McLaren undecided over "F-Duct" use at Monza

McLAREN TO REMOVE "F-DUCT" FOR MONZA

McLaren will remove the F-duct from its car for the first time this season at the Italian Grand Prix, AUTOSPORT has learned, with the low downforce nature of the circuit negating any benefit the system brings.

The Woking-based team was the pioneer of the F-duct at the start of this year, and the design has proved such a success that all its main rivals have copied the idea. Renault will be the latest to introduce it at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

The F-duct helps provides a straightline speed boost by allowing the drivers to stall the rear wing on the straights - and teams can use it for a simple top-speed advantage or to help them run more downforce in the corners without suffering a drag penalty on the straights.

Although Monza has the highest top speeds of the season - so would in theory be perfect for a straightline advantage - the fact the track requires such a low wing set-up actually makes the F-duct redundant because there is not enough drag for it to get rid of.

McLaren's decision to remove its F-duct for the Italian Grand Prix is likely to become standard practice, with all teams instead set to focus on a low-downforce aerodynamic package better suited to the Monza layout.

All teams had been expected to remove the F-duct at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year, but McLaren elected to keep it on its car then - saying at the time that there was no alternative.

"F-duct is something which will work better on the long straight than a circuit like this," McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said in Monaco. "It is a standard part of our car. We don't have a non F-duct variety to fit in any case."

SOURCE: Autosport

McLAREN COULD STILL YET USE "F-DUCT" FOR MONZA

McLaren could yet decide to keep the F-duct on its car for the Italian Grand Prix, despite the team saying earlier this week that it would be removed for the Monza event.

McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale said on Wednesday that the team will wait until it has analysed the performance of the F-duct at Spa this weekend before making a final decision.

"We have the option to run it or not [at Monza]," Neale said. "At the moment we're just looking at all the options. We'll watch carefully where the end-of-straight speeds come out at Spa and make the decision in the following week."

He explained that although the F-duct gives a straightline speed advantage, the team is unsure at the moment whether the gain on such a low downforce circuit will offset the compromises of running the device.

"It all depends on where you want to be for total aero efficiency," he said. "There tends to be a herd instinct in Formula 1 of where the downforce and end-of-straight speeds are set.

"Other teams have F-ducts and are performing well in straightline speed. If we think there's an advantage from it, we'll run it. If taking the weight of running it out and making the rear wing more efficient is effective, we'll do it. But it's all just fine tuning, it doesn't make a big enough difference to win or lose you a race."

Neale added that McLaren is no closer to understanding the situation with the flexi-wings of Red Bull and Ferrari.

"I've seen the footage and we can't explain why those cars operate in the way they do," Neale said. "We've spent a lot of time looking very hard at the cars, but it's just speculation on our part. It's a discussion for the FIA and those teams to have.

"We presume that because Charlie [Whiting, FIA race director] has issued a clarification for the coming races, there was an issue. We're all working with the FIA on it."

SOURCE: Autosport

KA I believe should get in on this one XD, IMO, If McLaren played their gear ratios right, they can slaughter all in monza, F-duct + slipstream = Slingshot lol

With a low 7th gear they can use the F-duct to gain that loss of engine power back down the straights to just slingshot past people, but then again, it could also go the wrong way =/

KA, we need you!! XD