Why 2019 F1 aero changes may not have the desired impact of improving overtaking. Overtaking in 2019 was supposed to be facilitated by the new aerodynamic regulations.

Overtaking in 2019 was supposed to be facilitated by the new aerodynamic regulations and the the vast, two-metre-wide front wings on the new 2019 F1 cars. But do they work the way they’re supposed to?

When the new front wing rules were agreed last year the FIA claimed the research behind it “indicated the strong likelihood of a positive impact on racing and overtaking within F1.” In other words, that drivers would now be able to follow each other more closely. But after four days of testing drivers are not yet sure whether it has worked. Or, in the case of some, exactly what the change was supposed to achieve.

The front wing is now less rugged, but also wider: “Why did you make the wings wider again, if you thought years ago that these wide wings are the problem?” Sebastian Vettel replied when asked about the changes for 2019. The width of two meters allows the engineers to continue the so-called outwash principle. The front wing end plates are as wide as the front tires and also angled 15 degrees outwards. The rest is done by the aerodynamics with the arrangement of the flaps. For most cars, they are flatter on the outside than inside.

Already in advance, many experts had feared that the new rules will not solve the overtaking problem. “It did not bring anything at all, just cost a lot of money,” blames Red Bull Motorsport Director Helmut Marko. Then the doctor continues: “Our drivers report that they still feel the same turbulence in the slipstream.”

Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton showed on the third day of testing the proof that nothing has changed. Sebastian drove for laps behind the McLaren of Carlos Sainz, while Hamilton felt eternity behind the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver had previously caught up with Sainz two seconds per lap. Seb reported: “No chance to pass him. I just never got close enough to him ”

“I didn’t know that was the reason for the rule change,” said Lewis Hamilton when asked whether he thought the wings would improve the racing. I’ve been behind one car think out there and it seemed fine, didn’t seem different to last year in that respect. But I’m hopeful that it will be better for close-combat racing. Time will tell, I’ve not really been up behind too many cars.”

Most other drivers reported something similar. Kimi Raikkonen said he “never really got to the position to say if it’s any different from last year.”

However Daniel Ricciardo said his first experience of running behind another car was encouraging: “It actually seemed alright but at the time I was lapping quite a bit quicker. I think the car – I don’t know what car it was but I assume they had more fuel – so maybe that’s why it was easier for me to follow. But if that was a like-for-like it felt better. I don’t want to get too excited, we’re still going to feel it, don’t get me wrong, but I would like to think that was a sign that we will feel a bit less.”

By simplifying the design of the wings, the FIA hoped to prevent teams generating ‘outwash’, the turbulent air around the side of the car which negatively affects a following car, but the teams, of course, are only concerned with how the wings perform on their cars. When asked by RaceFans whether the new wings had eliminated outwashing, Racing Point technical director Andrew Green admitted: “I have absolutely no idea whether they do that or not.”

“We only look at the performance of our car,” he said. “Not the car behind our car.”
However he did confirm they hadn’t recuperated all the downforce losses due to the new designs. “We’re still down,” he said. “We’ve still got a bit to go.”

In pushing to regain that lost downforce, teams will inevitably be looking at ways to recreate the lost outwash, as Renault’s technical director Nick Chester explained: “Front wings is going to be a big one [for development],” he said. “There’ll be a lot of work on front wings.”

Chester said the main goals for front wing designers will be “trying to get outwash, trying to stop the wheel wakes coming back under the floor and trying to try to generate more performance that way.” There is also the question of whether the different approaches to front wing design taken by some teams, such as Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, produce more ‘outwash’ than other designs.

The final four days of testing next week may provide more answers, particularly as we are likely to see more teams attempting race simulation runs. More likely, we’ll need to see a few races before judging whether there really has been a “positive impact on racing”.