up?

Looking at the calendar I realized, that after Sepang there is a 3 week gap to Singapore and then there would be a 4 week gap to Barcelona if Bahrain doesn't happen.

Things are still pretty iffy in Bahrain, so I wouldn't be too surprised if it gets axed. These 7 weeks would give some breathing room for "slower" teams to catch up by copying designs they saw working well in the first 3 races. Obviously I'm thinking about Ferrari. But also others might copy the McLaren nose or the Mercedes rear wing.

The field might be even closer together by the time the European season kicks off. Maybe the ugly step noses might be even gone by then.

It's not over until...
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Copying the McLaren's nose would require a new monocoque.
Copying the Mercedes' rear wing requires an air conduit through the monocoque.

 

And new crash testing.

 

Copying the Mclaren nose would probably require designing an entirely brand new car mid season. Copying the Merc rear wing would involve installing a duct through the entire fuselage, I strongly suspect that to just shoehorn it in what result in a much less efficent system, as well is there any coatings or textures inside the duct to improve flow? Also the Merc duct may or may not require re crash testing the monocoque.

 

Is it worth copying either of those mentioned I ask myself.

I'am not sure whether the teams are 100% sure if Merc duct will get banned anyway.

Seems it's all about the interpretation of what is passive or not, as the duct comes into play when the DRS is activated and that is by the driver, I think.

Reading between the lines, I think some teams complaining about it, want more clarification on the system, in other words they want Whiting to tell them how it works

 

But has Bahrain been called off, myself I think it would be unwise to go there anyway, but I sure don't want to lose a race.

 

So?

 

I think it's a bit too early for teams to try and copy each other. It's just the first race. Plus, it was a street circuit.

As for the Merc rear wing, the true test will be in Sepang, with the 2 long straights. If the Mercs really can go like the Concorde, then yes, we can expect some copying.

 

Would be nice to have some more time assuming the race is cancelled but Bahrain has historically been a good track for Ferrari.