F1 “mudguard-style” device test shows promise, but more work needed:

• F1 teams tested a “mudguard-style” device.
• The test results showed that the device improved the spray.
• Drivers agree that action needs to be taken to improve visibility in wet weather.

After a test at Silverstone revealed further research was required, the introduction of a “mudguard-style” device to limit splash in wet circumstances is still some way off in Formula One (F1).

Mercedes and McLaren drove with and without the concept at a post-British Grand Prix Pirelli tyre test this month to compare the results.

“There’s more work to do on them,” Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin told reporters at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“But it’s a problem that it would be useful to have a solution for, because I think the teams, and certainly the fans, hate it if a race can’t go ahead because the conditions are too difficult.”

The devices, which are being developed by the governing FIA, which will determine the next stages, according to Shovlin, are not yet prepared for production and regulation.

“They do improve the spray that you get from the tyres, but you still get a lot coming from the diffuser, in the way that the rear wing’s pulling it up. That’s all very powerful,” he added.

According to Shovlin, starting the race or stopping it altogether was necessary for the devices to be fitted.

The test, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, was still a crucial stage.

Lando Norris of McLaren has referred to rainy weather visibility as “the biggest safety concern right now within Formula One,” and other drivers concur that action has to be taken.

“Actually seeing where we’re going, that helps sometimes,” he said.

The test gained more significance after Dutch teenager Dilano van’t Hoff, 18, lost his life in a rainy junior series race at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, earlier this month.

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