OCTOBER 24, 2005

The downside of the FIA rear wing

There may be any number of benefits from the new FIA-inspired rear wings, which will - if all goes to plan - be introduced in 2007. The teams will no doubt soon have the wings in their windtunnels to see what the effect will be on the cars running closely behind. According to the FIA research the following cars will be able to get a lot closer than previously and this will be better placed to overtake. There will, however, be one big disadvantage of the new system: the rear wing is the part of the car that is most visible from TV cameras around the circuits and cutting it in two will mean that sponsors will be less able to get their messages across. And that menas that their value is likely to drop. There may now be two possibilities but the logos that will fit are much smaller and they will have nothing like the impact of the big rear wings. There is some vague talk of the TV coverage being altered to concentrate more on the back of the cars, which will increase the value of the engine covers but this sounds like wishful thinking rather than sound broadcasting sense.