The latest off throttle blown diffuser ban

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I don't know why people think it'll hurt McLaren the most, the way I see it is those that have far better quali than race performance are those most likely to be hurt, so don't be surprised to see Ferrari and Renault dropping back
 
I think it will bunch the field up a bit but honestly i don't see this ban having the red bull shattering effects people are hoping for.
 
Miggins said:
I don't know why people think it'll hurt McLaren the most
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Don't most people believe Renault are going to be hurt the most?

McLaren will be affected a lot though, as they apparently copied Red Bull's system "very well".

We'll find out tomorrow, if it's dry.

Miggins said:
the way I see it is those that have far better quali than race performance are those most likely to be hurt, so don't be surprised to see Ferrari and Renault dropping back
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That doesn't really make sense though. Ferrari have better race performance than qualifying, and even Renault are not that much worse in race pace.
 
Seems the whole thing backfires at those who wanted to slow down Red Bull. Renault did use more than 20% off-throttle blowing in 2009 and so the FIA allows them to use the 2009 max-off-settings.
 
Tweets from Benson:

To sighs of relief all round, the off-throttle blowing row is over. Ferrari agree to compromise - blowing allowed again from Germany
Stefano Domenicali says he has acted "in the interests of the sport", adding: "I think not many people are behaving like us"
Don't know about you, but I read that as a little dig at Red Bull
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Do Ferrari and Sauber have any choice but to agree? The FIA changed it in the first place (and second, third, fourth place...) without the teams' consent. If the teams didn't all agree, and it was protested, wouldn't it go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport? I'm sure they wouldn't back the ludicrous claims that a throttle is a moveable aerodynamic device.
 
Mifune said:
Tweets from Benson:

To sighs of relief all round, the off-throttle blowing row is over. Ferrari agree to compromise - blowing allowed again from Germany
Stefano Domenicali says he has acted "in the interests of the sport", adding: "I think not many people are behaving like us"
Don't know about you, but I read that as a little dig at Red Bull
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There is another way of reading this.

It is easy to suggest that Ferrari first dictated the change and now have generously granted permission to all others and show that they will be the one's to make the sacrifice. How very magnanimous of them. The world should bow deeply to show its appreciation and give them some more extra money for setting such a good example, as they always have and always will. After all, that is why they were elevated to the status of F1's "special team" in the first place isn't it?
 
cosicave said:
There is another way of reading this.

It is easy to suggest that Ferrari first dictated the change and now have generously granted permission to all others and show that they will be the one's to make the sacrifice. How very magnanimous of them. The world should bow deeply to show its appreciation and give them some more
extra money for setting such a good example, as they always have and always will. After all, that is why they were elevated to the status of F1's "special team" in the first place isn't it?
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That's why you should sign on the dotted line before Ferrari next time.
 
SilverArrow said:
There must be a restriction of up to 50% maximum now.
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I thought they were going to revert to pre-Silverstone settings - which had no restrictions on the percentage off-throttle, but only forced teams to use the same engine mappings for qualifying and the race. The 50% rule was only enforced on Friday at Silverstone, and it was only for teams with Renault engines.

I'm a bit confused now. Can somebody clarify what teams will be using in Germany?
 
Forza Ferrari said:
I thought they were going to revert to pre-Silverstone settings - which had no restrictions on the percentage off-throttle, but only forced teams to use the same engine mappings for qualifying and the race. The 50% rule was only enforced on Friday at Silverstone, and it was only for teams with Renault engines.

I'm a bit confused now. Can somebody clarify what teams will be using in Germany?
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I believe it is what you said above, Valencia spec ie. no restrictions but it can't be changed between quali and the race.
 
Whichever regulations are used I am predicting well deserved victory for Fernando Alonso in Germany, for the second year in succession.
 
It's been confirmed now.

The FIA confirmed on Thursday that it will now allow Formula 1 teams to keep running their blown diffusers off-throttle for the rest of the season, after it was agreed unanimously that a ban on the practice should be abandoned.

