Technical 2014 Technical Regulations

[Fenderman]

Maldonado digging his appendage under the side of Gutierrez revives the question about whether or not these ugly noses are safe. Yes, they prevent the car that drives into the side of another launching itself over the top. Now though we have an incident where the offending driver doesn't launched whilst the victim gets tipped into a 360 degree flight.

The other thing to consider about that incident was that Maldonado wasn't flat out having just left the pit and then back on the brakes for the corner. What, I ask, will be the consequences of such a contact at an even higher speed or if more than two cars are caught up in the incident?

Of course the incident also reminds us of concerns in the past about pit exits leading straight into the first corner. The Monaco exit was extended through Ste Devote to mitigate against the Maldonado / Gutierrez type incident. That kind of crash is quite rare but when they occur they can be pretty heavy stuff.


Edit: Ant' Davidson has just shown on his Skypad that there was tyre to tyre contact. That may be so but I contend that that actually helped to get the Lotus nose nose under the Sauber. Of course I could be talking bollocks and fully expect a call to visit the Stewards about my foul language

 

[teabagyokel]

RACE CONTROL:
Poster No. 179 (FEN) is under investigation by the stewards for foul language at Thread 3311.

 

[Fenderman]

...

 

[Mezzer]

I'm in 2 minds as to whether the nose was a factor, Bottas was well into the corner so the car was left side weighted, almost any shunt like that could have caused at least a partial roll. Of course whether it would have caused a full 360 mid-air barrel roll is another question.

 

[Brogan]

I do not have a copy of the 2004 TR to know to a certainty, but I think the spec weight on the linked chart has an error. I think spec weight was changed in 2004 to 600kg, with 605kg allowed during qualies. The chart shows 595kg. But I cannot locate an "authoritative" answer, so I admit I might be mistaken.

I do
You are correct.

We have all of the main changes season-on-season listed in the OTDB: http://cliptheapex.com/overtaking/seasons/2004/

 

[FB]

Talking with a mate he suggested that the installation of the power unit in the Mercedes factory cars is different to the the customers cars, in relation to the turbo and compressor location and how the air enters the turbo charger. Anyone heard this? It might mean the other Merc teams could get closer if they can replicate the factory installation.

 

[Quintessentially]

I think the factory team’s advantage goes beyond just the engine. Aerodynamically, the car looks strong and also appears to be one of the easiest on its tyres.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Regarding Gutierrez's flip, unfortunately without a good camera angle, it's difficult to see what contributed. If it is tyre-on-tyre contact though, it's odd that we don't see this happening more often. My hunch is that the nose did contribute to the incident, but I have a habit of being wrong! It would be interesting to see if the nose on Maldo's car had any scrapes on it.

 

[sushifiesta]

This shows Maldonado's front left hitting Gutierrez's rear right pretty clearly:
http://zippy.gfycat.com/UnpleasantHiddenApisdorsatalaboriosa.webm

It's possible that the nose contributed after the initial contact but it doesn't really look like it to me.

EDIT: This link might work better for some of you: http://gfycat.com/UnpleasantHiddenApisdorsatalaboriosa

 

[FB]

Doesn't look quite so exciting in slo mo does it?

 

[Quintessentially]

The accident happened at a location you didn’t expect two cars to come together. Even if you replaced both cars with a Reliant Robin, one is bound to fly. Same thing happened when Webber misjudged the closing speed behind the Caterham a few years ago. Gutierrez was in full view of Maldonado’s visor and you expected the numpty to put the brakes on much earlier and fall behind. There’s this dangerous attitude from a lot of racing drivers about never lifting and Maldonado takes it to a new level. Kimi most definitely would’ve been nursing a smoky rear had Maldonado been in Bottas’s position when he went off track to avoid hitting the Ferrari.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

If anything other than tyre contact had contributed to the Maldonado/Guttierrez flip, given their relative angles, it would have been the front wing (which has always been at pretty much the same height), not the nose.

F1 cars ran even lower noses than today's for donkeys years in the past, without any questions about 'submarining' or flipping, so why now? It's just ridiculous to suggest that low noses have all of a sudden become dangerous. Far more lethal somersaults have occurred as a result of tyre contact than any low nose, e.g. Grosjean's launch over Alonso at Spa, Webber's rear attack on Kovalainen at Valencia, to name but two.

 

[FB]

Time for some sort of "wheel arch" like they have on the Indy Cars?

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

FB yes, an idea that has also been used in karting since just after time began.

They wouldn't prevent every kind of launching or flipping accident without some sort of rear guard, but even so I'd sooner see these in F1 than a return to those godawful high noses.

Mind you, as long as Maldonado is still a participant, they could do with something more like this:

or perhaps even this:

 

[Blog Zbod]

J.E.V. has confessed he did a short stint in hospital between Melbourne and Malaysia for weakness and dehydration. Maybe it wasn't Button, Sutil or the Hulk who passed out at Bahrain.


Autosprint are rather insistent it wasn't the Lotus' nose caused Gutierrez to flip, it was tyre contact.

As evidence they posted this snap, which does appear to show the compound-indicating stripe obliterated on Maldo's left front, as if Guti's right rear had clawed its way over it. And perhaps more tellingly, Maldo's car's nose and front wing appear undamaged. Maldo's only pit stop was on lap 19, and this incident came well later, IIRC on lap 41, so he completed the race without a change of nose. As delicate as these CF appendages are, it seems unlikely to the extreme the Lotus' nose could have survived so unscathed.

When open-wheeled racers rub tyres, we are accustomed to seeing the rearmost car launched skyward as its front tyre climbs over the leading car's rear, but I don't recall ever having seen the reverse happen.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

So can we now consider the case closed, and low noses innocent of all charges?

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I've been staring at the video and it does look like tyres.

 

[teabagyokel]

Chad Stewarthill - I charge a Mr. Maldonado with the crime.

 

[RasputinLives]

Time for some sort of "wheel arch" like they have on the Indy Cars?

The new Formula E cars have much cooler wheel arches.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Actually, Indy Cars nicked the idea from somewhere else anyway...