Christian Horner reveals the mystery behind the fluttering on the Ferrari – Formula 1 news
Red Bull’s principal Christian Horner has revealed that they know why the Ferrari front wing fluttered during the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix.
The news has come forth from a German based Magazine Auto Motor Und Sport and has revealed that Red Bull have figured out the reason behind the issue.
Felipe Massa was driving the Italia F150 at the Yeongam circuit and for an inexplicable reason, his front wing started to flutter wildly. Ferrari have since said that they are investigating into it. So far, they have not been able to expose the reason behind
the fluttering.
Although Massa said that he did not feel much while driving the car, suggesting that it did not hinder his driving, nonetheless it is still something that would need to be fixed to prevent any unforeseen incidents.
The Ferrari front wing is designed very similar to Red Bull’s front wing, and during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Red Bull driver Mark Webber experienced similar fluttering on his RB7. Red Bull naturally were also worried and launched their own investigation
into it.
Although Webber’s front wing did not flutter as prominently as Massa’s but Red Bull seem to have figured out the reason behind the mystery. The sources have revealed that Horner explained the fluttering occurs when the DRS is deployed and the load of aerodynamics
is increased on the front wing, and even a slight pressure imbalance in the tyres would make the car bounce, which makes the heavier endplates on the front wing to flutter.
Whether Red Bull have fixed the issue or not has not been confirmed, but now that Ferrari understand the nature of the issue, would they have enough time to fix it before the final race of the season due this weekend in Brazil on Sunday, November 27, 2011
remains to be seen.
It is also interesting to note that there will only be one DRS zone at the Interlagos circuit, which means that there might be less probability of the same issue appearing again. As it was only Massa’s car that has faced the issue it further boosts Horner’s
assessment that given the right pressure in the tyres, the issue can be prevented.
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