Return of “ugly” front wings puzzles Vettel

30 comments on “Return of “ugly” front wings puzzles Vettel”

1. 

   Joao (@johnmilk)
   18th February 2019, 19:07

   Loosing downforce at the front will shift the aerodynamic balance, making the car more stable at the rear, in turn, hopefully, Seb won’t spin so much and we will have a championship until the end. And that is the reason they went with the new wings, you heard it here first folks
   1. 

      Mashiat (@mashiat)
      19th February 2019, 3:21

      @johnmilk Actually, most of Vettel’s spins came as a result of him understeering into another car, so less front downforce should in theory mean he’ll spin more.
      1. 

         Joao (@johnmilk)
         19th February 2019, 16:08

         @mashiat that is terrible news for Ferrari fans
2. 

   Darryn Smith (@darryn)
   18th February 2019, 19:11

   When did they get rid of the full width wings? I remember them with the 2009 rules, but then I got used to them quickly and assumed that rule was never changed.
   1. 

      bosyber (@bosyber)
      18th February 2019, 19:45

      When they widened the cars for 2017 they didn’t widen the wings by the same amount I think @darryn

      I have to say, having now seen them on track, while I liked, as an engineer, the insane complexity of the outer zone of the previous front wings (a bit like I like the current, and up to 2008 bargeboard insanity), I feel that the current much more simple wings look a whole lot better; before those wings looked like the outboard parts were really ‘heavy’/full looking.
      1. 

         Phylyp (@phylyp)
         18th February 2019, 19:53

         @bosyber – agreed, there is a certain… ‘cleanliness’ to these new front wings that I really like, purely aesthetically.
         I miss the shorter rear wings from 2018, but that’s not that big a change/regression.
      2. 

         Joao (@johnmilk)
         18th February 2019, 23:22

         @bosyber @phylyp first time I saw them last year I immediately liked them better, they are a bit wide but with the current size of the cars they don’t feel out of proportion. And the simplicity adds to the whole thing. While vortex generating winglets are cool they didn’t gave anything aesthetically, on the contrary
      3. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         20th February 2019, 11:56

         Looking at the front wings it makes me think of one thing – how the ones we had last year seem to dominate what you look at with the car by their opulence of winglets and forms, while now we can more enjoy the complete car and the wing is a shapely start that doesn’t draw away too much attention.
      4. 

         Darryn Smith (@darryn)
         20th February 2019, 17:28

         @bosyber Ah thanks. That makes sense. Some of comments I was reading lead me to believe it had been changed years before. It’s amazing what the mind will correct for as I haven’t noticed those wide wings since the first races of ’09. The halo is a bridge too far though I guess.
3. 

   Daniel (@db01)
   18th February 2019, 19:25

   I think the front wings look way better like this personally.
   1. 

      GechiChan (@gechichan)
      19th February 2019, 6:46

      I feel the same, @db01. The way last year’s front wings kept rising their winglets on the sides made them look too complex and “heavy”. These new ones (like Ferrari or Renault have), with the tapering down on the sides, look much better and easier on the eyes.
4. 

   AJ
   18th February 2019, 19:30

   I think the front wings should be limited to max halfway the width of the front tyres. These cars are becoming truly enormous.
   1. 

      Scottie Stewart (@ocscottie)
      19th February 2019, 1:22

      I fully agree AJ. I see a lot of pit stops to change wings on lap one after 1st corner incidents.
5. 

   Tristan (@skipgamer)
   18th February 2019, 19:34

   I don’t think they look ugly at all, I think these cars as a whole are the most beautiful I’ve seen in the last decade (ignoring the halo anyway.) There’s something about the proportions that just look right to me.

   To me the larger front wings make the cars look a lot more aggressive, not ugly at all. Although I do worry for how they will race wheel to wheel.
   1. 

      mmertens (@mmertens)
      19th February 2019, 0:03

      I quite agree with you, only complaint is that these cars are way too long!
6. 

   Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
   18th February 2019, 19:57

   I don’t think the noses look ugly. If I remember correctly Vettel’s driving style favors a stable rear end and those wings do so, do they not?
7. 

   KaIIe (@kaiie)
   18th February 2019, 19:58

   “I think years ago we went back because we said it’s actually bad for racing. Now we bring back wide, so maybe we forgot to take notes.”

   Seems like Seb hasn’t read the notes for the reasons behind these changes :P
8. 

   thegamer23
   18th February 2019, 20:07

   I find them way more balanced in term of looks with that big front & rear wing
   1. 

      Coanda (@ming-mong)
      19th February 2019, 2:58

      me too. Only because we have the big tyres now does it work better than it did in 2009.
9. 

   MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
   18th February 2019, 20:28

   I don’t know that the width of the front wing makes that much difference to me… but I find the simplified look to to be a great improvement over the ultra-complicated designs of recent years.
10. 

    David
    18th February 2019, 20:49

    We had a lot more damage with the full-width wings – when steering is applied the wing is well outside the outer edge of the wheel. Combine that with close racing and you end up with broken endplates and cut tyres.

    So I agree with Seb, I don’t know why the sport has returned to that size. Simple is good, but there is no need for a bulldozer to be attached to the front of the car.
11. 

    Racecar is racecar backwards
    18th February 2019, 20:51

    I love the look of the new wings although I don’t understand why they are wider if the goal is to reduce outwash.
12. 

    StefMeister (@stefmeister)
    18th February 2019, 20:58

    I can’t say i’m a fan of the wider front wings either, Havn’t been since they initially widened them in 2009.

    I think the new rear wings looks fine although I do think they look a bit silly when the newly widened DRS flap opens.

    I think the cars would look way better with the narrower front wings we saw in the past:
    https://img.favcars.com/mclaren/formula-1/mclaren_formula-1_1997_photos_3.jpg
    1. 

       Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
       19th February 2019, 11:45

       @stefmeister agreed, that McLaren looks way nicer than what we’ve got today. They do so much to have a tight rear (yeah understand the floor is wide and in black) with narrow rear wings, putting these snow plows on the front just doesn’t do it for me.
       1. 

          Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
          19th February 2019, 11:47

          On the rear wings I mean narrow in relation to the car/wheels.
13. 

    OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    18th February 2019, 21:10

    A totally different question, but, a couple of years ago the SF70 celebrated Ferrari’s 70th year. Now they celebrate 90?
    1. 

       Rockie (@rockie)
       18th February 2019, 21:59

       70 years of road cars and 90 years of scuderia Ferrari.
       1. 

          BlackJackFan
          19th February 2019, 3:34

          Well… they don’t have much else to celebrate, these days… ;-)
14. 

    Jim Sharpe
    19th February 2019, 0:16

    Hmmm. Lap 1, turn 1 contact might be a bit more challenging this year. On the surface, it would seem that the wider wings would be a bigger target for damage.
    1. 

       Jere (@jerejj)
       19th February 2019, 9:18

       @Jim Sharpe I doubt it. In the end, it wasn’t any different from 2009 to 2013 with similar width to this year than it was the last five seasons.

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