The FIA will carry out a test of a proposed solution to reduce spray from Formula 1 cars and improve the chances of racing in heavily wet conditions following the British Grand Prix.
As Pirelli is carrying out a tire test with Red Bull, Haas and Williams for two days at Silverstone, the wet weather test will take place on Thursday after the British race, with Mercedes and McLaren taking part. FIA’s aerodynamic team has put together a design for bolt-on wheel covering designed to prevent spray being thrown into the air and creating visibility issues that regularly leads to races being red-flagged.
After a meeting of the F1 Commission in November last year led to studies into wheel arches that could be added to cars to try and reduce spray, the FIA offered the initial design to teams to play around with and provide feedback. It is an iteration designed Mercedes that will be tested next week at Silverstone.
The preliminary test of the initial concept of the mudguard-style devices is to gauge if the FIA is heading in the right direction with the idea, and Mercedes will run them while the McLaren provides a comparable reference of a current generation car without the devices in the same conditions. Alongside the effectiveness of the wheel arches, any impact on changing tires in a pit stop scenario is also set to be assessed.