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Brawn wants to "address" shark fins

Published on 04 Mar 2017 14:10
5
By: Fergal Walsh

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

F1 News

Replies (5)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
I must be the only person who actually doesn't mind shark fins..
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- Mar 4 2017 - 15:03
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
While I understand that they do improve the car's handling, Im not fond of how some of them look. Haas is a notable exception, their mainly transparent fin is pretty cool, but e.g Force India's piece of cardboard looks silly. For what we have, I dont mind them, but I'd rather see them gone if it doesnt affect performance too badly.
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- Mar 4 2017 - 16:36
mbmwe36

Posts: 533
I don't really mind them either. F1 should be about performance rather than looks.
That being said, it they want to ban them, I'd hope they at least make the "mohawk" fin that Mercedes had on their car when they unveiled it, legal.
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- Mar 4 2017 - 21:12
accelero

Posts: 7
At least make the sound like F1 first.
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- Mar 5 2017 - 02:31
RS200

Posts: 26
All this info is from a very good interview with Kravits and Brawn.

Looks like the info from the interview is going to be bled out one line at a time every few days.

Brawn addressed a number of issues. Don't think I can post a link but just search for Ross Brawn Ted Kravitz and it's the first link to Sky.
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- Mar 5 2017 - 11:02