Autosport Plus

Mark Hughes: F1's Inside Line

"Is F1 prepared to surrender income to be less artificial?"

Autosport Magazine Jul 4, 2007, 2:49 PM

Motorsport's governing body has been fleshing out its idea of reintroducing active moveable aerodynamics to F1 from 2011, with the aim of improving racing and controlling costs. It has emphasised that it now sees the active aero proposals as the 'prime route' towards achieving the objectives and so the previous idea of a spec chassis seems dead and buried (to the undoubted relief of the teams).

Central to the proposals, however, is a spec floor. The idea is that the underside of the car will be specified and supplied by the FIA. It will be shaped in such a way as to generate significant under-body downforce, thereby placing less reliance on the upper body downforce-generating devices that so badly disturb the wake of the current cars and make passing so difficult.