Rivals claim changes noticeable after new wing test

[John S]

According to this report on Crash.net the new tougher tests imposed by the FIA are having an effect, can't say I have noticed much difference personally, but Ross & Martin seem convinced. This might account for Ferrari's lower grid slots at this race or it might just be they are running a wet biased set-up. Red Bull however still look in stong form but will it translate to race pace?

Two of the more outspoken critics of Red Bull Racing's so-called 'flexi-wing' have expressed surprise and satisfaction after new tests were imposed on all teams at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Concern that the front wings on both Red Bull's RB6 and Ferrari's F10 were deflecting enough under aerodynamic loads on track to create a performance advantage first arose at the British Grand Prix, and have subsequently led to the FIA introducing greater stress tests at Spa-Francorchamps. Although both teams claim that they passed the revised inspection without problem, both McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh and Mercedes' Ross Brawn believe that there is a noticeable difference in the wings this weekend.

"I wasn't that confident that [the problem] would be nailed, but I have to say... the wings were of a different stiffness and positional domain than they had been in previous races," Whitmarsh told Reuters reporters on Saturday evening, "I think we could all see it, and the evidence that was collected yesterday showed that, in regards to stiffness and position, the front wing endplates of those cars appear to be in a different domain."

Although Red Bull still secured its twelfth pole position in 13 races, courtesy of Mark Webber, Brawn agreed that there had been a difference in the attitude of the wings.

"I think all of us can see that what was visible in the last couple of races doesn't seem to be the case here," the former Ferrari man confirmed, "I don't know what has happened, but it looks visually to me, to be different."

Further tests designed to avert the spread of flexible parts, with attention turning to the floor of the cars, are expected to be introduced at the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

Crash.net, Today

[PG_Gabriel]

I think we need to wait for a higher downforce circuit to really tell, The Ferraris did seem off but they did say they were running on wet set ups... and Red Bulls definitely didnt have the same advantage as Hungary, but they are also slow down a straight line. I think we will have to wait for Singapore or Japan to really know

[lkjohnson1950]

Agreed.

Lonny

[Jericoke]

Are you kidding?

Did you SEE how tough the front wing is on the RBR now?  It punched a hole right through Button's radiator!   

Based on earlier incidents this season I'm sure that the RBR would have completely disintegrated, and Button wouldn't have noticed a thing...

[John S]

Are you kidding?

Did you SEE how tough the front wing is on the RBR now?  It punched a hole right through Button's radiator!  

Based on earlier incidents this season I'm sure that the RBR would have completely disintegrated, and Button wouldn't have noticed a thing...

Well it must be the Karma thing that Webber is always banging on about, McLaren were the biggest moaners about the Red Bull flexi-wings after all.    Me I'd just say it was Kismet; oh and hopelessly bad driving by young Vettel. 

[Monty]

Some really interesting input from Blogs. James Allen (see extract below) points out that viewing the on board shots of Vettel just before the crash shows just how flexible the Red Bull wings still are. This got me looking at on board shots from any of the competitors that I could find. In all of the on board coverage I found, none of the front wings seem to flex at all. Of course there is movement but you can see it is the whole car that is moving not just the tips of the wings. It seems that there really is something in the flexible wing theory.

It looks like the wing rolls when one side of it comes clear of the wake from Button’s car. This isn’t surprising – one side of the wing is probably only getting about 50% of the air that the side outside of Button’s wake gets.

That difference in wing load one side to the other, combined with the deflection of the wing and the roll that creates will have made the car quite unstable, according to engineers I’ve discussed the video with. It is not necessarily the reason why Vettel lost control of the car, but it will not have made controlling the car any easier.