The FIA has given the teams a headache by adjusting the moveable wing rules on the eve of the first race.
The section of track on which the wing can be operated was set at 600m for race day, on the basis that the figure could be changed if experience in the early races proved that to be necessary.
However for the opening race in Australia it has already been changed to over 860m. The zone now starts on the approach to the final corner, but obviously drivers won’t activate their wings until the exit, at around the 750m mark.
The difficulty for the teams is that they have done all their homework on the basis of the 600m figure.
“I only found out today,” Christian Horner told this blog. “It’s a pain because it screws up our simulations and affects gear ratios.”
The FIA’s intention has always been that the length of the zone stays the same at all tracks so passing is not easier at somewhere like Monza compared with other venues with shorter straights.
Update: Spoke to Charlie Whiting who clarified that now the FIA’s concept is that there is 600m at full throttle. The actual 867m zone here includes the braking area, which here is about 110m, and the ‘acceleration’ area, for want of a better word. So the maximum theoretical wing activation usage here is about 750m, although that depends on how early in the final corner drivers activate it...
Adam Cooper F1 
This is a really interesting one. I did wonder if a team like Red Bull might have optimised their gear ratios for a track like Albert Park to not take account of the rear wing device. The reason being that if you’re leading you’re unlikely to use it, thus running gear ratios that are comprimised over a race distance will cost you lap time.
I thought they might be especially tempted if they had enough in hand during qualifying to be clear of the field (where they can use the rear wing as much as they want).
It’s sort of on this basis that I don’t see it adding much to the show. A car without it and optimised ratios for the rest of the track should pull away slightly, and if they can get it over a second by the end of the lap then the car behind without optimal ratios and not having the ability to use the rear wing would start to lose time?
Obviously if you’re car is in the midfield then you’ll probably have to go with it, but if your in a RBR or possibly Ferrari then I think the decision to comprise 58 laps for the sake of a rear wing system that you might never legally be able to use in the race is perhaps a comprimise too far?
I wonder if the above is why Horner is annoyed, i.e. they worked out that using the system costs more than it gains at Albert Park. I can see the benefits if the competition is close as you’d not want to be without it.
Sounds like Ferrari got there way again!
I seem to remember them asking for the area to be 700 meters around about the time of the first tests at Valencia
As everything changes, so nothing changes!
The entire concept of the allowable zones of use just reeks of video game.
Sounds like a lot of bah-haw to me. I bet it doesn’t take long to re-run those calculations. It’s the same for everybody!
Red Bull and Ferrari are as likely to be using the system as much as any team – it can be activated by any car when they are less than one second behind a car in front of them at the designated point. That also means when lapping back-markers, not just passing cars for position, so as long as HRT, Virgin and Lotus are out there (although on the early evidence at least some of them might fall foul of the reinstated 107% qualification time rule) the leading couple of teams could still benefit from running a set-up that takes into account regularly deploying the system.
You beat me to it, Snowy.
Still, lapped cars have to give way. But circumstances will surely arise where you want the wing. After a pitstop, for example, when you’re back in the pack.