This year’s set of car launches revealed that the shark fins have returned to the Formula One cars, with every team running a variation of the concept. Some teams, like Mercedes, have also opted to add a T-wing to the rear of the car. However, there may be some last minute safety changes that could see these wings disappear before Australia.
The shark fin concept is supposed to improve the car handling in the corners, although some engineers suggest that the performance improvement is minor. It was a regulation loophole that allowed these fins to return to the cars. Despite the best efforts of Red Bull during the summer break, the vote from the F1 Commission to remove the fins from the 2017 cars was rejected.
Although Red Bull was originally campaigning to get the fins removed because it damages the visual appearance of the cars, it has become a possibility that the fins could be removed before the opening race of the season due to safety reasons.
Footage during the first day of pre-season testing has brought up some serious doubt about the structural integrity of the new shark fins and T-wings, leading some to believe that it’s possible for these appendages to break off of the car during the race. This would create potentially airborne debris, which poses a big risk to open wheel racing drivers.
In 2009, a piece of debris had near-fatal consequences for Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was struck in the head by a metal spring and had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital in critical condition, later having a metal plate implanted in his skull. More recently motorsport saw another example of the danger presented by debris, with the fatal accident of Justin Wilson in the IndyCar series.
At this point in the year, the regulations can only be changed for safety purposes. Some people among the paddock believe that the FIA could outlaw the shark fin and T-wing prior to Australia, while others believe that the FIA may force the teams to make the shark fin structure more rigid to prevent it from breaking off.
At the moment, there is no publicly known investigations or ban requests related to the shark fins or T-wing by any of the teams.
