Formula One heads to Azerbaijan, as the focus will not just be on track performance. The flexi wings will be a topic of discussion again this weekend. In fact Mark Hughes thinks that the flexi wings could well play a major role in Baku.
In his usual pre-race column for Formula1.com, the F1 expert explains: “Azerbaijan’s Baku circuit features the most contrasting layout of the season’s calendar. In terms of what it demands from the car, it’s an extreme compromise between the Monaco-like middle sector, which is all about slow corner performance – braking, rotation, traction, driveability – and the massive 1.4-mile flat-out stretch along the kinking ‘straight’ which finishes the lap and which also takes in part of sector one.” This, according to the Brit, is exactly why the flexi wing could well be decisive.
“For not only is this race the last one before the FIA’s new measuring protocol comes into effect, in France, but it’s also the track on which the biggest benefit could be gained from such a wing. The reduction in lap time the flexing might give around a conventional track would be slight, but around Baku with that long straight – the longest stretch of flat-out running the cars see all year – it could be worth a more significant chunk.” Mark Hughes concluded.
Leave a Reply