According to a media report, Red Bull’s first race with the F-duct concept in Valencia could have contributed to Mark Webber’s huge crash.<\/p>\n
In-car footage of the moments before the Australian struck the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus show him activating the downforce-stalling device.<\/p>\n
Unlike McLaren’s pioneering system which is triggered by the drivers’ knee, the Red Bull F-duct – debuted in qualifying and the race in Valencia – works by Webber and Sebastian Vettel blocking a hole with the four fingers of their left hand.<\/p>\n
The footage showed Webber’s four fingers off the steering wheel on the straight, with his thumb still loosely in the steering wheel hole.<\/p>\n
Immediately before he struck the Lotus, Webber put his left fingers back on the wheel in a failed attempt to dodge Kovalainen.<\/p>\n
When hand-activated F-ducts appeared on the Sauber and Ferrari cars last month, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said “drivers driving with fingertips and no hands … is a safety issue”.<\/p>\n
But Italy’s Autosprint reports that Red Bull’s hand-operated F-duct could have been a factor in Webber’s crash last weekend.<\/p>\n
Vettel admitted in Valencia that he was not a fan of the hand-operated system.<\/p>\n
“It was a very smart idea, it’s a big benefit if you manage to set it up right but obviously you don’t have your hands on the steering wheel all the time.<\/p>\n
“I was managing to drink, I used the right hand side to press a button on the left.\u00a0 It also depends on how many adjustments you make per lap, brake balance and so on.<\/p>\n
“You get used to it but it’s not the most comfortable thing,” said the German.<\/p>\n
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