About that radical rear wing...

A rear wing!
By Phil Huff (14/04/2004)
April 14 2004

There's been a lot written recently regarding Lucky Strike BAR Honda's 'radical' rear wing, and many of you will have noticed that it's not been covered here at BAR-Talk.com.

The reason is simple; we simply don't believe what has been written is true. We've written our thoughts in the forums here - we think this is a case of journalists making stories up in the first quiet time of the season.

Some websites have written that the wing was used in Bahrain, others that it's to be used at Imola, and many now claiming that Williams complained to the FIA about it following an article in a tabloid newspaper. As nobody outside of BAR has seen this wing (it's only been run in the wind tunnel so far), how Williams could have complained is beyond us.

According to our good friends at pitpass.com, WilliamsF1 did indeed approach the FIA but only to confirm that its own 'radical' wing would be acceptable.

"We were also investigating a similar wing development," WillaimsF1 spokesman Liam Clogger told pitpass, "but due to concerns regarding its legitimacy, requested clarification from the FIA prior to advancing tooling, manufacturing and generating costs for a development which might not be permissible.

"So in one respect, yes, we brought it to the FIA's attention," he continued, "but really with an interest to run the idea ourselves.

"Our dialogue with the FIA was not to query the legitimacy of another team's designs, but full design specification submission of our own concept for FIA approval."