Michael Schumacher pleased with addition of adjustable rear wings
Seven time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has expressed his pleasure over the addition of the adjustable rear wings, which will be a part of the 2011 season to help boost overtaking manoeuvres.
Schumacher said, “The rear wing, I think it is an innovation - a good innovation. I am happy to see developments like this.”
The legendary driver tried the wing rule during the Valencia testing and said that it would be a success. However, Schumacher said that the distance allowed by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, to use the wing was not big enough to give drivers an advantage.
The FIA only allowed drivers to use the rear wing rule within a 600-metre zone but the sport’s governing body revealed yesterday that this could be changed during the season considering the outcome of the races.
However, the FIA didn’t want to make overtaking too easy for the teams, due to which the decision to limit the rule was taken initially.
Schumacher further said, “The simple fact is that we know we have an issue in F1 to follow other cars, and until we have changed the relationship between mechanical grip and aerodynamic grip in a massive direction, so that you can follow other cars easier,
you need something to at least come close to the car in front. And this [the wing] is what may help you.”
Last year, Formula One cars were criticised for their inability to overtake and many experts said that racing was dull. There were many regulations made in 2010 which made it difficult for drivers to get past the cars in front.
With all the cars carrying the same fuel loads, straight line speed was the only solution to overtaking. However, that only helped in tracks that had longer straights and the teams had to work hard to gain positions during the race.
The FIA responded to this problem from last year and added adjustable rear wings with Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to this year’s regulations. The change was made in order to facilitate overtaking and make racing more exciting.
It will be interesting to see whether these new additions will benefit the teams or not. KERS was ineffective in 2009 as teams had the disadvantage of carrying extra weight, but an increase in the minimum weight of cars this year may help teams which use
KERS.
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