The slipstreaming is back?

[jarama]

Have you seen the last quarter of the qualifs.? It seems that slipstreaming is back. It's been only a mirage?. What do you think?

[R]

Yeah, DC definitely slipstreamed Mika to outqualify him and Rubens. That was great team-work, to get 2-3 in qualifying instead of 2-4.

[nigelr]

And so there must be a deal - Mika gets past DC in the race. Is this going to be a first-corner 'no no after you' shuffle like the one that got MS punted off at the Nurburgring?

[Danielsun]

Yeah, and hopefully it'll be Schumacher and Hakkinen to go off!! While I've not seen the move, I've read about it and it seems as though the idea was there but the execution wasn't quite good enough.

DC was supposed to be able to get the pole, but still failed by almost 0.2 against Schumacher's fastest time. Good teamwork, however...

[Liz]

Didn't work when the Ferrari guys tried it though. Why do you think TGF got so far ahead of Rubens? Should he not have slowed down?

[TimD]

I thought Rubens not being able to keep up was very telling. Nothing against him or his ability, but it was as though Schumacher was like a puppy left off the lead, and disappearing into the distance, looking over his shoulder going "well, are you going to chase me or not?..".

This is perhaps more of a question for the tech forum, but maybe the more scientifically minded can give me an answer here:

The wings being run by all the cars this weekend are so obviously bigger than those Indy is accustomed to. Certainly the pundits didn't expect the fast teams to be running nearly so much downforce.

If the cars are pulling 60mph less round turn 13 than the Indycars do, whilst travelling on their own, just what sort of mph boost can a driver expect if he is slipstreaming an opponent down to turn 1?

And would a team drafting theoretically improve the fuel consumption for their cars?

I can't believe I'm asking these sorts of questions. Slipstreaming in F1. It's alien, it's strange, it's... good to see it back. I've missed it.

[Valve Bounce]

I was so excited after reading teh intervies that I posted my thread before reading this one - sorry guys.
This is great news, and I hope that we can get circuits to be faster, rid them of chicanes, and we can put racing back into F1, rather than watch boring processions. I have always wondered why the F1 wings cannot be reduced in size to the same as the CART cars' wings. Advertising space, I suppose.

[Red]

Q: David, you just missed getting the pole position but it seems great teamwork. Whose idea was it to send Mika out with you for the last two laps he has left over?

MH : It was my idea.

MS : No, it was my idea. (laughing)

DC : Actually, Adrian came...

[Bononi]

Adrian : Erh... no seriously, it was Ferrari's idea, we just followed the fashion...

[Liz]

The engineers I know say "If it works, it's the answer." When McLaren saw it work for Michael, they no doubt said, "Hey, we could do that!" and they did.

But what did Mika think when David used his friendly tow to leapfrog him? Did he say?

[Danielsun]

Mika: "It was The Michael's fault!"