RE: F1 News
ace3000 > 17/07/2015, 11:39
McLaren driver Jenson Button has endorsed the possible return of ground effect aerodynamics to Formula 1 in 2017.
As part of the Strategy Group's goal to have lighter and faster cars in F1, and better racing, a proposal focusing on ground effect underbodies was tabled, AUTOSPORT revealed during the British Grand Prix weekend.
With teams invited to submit suggestions, Red Bull flagged a fundamental switch in how downforce is generated, moving away from complex front and rear wings to underbodies.
As used by GP2, a longer underbody tunnel would be a throwback to the ground-effect cars from the late 1970s and early '80s, less sensitive to running in dirty air.
The Strategy Group had previously announced plans to revert to a wider rear tyre - 420mm, a size last seen in 1992 - in 2017 which would increase mechanical grip.
This is great news seeing that at Silverstone F1 cars were only about 3 seconds a lap quicker than GP2