Ferrari recently helped the group that controls car racing by trying out a new wheel guard design at Fiorano. This design was more extreme than the one tested last year at Silverstone. Ferrari ran two cars close together to see if it helped reduce the spray caused by wet conditions.
The new covers were really big because the group wanted to see how much they could improve visibility if there was no spray from the wheels. After watching videos of the test, they found that the improvement was not significant because there was still a lot of water thrown up by the car’s rear.
The group quickly decided that the wheel cover idea wasn’t worth pursuing anymore. They are now looking at other options to help in dangerous conditions. Nikolas Tombazis, who leads the group’s single-seater division, explained that they had hoped the wheel covers would make a big difference, but they didn’t. He said they tried the covers to see if they could be the solution, but they found out they weren’t.
Tombazis said they might consider doing something to the diffuser, the part of the car that throws up a lot of water. But he thinks this might affect the car’s performance too much. He mentioned that they tested the Ferrari design to see if it worked, and now they know they need to try something else.
Tombazis has some ideas but hasn’t shared them publicly yet. He hopes they can find a solution that helps when conditions are really bad. He said they don’t want a repeat of what happened at Spa in 2021, where a race was canceled because of bad weather. He explained that they are willing to use solutions like the wheel covers, even if they don’t look good, if they help avoid canceling races. He emphasized that they need to think of new ways to solve the problem.
