[LotusLover]

Morning All

'Why is exhaust blowing back in the news?'

http://www.skysports.com/share/11346950

Not hot off the press, my question is who has complained? RB or MB or is it someone else?

[Jody Barton]

Well, there was talk in the paddock during winter testing about Renault's blown rear wing, which seemingly annoyed the two Renault customer teams, who seemed to suggest they had been unaware of "modes" within the engine to do that prior to testing, which while strictly not illegal under the sorting regulations, is hardly "sporting".

There were also people raising the issue around Ferrari. The off throttle noise (and I'm saying off throttle here, because it was happening where drivers would normally be off throttle, but it's possibly not, I'll explain later) of there engine, while nowhere near as noticeable as the recent gurgle from the Mercedes engines, was certainly audible and clearly denoted some sort of blowing was likely to be going on. Didn't help that a week later in the second test all Ferrari powered cars were making the noise.

My guess though is that it is one of the lower teams, or Red Bull. With Mercedes now doing it, and Ferrari probably doing it since the start of the season, and Red Bull not doing it, they're the most likely candidate of the big three. However, I think the top teams won't give a monkeys uncle really, they'll just rejig their cars and go with the flow as they have done over the last few seasons, all of them (oil burning aside).

So my guess is a team upset at Renault and Haas with their blowing of the rearwing. So who'd be prime culprits for that? McLaren, Toro Rosso and Force India. Maybe Williams, if they weren't so clearly pants. It'll be interesting to see how the FIA handle it though, because the technical and sporting regulations are clear about "off throttle" blowing, the implication here being that teams have somehow developed "on throttle" blowing that doesn't affect drive in the corners. Maybe that's what Sebs extra paddle is for? Fine control of "on throttle" blowing?

[LotusLover]

Well, there was talk in the paddock during winter testing about Renault's blown rear wing, which seemingly annoyed the two Renault customer teams, who seemed to suggest they had been unaware of "modes" within the engine to do that prior to testing, which while strictly not illegal under the sorting regulations, is hardly "sporting".

There were also people raising the issue around Ferrari. The off throttle noise (and I'm saying off throttle here, because it was happening where drivers would normally be off throttle, but it's possibly not, I'll explain later) of there engine, while nowhere near as noticeable as the recent gurgle from the Mercedes engines, was certainly audible and clearly denoted some sort of blowing was likely to be going on. Didn't help that a week later in the second test all Ferrari powered cars were making the noise.

My guess though is that it is one of the lower teams, or Red Bull. With Mercedes now doing it, and Ferrari probably doing it since the start of the season, and Red Bull not doing it, they're the most likely candidate of the big three. However, I think the top teams won't give a monkeys uncle really, they'll just rejig their cars and go with the flow as they have done over the last few seasons, all of them (oil burning aside).

So my guess is a team upset at Renault and Haas with their blowing of the rearwing. So who'd be prime culprits for that? McLaren, Toro Rosso and Force India. Maybe Williams, if they weren't so clearly pants. It'll be interesting to see how the FIA handle it though, because the technical and sporting regulations are clear about "off throttle" blowing,  the implication here being that teams have somehow developed "on throttle" blowing that doesn't affect drive in the corners. Maybe that's what Sebs extra paddle is for? Fine control of "on throttle" blowing?

So forgive my ignorance here, but if this is a design (innovative to a degree as it bypasses a problem to maximise performance) why on Earth are F1 looking at banning it? Is it because another team cannot implement it at this stage or is it all about the cost of such a change??

I am guessing it is not "dangerous"

[Jody Barton]

Hey LotusLover, no ignorance there in your answer, I guess it's a little bit of all of the above. Just a side note, the sound of the Ferrari engines was a bit different today coming through corners. They're off the pace, so maybe it has hit Ferrari, but I think much of the pace deficit was down to the fact Ferrari were running very heavy on fuel and the Ultra Softs they were running are just not the tyre to use here at all, the Merc too seems to have lost the gurgle.

Why was it banned in the first place:

1) In the V8 era Renault and Red Bull basically designed their engine and chassis around the blown diffuser concept, and quite frankly no one else got close to matching them with it because it was hardwired into their DNA. So from a sporting perspective they chose to kill it.
2) The wake off of the back of the cars was dreadful during the blown era. In the middle of corners wehere cars should have been able to follow closely and line up overtakes the dirty air coming off of blown diffusers caused chasing cars to wash out.
3) the cost was utterly immense in developing the systems. The smaller teams never even got close to matching RBR's initial blown diffuser design from 2009. By 2013 the lap time difference between the lead cars and the midfield had actually increased from the start of the era, so it was unhealthy area of development to pursue, because only those with a defacto works deal, and the money were any good at it.

As to why they're trying to deal with it now? I think number 3 is arguably the biggest reason. If they are able to "on-throttle" blow rear wings then the works teams who get to work with their engine crews to do that will always have an edge. Possibly why RBR are a tad upset, they helped Renault develop this tech and are getting the benefit now. However, I'm surprised it actually is offering any real benefit. Sure a normally aspirated V8 can chuck a lot of hot gases out of the exhaust... a V6 turbo hybrid however... can it really chuck out all that much? I'm not sure, plus hitting the rear wing during the corners as opposed to a diffuser is just not going to have anywhere near the same effect. In high speed corners sure there's a noticeable gain to be had, but not anywhere near as much as the diffusers. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it is HUGE, but hitting the underside of a rear wing with hot gases while cornering? Gain, sure, 2 or 3 tenths per lap gain? No way. A tenth a best, so a storm in a tea cup as far as I see it, although it is clearly against the spirit of the law which stupidly identified "off throttle" blowing as illegal. It never occured to me that there might be a way of doing "on throttle" blowing.