Formula One news
Grosjean: Difficult to follow cars in F1
28 August 2009With governing body the FIA having imposed a raft of changes in order to boost chances of overtaking in Formula One this year, new boy Romain Grosjean has admitted that the possibilities of doing so in an F1 car compared to those of GP2 are highly difficult as the former still finds it difficult to follow another closely.
 |
|
For 2009, the reintroduction of non-grooved, slick racing tyres was put into action as well as radical new aerodynamics; however, with some having made better use of the regulations than others - with only three teams developing double diffusers earlier in the year, for example - the ability to follow other cars closely has been somewhat negated.
"Well, to be honest I was quite surprised how difficult it is to follow a car in Formula One," explained Grosjean, who made the step up the ladder from GP2 to his F1 debut with Renault in Valencia last weekend. "I don't know from where it came but, for sure, I was behind Luca Badoer for quite a long time in the first stint and I couldn't get closer than eight tenths because you lose most of the downforce and the car goes much faster and this makes your life quite hard when you follow another car."
 |
| Before the summer break, Romain was racing in GP2 at the Hungaroring |
With an F1 car being, in principal, an upside-down aeroplane, the discarded, turbulent air left in the wake of the car is the reason that the pursuer's vehicle cannot close up in the manner a driver would want to.
"I think there's a different spirit of building the car," the Frenchman continued. "In GP2, all of the cars are the same and the ground effect is quite big compared to the aero and in Formula One we are using more aerodynamic downforce than ground effect, so in the end it makes the race much harder to fight and to get close to another car."
more news
- 28 Nov.
- 27 Nov.
- 26 Nov.
- 25 Nov.
- 24 Nov.
- 23 Nov.
Homepage
Jerez