09/06/2006
NEWS STORY
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Although there have been problems with the proposed Centreline Downwash Generating (CDG) rear wing, which effectively splits the rear wing in two, and will therefore reduce drag and (hopefully) increase overtaking, Max Mosley remains confident that it will be introduced.
In December 2005 the technical directors that form Formula One's Technical Working Group, rejected the controversial new wing, first suggested by the sport's governing body two months earlier. It had been hoped that the wing might be introduced in time for the 2007 season, but the technical directors rejected this.
"The discussion was positive and constructive and has helped to move things forward significantly," said an FIA spokesman, at the time. "The teams felt that more work has to be done on optimisation and, given the time constraints, implementation for 2007 was not therefore an option.
"However, we were very encouraged by the response from the meeting and consider it is only a matter of 'when' and not 'if' for the new wing," he added.
Speaking at Silverstone on Friday, Mosley said: "The wing is currently being assessed by the aerodynamicists, but what seems to happen is this. The way it is supposed to work is that it reduces the drag of the car behind and also, it gives it more downforce and greatly facilitates overtaking. If, on the other hand, it doesn't work as it should work, which happened, for example when they did the quarter-scale wind-tunnel test, it actually reduces the drag even more and the simulations indicate that it facilitates overtaking even more, so that you could even overtake, with cars being equal, on a straight as short as 500 metres, depending on the speed of the corner leading on to the straight. But it's a matter for the experts.
"Any change to the wing requires the unanimous agreement of the teams as it is part of the Technical Regulations," he admitted. "All we're talking about is the correct way to achieve this, and it looks quite promising for the spilt wing, the CDG wing.
"We are absolutely open," he insisted, "all we want to see is two things; less downforce relative to the tyres because they can't have the downforce they've got now on the new, bigger 2008 tyres and we want to see overtaking - most importantly overtaking.
"My money would be on the CDG wing," he added, "but clearly the aerodynamicists of the teams are going to decide."
Is this the same Max that once told us that what race fans really enjoyed was strategy, and that there had never been that much overtaking in the past, that we'd imagined it?
Is this the same Max who was clearly baffled in 2003, when the British Grand Prix witnessed one of the greatest overtaking fests in the history of the sport, brought about by a former priest running on to the track, causing a situation whereby the field was virtually reversed meaning that drivers had to overtake?
Surely not.