Oliver Bearman is the reserve driver for Ferrari who has already made his Formula 1 debut this season in place of Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia, but in Imola – for the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – he will take part in the tests free practice 1 at the wheel of the Haas F1.
The English driver, however, had all eyes on him today for having been the protagonist of a test carried out in Fiorano last week, in which together with Arthur Leclerc he was able to test the effects of the new splash guards designed by the FIA to try to allow the single-seaters to follow each other even with water on the asphalt.
The wheel covers tested were an evolution of those that had already been evaluated at Silverstone a few months ago. These were created with the possibility of having a certain number of openings to evaluate how and to what extent the water was retained or released by the covers themselves.
The judgment of Bearman, who followed the F1-75 entrusted to Leclerc equipped with wheel covers, was clear. The system has improved the situation, but only slightly. Too little.
“I followed Arthur Leclerc who went around with mudflaps and so far there’s not much to say about it. I think, seeing the videos, the result was quite similar to what we already experience.”
“So I think we need to go back to the drawing board to find other solutions. We need to continue to look around and find a solution.”
Bearman underlined how Ferrari tried different configurations of opening the mudflaps to better understand their behavior, but also for a question of tire temperature. With wheel covers the temperatures are inevitably higher, while by opening the splash guards there is a way to have a different gradation, but also a greater flow of water coming out of the shell.
“We tried different configurations, but we only wet the straights to see if it was possible to stay behind a single-seater in those sections. We did 4 or 5 laps just to try different levels of opening, because if the mud flaps are completely closed, it’s It’s also quite difficult to have ideal tire temperatures.”
In short, water continues to be a problem even with wheel covers. What makes things difficult, Bearman explained, is the nature of the cars themselves. The Venturi channels placed under the bottom generate such an aerodynamic load that it energizes the air that comes out of it and the water follows the flow.
“I think the problem is that these cars generate so much downforce from the bottom. The air is energized from there and, of course, the spray follows the air.”
“Visibility was still quite difficult, it was certainly a little better than before. The work that has been done has given something in terms of results, but nothing has been resolved yet,” concluded the Ferrari reserve driver.
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