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[darwin dali]

F1 is considering a radical innovation for 2011 in order to make overtaking much easier.

Technical bosses of the twelve teams met at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday, where it was agreed that the adjustable front wings will be scrapped at the end of the season.

Instead, drivers will next year be able to adjust the angle - by a factor of 50mm - of the rear wings, meaning that straight-line speed can be dramatically increased when the cars are not negotiating corners.

The intriguing twist, designed exclusively to boost overtaking, is that only chasing drivers will be able to adjust their cars' wings.

A green light will shine in the cockpit when a car is close enough to the rear of his rival, thereby allowing the driver to trigger the rear wing button.

The systems will not be available to drivers during the first three laps of a race, but the wings may be triggered after a safety car period.

"Why do we need KERS now?" Red Bull team boss Christian Horner joked to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "The overtaking wings will be enough!"



Green light? So, what if it doesn't pop up due to a malfunction? Who/what is triggering the green light? Sensors? Or some guy in front of a computer and a TV monitor?
What's the penalty for adjusting the wing before the green light shows up or will the capability automatically be blocked until the green light shows?

[Jabberwocky]

how much of a change in down force would that create

[darwin dali]

how much of a change in down force would that create

My uneducated guess would be single digit %.

[myownalias]

Call me skeptical but it's probably going to be a failure like most other FIA/FOTA suggestions; simple solution is to take a step back in time to a time when overtaking and close racing was prevalent; maybe back to the late 90s when Damon Hill/Jacques Villeneuve were dueling with Michael Schumacher.

[Jabberwocky]

50mm seems a strange term as well, when the front wing says x number of degrees.

[scotty]

Stupid idea.

[f1ea]

I think anything that follows the mentality of "push button X to overtake" is crap. But i'm old, perhaps the younger generations will be confortable with F1 cars behaving like robots or transformers...

[vindicator86]

I hate this gimmickey nonsence. People talk about increasing overtaking whereas they should be increasing the possibility to overtake. I think the keyword is possibility ie, cars being able to follow closer. Not artificial crap where the driver infront isnt even allowed to defend .

[McLaren]

Simple answer have more tracks like Montreal and make the tyres go off that quick.Problem solved

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

If I read the TR correctly (3.16.1), the current rear wing must measure 375mm in height. I believe they are proposing that the bit at the top should be hinged as if it were the flap on the wing of an aeroplane. The uppermost 50mm could be lowered to horizontal at speed, reducing the wing's height by the same amount.

I believe this is the same identical and already once rejected proposal as made by the inappropriately-named "passing committee".