Too early to judge new rear wing rules

One of the big talking points heading into the start of the new 2011 Formula One World championship season was the changes in regulations.

The new Pirelli tyres were a big discussion point, as was the re-introduction of KERS, but arguably the biggest move this season was the legalisation of the driver enabled moveable rear wing.

At the touch of a button drivers can improve their straight line speed in a bid to hopefully aid their chances of overtaking the car in front.

Throughout Australian practice and qualifying spectators looked on in anticipation to see whether or not it would improve the spectacle and once the race got under-way, the only reaction it received was rather underwhelming.

The problem in Australia was that the start-finish section of the track, where the rear wing was enabled, wasn’t long enough for the rear wing to have any real affect.

That hopefully shouldn't be an issue at the next races in Malaysia and China as the section which will be use-able will be longer and should have more of an affect.

'We need to wait and see. The rear wing effect was not really so obvious [in Australia] – but maybe that was because the length [of the straight] was not so much, or that you could use the KERS to protect in a certain condition if you have it. We need to wait and see.” Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali told Autosport Magazine.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed and added: 'The [moveable] wing here did not really contribute too much, but it is one of the shortest straights on the calendar so it is too early to pass judgement on the wing at the moment.'

The problem with this kind of system in Formula One is if it doesn’t work, it will get criticised and if it does work, it will probably receive even more criticism because for it to work well, spectators will have to see a vast improvement in the number of overtaking manoeuvres during a race.

If that was to happen then the traditionalists and purists will complain that the skill of overtaking has been removed from the sport with a gimmicky Playstation style over-taking button.

The real issue is the dirty air created by the aerodynamic packages on the cars. The only real way of improving the chances to overtake is to clean up the design so that old fashioned slipstreaming returns, because currently cars struggle to follow the car in front for a prolonged period of time.