After a controversial weekend at the British Grand Prix where the row over off-throttle use of blown diffusers dominated affairs, the FIA said it would be willing to ditch its attempts to outlaw the practice if all teams were in agreement.

The matter had reached a head after world championship leader Red Bull Racing was left fuming when a concession was handed to the Mercedes-Benz-powered outfits on reliability grounds for them to run with a four-cylinder over-run under braking.

Red Bull Racing's Renault team had initially been allowed to keep a 50 per cent throttle opening, which it claimed it needed for reliability reasons, but that was taken away on Saturday morning - prompting fury from the Milton Keynes-based team.

With the FIA keen to find a resolution to the matter, the governing body held a series of meetings with technical chiefs to try and find an answer that all teams would be happy with.

A bid to find unanimous support for the ban to be ditched stalled on Sunday morning, however, when Ferrari and Sauber declined to accept the move during a lengthy meeting.

However, by Sunday evening the situation had changed and both teams suggested they would be willing to agree for the rules to revert back to how they were in Valencia - where teams could keep using their blown diffuser under all conditions but would not be allowed to change engine mapping settings between qualifying and the race.

In a document released by the FIA on Thursday, the governing body confirmed that it was now happy for the rules to be back to how they were at the European Grand Prix.

"All cars will run under 'Valencia' conditions for the remainder of the season," said the document, which went on to state that it believed there would be no protest over the matter.

"We are optimistic that there will be no protests over any engine mapping and exhaust tailpipe issues this season. In addition to the main part of the agreement reached in the TWG meetings it was also agreed that no team would raise a protest against another on these matters for the rest of the season."

The blown diffuser issue will go away in 2012 with new technical regulations set to be imposed that will force teams to run with periscope-type exhausts that exit on top of the sidepods - so will not be able to have any major effect on the diffuser area of the car.

"The teams have already agreed to strict constraints on exhaust tailpipe position which will result in them exiting the bodywork much higher up and no longer in the vicinity of the diffuser," said the FIA. "Therefore, any aerodynamic benefit from exhaust gas flow over bodywork will be kept to an absolute minimum.

"Engine mapping will remain free (within the existing constraints of the FIA SECU) as, with the exhaust tailpipes in this new position, it is felt that any aerodynamic benefit will now be incidental to their primary purpose."
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93075

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/f1releases/2011/Pages/f1-blown-diffusers.aspx
 
Thanks Forza.

P.S. I think you should edit your post to acknowledge the source you have quoted from (or if you already have, actually say so!) :)
 
Felipe Massa's blog today has some intriguing information relevant to this thread. I won't post the whole blog as it's quite long, but here's the interesting information:

"Okay, as from now the rules regarding the off-throttle diffuser go back to where they were, but the suggestion that our improved performance at the last race came from the rule change is wrong: when the engine mapping was changed, I would say we were losing maybe around four tenths of a second, depending on the track."

http://www.ferrari.com/english/scud.../2011/07/16/we-need-to-keep-the-momentum.aspx

Very interesting as Red Bull were (according to Marko) only losing half a second. Even though Red Bull were only using 45% cold blowing, their EBD was the best rear facing exhaust on the grid because they are blowing under the floor and Newey designed the car around the exhaust - this meaning that Red Bull were still badly affected. We know Ferrari were hot blowing, and in Silverstone FP2 both McLaren and Ferrari were blowing at 50% (in protest to the decision earlier that day). We never found out how much Ferrari were blowing, but based on Silverstone we know that it was at least 50%. The reason Ferrari would have only lost four tenths is because their EBD is nowhere near as good as Red Bull's system - but what this does tell us is that if Ferrari improve their EBD (which might have already happened with the Silverstone update), they can gain so much more from going back to the Valencia settings.



Cosicave, the source was Autosport (which is linked under the quote). The second link was the document released by the FIA (which is where Autosport got it's information from).
 
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