Rear Wing gets Stuck - What Happens in a Race?

[ATL11]

After many years of F1, we of course will anticipate a few shenanigans in 2011, but what about this scenario:

F1 car, call it a Ferrari, during a GP, call it Italian, finds after a few laps the rear wing is fully deployed & can't return back as the mechanisim is stuck, what happens?

Do we know what the rule books says on defective Aero devices?

Is is enough to Black Flag a Car?

Just previously we've seen cars finish races with bits missing, ironically Button in Italy last year! But what will happen with this new Aero device. Could we see F1 teams saying their is no statute for this so we keep racing?

 

[sportsman]

Unless the car is likely to drop debris on the track, and a stuck wing would not be likely to do that the driver would simply have to drive around the problem.
Its no different from any other mechanical problem.There is no reason to black flag the car, unless it is so slow that it causes a danger.

 

[Brogan]

But if the wing is permanently deployed then it is a breach of the rules.

So that would mean disqualification I presume.

 

[sportsman]

Technically yes.But if the wing is permanently deployed the team would just pull the car into the pits.It would be so slow in the corners that it would just go backwards.
But if it not operational at all and immoveable then it does not breach any rules.
The same logic applies if it fails to open.That doesn't break any rules.

 

[Brogan]

I have a feeling that if any wing is deployed outside the designated areas, for whatever reason, there are going to be protests from all the other teams and the FIA will have no choice other than to DSQ the offending car.

So even if they trundle around slowly and pull in to the pits, it's irrelevant.

I wonder how many teams are going to be studying frame-by-frame footage to try and get their competitors DSQ'ed?

Still, they can always reset the race and start again.
Oh wait, I'm getting this confused with a video game...

 

[sportsman]

In one

 

[ATL11]

Okay look at it another way, could a team say the Wing is stuck there is nothing we can do about it being deployed on a full straight?

There is no precedent on a Aero piece that isn't a danger to other drivers being broken the driver being Black Flagged.

Okay it would be dog slow in corners but could it be an advantage @ long drag tracks like Monza & Spa for the Wing to accidently stay open? Would over the entire lap would the wing being stuck open be an advantage?

 

[sportsman]

Without having exact details of at which point the cars hit the rev limiter on the tracks its difficult to make any predictions.
In answer to your question regarding Spa Monza etc the teams already run lower downforce wings at these tracks already.
I personally doubt that having the wing stuck open would be any advantage at all.
My opionion is that it would be a serious disadvantage.If it did stick open it would upset the aerodynamic balance of the entire car.

 

[Pyrope]

A very similar situation occurred a few years ago in British F3. At one point during the race a car was hit by debris which wrenched off the airbox limiter, effectively giving the car a completely free-breathing engine. Needless to say, the driver in question blitzed the field and won by a country mile. The MSA then disqualified the car as, although there was no danger, the car wasn't compliant with the rules. The team should have brought the car in and fixed the problem, not just left them running. This will almost certainly be the interpretation the FIA take with a stuck wing.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Presumably, since the wing is designed to fail 'safe', ie the high downforce position; if it fails to do that, it will by definition occur at the braking point into the corner after the overtaking straight. The resulting failure to regain downforce at this critical point would presumably send the car straight on, either into the crash barrier and out of the race [edit; or, if the car is on the inside line in mid-overtake, into the side of the car being passed, taking them both out] or onto one of the ever widening run-off areas, with the driver then heading straight back to the pits.