F1 Fanatic

Burn Red Bull for being better than all the other teams?

No, tell them to make a new wing that doesn’t flex, because currently theirs does, even though in the regulations it is specifically prohibited from doing so:

any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance:
– must remain immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car.

Also, theirs is not the only one (anymore). Ferrari picked up quite a bit of pace when they found a solution to doing something similar last season and McLaren has very clearly been testing stuff to make it flex in pre-season testing.

Basically, they’re all betting on the tests to regulate and enforce the rules. But the tests surely are only a means to do that. One of many. Another one could be, oh, I don’t know, photographic evidence of flexing occurring?

@ pepsiperfect
So that makes him the devil eh ?
Bottom-line , both were ridiculously quick cars for their time . So fast that the rules were changed to slow them down . Foresee the same happening with Red Bull in the future .

P.S Read the link !!!

I’m sorry for saying that ‘Redbull only’. It’s my mistake and not what I want to say. I just believe unless FIA find a way to stop it ASAP, the rules will be totally ruined.

anyway, some images of flexible wing.

http://blogfile.paran.com/BLOG_51114/201103/1301247551_flexible3.gif

Redbull. significantly flexible.

http://blogfile.paran.com/BLOG_51114/201103/1301247551_flexible4.gif

Mclaren. as much as Redbull.

http://blogfile.paran.com/BLOG_51114/201103/1301247551_flexible5.gif

Mercedes seems like less flexible.

It seems like RBR and Mac has flexible wing but also flexible nose. difference between both and Merc is nose, I think. I didn’t find image but onboard clip show Ferrari also has flexible wing(we all know well they had 2010 too), but it seems like they’re not as flexible as RBR and Mac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH-Bfmezvq4

Ferrari onboard

I can’t remember which decade it was, probably the 70s or 80s, but some cars used to have “cooling water tanks” that were actually there to bring the car over the weight limit, then on the way to the grid they would junk all the water and after the race it was topped up again. So these cars passed the weight test but were in clear violation of the rules and eventually they stamped down on it.

The wings are supposed to not flex for a reason. It might be clever or innovative, but it’s against the rule. I’m ashamed but not surprised the FIA have been unwilling to make a final word decision on the matter.

I found the link on Autosport

http://www.f1arab.com/2011/03/27/teams-front-wings-2011/

The deflection for any material will be linear before it starts to break

That’s rather the point. RBR’s front wing very clearly does not deflect linearly. Also, while your point that nothing can be perfectly rigid might be true, RBR’s wing very clearly deflects more than some of the opposition’s. “More” being the operative word here.

Shrug. I don’t really care about the wing itself and I do admire the innovative thinking that must have gone into it. But it’s one of those instances where the rules aren’t applied the same as they have been in the past, see my example of the Toyota rear wing, which also passed the test and was still deemed illegal after photographic evidence.

I think your are missing my point. My point is that maybe the Redbull wing is deflecting more because it is producing more downforce, not because it has a fancy construction.
How do you know the wing does not deflect linearly? Have you tested it, or got some real data? How do you know what loads are on all the different wings while they are driving around the track?

In Australia Vettel was 17km/h faster through the high speed chicane at Turn 11 than Hamilton’s McLaren and more like 25km/h faster than the midfield teams. The only way this happened was because the car had more downforce. More downforce means more load on the wing, and more load on the wing mean more deflection.

Last year everybody was complainiing that RB had some trick illegal suspension that was lowering the car in qualifying. Turns out it was the blown diffuser producing more downforce and pushing the car lower to the road.

This year everybody was saying RB had some trick lightweight KERS when they didn’t use it in qualifying. That it was there to help them at the start and that it took a long time to recharge. Turns out they didn’t use it in qualifying because it wasn’t fitted to the car.

Most of the time the simple logical answer is the right one.
More downforce = more wing deflection.