McLaren-Mercedes is the newest team to jump on the dorsal, or shark-fin bandwagon, thus creating a completely new area for sponsorship advertising! Aerodynamics has taken a whole new turn since 2006 when there was a doubling of the front wings, and McLaren finally following suit in 2007, but only for certain Grands Prix. The shark-fin in Formula One started off with Red Bull at the 2008.
Australian Grand Prix this past March and Renault was the second team to jump on board by debuting it at the Spanish Grand Prix, just three races later. While I think that the shark fin is pretty cool to look at, I think that it is more of an aesthetic thing to catch eyes rather than go fast.
Today's Must Reads
F1technical.net thinks the same as well. Apart from allowing for the maximum engine size limitations, it appears to just stabilize in cornering. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but what about speed and efficiency?
Anyhow, I'm wondering how long the FIA will jump on the shark fin and put limitations on it, just like the "twin towers" that BMW used in their maiden season at the French Grand Prix in 2006, which was believed to have impeded the ability for the drivers to safely see what's in front.
What do the other Bleacher Creatures think of the new aerodynamic update that the F1 teams are using?
comments (13) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
First of all let me say ... DAMN YOU SHAK ... I have just uploaded the EXACT same picture ... If you type Lewis Hamilton into picture search you will find the pic twice now and as I clicked publish it wouldnt work, so I thought ... Hmmmm okay I will click out of it paste the story in again but when I went back to the homepage saw a story "Modification of the year" It was at that point I knew that I was going to have to change my picture ... So I did, nothing more annoying than just posting an article and then someone steals your thunder by posting the same again so I changed mate, no worries, woudlnt want to upstage you or steal your glory ...
2nd thing ... There is a line in my article that says ... "You heard it here 1st" which is now a lie because they actually heard it HERE first if they read your article first, ha ha ... So mine isnt strictly true ... If only I had finished this article last night instead of trying to do it in work hours, which by the way is bloody impossible ! God damn phone never stops ringing !
Anyway ... Down to business ... The wing was used on the Tuesday test and now its been dropped for todays test, I am VERY excited to see the difference in time, did it make it any faster or slower ... Ohhhhhhh interesting ! Will show whether or not they let Heikki use it tomorrow. if they do then its good, if they dont then its bad ... We shall see !
I am waiting with bated breath for the test results for today to come in any time now ...
As for asthetics ... I think that the McLaren one looks AMAZING ... Some of the others look a bit wierd in shape and not neccessarily right on the car but McLaren pulled it off ... It look fantastic and I had grown to like it over the standard engine cover so it will remain to be seen if they keep it or not ?
about 1 month ago
Here's a little news... The "Shark Fin" actually came out in CART back in the 1990s (to the best of my memory). How could F1 have been so far behind the times on this?
about 1 month ago
Oh, here's another thing... The fins on other cars aren't perfectly stationary-you can see them flapping ever so slightly in the win.
I wonder how long it will be until FIA changes the regulation to mandate supports, as they have with the nose "bridge" pieces...
about 1 month ago
Yeah The FIA will Start saying its a moveable aerodynamic piece of kit . I think they look funky . But once mclaren get a win with this new fin the FIA will ban it .
from about 1 month ago
I'm watching the replay of the British GP right now... And it's the Renault fin that has significant lateral movement. I would think the Red Bull does as well, but they're not showing it.
about 1 month ago
Ferrari need to hurry up and get a fin. That way they'll never be banned! But yeah, this fin looks pretty damn good on the Mclaren and yeah, I said that at the Australian Grand Prix what Adam said, both Red Bull and Renault definately have some flap going on with their fins.
from about 1 month ago
Ferrari has a small, conforming dorsal spine.
about 1 month ago
Ive noticed that flapping going on , mostly in the renault in catalunya . we will have to see if it gets left on the cars or banned . it wouldnt do ferrari any favours if they get it on theirs coz the whole field will start using them , BUT if ferrari hang on then they can stomp their feet in disagreement and get them banned because they help everyone except them .
i agree it makes the mclaren look awesome , a bit like the batman car
about 1 month ago
yep, adam is right, CART did have this first, but now that mclaren have it, the FIA will probably ban it!
I think CART introduced it in 1992/3, I think.
about 1 month ago
I would be bloody annoyed if Ferrari stamp their feet. They introduced the wheel covers, and at the time they spun with the wheel. That would make it a moveable air surface. The other teams pointed this out, and nothing was done. It would not surprise me now that McLaren have a shark-fin, that the FIA would want to ban it.
from about 1 month ago
To be fair though, almost everyone now has those wheel covers so people shouldn't get too uppety about them.
about 1 month ago
There is an old racing adage called the "Purple Pole Theory"
If somebody places a purple pole sticking out of the top of their car and shows the most minuscule of improvement the next race other cars will have the purple pole as well.
1st Red Bull had the Shark Fin. If Adrian Newley thinks it works than it has to be good right?
Then Renault followed. Both of those teams have shown improvements albeit slight. So McLaren is now testing it. They may not know why but they will be damned if they don’t check it out.
This reminds me of when Lotus came out with the ground effect “Wing Car”. By next season most teams had their own version yet most had no clue how it worked and a lot of teams suffered. McLaren being one of them with the M28.
from about 1 month ago
Who knows if Newey is right? An interesting fact about Lotus that you mentioned, reminds me of how one team follows the other team blindly and ends up in the dirt, seems like Toyota had a similar problem ages back using Ferrari data
write a new comment