Formula One news
Michael: Change tracks for more overtaking
10 November 2009Sam Michael believes that changes should be made to the circuits of Formula One, as well as the cars, in order to aid passing. A raft of aerodynamic modifications were made prior to the 2009 season although fans are still crying for more overtaking opportunities ahead of 2010.
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| Sam Michael, Technical Director of Williams F1 |
With the changed aero rules focussed on allowing drivers to both follow and pass rivals easier, the full effect of this year's new regulations were somewhat masked by innovative double diffusers, which cancelled out the newfound abilities to follow another car at closer distances than in 2008.
"I think that clearly the changes made the cars easier to follow, however, there's a lot of work that still needs to be done," Williams Technical Director Michael commented, stressing that the layouts of track plays just as important a role as the cars' designs.
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| Barcelona's new chicane of 2007 was designed to encourage more passing into Turn 1 |
"One of the things which wasn't addressed in the 2009 rule changes was circuit design. If you look at tracks like Barcelona, where no-one overtakes, and take exactly the same cars to tracks like Monza, Hockenheim etcetera, there's plenty of overtaking. The difference is circuit layout; organisers need to look closer at creating slower speed corners which feed onto straights and at removing chicanes. You can't keep blaming car design. The FIA are looking into this now and will hopefully solve the problem."
Australian Sam added that narrower front tyres plus bans on mid-race refuelling and wheel fairings will be brought in for next season, with the latter expected to help cars follow closer and, hopefully, increase passing chances in the process.
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