Brawn wants to "address" shark fins

New sporting director of Formula 1 Ross Brawn says that he would like to address 'shark fins' in the future and rid them from the sport. The 'shark fins' have made a comeback after the new regulation change and have proved to be unpopular with many fans.

The fin is in place to direct the airflow onto the rear wing, which this year is much lower than previous seasons. Brawn is also not a fan of them, and will look to replacing them in the future: "With the new cars and new rules, we have to see how they perform and what effect that has," Brawn told the official F1 website.

"As a racing car, it looks more exciting. The proportions of the car are better. They're much faster; pretty impressive performance. Drivers tell me they are physically challenging, which is what was wanted. As always with new regulations, there are few little hiccups.

"We've got the unpopular shark's fin on the back. In time, I think we need to address those. Part of the objective of the new rules was to produce more exciting-looking cars, so we don't want to spoil it with peripheral bits that take away from that."

The new regulations have also seen the introduction of the T-wings, which sits just in front of the rear wing. It has also given no amounts of pleasure to fans and Brawn says that they are there as a consequence of the new rules.

"Those are all the consequences of new regulations, and not intended. So unintended consequences, over time, we need to iron out, and get the things looking a bit more pure.

"We also need to see, once the season starts with the tyres and rules we have now, how well the drivers can compete with each other. That's an important element as well, and it's an open point at the moment. From the car perspective, stability [of regulations] is important, so there won't be any major changes there."

Another part of the cars that has stirred debate since its introduction in 2011 is the Drag Reduction System (DRS). The system is their to aid overtaking but has frustrated many, with it being labelled 'artificial'. 

"We have to look at the whole topic of overtaking in racing, and how the cars can follow and overtake each other," he said. "I would prefer that to be achieved by a normal process, rather than enhanced by something like DRS.

"But DRS was a solution to a problem we had at the time. I don't think we should rush into taking DRS off, but what I'd like to see is a better long-term solution to car design so we don't need it."

Fergal Walsh